8th Arrondissement

In a warm white gallery lit by club-inspired spotlights, slip on a reedition of Courrèges’s iconic vinyl jacket or flip through racks of retro-cool ready-to-wear, which strike a balance between ’60s mod and clean-lined minimalism.

This iconic palace, right on the Place de la Concorde, was commissioned by Louis XV in the 18th century and has served as a government office, a private home (to several French aristocrats, including Marie Antoinette), and finally a hotel in the early 1900s. Rosewood took over in 2013, and a stay here comes with all the bells and whistles the brand is known for: luxurious amenities, great restaurants, and phenomenal service. Every room has a butler who can help you with tasks both big and small: dinner reservations, or a piping-hot bath, drawn right on time for when you get home.

Le Royal Monceau, originally opened in a Hausmannian building in 1928, was fully reimagined by designer Philippe Starck in the early 2000s—and in a stroke of genius, it honors France’s intellectual and artistic history without getting bogged down by it. The curved-glass canopy above the front door references Hector Guimard; the mirror-encased lobby calls in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. And the whole place is packed with art. (In fact, there’s an art gallery, an art concierge, an art bookstore, and a 99-seat cinema all on site.) The guest rooms are spacious and polished, but more subdued than the rest of the property; the bathrooms are stocked with plush towels and Clarins amenities. The restaurants are varied—there’s contemporary Japanese by chef Nobu Matsuhisa, a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in a sunny conservatory, a terrace brunch spot, Raffles’s signature Long Bar, and a private cigar lounge.

While there’s no shortage of third-wave coffee roasters in Paris, Noir is among the best, and their cafés among the most abundant. You’ll find them across the city in pretty, modern storefronts. This one in the 8th arrondissement is convenient if you're staying near the Champs-Elysées, and there's a really good one on the Île Saint-Louis, down the street from Berthillon.

At La Réserve, in a building once occupied by Napoleon’s stepbrother, references to the Belle Époque would be hard to miss: Expect gilded columns, heavy drapes, and velvet tufting…everywhere. The bedrooms and suites—there are only 40—are very fin de siècle French, but more restrained in style than the common spaces. Swiss anti-aging clinic Nescens runs the spa. Executive chef Jérôme Banctel oversees the two restaurants within the hotel. Le Gabriel, the superior of the two, earned a third Michelin star in 2024.

L’Avenue is an absolute scene—you should know this right off the bat. But most of the fun is sitting outside, on the corner of Avenue Montaigne, among a regular clientele of fashion designers, stylish Parisians, and trendy visitors.

A good part of the local population is of the opinion that Pierre Hermé makes the best macarons in the city. As for the éclairs, croissants, and cakes? You'll just have to do the taste-testing for yourself. This particular outpost is massive, with a sumptuous Art Deco interior to match the contents of the pastry cases. A pretty box of Hermé’s delicately-flavored macarons veloutés (essentially meringue-like macaroons stuffed with a creamy filling) never fails to impress and makes for the perfect, easily-packed gift to bring back home.

This elegantly restored hotel is a mere five minutes from Paris’s center of gravity, the Champs-Élysées, which really means it’s five minutes from everything. The first thing to note is that there is an actual hammam in the basement. After a long day of sightseeing, a few laps in the pool followed by a steam is a healing balm for exhausted feet and sore muscles. Aesthetically, the Art Deco influence is quietly done and hidden in the details, like the lamps, the restrained use of marble (and the not-so-restrained use of stripes to beautiful results), pretty velvet upholstery, even the occasional in-room porthole. Unbeatable location aside, the attentive staff and excellent service catapult this new hotel to the top of the short list of excellent places to stay. The adorably small hotel bar and the sexy dining room make leaving that much harder.

At Hôtel Belleval, the floral theme is obvious (the hallways are done in contrasting floral carpeting and wallpaper) but not overwhelming (the occasional petal-patterned cushion or upholstered armchair, the odd framed print of a rose or lily), just enough to pay homage to the botanist the hotel is dedicated to. All fifty-two guest rooms feel like a breath of fresh air with their elegant navy walls, floor-to-ceiling windows looking over the rooftops of Paris, and beautifully outfitted bathrooms. The hotel restaurant is refreshingly low-key with a natural, mostly organic menu that is the perfect antidote to too many plates of steak-frites. Additional perks are the interior courtyard which feels like a secret garden in the middle of the city and the library—a godsend for the traveler who needs to mix work with play.

The company’s three-story flagship spa is set in a quiet courtyard off the Champs-Élysées, and no two treatments are alike. Instead, skin is meticulously examined with the Skin Instant Lab, which measures moisture, elasticity, pigmentation, and oil production. Next you’re ushered into a gorgeous, all-white treatment room, where a custom regimen of products for the facial is selected.