Cheval Blanc Paris

A Palace in La Samaritaine on the Seine, facing the Pont-Neuf in the 1st, with 72 rooms and suites, interiors imagined by Peter Marino, restaurants holding six Michelin stars between them, a Dior Spa with a 30-metre pool and a free kids' club.

From the seventh floor of Cheval Blanc Paris, Le Tout-Paris looks out over the Seine. The brasserie opens at 7am and keeps going until 1am, and its bar takes no reservations.

The hotel is inside La Samaritaine at 8 Quai du Louvre, facing the Pont-Neuf between the Louvre and the Marais. Architect Peter Marino imagined it, and it holds the Palace distinction with just 72 rooms and suites. The 100 m² Eiffel Suite comes in oranges, chocolate and sea green, with a hammam shower and a balcony over the river and the tower.

At the very top, L’Appartement joins two suites into a 1,000 m² duplex on the eighth and ninth floors. It has seven bedrooms, a private pool facing Sacré-Coeur and a staircase railing by Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne.

Six Michelin stars are spread across the restaurants. Plénitude holds three, run by Arnaud Donckele with pastry chef Maxime Frédéric, and Gault & Millau gives it 19 out of 20. Hakuba, under Takuya Watanabe, has two. Le Tout-Paris has one, overseen by Donckele with executive chef William Béquin. Langosteria cooks Italian every evening and at lunch from Wednesday to Sunday.

Plan the big dinners for Tuesday to Saturday, the only nights Plénitude and Hakuba open. Both serve dinner only.

The Dior Spa Cheval Blanc has six treatment suites with white onyx bathrooms and a 30-metre pool, plus a sauna, a hammam and a gym. Children get the Carrousel, a free kids’ club with its own team and daily activities. The hotel, its restaurants and the spa are accessible to guests with reduced mobility.

Cheval Blanc comes second on our list of the best hotels in Paris, behind Le Bristol. Le Bristol’s Epicure also holds three Michelin stars.