Hôtel Lutetia

The only palace hotel on the Left Bank, the Lutetia has an ornate late Belle Epoque facade and a stylishly redecorated Art Deco interior spiced up with paintings and sculpture by 20th-century and contemporary artists including Arman and César. The 230 rooms, 60 of them suites and junior suites, are done in 1930s Art Deco style revisited by designer Sonia Rykiel, and some of the deluxe rooms have balconies. Rykiel has also redone the Michelin one-star restaurant, Le Paris, in the marquetry-and-mirror style of the legendary ocean liner SS Normandie; the Brasserie Lutetia is traditional Parisian with upholstered black leather banquettes, the burnished leather bar has live piano music every evening and late-night jazz from Wednesday to Saturday nights. And the big lobby lounge, in graphic red and black, serves as meeting spot, tea salon and cocktail bar. The hotel is one of several in Paris, including the Meurice and the Crillon, that were famously used as German headquarters during World War II.

45 blvd Raspail, 6th, Métro: Sèvres-Babylone, website

Originally published in the March 2006 issue of France Today

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