InterContinental Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel

InterContinental Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel

On the rooftop of InterContinental Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel, lounge chairs and bird cages sit among potted plants, with the Grand Théâtre and Notre-Dame's spire visible above the rooftops, part of the UNESCO World Heritage architecture the hotel, built in 2007, sits inside. Its 130 rooms are spread across five floors, most a short walk from that same theatre and from Les Grands Hommes, so the address works for anyone who wants the historic center at the door rather than a taxi ride from it. What separates it from other five-star addresses in the city is Le Pressoir d'Argent, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant run under Gordon Ramsay's name, serving Landes foie gras and Breton lobster a few floors below rooms fitted with bathrobes and soundproofing, while Le Bordeaux downstairs keeps to plainer southwestern cooking and a wine list built around the appellation just outside. Guerlain runs the spa, there's a sauna and a doctor on call, and an indoor pool for anyone wanting quiet before a meeting in one of the thirteen named salons, Margaux and Saint Emilion among them. Business travelers and anyone serious about a meal will find the machinery of a full-service hotel running as it should, pets welcome for a nightly fee and an electric car charger by the door. Anyone hoping for a quiet, six-room retreat should book elsewhere in Bordeaux; this hotel keeps a casino and a nightclub on site alongside its business center and event salons, and it carries that scale with the same confidence as the two Michelin stars in its kitchen. A 130-room hotel in central Bordeaux, built in 2007, with a two-Michelin-starred Gordon Ramsay kitchen few rivals match. It suits business travelers and serious diners; not the traveler wanting a hushed six-room retreat, since this one also runs a casino and nightclub.