The best Paris hotels – 8 boutique stays in the French capital
Paris’ monument-lined boulevards, masterpiece-filled museums, and diverse patchwork of neighborhoods are endlessly absorbing to explore. The City of Love draws you in with dreamy days spent shopping for chic linens at Merci and sipping an espresso at La Maison Rose on sunny afternoons. And the nights deserve to be every bit as romantic, so you should ensure you stay on of Livingetc’s pick of the best Paris hotels.
Now the city of love is all a-flutter with new glamorous hotel projects by Louis Vuitton and a new outpost of Soho House all putting fresh polish on the French capital. For those picking a hotel in Paris, there are more options than one person could ever check into. But which are the very best stays in the city? We’ve narrowed down the list to the 8 of the best Paris hotels for the ultimate getaway.
Explore our pick of the best hotels in Rome for more stunning escapes.
The best Paris hotels
(Image credit: Hotel Amour)
Playing on Paris’ reputation as one of the world’s most romantic cities, the Amour seduces guests with a love-themed décor and sophisticated bohemian spirit. Set in a former brothel in Pigalle, the hotel is one of those low-key hotspots that gets whispered from one style setter to the next, and during fashion weeks, you’d be wise to book way in advance.
The trio behind the daring themed hotel is graffiti artist and nightclub baron André Saraiva, hotelier Thierry Costes, and restaurateur Emmanuelle Delavenne, whose combined talents contribute to a boutique hotel that is playful, quirky, highly individual, and just a little bit risqué.
Black corridors lead to 24 retro-styled rooms, each individually arranged with vintage furnishings picked up in flea markets and mildly erotic artworks. The beautiful glass-topped patio garden with vintage bistro chairs is made for lounging over cocktails on sultry summer nights. The ground-floor bistro is a local buzzing drinking and dining spot from 8 am to 2 am daily.
(Image credit: Hotel Amour)
(Image credit: Le Cheval Blanc)
LVMH’s first five-star accommodation in the city and a cornerstone of the conglomerate’s epic 16-year restoration of Paris’s historic La Samaritaine department-store complex, this hotel as you might imagine is a plush cocoon.
With 72 rooms and suites on 10 floors almost every one overlooks the Seine. A bastion of quiet and of privacy it is designed by Peter Marino to be a symphony of beige and white with flashes of gold. The feel is 1930s meets 1970s, cool elegance with a bit of grooviness.
The furniture, lighting, and decor are a mix from French artists and global creators and you will find staff wearing gold-buttoned uniforms by Patou and a subterranean spa helmed by Dior. Dining spots in the hotel include Limbar, a ground-floor brasserie with ornate wood-inlaid floors, 1970s-era chandeliers, and red leather upholstery, and Langosteria a chic Milanese restaurant.
(Image credit: Le Cheval Blanc)
(Image credit: Hotel Grandes Boulevard)
Tucked down an alley in the spirited 2nd Arrondissement, Hôtel des Grands Boulevards teams 18th-century Parisian elegance with a touch of avant-garde design. Stately Louis XVI furniture nods to the building’s revolution-era roots, including charming canopied beds.
The hotel is part of the impeccably stylish but approachable Experimental Group of Hotels and the group’s go-to designer Dorothée Meilichzon adds playful touches with her retro aesthetic. The Grand Restaurant is at the heart of the hotel, set in and around the courtyard which features a menu designed in collaboration with Giovanni Passerini – renowned chef in the new Parisian gastronomic scene and revisits the great classics of French-Italian cuisine.
Communal areas are spacious and relaxed featuring herringbone parquet flooring, round bistro tables, and red banquettes, all of it bathed in the daylight that floods through the 1930s-style windows.
(Image credit: Hotel Grandes Boulevards)
(Image credit: Le Pigalle)
(Image credit: Le Pigalle)
Named after the buzzy neighborhood in which it is located and Paris’s old red-light district, Le Pigalle is a glorious mix of vintage and contemporary design, boasting a café, bar, restaurant, a vinyl library, and a book kiosk, all run by colorful local characters.
Perfectly placed for exploring the village-y charms of Montmartre, each of the 40 rooms is a little different featuring seventies drinks cabinets and vintage velvet armchairs but with thoroughly modern comforts and amenities. With a tapas-style menu and generous cocktails in a bar overseen by Camille Fourmont, from Buvette a wine bar in the 11th. It’s easy to while the evening away here until the jukebox turns on or the local DJ starts spinning.
(Image credit: Hotel Les Deux Gares)
(Image credit: Hotel Les Deux Gares)
Nestled between two stations and tucked down a narrow alley in Paris’ 10th arrondissement, you’ll find Hotel Les Deux Gares – a railway station hotel once abandoned and forgotten by time.
Luckily, thanks to a little imagination and the vibrant stylings and direction of English designer Luke Edward Hall, the new hotel is welcoming guests into its colorful surroundings. Head upstairs to one of the 33 bedrooms where joyful color combinations bring a contemporary twist to bathrooms and bedrooms with furniture inspired by the neoclassical period.
You’ll find mismatched rugs, gilt furniture inspired by French Empire antiques, fringed chairs, sumptuous velvet, and bold stripes along with 1970s-inspired light fixtures. The hotel’s bathrooms are a fresh take on Art Deco style and likely to provide the perfect backdrop for the selfie generation. Guests can choose to have breakfast in the hotel or across the street at Cafe Les Deux Gares.
(Image credit: Sinner)
Designed to surprise at every turn, Sinner Paris draws inspiration from its location on the Rue de Temple, an area home to the Catholic military order the Knights Templar in the 14th century.
The playful and provocative hotel hotspot with interiors by Tristan Auer is a thrilling mix of monastic and modern. On entry, you are led by lantern down dimly lit halls and into spaces resplendent with modern medieval details, vaulted ceilings, towering columns, tall stained-glass windows, and antique wooden doors.
The bedrooms are more serene and bright with pretty parquet flooring, art books, and even a yoga mat in the wardrobe. By day, the sunken restaurant with large windows backing onto an ancient wall is an airy lunch spot buzzing with chic families, transforming at night into an alluring candle-lit meeting place for the cool kids of Paris and resident DJ’s.
(Image credit: Sinner)
(Image credit: Soho House Paris)
The bright young things of the city of light are flocking to its newest and most anticipated grand dame – Soho House Paris. Occupying a 19th-century apartment building that once served as French artist Jean Cocteau’s family home, the club’s first property in the city is located in Pigalle and boasts 36 bedrooms, a courtyard garden, a pool terrace, and a cabaret room inspired by nearby Moulin Rouge.
A blend of Art Deco accents mixed with wicker furniture and comfortable banquettes adorned in floral fabrics from Maison Pierre Frey, the club’s courtyard garden is partially covered by a glass roof and billowing striped awning.
In the basement, the Cabaret Room hosts members’ events, screenings, and performances with walls are covered in red velvet and the ceiling in a gathered silk fabric. Bedrooms can be booked by Soho House members and Soho Friends – a new membership type that gives access to Soho House bedrooms, Studios, and events, as well as benefits at the spas, restaurants, and cinemas.
(Image credit: Soho House Paris)
(Image credit: 9 Confidentiel)
The latest 4-star hot spot, designed from start to finish by designer Philippe Starck. 9Confidentiel is housed in an Art Deco building and has 29 rooms across six floors, three of which are suites with a panoramic view over the roofs of Paris, as well as a breakfast room, a cocktail bar, and a tea room. Inspired by the subtle and sophisticated designs of the 1920s dreamlike interiors feature light wood, brushed stainless steel, rose brass, and wrought iron.
Public spaces in the hotel are a series of small, intimate, salon-like rooms in understated tones offset with highly patterned rugs by Pierre Frey and bold-colored, Picasso-like throw pillows.
In-room à-la-carte beauty and wellness services are offered in collaboration with Parisian custom-made skincare brand Codage and Le Confidence Bar, a sexy, dimly lit cocktail bar open from 6 pm to 1 am, is perfect for a pre or after dinner cocktail helmed by renowned drink mixologist Nico de Soto.
(Image credit: 9 Confidentiel)