Pedigree Hotel: Le Bristol, Paris
A hotel so good, the French decided the five-star ranking was not enough and so called it a Palace.
Approaching its 100th birthday on the Rue du Fauborg Saint-Honoré the Parisian institute unsurprisingly has a colourful past and impressive guestbook. During World War 2 Le Bristol served as the American embassy and housed all Americans who resided in the city at the time. Whilst David Beckham played for Paris Saint Germain he permanently resided in these four walls. During the 1920’s Coco Chanel, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali rubbed shoulders in the grand reception. In more recent years, George Clooney, Gwyneth Paltrow and myself have fought over the last pistachio croissant at breakfast.
Today it homes 190 guest rooms and five beehives which produce honey for the hotels four Michelin stars (Epicure has three). Throughout the pandemic the hotels in house bakery sent croissants around the capitals intensive care units. Last year they opened an on site chocolatier. If you are beginning to wonder why people opt to spend 24 hours within the hotels four walls, I do not blame you.
Outside there are 5,000 varieties of flower in their iconic garden, roaming which you should hope to meet resident pussycat Socrates. NB - I found he was most friendly in the mornings, just before when most of the hotel rises for breakfast. In the rafters is the hotels pool is built to feel like you are on a ship with wooden decks and an ocean scene painted on the walls. All around are rooftop views of Paris and the Eiffel Tower cutting up the skyline.
The interiors are classic and grand but not chintzy. Old school opulence but with the space and natural light to save it from being stuffy. Beaming staff help prevent even the scruffiest guests (Mademoiselle Me) feeling out of place. In your room are marble baths more like plunge pools, fluffy towels and box fresh linen you’ll want to box up and take home. Amenities are generous from welcome macarons to bathroom lotions you’d merrily receive as a gift.
In the morning morning prepare the stomach for a breakfast that could feed you for a week. Pastries five ways and freshly squeezed juices to justify. I opted for a green juice and slurped it down like a child with their first coca cola. Daintily perched on my fruit salad was an embossed Le Bristol chocolate, I want to be this dainty and as chic as this choccie. When I am rich and demanding, I will order green juice every morning with a side of fruit salad and a thumbnail of chocolate.
Come nightfall, Le Bristols After Dark keeps the hotel cool. Pass the revolving wooden doors of reception, under the chandeliers as wide as they are tall and into a bar so dark you might have an entire conversation with a stranger before realising your partner is still in the loo. All too often hotels tell you their bar is cool and bursting with locals and simply, they are not. Not at, Le Bristol After Dark, almost everyones first language on the dance floor was Parisian - not an innuendo you smutty reader.
Le Bristol is an icon for all the right reasons and a destination in itself that just happens to be in one of the best cities in the world. If I were to stay again for a night, I wouldn’t leave from the check in to check out. I would bask on the rooftop terrace after two lengths of the pool, fill my boots with croissants and order green juice until my cup overflowth. I would play hide and seek with the cat and people watch in the lobby. I would befriend the staff and soak in my tub. I would leave richer (and also much poorer) and bore anyone who would listen about my 24 hours as a Princess in a Palace.
Le Bristol starts from £1,725 a night Bed & Breakfast