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Olympic athletes might be sleeping on viral “anti-sex” cardboard beds and eating at industrial-size dining halls, but guests at the summer games can live in the lap of luxury. If you’re planning a visit to Paris — for the international sports extravaganza from July 26 through August 11, the Paralympics from August 28 through Sept. 8 or at a later date — enjoy the capital’s spectacular new hotels, swanky restaurants and exquisite museums. Here’s a look at the City of LIght’s chicest new addresses, from a Belle-Époque-meets-Japonism hotel to a couture gallery extraordinaire.
WHERE TO STAY
Balancing Japanese simplicity with French splendor, Hôtel Hana is the fashion world’s favorite new boutique hotel. Located a short walk from the Opéra Garnier and the Galeries Lafayette and Le Printemps department stores, the 26-room property feels as precious as a Meiji lacquer wedding chest. Housed in a former office block on the edge of Paris’ “Little Tokyo” neighborhood, the hotel’s interiors were created by high-profile designer and architect Laura Gonzalez (who restored Cartier New York) and Olivier Leone (the cofounder and art director of Nodaleto shoe brand). The rooms (from $425 a night) from have exquisite straw and iroko-wood walls, lacquered wood cabinets and decorative marble bathrooms, with wrought-iron Juliet balconies for people watching on the rue du Quatre-Septembre below. Book a soothing massage in one of the basement treatment rooms or a blissful hour at the small pool, which you will have all to yourself. Even if you can’t stay at the hotel, make a dinner reservation at Hanabi. From the wagyu flank steak with sansho pepper sauce and the smoked tarama with seasonal vegetables (said to be the best in Paris) to the Japanese green tea tiramisu, every gorgeously plated dish is a taste sensation.
Harkening back to the golden age of travel, this freshly renovated Left Bank hotel is as perfectly appointed as an Art Deco ocean liner. It’s smooth sailing, thanks to the mahogany-lined, brass-accented, art-filled interiors by Milanese architect and designer Fabrizio Casiraghi. The former Holiday Inn has a convenient location bordering Saint-Germain-des-Près, a short walk from top Left Bank restaurants, the Bon Marché department store, La Grande Epicerie gourmet emporium, and Montparnasse’s famed brasseries. The 138 rooms and suites (from $271 a night), meanwhile, feel like sleepers in a luxury train, with pleated molding, leather-topped night tables and a framed bas-relief above each bed. There’s a gym in the basement, along with a speakeasy named Poppy, open for revelry on select nights. After a day visiting the sights, grab a lemon drop martini at the ground-floor bar, then tuck into tasty transatlantic fare like lobster rolls and New York cheesecake at Grands Voyageurs restaurant. It’s all about the journey.
WHERE TO EAT
Panorama is the best thing since sliced bread. Actually, the best thing at the restaurant is the 100% naturally fermented country-style sliced bread made from heritage flour — a key ingredient in many of its inventive dishes. Baker Arthur Coquelle (formerly of Ten Belles, Paris’ famous sourdough destination) and chef Sebastian Cusick-Kampmann (ex-sous-chef at Inver in Scotland, which has a Michelin green star, and Servan in Paris) have masterminded an inventive array of bread-themed plates, from roasted and glazed carrots on the aforementioned bread with cumin labneh, pickled carrots and a ‘vin jaune’ sabayon foam to mussels on focaccia with smoky mussel butter. The hip eatery, located on rue Saint-Maure in the Folie-Méricourt neighborhood, has outdoor seating, plenty of vegetarian options, DJ sets every other Saturday and a five-star rating on Google reviews. Knead we say more?
One of the hardest reservations to score in Paris, Amâlia is haute gastronomy at its most daring and delicious. A collaboration between two Italian chefs with Michelin-starred resumés, Cecilia Spurio (formerly of Pierre Gagnaire and Alléno) composes the sweets while Eugenio Anfuso (an Astrance and L’Ambroisie veteran) prepares the savory. For lunch in the serene minimalist space, guests order à la carte, and for dinner, they choose between tasting menus: the 80 euro Le Petit Chemin and the 120 euro Le Grand Menu. “A crescendo of flavors leading up to the sublime dessert!” raved one satisfied fan.
We’re head over heels for this romantic restaurant and secret garden in L’Eldorado. Not far from Montmartre and Pigalle, this Rive Droite boutique hotel in the Batignolles neighborhood marries exuberant florals with flea market finds, Arcadian murals and rattan furniture. And then there’s the comforting food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Choose between classics like steak frites, club sandwiches, sole meunière and vol au vent stuffed with scallop, lobster, spinach and lemony mushrooms, which can be savored al fresco under green and white parasols. Chef’s kiss.
It’s hard to imagine a more enchanting location for a city restaurant. Mon Square looks out over Square Samuel Rousseau, a leafy park bordered by Sainte-Clotilde Basilica, a majestic 19th century neo-Gothic church with twin spires illuminated at night. Yet somehow the inside of the Rive Gauche restaurant is just as magical as the outside. French designer Florence Lopez has crafted a gem-like environment in shades of aquamarine, peridot and morganite, with lush murals by painter Sacha Floch Poliakoff, ceramic works by Bela Silva and a mirrored room by contemporary artist Matthias Kiss. Enjoy signature cocktails and classic dishes like Suprême de poulet de ma grand-mère and glazed salmon with green beans in this most bijou of brasseries.
WHERE TO PLAY
Nearly 2,000 color-coded, 3D-printed miniatures surround the jaw-dropping white spiral staircase at La Galerie Dior, the fashion house’s two-year-old museum adjacent to its Avenue Montaigne flagship store. And you don’t need to be a fashionista to admire to the French house’s timeless designs and rich history. It’s all here, from the iconic 1947 New Look collection ivory Bar Jacket and black pleated skirt and archival sketches and photographs to haute gowns by the founder and the brand’s six subsequent designers. With hundreds of originals on display, many exhibited for the first time, plus a museum store and an airy café serving champagne, this couture wonderland is well worth the visit.
No time to visit Versailles? A trip to the lavish Hôtel de la Marine, on the Place de la Concorde, is the next best thing. The 18th-century palace first housed the Garde-Meuble, the office in charge of the King’s furniture collection and crown jewels, then became The Ministry of the Navy after the French Revolution. Today, it’s a museum featuring the restored apartments of the King’s Garde-Meuble Intendant, the salons and chambers used by the navy and precious works from the collection of Sheik Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani. Like Versailles, the building has lavishly furnished apartments, gilded walls, elaborate crystal chandeliers and a mesmerizing mirror-walled room called the Cabinet des Glaces. Marvel at the opulence, then relax over a cup of tea at Café Laperouse, overlooking the interior courtyard.
French billionaire and Kering luxury group founder François Pinault has been collecting art for more than 50 years. Hundreds of his paintings, sculptures, photographs, objects and video and sound works are exhibited in a historic domed edifice near Les Halles. The former grain and commodities exchange building was carefully restored by leading Japanese architect Tadao Ando over a decade. For those who favor romanticism or modern works over contemporary pieces by Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, the light-flooded central rotunda embellished with 19th century murals is an awe-inspiring masterpiece.
