The Ritz
Some hotels need an argument; the Ritz needs only its name. It has been the standard against which Paris luxury is measured since 1898, it gave the word "ritzy" to the language, and after a long renovation it reopened with the same myth intact.
The Bar Hemingway is a pilgrimage.
The Bar Hemingway is a pilgrimage. The Place Vendôme location is the most prestigious in the city. You do not stay at the Ritz for value. You stay for the fact that it is the Ritz.
Place Vendôme, the most aristocratic square in Paris, and a hotel that has anchored it for over a century. The arrival is exactly as grand as you imagine, because the Ritz invented the template everyone else copies.
Classic in the truest sense — gilt, marble, the grand French manner, restored to perfection. This is not the place for minimalism, and that is the point.
The Bar Hemingway is the destination — small, legendary, worth the wait. The Ritz Comptoir pastry counter and the hotel's dining carry the same pedigree.
Place Vendôme in the 1st — the jewelers, the Tuileries, Rue Saint-Honoré, the Opéra. The center of the center.
The Ritz is less a hotel than an institution that rents rooms. For the occasion that demands it, nothing else carries the same weight.
15 Place Vendôme. There is no hotel address in the world with more weight. The Ritz has been at this address since 1898 and the address has been at the center of Paris even longer.
Colin Field's bar is one of the great hotel bars in the world, full stop. The cocktails are expressions of a specific skill. The room is exactly the right size.
The Ritz garden is a private Paris garden of considerable scale in the middle of the 1st arrondissement. It belongs to guests alone.
The Ritz Escoffier cooking school in the basement is a genuine institution — classes run year-round and are available to hotel guests. One of the underused pleasures of staying here.
The Ritz is the most expensive hotel in Paris. It is also genuinely the Ritz. The investment is clear-eyed.
Bar Hemingway is open to non-guests but books up. Reserve in advance. Arriving without a reservation is possible but not guaranteed.
The pool and health club are exceptional and included in the room rate — at Ritz prices, they should be used.
Rooms on the garden are quieter than rooms on Place Vendôme. Both are extraordinary. Request based on preference.