The Luxe Hotels of Paris

If your travel itinerary demands a) celebrity encounters, b) bathrooms bigger than the average locals’ entire apartment, and c) only restaurants that have awards for days…then you must be a 1%-er. 

If you aren’t, then either start grinding or start inheriting. Or maybe hang out at the bars on this list of Luxe Hotels until you get picked up by Bill Gates; a tale as old as time. Someone is gonna be the next Mrs. Gates and it might as well be you. 

So whether you’re a bitcoin baller, you married up, all that leaning in worked out, or something in between (and more normal/less cynical), these are your spots. 

Please do say hi to Prince Harry and Beyonce for us while you are there. While just being in Paris can give one the feeling of, “Am I better than you? Why yes, yes I am » (until you take the metro, that is), these posh Hotels (some with the Palace designation: that is, they rate above 5 stars) will give you that baller energy the moment you step out into the street after soaking in your tub with an Eiffel Tower view. Calling all thread-count tourists…#notallhotels

Le Grand Contrôle

What could be more opu­lent than going to bed where his­to­ry’s freaki­est kings and queens once tread? A bril­liant cock­tail of the rich­ness of French his­to­ry inject­ed straight into your bed­room and mod­ern lux­u­ry (Marie Antoinette did­n’t have WiFi, but you sure will), Le Grand Con­trôle / Château de Ver­sailles hotel will not only assign you a pri­vate but­ler but that but­ler will but­tle like noth­ing you ever saw, ready to pull the trig­ger on a num­ber of unbe­liev­able expe­ri­ences like rid­ing roy­al ponies, play­ing dress-up like a queen, vin­tage car gala­vant­i­ng, and on and on. If you can swing it, do this. It’s almost worth being filed away in the sleepy sub­urbs rather than among the thump­ing and throb­bing of glit­ter­ing Paris.

ADDRESS: 12 Rue de l’indépen­dance-Améri­caine, 78000 Versailles

MÉTRO: Ver­sailles Château Rive Gauche (RER C)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Ver­sailles

PRICE: €€€€

DEETS: his­toric opu­lence, the go-to for an exclu­sive Palace of Ver­sailles expe­ri­ence, a bou­tique stay, spa, indoor pool, hous­ing of high-end restaurants

Le Cheval Blanc

Le Cheval Blanc is the new ~IT girl~ on the block. One of Paris’ newest luxe hotels, the Cheval Blanc’s sum­mer gar­den perched in the sky above the Rive Seine (well almost, 7th floor though) isn’t the only rea­son to drop your lug­gage here; oth­er, com­pelling rea­sons include it’s loca­tion on the riv­er: you’ll have an up-close view of Paris as it glit­ters when the sun goes down. Not to men­tion the enve­lope-push­ing inte­ri­or design. And as it opened sud­den­ly and semi-recent­ly, you can flex on your friends that you were there first. Like the muse­um the Hotel de la Marine…

ADDRESS: 8 quai du Lou­vre (1st arr.)

MÉTRO: Pont Neuf (line 7) or Lou­vre-Riv­o­li (line 1)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Lou­vre / Riv­o­li / Tuileries

PRICE: €€€€

DEETS: in the heart of Paris, gourmet hotel restau­rant, free WiFi, free break­fast, free park­ing, indoor pool, laun­dry ser­vice, near the Lou­vre, hotel bar, spa, hair salon, four restau­rants, gym and yoga studio

ROOMS WITH A VIEW: Deluxe Bal­cony Room, Junior Suite Seine, Suite Seine, Notre-Dame Suite

Hotel de Crillon

Of course you would expect noth­ing less than breath­tak­ing views of the Eif­fel Tow­er and Parisian rooftops with patios the size of Texas for 14,000€ per night. I do. There are also hushed inner court­yards for serene din­ing, and restau­rants that will make you think, « I have arrived ».

If you win the Tour de France, you get to stay here for a week in their top suite. Appar­ent­ly they tried to get Lance Arm­strong to reim­burse them a few hun­dred thou­sand for his ill-got­ten stays but he demurred. 

La Cril­lon is one of the few hotels in Paris to be award­ed « Palace » sta­tus; a rat­ing high­er than five stars. When the French gov­ern­ment cre­at­ed this rat­ing to rec­og­nize off-the-charts efforts to main­tain Paris’ rep­u­ta­tion as the glob­al cap­i­tal of Luxe, all the top hotels went into a ren­o­vat­ing fren­zy to out-do each oth­er. Lucky us, many have just pulled the painters’ tape off the edges and are fresh­ly ready to make our hearts pound. 

ADDRESS: 10 Place de la Con­corde (8th arr.)

MÉTRO: Con­corde (lines 1, 8, 12)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Arc de Tri­om­phe / Champs Elysées / Concorde

PRICE: €€€ — €€€€€

DEETS: luxe, palace hotel, we like nice things

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Suite Bern­stein

Le Meurice

Con­struct­ed in 1806, Le Meurice began as a “hotel of Kings” (which was a pret­ty ball­sy move con­sid­er­ing we had just behead­ed our roy­al­ty and about 16,000 of their clos­est friends), but is now more known as the « hotel of Bey­once ». So much so that it’s rumored that Blue Ivy was con­ceived here when Queen B and her hus­band Jay‑Z vis­it­ed the City of Light.

But you don’t have to be a queen, chart-top­per, or a queen of top­ping-charts to soak in all the gold-trimmed every­thing. The sump­tu­ous baroque inte­ri­or will make any­one feel like a star. 

As anoth­er of Paris’ Palace hotels, Le Meurice offers a well-sit­u­at­ed launch­ing point  for you to explore the most impres­sive land­marks of Paris as it real­ly is in the heart of things. Exit and go left to explore le Marais’ his­toric dis­trict and Notre Dame. Spin around and hit up the Sen­tier dis­trict with the Palais Roy­al and Paris’ insta­gram­ma­ble cov­ered pas­sages. Go right and wan­der the Champs-Ely­sees and the Eif­fel Tow­er. You can’t lose, and if you’re stay­ing here, clear­ly you haven’t.

ADDRESS: 228 Rue de Riv­o­li (1st arr.)

MÉTRO: Con­corde (lines 1, 8, 12)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Lou­vre-Riv­o­li

PRICE: €€€ — €€€€€

DEETS: luxe, palace hotel, we like nice things

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Belle Etoile Pent­house Suite

@jkplaceparis

JK Place

Locat­ed right off the Seine riv­er, JK Place is just not kid­ding at all. If you’re look­ing for a luxe hotel with easy strolls  to the mon­u­ments and top muse­ums of Paris, then JK Place is worth a look.

ADDRESS: 82 Rue de Lille (7th arr.)

MÉTRO: Assem­blée Nationale (line 12)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Invalides

PRICE: €€€

DEETS: air con­di­tion­ing, bar, boat, wifi, gym

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Mas­ter Suite

@hotellutetia

Hôtel Lutetia

The first and only Palace Hotel on the Left Bank, Lute­tia (which was what the Romans called Paris while they were in charge) is a fusion of Art Deco and Art Nou­veau. The salons were once the hang­out of Josephine Bak­er and Albert Camus, author of The Stranger. The hotel bar makes my heart pound — I go there to get drunk on well-pre­served clas­sic archi­tec­ture. Because I’m that kind of girl.

ADDRESS: 45 Boule­vard Ras­pail (6th arr.)

MÉTRO: Sevres Baby­lone (lines 10, 12)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Saint-Germain-des-Prés

PRICE: €€€

DEETS: spa, well­ness, luxe, air con­di­tion­ing, wifi, activ­i­ties, chil­dren friend­ly, bar, brunch

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Deluxe Room with Balcony

@lebristolparis

Le Bristol

If there’s no time dur­ing your Paris vaca­tion to fit in a trip to Ver­sailles, then book your stay at the Le Bris­tol Hotel. With regal rooms, out­door spas, panoram­ic views, and palace set­tings of court­yards and gar­den ros­es, you will be sure to get a taste of the roy­al lifestyle while still remain­ing a Parisian for a few days.

ADDRESS: 112 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Hon­oré (8th arr.)

MÉTRO: Miromes­nil (lines 9, 13)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Arc de Tri­om­phe / Champs Elysées / Concorde

PRICE: €€€€€

DEETS: regal, palace, gar­den, ter­race, great views, bar, spa, jacuzzi, air con­di­tion­ing, wifi

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Deluxe Room with Gar­den View or Ter­race Suite with Out­door Spa

@maisonsouquetofficial

Maison Souquet

The silk thread counts in these rooms are too high to count as each room is tai­lored for an excep­tion­al expe­ri­ence. To get the his­tor­i­cal vibe, book a room fash­ioned after Napoleon III’s apart­ment or just book one of their still-opu­lent apart­ments that, I assure you, bears no resem­blance to a typ­i­cal Parisian apart­ment (most grown adults in Paris have the equiv­a­lent of a dorm-room refrig­er­a­tor — one of the trade-offs of liv­ing in one of the word’s pret­ti­est cities). But the most atyp­i­cal Parisian expe­ri­ences might just be the spa and swim­ming pool under a celes­tial ceil­ing or per­haps the hid­den cock­tail bar equipped with cozy vel­vet fur­ni­ture and a fire­place. Yes, please!

ADDRESS: 10 Rue de Brux­elles (9th arr.)

MÉTRO: Place de Clichy (lines 2, 13)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Pigalle

PRICE: €€€

DEETS: spa, pool, junior suites, small apart­ments, hid­den cock­tail bar, lunch and dinner

@shangrilaparis

Shangri-La

The fic­tion­al fairy­tale of a utopic hide­away comes to life in the Paris Shangri-la. The sta­t­ic that clogs up your attempts at med­i­ta­tion can be found IRL here. There are Eif­fel Tow­er views beck­on­ing you to focus there instead of your third eye, pic­turesque gar­dens cra­dled among the opu­lent lime­stone build­ings that look like cakes, and so much lux­u­ry, it’ll make you blush. Who ordered the  enchant­ment and refin­ery? Oui, c’est moi

 

ADDRESS: 10 Avenue d’Ié­na (16th arr.)

MÉTRO: Iéna (line 9)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Chail­lot / Trocadéro

PRICE: €€€€

DEETS: Miche­lin star, restau­rant, bar, Eif­fel Tow­er views, wed­dings, spa, hel­la romance

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Duplex Eif­fel View Suite

@princedegallesparis

Le Prince de Galles

After open­ing in 1929, Le Prince de Galles has remained a lux­u­ry hotel and has con­tin­u­al­ly enthralled its guests with its exquis­ite cock­tail and culi­nary bar and choice of three relax­ing suites (along with reg­u­lar guest rooms, of course). The hotel is just a few steps from the Riv­er Seine and icon­ic land­marks, such as the Arc de Tri­om­phe and Eif­fel Tow­er, and it’s breath­tak­ing views of the Paris sky­line are the rea­son you’ll feel like a Parisian. An elite, 1%-er but still like a Parisian…

ADDRESS: 33 Avenue George V (8th arr.)

MÉTRO: George V (line 1)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Arc de Tri­om­phe / Champs Elysées / Concorde

PRICE: €€€€

DEETS: bar, spa, fit­ness cen­ter, patio, hotel restau­rant, wed­ding venue, event space, valet parking

ROOM WITH A VIEW: The Suite Saphir

@grandhoteldupalaisroyal

Grand Hôtel du Palais Royal

The Grand Hotel du Palais Roy­al is near the Lou­vre and the Tui­leries Gar­dens as well as the Palais Roy­al and its for­mal gar­dens. So, posh neigh­bors, indeed. The hotel is charm­ing and refined with light and airy rooms and suites that would be embar­rassed not to invite you out for break­fast on their bal­conies over­look­ing the city. The hotel has its own restau­rant and bar (don’t they all…) show­cas­ing French cui­sine and sea­son­al dish­es, as well as a fit­ness cen­ter (Real­ly? In Paris? Go on a food walk or some­thing, you can do pilates when you get home) and spa (ok a mas­sage is always a hard oui...)

ADDRESS: 4 Rue de Val­ois (1st arr.)

MÉTRO: Palais-Roy­al — Musée du Lou­vre (lines 1, 7)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Place Vendôme / Palais Royale

PRICE: €€€

DEETS: near the lou­vre, hotel bar and restau­rant, spa, fit­ness cen­ter, event spaces

ROOM WITH A VIEW: The Panoram­ic Suite

Hotel Raphaël

Built in 1925, the stone build­ing and intri­cate facade of Hotel Raphaël is a back­drop for Paris romance that won’t leave you blue. Their rooms, dec­o­rat­ed with gen­uine antique fur­ni­ture and hand-paint­ed murals, trans­port you into old-school French sophis­ti­ca­tion and ele­gance. All rooms offer a beau­ti­ful view of the city and some even over­look the Eif­fel Tow­er or Arc De Tri­om­phe. The hotel offers ameni­ties such as a fit­ness cen­ter (again! real­ly, ok, only if you are a lit­er­al lin­gerie mod­el with a pho­to­shoot TOMORROW, do I ~autho­rize~ you to use a god­damn ellip­ti­cal when you could be in Mont­martre or hell, even in Mon­treuil!) . End rant. As you would imag­ine (you are an expert if you have been read­ing with us this far…) they also have a restau­rant and bar (rooftop ter­race too!), and event spaces.

***Regard­ing the lin­gerie mod­el thing, if this is true and you need our autho­riza­tion form, please send pix to hello@parisdefined.com and one of our numer­ous flexi­sex­u­als will be in touch not long after to com­plete your request.

ADDRESS: 17 avenue Kléber (16th arr.)

MÉTRO: Bois­sière (line 6)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Chail­lot / Trocadéro

PRICE: €€€

DEETS: fit­ness cen­ter, hotel restau­rant, event space, Eng­lish bar, rooftop dining

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Eif­fel Tow­er Ter­race Suite or Arc De Tri­om­phe Ter­race Suite

@hotelgrandpowers

Hôtel Grand Powers

Built in the heart of the Parisian Gold­en Tri­an­gle in 1920, The Grand Pow­ers is a pic­ture of her­itage and moder­ni­ty. With its fifty rooms, the hotel offers cozy, time­less rooms and chic, spa­cious suites all col­or­ful in their own palettes of either pink, green, or blue. They believe in healthy liv­ing and instill this ide­al with yoga mats in every room and an excep­tion­al­ly healthy restau­rant menu. Still go on the Best Crois­sants of Paris tour though. Keto and yoga can wait. 

ADDRESS: 52 Rue François 1er (8th arr.)

MÉTRO: George V (line 1)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Arc de Tri­om­phe / Champs Elysées / Concorde

PRICE: €€€

DEETS: spa, hotel bar and restau­rant, event spaces, Eif­fel Tow­er views

ROOM WITH A VIEW: L’Elégante (Eif­fel Tow­er view), Pres­tige Junior Suites

Hôtel Marignan Champs-Élysées

With ter­races dis­play­ing immac­u­late views of the Eif­fel Tow­er, Hotel Marig­nan Champs-Ely­sees is the def­i­n­i­tion of Paris refine­ment. They offer mul­ti­ple ele­gant room types includ­ing Eif­fel Tow­er Pres­tige and Deluxe with high ceil­ings and ter­races, while oth­er rooms are fam­i­ly accom­mo­dat­ing. If you brough your ‘going out’ dress­es, then per­haps you may as well stay near the Champs-Ely­sees and book a table at their restau­rant called Limon, which pro­claims to offer fresh cui­sine (but who offers fetid food any­way?). The dress will have it’s moment at one of their live music shows or their cock­tail bar. Great for norm­core refus­niks who dress up all girls-like, as if it were a night out in Lon­don or Nashville. 

ADDRESS: 12 Rue de Marig­nan (8th arr.)

MÉTRO: Champs-Élysées-Clé­menceau (lines 1, 13)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Arc de Tri­om­phe / Champs Elysées / Concorde

PRICE: €€€

DEETS: hotel restau­rant, break­fast, lunch, din­ner, cock­tail bar, suites, Eif­fel Tow­er views, event space

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Eif­fel Ter­race Suite or Marig­nan Eif­fel Suite

@saintjamesparis

Saint James Paris

Saint James Paris is housed in a neo­clas­si­cal res­i­dence (basi­cal­ly a cas­tle!) in a park in the first — I kid you not — hot air bal­loon land­ing field of Paris. Built in the 19th cen­tu­ry, Le Saint James is a spe­cial expe­ri­ence of pres­tige. And if you’re look­ing to keep a sug­ar dad­dy or ~extra­mar­i­tal~ affair under wraps, this place is fan­cy and seclud­ed. With a library bar, gourmet restau­rant, spa, and gar­dens, it is a place to get away from the bus­tle of the city and nev­er be seen.

ADDRESS: 5 Place du Chance­li­er Ade­nauer (16th arr.)

MÉTRO: Vic­tor Hugo (line 2) or Avenue Foch (RER C)

NEIGHBORHOOD:Passy / La Muette

PRICE: €€€

DEETS: hotel bar, gourmet restau­rant, spa, gardens

Hôtel Boutet

First this build­ing was an exot­ic wood ware­house, then it became a Swiss Choco­late fac­to­ry. Locat­ed in the Bastille quar­ter, not real­ly the usu­al “luxe” hotel zone, Hotel Boutet com­bines all this his­to­ry with lux­u­ry in a slight­ly off-the-beat­en path zone for those that want to see the real Paris but not nec­es­sar­i­ly live it.  Reserve the “Supe­ri­or Suite” for a bath with a view and lounge with a con­tem­po­rary but chic Parisian vibe. And have some­thing from their cheeky choco­late menu deliv­ered to your room. The def­i­n­i­tion of luxe-cool. 

ADDRESS: 22, 24 Rue Faid­herbe (11th arr.)

MÉTRO: Faid­herbe-Chaligny (line 8)

NEIGHBORHOOD:Bastille / Arse­nal / Roquette

PRICE: €€

DEETS: spa, ter­race, pri­vate park­ing, wifi, bar, breakfast

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Supe­ri­or Suite

@hotelbarriere_lefouquets

Hôtel Barrière Le Fouquet’s

In true splen­dor, Hôtel Bar­rière Le Fou­quet’s offers immac­u­late suites com­plete with views of the Arc De Tri­om­phe, lux­u­ri­ous fur­nish­ings, and spa­cious bath­rooms. Find your­self relax­ing in their inte­ri­or gar­den or pri­vate pool. Sit down for a meal in one of their restau­rants or sip a cock­tail in one of their hid­den bars. What­ev­er you choose will be worth it.

ADDRESS: 46 Avenue George V (8th arr.)

MÉTRO: George V (line 1)

NEIGHBORHOOD: Arc de Tri­om­phe / Champs Elysées / Concorde

PRICE: €€€

DEETS: hotel restau­rant and bar, spa, pri­vate pool, Arc de Tri­om­phe views, event spaces, fit­ness cen­ter, pok­er club, garden

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Grand Pres­tige Suite Champs-Ely­sees, Arc De Tri­om­phe Sig­na­ture Suite, Har­court Paris Suite

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