The Paris that opens for those already expected.
Everyone has been to Paris. Very few have arrived in it well — through the right door, on the right street, greeted by a concierge who already has your name.
Two hours from London and a single night from New York, and still the distance that counts is not the one you fly. It is the one measured in doors that open before you knock.
Why Our Clients Go
Our clients go to Paris for the second time, and the twentieth. The Tour Eiffel is behind them. What they want now is the corner table at a room that stopped taking new names years ago, the suite at Le Bristol that faces the garden rather than the traffic of the Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, and the hour at the Louvre before its doors open to anyone at all.
We know the difference a floor makes, and an aspect makes. At the Ritz, a room on the Place Vendôme and one that looks quietly into the garden are not the same night, and we know which we would give you. We know the dozen-odd houses that hold the Palace distinction — France's own rank, set above five stars — and which of them still earns it. We know that August empties the city of Parisians and fills it with everyone else, and that the quiet week after it is the finest time to have Paris nearly to yourself.
We are paid by you, and by no one else. No hotel buys a line on this page. When we tell you the Cheval Blanc keeps the better spa and Le Meurice the better view of the Tuileries, that is the entire reason we are saying it.
How We Arrange It
- 01From New York, Air France La Premiere on the Boeing out of JFK, met at the aircraft door at Charles de Gaulle and driven the length of the tarmac to a private salon before you ever touch the terminal. From London, the choice is ours to argue: British Airways Club Suite, or the Eurostar in Business Premier, which puts you at the Ritz door twenty minutes after the Gare du Nord.
- 02Rooms chosen by aspect, not category. A garden suite at Le Bristol, a Belle Etoile terrace over the Tuileries at Le Meurice, a room at the Cheval Blanc that holds the Seine and Notre-Dame in one window. We book the house, then we book the specific key.
- 03A car and a driver who knows the city, waiting the moment you clear, held for the length of your stay rather than the length of the ride.
- 04An hour inside the Louvre before it opens — the Denon wing to yourselves, a curator to walk it. A table at a room that has not answered an unknown number in a decade. These we arrange because there is one number to call, and it is ours.
- 05One number for the whole of it: the flight moved, the table changed, the car sent back. We answer within twelve hours, and in Paris it is usually far less.
When To Go
Spring (April to June)
The chestnuts come out along the avenues, the gardens are freshly planted, and the city is warm without yet being full. Late May brings Roland-Garros; we hold court-side seats before the draw is announced.
Autumn (September to October)
Paris comes home from August, the galleries reopen for the rentree, and Art Basel takes the Grand Palais in the third week of October. The light turns long and gold, and the kitchens are at their most serious.
Early winter (late November to December)
The Palace houses dress their lobbies for Noel, the Louvre is walkable at midday, and truffle and game are on every good menu. The cold is the price, and it is a small one.