Art Hotels

Vermelho means red in Portuguese, and it is also the signature colour of Christian Louboutin, whose first hotel this is. It sits in a small village on the Alentejo coast, south of Lisbon. From outside it looks plain: a whitewashed building on a village street.

Inside is another matter. Thirteen rooms, each designed separately, carry painted frescoes, Alentejo tiles, antiques and pieces from the designer's own collection. Local craftspeople made much of what you touch. A restaurant and bar sit on the ground floor.

Brunkebergstorg is a square in central Stockholm, and At Six occupies a brutalist building on one side of it. The concrete shell stayed. Universal Design Studio reworked the interiors in dark, quiet tones.

Art does the rest. The collection, curated by Sune Nordgren, runs through the public spaces, starting with a large sculpture by Jaume Plensa above the stone staircase. Works by artists including Olafur Eliasson and Julian Opie appear on the floors above. Guest rooms each hold their own piece.

Near Gare du Nord, in the 10th arrondissement, Grand Amour reads more like a friend's flat than a lobby. The artist André Saraiva is one of its founders. His hand, and that of artists around him, shows up everywhere.

Photographs and drawings cover the corridors and rooms. Furniture is collected rather than matched. The ground-floor restaurant spills onto the street in good weather and stays busy with locals. Expect a lively building, not a hushed one.