Turn-of-the-20th-century Finnish composer Jean Sibelius is said to have seen music in shapes and colors. This may explain why, when he needed inspiration, Sibelius retired to the Hotel Kämp in Helsinki, Finland.

In Munich, Germany, new boutiques and fashionable wine bars mingle with the city’s traditional beer-hall, brass-band gusto. This merry dance of old and new continues at the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski München, a 150-year-old grande dame that occupies a commanding position on the broad Maximilianstrasse.

The historic Hotel Caruso, Orient-Express Hotels’ fourth property in Italy, incorporates the excavated remains of an 11th-century palace, a colonnade that dates to the 17th century, and buildings and artworks from the 1700s. But the property, which opened after a million restoration in 2005, does not lack for modern comforts.

Since 1867, the Amstel has been a fixture on the banks of its namesake river in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The hotel became an InterContinental property in 1981 and since has reduced the number of accommodations (which now total 55 guest rooms and 24 suites, most with views of the Amstel River).