Love across the continent: the best city breaks for Valentine's Day

Play away while staying together… [View in browser]( [Image]( [HOTELS]( [INSPIRATION]( [OFFERS]( [Image]( Last Valentine’s Day was a homely one, with long distance love affairs all but ruled out. This year, cupid can send his arrows far and wide. With city breaks back on the scene, we’ve got our eyes on four favourites – Paris, Rome, Florence and London. There’s an enchanting château in the heart of the French capital, a Florentine stay gazing over the River Arno, and a London hotel suffused with the spirit of Oscar Wilde. Go forth, hotel lovers… SOARING HEARTS IN THE CITY OF LIGHT PARIS, JE T'AIME [Alternate text]( MONSIEUR GEORGE The relationship between Paris and romance can feel a little cliché – which is, after all, a word coined by the French. But a hotel that marries the city’s glamour with the allure of faraway shores? Now that has a place in our hearts. A minute’s walk from the Champs-Élysées, this Hausmannian stay has interiors by Anouska Hempel, who pays tribute to Parisians’ love of beautiful things, from English gardens to Indochinese art. [VIEW HOTEL]( [Alternate text]( SAINT JAMES PARIS The Saint James is the only hotel in the city that lays claim to an entire château. Hidden behind stone walls, this 19th-century showstopper was designed to steal hearts – and still does today, with its fragrant gardens, sweeping staircases and chinoiserie-style suites. From breakfasts at wrought-iron tables to night caps in the wood-panelled library, this stay will have you feeling like you’ve awoken in a novel by Flaubert or Proust. [VIEW HOTEL]( BE CRADLED IN CULTURE AMOROUS ITALY [Alternate text]( JK PLACE ROMA This Centro Storico stay is in a centuries-old palazzo that was once Rome’s school of architecture. In fitting tribute, the interiors are a prime example of something Italian designers excel at: marrying the classic (artful plasterwork, marble fireplaces and rosewood canopy beds) with the modern (‘sputnik’ chandeliers and sculptural armchairs). The location is equally desirable: minutes from the Eternal City’s most sigh-inducing sights. [VIEW HOTEL]( [Alternate text]( PORTRAIT FIRENZE Perched above the Ponte Vecchio, Portrait Firenze is in Florence’s ochre-hued heart. Styled with mid-century furniture, cashmere throws and white marble, the rooms recall Fifties glamour and the golden age of Italian cinema. In February, the cobbled streets and Medici-built palaces are far more accessible than in summer, and Tuscan wines and Florentine cucina will light a fire in your soul no matter what the mercury reads. [VIEW HOTEL]( A CAPITAL AFFAIR LONDON LIASONS [Alternate text]( L'OSCAR With a name that invokes the ultimate die-hard romantic, L’oscar was always going to be Wilde at heart. Originally the London headquarters of the Baptist Church, the listed building had pious beginnings but is now devoted to decadence. The rooms are dressed with enough velvet, Lalique crystal and silk screens to make you forget what century you’re in, and the domed chapel is now a place of ascendant corks and devilishly good cocktails. [VIEW HOTEL]( [Alternate text]( THE FRANKLIN Spread across a quintet of redbrick townhouses on a garden square, The Franklin is one fine-looking stay. The rouge-faced Victorian is on the border between Knightsbridge and Kensington, two of London's prettiest – not to say prim and proper – postcodes. Designer Anouska Hempel sure has a talent for seductive bedrooms. Here, she's added a touch of Italian excess into the mix, with smoky mirrors, plush velvet curtains and gleaming marble adding a theatrical finish. [VIEW HOTEL]( [Alternate text]( [Alternate text]( [Image]( [Image]( YOUR MEMBERSHIP LEVEL BlackSmith LOYALTY CREDIT $0 Why book with us? [Image]( BEST-PRICE GUARANTEE [Image]( SMITH EXTRAS ON ARRIVAL [Image]( NEW FINDS EVERY MONTH [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [YouTube]( [Spotify]( We only contact you with news and offers that we genuinely believe will be of interest and we will never sell your details to third parties. This email was sent to {EMAIL} by Mr & Mrs Smith. [Unsubscribe]( or [update]( your contact details. Registered office: Registered office: Mr & Mrs Smith (Americas) Inc, 60 Broad St, Suite 2415, New York, NY 10004, United States. Company registration no: 443 8845 VAT no: GB802561850