Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at the First Residence

Perched atop a retail and dining megaplex a mile north of the Pyramids, this Four Seasons hotel earns its place in a city that has high standards for grandeur. Rooms are enormous and marble-clad, with Nile or Pyramid views depending on your luck at check-in. Napoleonic-era detailing and gilded accents keep things warm rather than sterile. The open-air pool, lined in Venetian mosaics, faces the river.