Three chic Paris retreats beloved by fashion insiders

Times

2 days ago

When you're in the fashion capital of the world, sometimes what you want isn't glitter and sparkles. It certainly isn't waist-enhancing croissants. Rather it's a cosseting and comforting Parisian space in which you can kick off your Louboutins, run a comforting bath and fall into an enormous bed. Here our Luxx fashion team review spaces in which they take refuge away from the catwalk.
Located in the heart of Paris's Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighbourhood, Le Grand Hôtel Cayré delivers both historical charm and modern luxury. Led by the renowned design studio Michaelis Boyd, the hotel underwent a comprehensive renovation in 2024. The 123 rooms include two suites: one featuring interiors by Gilbert Kann with one-off custom furnishings which can be bought on check-out, and the other offering a private terrace with views of the Eiffel Tower. The remaining rooms are decorated with a mix of vintage and bespoke furniture, evoking the charm of bijou Parisian apartments. It's this charm that makes the hotel feel less like a tourist stop and more like a stylish, lived-in retreat.
The restaurant Annette is a cosy escape from the busy Parisian streets, with warm tones and soft lighting. It offers elegant but unfussy dishes — pâté en croûte, asparagus with vinaigrette, or the perfect crème brûlée — that would feel just as at home on a chic French grandmother's table. It's the kind of place where you can lose a few hours over a glass of wine, listening to the hum of nearby conversations, and not feel the need to check your phone. While the hotel doesn't have a spa, there is a well-equipped fitness centre for those so inclined. If, however, your exercise of choice is walking, just five minutes away is the Café de Flore, perfect for a classic Parisian breakfast or an afternoon of people-watching. On Sundays, the nearby Raspail Market comes alive with organic produce, flowers, and artisanal goods, so you can wander, and live, like a local. Aurelia Donaldson
Doubles from £312, miirohotels.com
This hotel is so swanky that Christian Dior opened his boutique across the road just to be close to it and named his famous Bar jacket after the hotel's Le Relais Plaza bar.
In the 110 years since it opened, the hotel has remained the epitome of Parisian glamour — and with two floors of extravagantly renovated rooms and suites, with silk headboards, damask curtains, vast chandeliers, gold-leaf mouldings and restored period furniture. From the sixth floor, the six refurbished balcony rooms and suites, with uninterrupted views of the Eiffel Tower and Avenue Montaigne, are surrounded by red geraniums, which have adorned the hotel's façade for 50 years. The public spaces are equally dramatic. Outside, every winter for the past 20 years, the hotel has erected a little chalet with a big fondue table and an ice rink, complete with skating teacher. Children who learnt to skate here are now bringing their own children — perhaps the most glamorous place in the world to learn how to fall over.
Inside, its Dior spa is fittingly sumptuous — with seven treatment rooms, known as cabines, with curved pale wood walls, cream fabrics and accents of the famous Dior toile de Jouy. There's even a tiny boutique whose delights include a €2,500 plug-in air freshener that can be loaded with Dior scents. The super-chic art deco restaurant Le Relais Plaza, which serves dishes including tarte fine aux tomates and steak tartare, remains as hot a spot for business lunches as it was when Jackie O, Serge Gainsbourg and Yves Saint Laurent were regulars. All food and beverages are overseen by the Michelin-starred chef Jean Imbert, who used to work with Jay Z and Beyoncé and opened a restaurant with Pharrell Williams. Despite his youthful vibe his vision is to produce the best traditional French cuisine, delving into centuries-old recipes for staples such as turbot soufflé. His la brioche Marie-Antoinette au caviar is a bestseller. It's that kind of place. Kate Reardon
Doubles from €2,100, dorchestercollection.com
Hidden discreetly between the busy Champs Élysées and Avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement, the Hôtel San Régis is a bourgeois haven. Originally constructed to be a mid 19th -century Parisian mansion, the hotel has just celebrated its 100-year anniversary and has been managed by the same family for the past 40 years. Elie Georges took over the hotel in 1984, only recently passing it on to his two daughters, Sarah and Zeina. It is this family input that really sets it apart from its luxury competitors. Although it is grand in decor — the marble lobby glimmers with chandeliers — because it has just 30 rooms and 12 suites it is small enough to leave you feeling like you are staying in a private residence. Each of the rooms and suites is decorated in the same elegant Parisian style, featuring light, airy white panelling adorned with sumptuous fabrics and elaborate wallpapers by such French stalwarts as Pierre Frey, Hermès and Lelièvre, alongside antique artworks and furnishings from the family's collection.
This aesthetic continues into the bar and restaurant, where warm pastries and coffee are served for breakfast in a room with a glass ceiling designed to feel like a winter garden. This is a place that, over the years, has been a discreet hideaway for those who love French style but eschew the limelight, with a visitors' books that includes Richard Avedon, Gene Kelly and Lauren Bacall. While there is no spa or gym, in their place you have one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods in Paris to stroll through. Just a stone's throw from the Grand Palais, Post Alexandre III and the Arc de Triomphe, there's more than enough opportunities to get in your daily steps before nipping back to the Régis for a sumptuous afternoon tea. Aurelia Donaldson
Doubles from €500, hotel-sanregis.fr