Paris
A city of arrondissements, where the hotels that matter sit on the Right Bank between the Place de la Concorde, the Faubourg Saint-Honoré and the avenue Montaigne. The best tables go weeks ahead, August is quiet, and many museums and ateliers open outside public hours for anyone who asks the right person.
34 recommendations in six sections and Happening.
Happening
What is on in Paris in the coming weeks
The few events worth an evening this month, soonest first.
Until 17 January 2027Grand Palais
Cezanne and Us
Nearly 180 works tracing how Paul Cezanne was discovered, claimed and reworked by the artists who came after him, from Gauguin and Matisse to Bridget Riley and Peter Doig.
Until 31 January 2027Musée d'Orsay
Mary Cassatt: Being Independent
Almost 80 paintings, pastels and prints spanning Mary Cassatt's whole career, the first major show a French national museum has given her, for the centenary of her death.
Until 25 January 2027Musée du Louvre, Hall Napoléon
Zurbarán
A retrospective of Francisco de Zurbarán's finest paintings, organised with the National Gallery, London and the Art Institute of Chicago, the first large international exhibition of his work since 1987–1988.
Until 8 March 2027Fondation Louis Vuitton
Gustave Fayet: Collector - Designer. Icons of Modern Art
The collection of Gustave Fayet reunited for the first time in a century, more than 250 works by van Gogh, Gauguin, Redon, Cézanne and others beside 374 of his own designs, across every gallery of the Fondation Louis Vuitton.
Until 3 May 2027Musée du Louvre, Mezzanine Napoléon
Louvre Photo
More than 300 photographs of the Louvre itself, from the first years of photography to commissions of today, in the museum's show for the bicentenary of photography.
Stay
The best hotel suites in Paris
The room, not the hotel: in each hotel that matters, the suite to ask for.
La Suite Shangri-La at Shangri-La Paris
A one-bedroom suite of 120 sqm on the top floor of Prince Roland Bonaparte's former house, with a 100 sqm private terrace facing the Eiffel Tower.
Les Grands Appartements at Hôtel de Crillon
Two fourth-floor suites designed by Karl Lagerfeld, each with a dining room and dressing rooms, in the 1758 palace on the Place de la Concorde.
The Augusta Apartment at La Tour d'Argent
The one apartment La Tour d'Argent lets, on the fifth floor of its building on the Quai de la Tournelle, facing Notre-Dame across the Seine, with a sauna in the bedroom.
The Eiffel Tower Suite at Four Seasons Hotel George V
A seventh-floor suite at the George V with a wrought-iron terrace and a round corner lounge that face the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides, with a second bedroom that connects on request.
The Rooftop Penthouse by Coppola at Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, Paris
An 83 sqm penthouse at the top of the Lutetia on the Left Bank, with a 60 sqm roof terrace above the bedroom that looks all the way round Paris to the Eiffel Tower.
Dine
The table and the room: private rooms, chef's counters, and whom to ask.
The Antonin Carême room at Le Clarence
The largest of three private rooms on the third floor of Le Clarence, a two-star restaurant in a 19th-century mansion owned by the family behind Château Haut-Brion, seating up to 20.
Alléno Paris
Yannick Alléno's three-star dining room on the first floor (one above the street) of the Pavillon Ledoyen, in the gardens at the foot of the Champs-Élysées, open for dinner Monday to Friday.
Arpège
A table for Alain Passard's plant-only lunch or dinner menu at Arpège on the Rue de Varenne, in the main dining room or the Salon François Lesage.
Kei
A table for Kei Kobayashi's tasting menus in the Grande Salle of his three-star restaurant near the Louvre, or the private salon beside it.
Le Pré Catelan
Frédéric Anton's three-star restaurant in a 1905 Belle Époque pavilion inside the Bois de Boulogne, open Wednesday to Saturday.
Arrive
Arriving in Paris by private jet or commercial flight
Getting in and out without a queue: by private jet, on a commercial flight, by car or by train.
Eurostar Premier from Gare du Nord
The top class on the train from Paris to London, with British entry checks done before boarding, its own lanes through security and passport control, a lounge inside Gare du Nord and a station escort who can be booked at either end.
The Chabé chauffeur and airport meet-and-greet
A Paris chauffeur company since 1921, whose agent meets the passenger as they step off the aircraft at Charles de Gaulle or Orly, takes them through border checks and hands them to a waiting driver.
The Jetex terminal at Paris–Le Bourget
A private jet terminal at Le Bourget, open around the clock, with customs and immigration, aircraft parked in front of the building and a lounge.
The Signature terminal at Paris–Le Bourget
A private jet terminal at Le Bourget, the airport Paris keeps for business aviation, with customs and immigration inside and central Paris about twenty minutes away.
Access
What is not on the public calendar: before opening, after closing, by appointment.
The Musée d'Orsay before opening
The Musée d'Orsay's collections or current exhibition with a lecturer for a private group, from 8.30 to 10.30 am Tuesday to Friday, before the doors open, after breakfast in the restaurant's small salon.
The Musée Rodin after hours
The Hôtel Biron and its sculpture garden after closing for a private party: the permanent collection with one of the museum's lecturers, then dinner in the hall of honour facing The Kiss.
The Water Lilies after hours at the Orangerie
Monet's two oval Water Lilies rooms at the Musée de l'Orangerie, opened for a private group from 6 pm any day or all day on Tuesday.
The Intendants' Apartments before opening at the Hôtel de la Marine
The restored 18th-century apartments of the Crown's furniture intendants on the Place de la Concorde, opened to one party before 10.30 am or after 7 pm, through the state rooms to the loggia.
The private backstage tour of the Palais Garnier
A guided tour of the Palais Garnier's backstage areas for your party alone, arranged by Arop, the Paris Opera's patrons' association, and reaching the ballet costume workshops the public never sees.
Care
Private doctors and discreet services in Paris
Discreet services on short notice.
The 24/7 unit at the American Hospital of Paris
A bilingual medical and surgical emergency unit, open day and night, with its own operating room and 150 specialists on call, at the private hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine.
The bespoke atelier at Cifonelli
A suit cut by hand from a pattern made for one client, at the rue Marbeuf workshop where the Cifonelli family of tailors has worked since 1936.
The eye emergency unit at the Quinze-Vingts
The emergency department of France's national eye hospital, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a senior eye doctor on site and an operating room kept for emergencies day and night.
The house call from SOS Médecins
A general practitioner or emergency doctor who comes to where you are staying in Paris, at any hour of the day or night.
The paediatric emergency department at Necker
The children's emergency department of Hôpital Necker-Enfants malades, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to any sick or injured child.
Around
A day outside the city: the châteaux, Champagne, the gardens.
The Albatros course at Le Golf National
The championship course of Le Golf National at Guyancourt, near Versailles, where Europe won the 2018 Ryder Cup and the 2024 Olympic golf was played, reopened in 2026 after two years of rebuilding.
The Imperial Theatre at Fontainebleau
Napoleon III's court theatre of 1857 at the Château de Fontainebleau, 400 seats with its original stage machinery and sets, opened only for a 45-minute guided tour.
The King's private apartments at Versailles
A 1½-hour tour, led by a palace guide, of the private rooms of Louis XV and Louis XVI that lie behind the Grand Apartments of Versailles.
The Opéra Royal at Versailles
The court theatre Ange-Jacques Gabriel built for Louis XV inside the Château de Versailles, opened in 1770 and used today for a season of opera, concerts and ballet.
The Trianon dinner at Moët & Chandon
Dinner for 16 at one table in the Salon Doré of the Trianon, the Moët family's early 19th-century house on the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay, after an hour in the cellars.
