The Peninsula Hong Kong

On Christmas Day 1941 the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young, surrendered to the Japanese on the third floor of The Peninsula, which they had made their headquarters, and was then kept in one of its suites for two months, a stay he had not booked. The Kadoorie family had opened the hotel on 11 December 1928, meaning it to be the finest east of Suez, and put it where travellers landed: opposite the quays at the tip of Kowloon, near the end of the Kowloon-Canton railway. The Lobby keeps its 1928 stained glass and woodwork, and still serves afternoon tea to a string quartet. In 1994 a 30-storey tower went up beside it and took the newer pleasures upstairs: the pool, the spa, and at the top Felix, Philippe Starck's restaurant and bar, with the harbour on both sides and the urinals in the men's room turned to face it.

Recommended for anyone who wants Hong Kong's grand hotel at its grandest, and for families: children up to eleven stay free, and the Peninsula Academy teaches cookery to four- to ten-year-olds. Ten minutes along the promenade, past the Avenue of Stars, the Star Ferry crosses to Hong Kong Island, and at night the Symphony of Lights plays over the same water. Dinner should be Spring Moon, which has a Michelin star and is usually credited with inventing XO sauce. The airport is about 45 minutes by road in one of the green Phantoms, the largest single order in Rolls-Royce's history. For anyone who finds that slow, the helipad on the roof is seven minutes' flight away.