Olympic Dreams: Most Beautiful Hotels in Paris and Beyond

1. SO/ Hotel: A Retro-Chic Design Making Locals Swoon

The hotel is a stone’s throw from the Seine and housed on the 7th through 14th floors of a former municipal building (the Préfecture de Paris) completed in 1960 by architect Albert Laprade. It is the tallest structure in the 4th arrondissement and surrounding area, meaning that 80 percent of the 162 rooms and suites offer expansive cityscape views of Parisian icons including the Pantheon, Sacré Coeur, Bastille, Notre-Dame, and the Eiffel Tower.

There are 122 works of art scattered throughout the hotel, including videos that play in the elevator (available to purchase as NFTs) that whisks guests to their temporary homes.

2. Bulgari Hotel Paris: Luxurious Getaway With Milanese Style Decor

In Paris, everywhere you look there’s a moment of beauty—but perhaps no view is quite as impressive as the one from the penthouse suite of the Bulgari Hotel Paris, with its panoramic windows and vast private terrace. The hotel brings the brand’s signature Roman spirit to the city’s illustrious Golden Triangle, not far from the new Bulgari flagship on the Place Vendôme.

Those Italian touches include 76 rooms designed by Milanese firm Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel as well as the cuisine at Il Ristorante–Niko Romito by the Michelin three-star chef. Allusions to the jewelry house abound, including a site-specific painting by Yan Pei-Ming of Italian cinema icon Monica Vitti wearing a necklace—Bulgari, naturally. And the backlit onyx Bulgari Bar is certainly the most glamorous spot to grab an aperitivo in any arrondissement.

3. Hotel Hana: An East-Meets-West Retreat in the Heart of Paris

The new 26-room Hotel Hana in the 2nd Arrondissement in the heart of Paris is a charming testament to the love affair between France and Japan, two countries that are flattered to recognize themselves in their mutual—if differently expressed—love of elegance, subtlety and refinement.

4. Le Bristol Paris: Posh Property Gets an Artistic Revamp

Since 1925, the Le Bristol Paris has been welcoming a who’s who of high society and the cultural glitterati, who flocked to the destination’s posh address on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. In recent years, the hotel underwent a refresh, with updates made to the suites and charming garden terrace.

The Azur Terrace Suite, one of the hotel’s most exemplary accommodations with an expansive tree-lined terrace, now boasts three of Sandahl’s expressive paintings as well as a Chinese ink and gold leaf fresco. The hotel’s garden is bursting with Lily of the Nile, roses, jasmine, and wisteria creating a serene hideaway perfect for whiling away the summer.

5. Hôtel Dame des Arts: A Dazzling Hotel on the Left Bank in Paris

Hôtel Dame des Arts  is a sleek and stylish Left Bank property crafted by acclaimed artist and designer Raphael Navot, one of Galerie’s 2022 Creative Minds. “Dame des Arts has been both an incredible occasion and a challenge for me,” says Navot, who was named the current Maison&Objet designer of the year. “Its unique location in the belly button of Paris and proximity to the scene along with its main assets, like the panoramic rooftop and the intimate garden, made the project irresistible.”

Set in the city’s bohemian Saint-Germain district, the 109-key accommodation features moody rooms, luxurious amenities, and sleek public areas all reimagined by the acclaimed Paris-based designer. Dating to the 1950s, the nine-story building is located just steps from Notre Dame Cathedral and boasts stellar views of the Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Coeur, and the gilded dome of Les Invalides. “The challenge was to create a design that on one hand stays warm and noble and at the same time can be adapted to over 30 types of rooms,” says Navot. “The flow between the spaces was accentuated on intimacy, so the guest will never be overwhelmed.”

6. l’Abbaye des Vaux-de-Cernay: A Transformed 12th-Century Abbey

Steeped in history and surrounded by natural splendor, an enchanting new hotel from Laurent de Gourcuff’s buzzy hospitality firm, Paris Society, thrillingly blends medieval architecture with romantic opulence. Set on 185 acres in the French countryside, about 30 miles from Paris, l’Abbaye des Vaux-de-Cernay dates from the 12th century and served as a Cistercian abbey before becoming the summer compound for Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild.

The landmark recently underwent a $65 million transformation, helmed by designer Cordelia de Castellane, who channeled Anglophile glamour to ground every space— from the banquet-style chapter house to the 147 guest rooms and suites—with a timeless essence.

7. Château de Théoule: Artfully Conceived Suites

The dramatically crenelated Tudor style stone walls of the Château de Théoule come as a surprise in the sunny seaside town of Théoule-sur-Mer, which during the summertime is a 20-minute ferry across the azure waters of the Mediterranean to Cannes.

Twenty of the boutique hotel’s 44 rooms are located in the property’s original structure, while the remaining accommodations are split between a fisherman’s house just above Théoule harbor and a more modern Art Deco property next to the château.

8. Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat: French Riviera Resort Gets Refreshed Villas

One of the most glamorous and well-recognized resorts on the French Riviera, the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, a Four Seasons hotel, looms large over the picturesque Mediterranean coastline, offering sweeping views to Monaco and Nice. Recently, two private villas have been refreshed, adding to the property’s heavenly accommodations, which over the destination’s century-long history have attracted such prominent guests as Elizabeth Taylor, Winston Churchill, and Aristotle Onassis.

These secluded sanctuaries make a welcome setting for a restful retreat or provide an elevated home base for exploring the rest of the bucolic property, situated on 17 acres, sculpted by landscape designer Jean Mus.

9. La Fantaisie: A Jewel-Box Hideaway

The 73-room boutique property in the heart of Faubourg-Montmartre tantalizes all the senses with a whimsical interior design by Martin Brudnizki, a Galerie Creative Mind, who enveloped the spaces in robust floral patterns that echo the hotel’s wonderland-like garden.

But perhaps La Fantaisie’s greatest draw isn’t its charming suites or the Holidermie spa; it’s is top floor bar Bar Sur Le Toit, where guests can sip inventive cocktails while taking in vibrant interiors alongside the Alice in Wonderland-esque outdoor garden.

10. Hotel du Couvent: Former Convent in South of France Gets Second Life as Heavenly Oasis

Originally a convent for the Clarisses order of nuns and then occupied by their Visitation sisters, Hotel du Couvent lay unoccupied from the early 1980s until ten years ago. That’s when hotel-design master Valéry Grego began to transform the property into a heavenly oasis in the busy southern French city. “Places with history and stories to tell, those are the kind of hotels I love,” says Grego.

There are 70 rooms and 18 suites, with plain beige curtains and blue or white linen bedspreads. “We looked at historical pictures and saw that the nuns covered the entire bed, so we’ve done the same,” says Sauzay. Furniture and accessories were largely gleaned from energetic excursions to flea markets, especially in Bologna and Parma in neighboring Italy.