Best hotels in Paris

Sixteen Avenue de l'Opéra puts you a few minutes' walk from the Louvre, the Comédie-Française and the ramen counters of rue Sainte-Anne, which is about as central as Paris gets. Jean-Louis Deniot took a Haussmannian office block and made something closer to a jade-and-bronze apartment: 45 rooms and suites, a green Carrara marble reception desk, and a storm-sky fresco by Mathias Kiss spiralling up all six floors. Downstairs sits a heated pool under a mirrored ceiling pricked with tiny lights. In fact, you won't find a single downlight in the place. After a day of exploring the city, returning to your own 'flat' is perfection.

Rue de Montalembert is a hundred metres long, with the Gallimard publishing house at one end and a square named after Gabriel García Márquez at the other. The Montalembert has occupied number 3 since 1926, and when Christian Liaigre stripped it back in the 90s, people started calling it a "boutique hotel" - and it truly lives up to the phrase. Classic yet modern, lavish but never over the top, it boasts a restaurant that Left Bank publishers treat as their canteen and a private library, Salon Gallimard, that's the perfect spot for a nightcap. Fascinatingly, it also claims to be the first hotel in Paris to put duvets on its beds (and we can confirm, they are still there now)!

Forty-five minutes from Paris, in the folds of the Chevreuse Valley, sits a Cistercian abbey that's been standing since 1118. The monks left after the Revolution, the roofs fell in, and then Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild bought the ruin in the 1880s and spent decades coaxing it back. What you get now is more estate than hotel, with rooms spread between the abbey itself, the old stables and a working farm down the lane, plus a lake, a Tata Harper spa, half a dozen places to eat and a kids' club stocked with miniature Range Rovers. Cordélia de Castellane did the interiors. You'll want a bicycle.

Louis XIV's finance ministers ran the royal accounts from this 1681 building, and the last of them, Jacques Necker, sat here working out how to bankroll the American Revolution (the street outside is still called Rue de l'Indépendance Américaine). It's now a hotel inside the gates of the Versailles estate, the only one of its kind. Airelles spent four years and a fortune putting the 18th century back: an 1788 inventory guided the furniture hunt, the staff wear period dress, and Alain Ducasse runs the kitchen. What you're paying for, really, is the palace after the crowds have gone home. Fourteen rooms, and that's the lot.

In the heart of the 8th arrondissement, right on the iconic Golden Triangle, the Elysia is in one of Paris' swankiest neighbourhoods, and it definitely lives up to expectations. A traditional Hausmann building on the outside, the inside is a temple of sophistication in various tones of cream, gold and bronze. Soothing, serene and utterly delightful. With only 39 rooms, the hotel feels eminently private and the service is outstanding. When you're not exploring, make use of the underground wellness area, complete with sauna, steam room and a hot tub, or enjoy tea in the exquisite Salon Bamboo - how very Parisian...

Perched on the corner of Rue François 1er since 1920, with Chanel, Dior and Céline amongst its discerning neighbours, the Hotel Grand Powers is polished, Parisian and absolutely beautiful. Art-deco on the outside and powder pink, celadon green and blue on the inside, it's a peaceful oasis in the Golden Triangle, and rooms are on the spacious side by Parisian standards (for all the shopping, we might guess). After long days, recuperate in the Thala Spa, complete with hammam, sauna and Jacuzzi, pull up a pew in Cafe 52 for a craft cocktail and excellent people-watching, or retire to your balcony and gaze at the Eiffel Tower twinkling ahead.

Founded in 1815 for British travellers and settled on rue de Rivoli since 1835, this is the oldest of the Paris palace hotels, and it carries the history lightly. Salvador Dalí kept a suite here for some 30 years and was allowed to paint the walls and bring animals in. Philippe Starck reworked the public spaces twice, so Grand Siècle plasterwork and gilding now share the building with Tulip chairs and a surrealist ceiling. In August 1944 the German governor of Paris ran the city from these rooms, then disobeyed the order to destroy it. Still standing and grander than ever, Le Meurice really shows off.

Place des Vosges was inaugurated in 1612, which makes it the oldest planned square in Paris, and this is the only hotel actually on it. You arrive through a passage into a private cobbled courtyard, ivy-clad and strung with lights, one step removed from the arcades. Inside, the rooms sit among exposed beams, marble mantels, gilded mirrors and copper-coloured velvet. Restaurant Anne holds a Michelin star across 20 covers. The Chevalier family have run the place for three generations and it shows in the details: an honesty bar with snacks, bicycles you can borrow, free parking (a small miracle in central Paris).

The front windows of this 1824 townhouse look straight across Place Boieldieu at the Opéra-Comique, close enough to read what's on tonight. Inside, it's toile de Jouy, oil portraits and an honesty bar that runs until midnight. Hotel and opera house share a name and a couple: Charles Favart, the playwright who ran the theatre opposite, and Justine, the actress he married. Their portraits hang in reception and their names mark the room doors. Beyond the square, the 2nd arrondissement's glass-roofed passages and grand department stores are all strollable in an afternoon, but the square itself stays quiet. Two centuries in, it still has the best seat in the house.

Named after Honoré de Balzac, a legendary 19th-century French novelist who died on this very street in 1850, this is a hotel steeped in history. Reopened in 2024 after a spectacular renovation, it's now a modern blend of cognac and camel tones, oak floors and marble mosaics laid from salvaged stone. Inside, you'll find a speakeasy bar with a lengthy list of cocktails named after Balzac's novels, a Japanese spa in the basement, and a discreet door through to the Pierre Gagnaire restaurant. Contemporary and cool, it's a refreshing respite from the opulence of the city.

The J.K. family made their name in Florence and this former embassy is their first hotel outside Italy. Set on the the Rue de Lille, a serene, tree-lined avenue filled with ministries and antique dealers (and the Musée d'Orsay is a few doors along at number 62), the location is desirable and sophisticated - much like the rest of the hotel. Interiors are dressed in plum velvet, marble fireplaces and flea-market finds hauled back from Saint-Ouen, with plenty of black and white tiling and steel-framed windows for the contemporary touch. Downstairs is a marble lap pool, sauna and steam room, and restaurant Casa Tua does a cacio e pepe that ruins you for other versions.