The best hotels in Paris
Trust the Parisians to lead the charge when it comes to the most glamorous and stylish hotels in the world. Amongst its majestic boulevards and hidden within its romantic arrondissements are an incredible collection of hotels that are destinations in their own right. Names like The Ritz, Hôtel Plaza Athénée and Hôtel de Crillon are gilded landmarks in their own right, famed for attracting royals and movie stars throughout the years. Then there are the city's romantic boutique boltholes, nestled in townhouses and decorated with a fantastical jeu de vivre that one can only find in Paris. Yes, this city is expensive, and yes, rooms can run very small, but plan wisely – and take our editor's advice – and a perfect stay in Paris is well within reach.
Editor's top picks:
- For luxury: La Reserve
- For families: Cheval Blanc
- For views of the Eiffel Tower: Hôtel Plaza Athénée
- For a boutique stay: Maison Proust
- For an affordable stay: Hotel Rochechouart
In this article
The best luxury hotels in Paris: La Reserve, Le Bristol, Le Royal Monceau, The Ritz, Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Hôtel de Crillon, Le Meurice, Cheval Blanc Paris, Bulgari Hotel
The best hotels in Paris for families: Cheval Blanc Paris, Four Seasons George V, Hôtel de Crillon, Hôtel Plaza Athénée
The best boutique hotels in Paris: Le Grand Mazarin, Maison Proust, La Fantaisie, JK Place, Experimental Marais, Boudoir des Muses, Maison Delano, 1, Place Vendôme, Hôtel de JoBo, Soho House Paris
The best hotels in Paris with a view: Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Four Seasons George V, Hôtel de Crillon, Hotel Madame Rêve, Hôtel Dame des Arts, Bulgari Hotel, Brach Hotel
The best affordable hotels in Paris: The Hoxton Paris, Hotel Rochechouart, Le Pigalle
What's the best area to stay in Paris?
It all depends on what you're looking for from a trip to Paris. The 7th arrondissement is where some of the most iconic attractions such as the Eiffel Tower and lots of the museums sit, while the area around Pigalle is where you'll find nightlife (including the Moulin Rouge). Montmartre is one of our favourite areas – it's touristy, but the steep hilly streets and sweet street markets offer a postcard-pretty take on the city. For more guidance, see our edit of the best neighbourhoods to stay in Paris.
How we choose the best hotels in Paris
Every hotel on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveller journalist who knows the destination and has stayed at that property. When choosing hotels, our editors consider both luxury properties and boutique and lesser-known boltholes that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination. We’re always looking for beautiful design, a great location and warm service – as well as serious sustainability credentials. We update this list regularly as new hotels open and existing ones evolve. Find out more about our editorial standards and how we review hotels.
Gaelle Le BoulicauthotelLa Reserve, 8th Arrondissement
Featured in our Gold List of the best hotels in the world 2026
I was there when La Réserve Paris Hotel and Spa opened in 2015 and have returned on numerous occasions since. I was enchanted from day one, and a decade later the spell remains unbroken. Outwardly little about the hotel has changed. Its main restaurant, Le Gabriel, has accumulated first one, then two, and now three Michelin stars. Le Gaspard, its exquisite bar (seats 18) has expanded slightly into the streetside terrace. The foliage in the serene central courtyard has grown ever more dense, treatments in the bijou basement spa ever more sophisticated. With just 40 rooms La Réserve is by far the smallest of the city’s super-elite palace-designated hotels, and it retains a discreet private quality that you might describe as residential – particularly if you are accustomed to discreet private residences that are swathed in silk, velvet, taffeta and cordovan leather, with Versaillais parquet floors, gilded reliefs, and views across Paris from Notre-Dame to the Eiffel Tower. Owner Michel Reybier and designer Jacques Garcia have collaborated on several projects (La Chartreuse de Cos d’Estournel, on the estate of the same name in Bordeaux, is another glorious example). But La Réserve Paris is their masterpiece. Steve King
Prices: Rooms from around £1,510 per night.
Address: 42 Av. Gabriel, 75008 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Marianne MajerushotelLe Bristol, 8th arrondissement
$$$Best for: luxury
In a city that inspires millions, what really makes a hotel stand out? For me, it’s a property that will transport me into a new world, to live out a fantasy of a different life in a different location. A ‘main character moment’, if you will. Le Bristol sets the scene for a stay that’s a world away from daily monotony, and embraces what most dream a trip to Paris will be: grand, storied and luxurious. From the moment you step into the marble-floored lobby, you’re welcomed by a vast arrangement of flowers picked specially by the hotel’s florists. And it’s this type of opulence that sets the scene for your stay, where you’ll twirl around a vast bedroom before collapsing into impossibly soft sheets, swim laps above the city in the hotel’s nautical-themed pool or breakfast on the butteriest, flakiest croissants made by hand in the hotel’s kitchens just hours before. The inner courtyard, where walls are adorned with plants native to the Paris region and orange blossom trees scent the air, is an oasis of tranquillity that feels like a secret shared with you and the city, and the hotel’s three Michelin-starred restaurant Epicure, led by new head chef Arnaud Faye, transports you through France's diverse regions and their culinary traditions. Le Bristol celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, but its Parisian allure is timeless, which is probably why I was unsurprised to find myself seriously considering spending 75 euros on a hotel-branded cap to take home as a memento. I guess that’s what gives Le Bristol its je ne sais quoi; you want to keep a little part of it with you, even when the fantasy is over. Abigail Malbon
Prices: Rooms from around £1,550 per night.
Address: 112 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Miromesnil
Courtesy RaffleshotelLe Royal Monceau, Raffles Paris, 8th arrondissement
$$$Best for: luxury
On a limestone avenue in the 8th arrondissement, a stone’s throw from the Arc de Triomphe, the red glass lanterns and Art Deco-style awning at the entrance of Le Royal Monceau – Raffles Paris catch your eye. Inside, the lobby leads to smaller, cosier spaces like the wood-panelled concierge and an art-focused bookshop, three restaurants, a 99-seat cinema, and a smoking lounge. A contemporary art gallery run by the hotel, Art District, has its own entrance next door. There’s a noticeable churn of locals on the ground floor – shoppers having coffee in Le Bar Long, friends holding a baby shower over brunch – which makes the property feel like a neighbourhood hangout. Le Royal Monceau was founded in 1928 by Pierre Bremond and André Junot, and Raffles assumed the management of the property in 2008.
After overhauling the interiors with Philippe Starck at the helm, it reopened as Le Royal Monceau Raffles Paris in October 2010. The 149 bedrooms and suites, from the smallest “artist rooms” to the apartment-like presidential suites, are appointed with Starck’s energetic panache: Murano-glass chandeliers hang over mid-century-modern leather sofas, writing desks made by Philippe Hurel have illustrated maps of Paris on their top, and acoustic guitars stand upright in corners, ready to be strummed. The bathrooms are jaw-droppers, decked with mirrors and stainless steel on all sides. It feels, memorably, like you are having a bath inside a disco ball. In addition to a morning-to-night, seven-days-a-week café, Le Bar Long (club sandwiches; thick hot chocolate served in its own special pot), the hotel has two destination restaurants: Matsuhisa Paris, a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant run by chef Nobu Matsuhisa (his only outpost in France), and Il Carpaccio, a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant opened in partnership with the three-Michelin-starred restaurant, Da Vittorio, based in Brusaporto, Italy (do not miss Da Vittorio’s signature dish, which is served at Il Carpaccio: paccheri with three types of tomatoes and Parmesan). In the mornings only, the Matsuhisa Paris space becomes a restaurant called La Cuisine, which serves a Parisian buffet breakfast. For high-wattage contemporary glamour and a meaty collection of artwork (pieces by Lucien Hervé, Harry Gruyaert, and Thierry Dreyfus are on-site for perusing), this is a playful, modern alternative to the many traditional Parisian hotels. Jo Rodgers
Prices: Rooms from around £917 per night.
Address: 37 Av. Hoche, 75008 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Ternes
hotelThe Ritz, 1st arrondissement
Best for: luxury
César Ritz opened this limestone bastion of French hospitality in 1898 and, in the course of running it, he and his wife, Marie Louise, who would take over the business, flipped the industry on its head. It was the first hotel in Paris with telephones, the first to offer private baths, and the first to install electricity throughout the property. It was also one of the first places in town where women could come without chaperones and meet friends for five o’clock tea. From the start, The Ritz Paris has been a Grand Siècle-style hotel with a modern soul and, much as in 1898, change is afoot. It’s said that when he was too ill to dine out, Marcel Proust had chicken and potatoes sent over from The Ritz Paris – now those hallowed kitchens are home to their first female head chef, Eugénie Béziat. Chef Béziat was born in Gabon to French parents and spent her childhood in Africa, so the flagship restaurant, Espadon, features dishes such as chicken yassa, a Senegalese speciality, and barbecued lobster with cassava semolina. Meanwhile, down a warmly lit hall is Bar Hemingway, named for the American novelist who scrimped for a cocktail a week at The Ritz. Last spring, longtime head bartender Colin Field (inventor of the Clean Dirty Martini, served with an ice cube of olive juice) stepped aside, and his protégé Anne-Sophie Prestail, has come in from the wings. Jo Rodgers
Prices: Rooms from around £1,718 per night.
Address: 15 Pl. Vendôme, 75001 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Madeleine
Vincent LerouxhotelLe Grand Mazarin, Le Marais
Best for: a boutique stay
Martin Brudnizki, the designer who has been everywhere this past year, is all about stories, and few are as seductive as the idea of an aristocratic-era literary salon in the Marais, just moments from the Seine and the Hôtel de Ville, and opposite the BHV Marais, surely Paris’s most fun department store. At Le Grand Mazarin – from Maisons Pariente, the group behind chic stays such as Provence’s Hotel Crillon Le Brave – the sense is of being in a film about a sumptuous 14th-century hotel, all pastels and layers of velvet and embroidery; everything a little softer than other recent Brudnizki projects in Soho or on New York’s Fifth Avenue. It’s built in the round with a stunning glass atrium winter garden at its heart. A bijou indoor pool, a rarity in central Paris, is overlooked by a free-form forest mural by in-demand artist Jacques Merle, and the hammam and spa specialise in extra-speedy treatments. The restaurant, Boubalé, is run by Michelin-starred chef Assaf Granit with a menu paying homage to the Ashkenazi cuisine of his parents’ heritage: Kurdish kreplach cooked in beurre blanc, potato pierogi, pickled herring and mamaliga (polenta). Tucked away in the basement is the perfectly dinky Le Bar de Boubalé, which oozes relaxed sophistication but with a dash of Wes Anderson-style whimsy. Viv Groksop
Prices: Rooms from around £600 per night.
Address: 17 Rue de la Verrerie, 75004 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Rambuteau
Courtesy Dorchester Collection/©Eric LaignelhotelHôtel Plaza Athénée, Dorchester Collection, Avenue Montaigne
$$$Best for: luxury
Don't let the aura of sedate elegance fool you: there's always been a playfulness at the heart of this grande dame. Opened in 1913, with its signature red awnings facing the stately Avenue Montaigne, the Plaza Athénée has long had ties to the fashion world, from the days when Christian Dior named collections after the hotel, to its appearance in fashion-themed favourites like Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada. Decor-wise, that translates to classic, chandelier-heavy public spaces that give way to contemporary flashes, such as the blue velvet-covered ceiling of Le Bar; and guest-wise, it means you're likely to spot some fashion editors and design house executives circling the lobby. Sandra Ramani
Prices: Rooms from around £1,300 per night.
Address: 25 Av. Montaigne, 75008 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Alma-Marceau
hotelLe Meurice, 1st arrondissement
Best for: luxury
Paris’ first palace-status hotel, Le Meurice, is a gilded city spin on Versailles – an institution and ornate refuge from the rue Rivoli crowds. Since its 1835 opening, the hotel served as an epic shorthand for Parisian history – Picasso married here, Salvador Dalí lived here, and Queen Victoria stayed here in 1855. Its splendid Haussmann façade overlooks the Tuileries gardens, with a sweeping panorama from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, and bejewelled Louis XIV wall peacock inside. This is where Philippe Starck’s fabulously jarring modernity creeps in – note his Dalí-inspired sweeping ceiling art in the Restaurant Le Dalí and his transparent plastic chairs spread across the decadent Restaurant le Meurice Alain Ducasse. Rooms and suites vary in size and splendour, all echoing (to a more modern pitch) the 18th-century spirit governing the ground floor. Amaury Bouhours is at the helm of the two Alain Ducasse restaurants, which, with French classics and Mediterranean dishes, pull in a curious mix of coiffed locals and global movers and shakers. Rosalyn Wikeley
Prices: Rooms from around £1,700 per night.
Address: 228 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Concorde
hotelHôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel, 8th arrondissement
Best for: luxury
Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel is a living, breathing landmark transported into the 21st century with utmost precision and care. It straddles two universes: a historic destination that has seen the likes of Louis XV and Marie Antoinette, and utter luxury in the heart of Paris. Interiors are palatial and perfectly matched to the grandeur of the exterior. The lobby sees a long hallway branch off into various bars, restaurants, patisseries and the spa. The hotel continuously reveals surprises and architectural delights, with guests checking in via an inviting room laden with elaborate wood detailing and plush chairs. If you peek across the hall, you can glimpse the bar, Les Ambassadeurs, a true feat of conservation and transformation.
The ornate detail extends into the 124 rooms. Each offering, whether a room, suite or Les Grand Appartements designed by Karl Lagerfeld, perfectly epitomises Paris. The 10 signature suites are the hotel’s crowning jewels, with Suite Louis XV overlooking the Place de la Concorde, the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Palais. Amber Port
Prices: Rooms from around £1,400 per night.
Address: 10 Pl. de la Concorde, 75008 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Concorde
Benjamin Rosemberg/Maison ProusthotelMaison Proust, Le Marais
Best for: a boutique stay
It’s easy to imagine renowned French author, Marcel Proust, teacup poised, trading witticisms amongst friends – Parisian high society countesses, painters, actresses and writers – in the sublimely elegant salon/bar of this 23-room romantic boutique hotel, tucked away on a tranquil street in the Marais. Opened in November 2022 – timed for the 100th anniversary of Proust’s death – nothing here is left to coincidence. Each of the lavishly furnished Belle Époque-style suites, masterminded by design guru Jacques Garcia, is named after Proust’s famous fin-de-siècle circle. And what a gang! Renoir, Manet, and Monet for the dreamy-eyed; Baudelaire, for the extravagant, Zola for the down-to-earth (there are 19th-century paintings galore and over 2,000 vintage volumes), as well as two floors devoted to sparkling-witted salon-hosting aristocrats, for madeleine cake addicts. The third hotel of the independently-owned Maisons Particulières Collection, every detail from the fabric-lined walls (birds, flowers, luxuriant palms) to the swoon-worthy Moroccan-style heated pool exudes unpretentious luxe at its best. Lanie Goodman
Prices: Rooms from around £867 per night.
Address: 26 Rue de Picardie, 75003 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Filles du Calvaire
Jérome GallandhotelLa Fantaisie, Faubourg-Montmartre
Best for: a boutique stay
How do you prize open your own pocket of Paris, a city with its myriad of secrets and cliques? La Fantaisie is the starting point. A homage to the bon viveurs and epicurean cognoscenti of Paris’ 9th arrondissement, it leverages a rooftop terrace; lush courtyard garden (a rare verdant thing in the densely-packed heart of Faubourg-Montmartre); sensational dining and the sensorial pleasures of the vibrant Rue Cadet. The 63-room, 10-suite haven was built on the site of the more sedate L’Opéra Cadet, and is the second hotel for the family-run Leitmotiv Group (its first opened in Megève in 2017). Maverick Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn runs the culinary show in the pescatarian Golden Poppy restaurant, all-day café and Bar Sur Le Toit with menus marrying her native Brittany with the Californian coast where she now spends half her time; think banana pancakes with smoked osciètre caviar and deliciously piquant charred Pasilla margaritas. Design is by legendary Swedish interior designer Martin Brudnizki, whose style of glamorous yet irreverent arts-and-craft maximalism and perfectly pitched mini detours into contemporary kitsch (this is the man who styled Annabel’s) brings a rich and highly tactile breed of optimism. Not solely a bolthole for hedonists, holistic health is omnipresent: the spa has a thermal pool and state-of-the-art infrared chamber. Katie Baron
Prices: Rooms from around £404 per night.
Address: 24 Rue Cadet, 75009 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Cadet
Oliver FlyhotelCheval Blanc Paris, 1st arrondissement
Best for: families
It seems fitting that Cheval Blanc would open its first urban hotel where so many of its clients reside — and where better than within the landmark La Samaritaine? With nearly 600 artisans involved in the restoration and works by global artists exhibited throughout the space, Cheval Blanc Paris feels like entering a living museum, one where you can very comfortably spend the night. Almost every one of the 72 sleek rooms – most of which are spacious suites – overlooks the Seine; the seventh-floor Art Deco brasserie meets cocktail bar, Le Tout-Paris, is the place to be seen before escaping to the subterranean spa helmed by Dior. Their first-ever spa cruise on the Seine is one of our favourite things to do in Paris. Kasia Dietz
Prices: Rooms from around £1,900 per night.
Address: 8 Quai du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Pont Neuf
hotelFour Seasons George V, 8th arrondissement
Best for: families
Situated off the Champs Elysées, this landmark hotel is a swish experience from the outset – staff in winter coats greet you by name every time you come and go, and the lobby is a flutter of pink ferns and white marble. The bedrooms are a sea of gold–thick curtains with cream tassels, swirly carpets and gold-trimmed frames. The Four Seasons is renowned for being brilliant with families, and there’s nowhere in the hotel where little ones aren’t welcome, including all three of the Michelin-starred restaurants. Le Cinq is the hottest table to secure with three Michelin stars – Parisians book months in advance to taste chef Christian Le Squer’s ‘foie gras like a pebble’, a truly beautiful trio of pebble-like pate poached in iodised vinegar broth. But there are two more stars to choose from – one at Italian Le George, which serves fluffy focaccia and crispy saffron arancini, and another at L’Orangerie for the fish and plant-based tasting menu. Downstairs, the basement spa is an instantly tranquil escape that feels a long way from the hustle at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, just a short walk away. A dream Parisian pied-a-terre. Tabitha Joyce
Prices: Rooms from around £2,151 per night.
Address: 31 Av. George V, 75008 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Les Halles
Jerome GallandhotelHotel Madame Rêve, 1st arrondissement
Best for: views
Post offices are – or at least used to be – inherently romantic places, and none more so than the central post office in Paris. Not only was it as vast and grand as any of the galleries in the nearby Louvre Museum, it was also open 24 hours a day. Its closure for renovation seven years ago was an inconvenience that, over time, became a matter of consternation to residents. What would become of this beloved landmark? Alors. You should have seen the looks on the faces of passers-by – the double-takes, the eyes widening in astonishment – when Madame Rêve, which occupies a substantial portion of the post-office building, opened this past autumn. A seductive, honeyed glow emanates from the discreet corner entrance. Through the windows of its ground-floor café are visible a stupendous space of boiserie panels, acres of golden velvet, a forest of columns rising to 26ft-high ceilings. These tantalising hints of splendour are matched by the transcendent outlook from the hotel’s top-storey restaurant, La Plume. The rooftop terrace, directly accessible from the restaurant, is an ideal place from which to survey a rapidly changing neighbourhood – one referred to as ‘the New Golden Triangle’. And perhaps most marvellous of all, a smaller version of that much-missed old post office has reopened almost directly below. Sophie Knight
Prices: Rooms from around £1,120 per night.
Address: 48 Rue du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Les Halles
hotelThe Hoxton Paris, 2nd arrondissement
Best for: an affordable stay
Set inside an 18th-century townhouse in the 2nd arrondissement, The Hoxton is the Shoreditch-born brand’s Parisian outpost, and it’s as stylish and hipster-chic as you’d expect. The 172 rooms are spread across four floors, with herringbone floors, brass details and vintage telephones that nod to mid-century cool. Categories run from the petite Shoebox to the spacious Biggy, but all share the same pared-back, quietly confident design.
Downstairs, the mood is lively: Rivie, the all-day brasserie, opens onto a plant-filled courtyard that hums from breakfast to late-night cocktails, while Jacques’ Bar upstairs is a sultry hideaway for nightcaps. The buzzy ground floor is filled with Parisians on laptops by day and a fashionable crowd by night, cementing The Hoxton’s role as more than a hotel - it’s an ultra-cool neighbourhood hangout. Anita Bhagwandas
Prices: Rooms start from around £200 per night
Address: 30-32 Rue du Sentier, 75002 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Bonne Nouvelle
Ludovic BalayhotelHotel Rochechouart, 9th arrondissement
Best for: an affordable stay
Strolling through the Pigalle neighbourhood and into this eight-storey Art Deco relic, there’s a distinct sense of a time when the Twenties roared. A late-night hotspot on Boulevard Marguerite de Rochechouart, the hotel’s Jazz Age incarnation drew in travelling artists, intellectuals and a smattering of stars. It’s now part of Orso, a new collection of hotels run by industry veterans Louis and Anouk Solanet (also behind Hotel Wallace below), and the sultry theatrics of the era make a welcome comeback. The couple teamed up with Charlotte de Tonnac and Hugo Sauzay of Festen Architecture to revive the building’s legacy with modern touches. Some of the finest original details were restored, from the Thirties blue mosaic floor in the restaurant to the marble staircase and glass lift.
Upstairs, 106 rooms were given an autumnal, woody touch with shades of bronze, ochre and terracotta. Decorative details, from the burl-wood headboards to the curved armchairs and alabaster suspension lamps, thoughtfully whisk guests to another time. The Sacré-Coeur looms large from northern-facing bedroom windows (and in some cases, balconies) but is visible to all from the rooftop bar. On the ground floor, an old-world brasserie with plush banquettes serves up comforting Parisian classics, from chicken-liver pâté to roasted pork belly with crisp frites and the signature crêpe cake – a family recipe guests invariably try to coax out of the staff. One floor underground, the old Mikado club of the 1920s has returned as a dimly-lit speakeasy, where a trendy set sip cocktails on plush velvet sofas while a DJ spins electric beats in the corner. Next door, blue-hued Citrons et Huîtres is where locals perch at red metal tables on the pavement, throwing back fresh oysters from Brittany and chilled Champagne. Lindsey Tramuta
Prices: Rooms from around £120 per night.
Address: 55 Blvd Marguerite de Rochechouart, 75009 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Anvers
Patrick LocqueneuxhotelExperimental Marais, 3rd arrondissement
Best for: a boutique stay
The third Experimental hotel in Paris, and the newest (and, dare we say, the coolest?) member of the clan, Experimental Marais brings fresh energy and unique style to the place where it all began. The boutique address is a hop and a skip from the city’s most charismatic boutiques, stylish restaurants and artisan coffee, and just a 10-minute walk from the original Experimental Cocktail Club, which first opened its doors in 2007. The building might have been a hotel in its former life, but its transformation was a speedy one nonetheless. Easy, perhaps, when your vision is as clear as that of its owners? Elements of original architecture remain: a full glass wall at the back of the restaurant that slides open when the weather allows. Each of the 43 rooms combine clean-lined panelling on the walls with curvaceous archways and mixes bright white with deep paint colours and clever lighting to emulate a cosy atmosphere.
As with all Experimental properties, the onsite restaurant Temple & Chapon is a destination in its own right. The menu combines French and New York influences and includes freshly shucked oysters, crab cakes with a spicy kick and chopped salads, and sole, lobster and generous cuts of meat. The cocktails also deserve a spotlight. Martini lovers will be in their element – American Bar’s riff on the glassy concoction comes with a separate borrower-sized pouring jar and a generous top-up portion that saves ordering a second any time soon. Sarah Bannerman
Prices: Rooms from around £340 per night.
Address: 116 Rue du Temple, 75003 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Rambuteau
Ludovic BalayhotelHôtel Dame des Arts, Left Bank
Best for: a view
Nobody could say that Paris’s Left Bank is unknown or unloved or crying out to be rediscovered. Yet it’s true that in recent years most of the city’s new hospitality hotspots – bars and restaurants as well as hotels – have popped up on the other side of the river. One of the most endearing things about Hôtel Dame des Arts is its commitment to its Left Bank location. The Mid-century Modern aesthetic works brilliantly well in this particular building, in this particular street, in this particular corner of the 6th arrondissement. It channels a Nouvelle Vague vibe without veering into pastiche or cliché. The design, by Raphael Navot, is subtly seductive, all about the lively interplay between curved and straight lines, hard and soft textures, and glossy and matte surfaces. The classic-with-a-twist approach is reflected differently in the restaurant’s menu, a beguiling Franco-Mexican fusion with pan-Asian influences, which literally puts a fresh zing into old-school brasserie standbys. The Dame has another ace up her sleeve, however. The views get better and better as you get higher and higher, and those from the rooftop bar are, on a sunny afternoon, just about as good as it gets – which in this city is very good indeed. Steve King
Prices: Rooms from around £250 per night.
Address: 4 Rue Danton, 75006 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Saint-Michel
Le PigallehotelLe Pigalle, 9th arrondissement
Best for: an affordable stay
This little Parisienne in the heart of once-sketchy, now super-cool Pigalle (on the on the border of the 9th and the 18th arrondissements) is well thought through. It’s from the group behind Instagram-famous Les Roches Rouges on the Côte d'Azur , so we knew it would be. The rooms, which are small, are kitted out with Art Deco furniture and shelves stacked with well-curated photographs. There are turntables and a selection of vinyl as well as pre-mixed Negronis and Manhattans in bottles in the mini bar. There’s no denying the neighbourhood is lively at night – the hotel is on a strip just south of the Metro that’s full of strip clubs and sex shops, but also fun bars such as Dirty Dick and Lipstick. Downstairs in the lobby, as well as a marble-topped co-working space, there’s a red velvet curtain which pulls back to reveal a velvet banquet, neon sign and pole. Find young couples recovering from hangovers over a breakfast of avocado toast with cream cheese and croissants that’s served until 4pm. For those seeking a cool sleepover within walking distance of a fun night out, this is the place to stay if you’re partying in Paris. Tabitha Joyce
Prices: Rooms from around £150 per night.
Address: 9 Rue Frochot, 75009 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Pigalle
hotelBoudoir des Muses, 3rd arrondissement
Best for: a boutique stay
There’s a definitive vibe to Boudoir de Muses – one that’s romantic in an overt way, and unashamed of its provocative nature. Originally built in the 18th century, initially, it was home to a theatre whereby its actresses were renowned for having – shall we say – ‘loose morals’. But in a surprising turn of events it later became a convent. Now, association with its past is intended to be a respectful reflection of its history. We stayed in a suite which was beautifully spacious compared to Parisian boutique stays I’ve had in the past.
As with most of the smaller Parisian hotels, all the food and drink action happens in the same place – the property’s entrance is designed to be a comfortable lounge, bar and breakfast area. Pink and green velvet chairs frame gold-trimmed tables and, looking down from the higher floors of the building, you can see they’ve been arranged in the shape of a cross. At night, cocktails and tapas are served to accompany live DJ sets that last well into the evening. Underground, bookable private baths are available to hotel and external guests, as are a calendar of events: cabaret shows, tarot reading, self confidence workshops and guided meditations. Sarah Bannerman
Prices: Rooms from around £200 per night.
Address: 6 Rue de Saintonge, 75003 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Saint-Sébastien - Froissart
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Gaelle Le BoulicauthotelMaison Delano, 8th arrondissement
Best for: a boutiqe stay
While much of the city's top hotels shout with grandeur, Maison Delano whispers sweet luxuries. Despite its flashy Faubourg Saint Honoré neighbours – Hermès, Gucci and Cartier are all within mere steps – the 18th century mansion is surprisingly discreet. The Delano name is one that’s well known within the hotel world. It was the name in Miami in the 1990s, when the Art Deco South Beach hotel Delano was the place to be seen alongside Madonna and Prince. For its first opening outside of the US, the mood is paired back and neutral while contemporary art by names like George Terzian and Damien Hurst adorn the walls throughout, and the sweetest citrus fragrance lingers in the air. Hidden behind black lacquer doors, rooms are spacious, crisp and airy, with sleek wooden floors, white fluffy cloud-like beds and remote-controlled Japanese toilets in the bathrooms. The mansion’s original grandeur is on full display in much of the 19 suites – most notably the Grand Historic Suite with its chandelier adorned gold high ceiling. The centrepiece of the hotel is the courtyard restaurant La Chambre Bleueone, headed up by Chef Dani García. The leafy open-air setting is enough to make you want to book a table – which guests need to do as it’s one of the most popular restaurants in Paris right now. Lauren Burvill
Prices: Rooms from around £511 per night.
Address: 4 Rue d'Anjou, 75008 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Madeleine
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TOMMY-PICONEhotelBulgari Hotel, 8th arrondissement
Best for: luxury
Think of this quietly decadent hotel on avenue George V as a portal, or possibly even a break in the space-time continuum – one that can spirit you from Paris to Rome in the time it takes to order a croissant. Between the Gio Ponti artwork, plush Maxalto furniture and even the dozen signature Italian pastries on offer, there’s more than a hint of the bel paese suffused into this high-polish Parisian hideaway. Close to Le Bristol and the Plaza Athénée on the so-called Golden Triangle, it’s the sort of place where patrons in Prada glasses might convene for an aperitivo at the backlit onyx bar to discuss the latest show at the Palais de Tokyo while nibbling on plump Castelvetrano olives and crumbly focaccia rings. Swiss businessmen swim morning laps in a semi-Olympic pool glimmering with malachite and gold mosaics.
There’s a certain pristine perfection to the place, which was a decade in the making. Italian architectural firm Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel led the renovation of a Seventies post office, extending the window openings over two floors – a nod to the Renaissance palaces designed by Andrea Palladio – and constructing the façade with the same pale ashlar masonry as Paris’s most recognisable monuments, including the Louvre and the Trocadéro. The food and drink, developed by science-driven chef Niko Romito and former Ritz mixologist Leonardo Zanini, is precise but unfussy – expect luscious spaghetti e pomodoro preceded by fizzy tequila cocktails. The Bulgari feels like a crisply sumptuous cocoon; a slice of high-fashion Italy that somehow fits just right into one of the world’s great hotel quarters. Betsy Blumenthal
Prices: Rooms from around £1,500 per night
Address: 30 Av. George V, 75008 Paris, France
Closest metro station: George V
Guillaume de LaubierhotelBrach Hotel, 16th arrondissement
Best for: a view
The staid 16th arrondissement hasn’t exactly drawn visitors over the years. So it’s a testament to the cool factor of Evok Hotels that it can take a former mail-sorting facility in this bourgeois, residential district and make it le talk of Paris. After a four-year renovation overseen by designer Philippe Starck, the resulting hotel is as much about a lifestyle as a place to crash. For one thing, the buzzing restaurant draws fashionable locals starting at breakfast and continuing until the early hours with its patisserie, plates-to-share and potent drinks. A terrace bar lures the pretty people. The subterranean fitness club channels a Thirties boxing club and had a waiting list the minute it opened. Even the swimming pool has a killer sound system. The party continues in the rooms, each with its own mini concept store (the mini-bar is so 2018), stocked with pre-made cocktails by the Avantgarde Spirits Company. The design smacks of Starck’s typical sassy eclecticism: walls covered in rich rosewood and leather, African masks and Masai-style beadwork, and in the bathrooms there are potted cacti next to sinks hewn from unfinished blocks of marble. Who knew that the 16th of all places would become the city’s next hip address?
Prices: Rooms from around £600 per night.
Address: 1-7 Rue Jean Richepin, 75116 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Rue de la Pompe
hotelHôtel de JoBo, 4th arrondissement
Best for: a boutique stay
The splendidly named Bambi Sloan, who did the interiors of this ravishing little place in the Marais, isn't quite sure how to describe herself. She says she's part designer, part storyteller. She might consider calling herself a history teacher as well. Among other things, Jobo is an amusing education in certain aspects of French life, art and culture in the post-revolutionary period. The name comes from Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon's first wife and, briefly, Empress of France. From this position of eminence, she indulged her racy and refined tastes – leading the craze for leopard skin, for example, and for swans, and, more than anything else, for roses. All of which are not merely in evidence at the hotel but effectively define it. The result is intense but delightful - it's too witty, too thoughtfully executed to be oppressive. The decadent toffs with whom Josephine caroused in the years after the revolution called themselves 'Les Incroyables et Les Merveilleuses'. Hôtel de Jobo is both incredible and marvellous. It's also tiny. The ceilings are low, the corridors narrow and the size of the bedrooms ranges from a mere 15 square metres to a modest 40. But that's more than enough if you're Napoleon and Josephine in the early throes of fascination, with no need for anything more than a comfortable bed surrounded by roses and leopardskin and swans. Steve King
Prices: Rooms from around £350 per night.
Address: 10 Rue d'Ormesson, 75004 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Saint-Paul
hotelJK Place, 7th arrondissement
Best for: a boutique stay
Could this be designer Michele Bönan’s finest hour? The Florentine interiors guru has always gone the extra mile in his work for Italo-Israeli hotelier Ori Kafri’s small but growing JK Place stable, which launched in 2003 with the much-imitated Florence bolthole before opening equally suave outposts in Rome and Capri. This is the group’s first hotel outside Italy, a 29-room conversion of a maison particulier in Paris’s Saint-Germain district. Bönan has raided galleries, antique shops and the Saint-Ouen flea market to create an eclectic collection of post-Cubist canvases, African chairs, classical busts, David Hicks sideboards and Balmain and Hermès sketches. Spread across five floors and three interconnected buildings, the smart rooms seem to demand cufflinks. They come with perks that help to soften the muscular rates, including free minibars with organic juices and single-origin chocolate, and bathrooms so big you could take afternoon tea in them. With warm service from a largely Italian team, the place feels more like a private-members’ club than many actual private-members’ clubs. Downstairs, the glass-roofed Casa Tua restaurant serves up good southern Italian food, while a small pool – the highlight of the dinky basement spa – invites lazy lengths before Negronis at the bar. Lee Marshall
Prices: Rooms from around £860 per night.
Address: 82 Rue de Lille, 75007 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Solférino
Gregory COPITEThotel1, Place Vendôme, 1st arrondissement
Best for: a boutiqe stay
The French capital has more than its fair share of hotels with Studio 54-style waiting lists or storied suites. 1, Place Vendôme – owned by the Scheufele family behind Swiss fine jeweller and watchmaker Chopard – counters that razzle dazzle with an elegance that’s quintessentially Parisian but more homely, especially for those accustomed to butler service. Designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon (The Dorchester, Peninsula Shanghai), it’s a new jewel for the regal 1st arrondissement, amid Place Vendôme’s murmur of top labels, and directly above the Chopard boutique. Guests enter through an imposing blue door, unbranded except for an enigmatic cursive “C”. This place is more akin to a members’ club than a hotel (it’s only accessible to guests and their visitors), so many conventions are dispensed with. There’s no lobby, rather the grandeur of an entrance hall with an 18th-century stone fireplace and sweeping staircase. Check-in, as with dining, happens wherever guests please: in the library-salon, one of the sumptuous lounges or their bedroom – of which there are five, plus 10 suites including the double-height, Versailles-worthy, gilded confection known as Appartement Chopard. There’s a glass-walled table d’hôte that allows guests to peer in on the chefs while dining; a winter-garden conservatory with a jungle-themed mural crafted from thousands of cabochon gemstones; and a Chinese-inspired fumoir. This is classic Paris, cut with an haute-private edge. Katie Baron
Prices: Rooms from around £1,115 per night.
Address: 1 Pl. Vendôme, 75001 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Concorde
Artwork by Roberto Ruspoli, photo by Alexandre TabastehotelSoho House Paris, 9th arrondissement
Best for: a boutique stay
Between the 9th and 18th arrondissements, in the heart of Pigalle, sits one of the most-awaited and inconspicuous of Soho Houses. Set behind the unremarkable green doors of the 19th-century building, this Soho House leans into its Parisian location, with a sprawling garden courtyard, three bars, a cabaret space, and 36 bedrooms.
It's the result of a four-year renovation that the team completed in 2021. Chintzy fabrics courtesy of the Pierre Frey archive, of-the-moment handpainted lampshades, tasselled velvets and seemingly unlimited amounts of wall sconces sit alongside the existing wall panelling, Art Deco features and other enviable original details. The third floor houses the attic rooms, with murals inspired by French poet Jean Cocteau (Cocteau grew up here as it was his grandparents' home). They are extremely cosy, with original raftered ceilings, but have all of the classic Soho House elements, such as the always-welcome trolley bar – although there isn't enough room for a freestanding roll-top bath.
On the other side of this rabbit’s warren of a building sits the rooftop, with a pool bar and terrace lined with sunbeds. It’s tiny, but this is central Paris. Down in the garden, the restaurant is where you can while away the day under the conservatory roof and graze on French classics like Croque Monsieurs and Tarte Tatin. This, topped with Cocteau’s presence in the air, really is the Parisian dream. Martha Ward
Prices: Rooms from around £440 per night.
Address: 45 Rue la Bruyère, 75009 Paris, France
Closest metro station: Saint-Georges
