The Palace Hotels of Paris – the history behind the city's grand establishments

From César Ritz's house on Place Vendôme to Cheval Blanc in the old Samaritaine: Paris's palace hotels are buildings with as much history as stars. Here are the houses, the years and the details that set them apart.

Paris has more hotels in the absolute top class than almost any other city. The French tourist authority Atout France awards the Palace distinction to hotels that go beyond the five stars, and Le Bristol is described as one of twelve such establishments in the capital. But the list is only half the story. What makes the palace hotels in Paris interesting are the buildings – eighteenth-century town palaces, art nouveau from 1910, a department store by the Seine – and the people who have lived, dined and sometimes hidden in them.

This guide goes through the hotels one by one: when they opened, who owns them and what makes them worth a night. Most are located within a square kilometre on the Right Bank, between Place Vendôme, Concorde and avenue Montaigne – neighbourhoods you can explore street by street on VERA PI's page about the 8th arrondissement. More cities and stays can be found among Metro Mode's destinations.

Ritz Paris: where the modern luxury hotel was invented

The Ritz opened on 1 June 1898 at number 15 Place Vendôme, behind a façade designed by the king's architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. The Swiss hotelier César Ritz built it together with the chef Auguste Escoffier, after the two had left the Savoy in London. The Ritz was one of the first hotels in Europe with its own bathroom, electricity and telephone in every room – a matter of course today, a sensation then. His stated aim was to give guests all the refinement a prince could wish for in his own home.

The guest list is legendary. Coco Chanel lived at the hotel for more than thirty years, Marcel Proust wrote parts of In Search of Lost Time here, and the bar bears Ernest Hemingway's name. Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the hotel in 1979 and had it renovated during the 1980s. On 1 August 2012, the Ritz closed for the first time in its history, and after four years of restoration it reopened on 6 June 2016. Interestingly, the Ritz has never applied for the Palace distinction – but the Suite Impériale is classified as a national monument.

Hôtel de Crillon: a royal palace on Concorde

The Crillon was built in 1758, when Louis XV commissioned the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel to design two identical palaces on what would become Place de la Concorde. On 6 February 1778, France and the newly formed United States signed their first treaties in the building, with Benjamin Franklin at the table. The Crillon family lived here for more than a century, and on 11 March 1909 the building opened as a hotel.

Between 2013 and 2017, the Crillon underwent a renovation led by Aline Asmar d'Amman, with Karl Lagerfeld designing the two grand suites, Les Grands Appartements. The hotel is now run by Rosewood, has 78 rooms and 46 suites, and received the Palace distinction in 2018.

Le Bristol: the garden on Faubourg Saint-Honoré

Le Bristol at 112 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré opened in April 1925, in the midst of the roaring years, after Hippolyte Jammet had bought an abandoned town palace and had it rebuilt in art deco style. The name is a tribute to the fourth Earl of Bristol, a British traveller with a taste for luxury. During the occupation, Bristol was one of the few major hotels in Paris that was not requisitioned by the Germans, as Jammet had made it a residential annexe for the US embassy.

The Oetker family has owned the hotel since 1978. It boasts the largest private garden among the palace hotels, around 1,200 square metres, and a pool on the sixth floor with views over the rooftops towards Sacré-Cœur. The restaurant Épicure holds three stars in the Guide Michelin. The establishment celebrated its centenary in 2025.

Plaza Athénée: red awnings on avenue Montaigne

Plaza Athénée opened on 20 April 1913 at 25 avenue Montaigne. The façade is easy to recognise: red awnings over every window and boxes of geraniums. In 1947, Christian Dior opened his fashion house next door to the hotel, and since then the address and fashion have gone hand in hand. The seventh and eighth floors are decorated in Art Deco style, while the rest is classic French. The hotel is part of the Dorchester Collection and was awarded the Palace distinction in 2012.

Le Meurice: the oldest of them all, by the Tuileries

Charles-Augustin Meurice opened his hotel in Paris in 1815, initially on rue Saint-Honoré. He had understood that English travellers wanted the comforts of home on the continent and offered English-speaking staff and a bureau de change. In 1835 the hotel moved to its current address on rue de Rivoli, opposite the Tuileries Garden. The interiors are in Louis XVI style. Le Meurice is also owned by Dorchester Collection and received the Palace distinction in 2011.

George V, Shangri-La and Cheval Blanc

George V opened in 1928, financed by the American Joel Hillman, designed by Georges Wybo and named after the British king. After a two-year renovation, it reopened on 18 December 1999 as the Four Seasons Hotel George V. The floral arrangements in the lobby have become the house's signature, and the restaurant Le Cinq holds three stars in the Guide Michelin 2026.

Shangri-La at 10 avenue d'Iéna is located in the townhouse that Prince Roland Bonaparte, the grandson of Napoleon's nephew, had built in 1892–1895. The building is situated near Trocadéro with a view of the Eiffel Tower and was awarded Palace status in 2014.

Cheval Blanc Paris is the youngest of the houses. LVMH opened the hotel in September 2021 in part of the old department store La Samaritaine by the Seine, opposite Île de la Cité and the Conciergerie. The architect for the building was Édouard François, and the interior was designed by Peter Marino. The restaurant Plénitude has three stars in the Guide Michelin.

Lutetia: the Left Bank's grand hotel

Lutetia was built in 1910 in Art Nouveau style by the Boucicaut family, who owned the Le Bon Marché department store opposite. The name is the Latin name for the city that existed here before Paris. James Joyce lived at the hotel in the early 1940s, and after the liberation in 1944, it was used as a reception centre for prisoners of war and survivors returning home from the camps. After a lengthy restoration, Lutetia reopened in July 2018, and since 4 April 2025 it has been called Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, Paris.

Which palace hotel suits you?

Those who want 18th-century Paris choose the Ritz or the Crillon. Those who want gardens and tranquillity choose the Bristol. The fashion houses speak for Plaza Athénée, the Tuileries for Le Meurice, and the view over the Seine for Cheval Blanc. And those who would rather have bookshops and cafés than designer boutiques outside their door choose Lutetia in Saint-Germain – the neighbourhood can be found on VERA PI's page about the 6th arrondissement.

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