Fodor's Expert Review Hôtel de Crillon

Grand even before a total renovation shuttered the hotel for four years, the Crillon reemerged in July 2017 as the city's preeminent palace hotel. No expense was spared to create these sumptuous gilt-edged spaces, where ancient and modern merge in utmost harmony and comfort and, best of all, service comes with a smile.

YOU SHOULD KNOW Five top designers and 150 skilled artisans were employed to restore the 18th-century mansion's original features and create elegant new details—like the exquisite ceilings of the Winter Garden and tiny gaming lounge, a new pool, and two spiffed up garden courtyards.

Photo: Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

room

Though each interior in the hotel's 124 rooms and suites is unique, all combine opulent fabrics, precious woods and marble, original artwork, and antique and custom furnishings for a timeless, quintessentially sophisticated effect. Each room has its own theme, which could be, say, gardens, where you might find an art book on Le Nôtre, green velvet loveseats, fresh flowers, and other whimsical touches. Rooms come with all the amenities (tea and coffee facilites, delicacy-laden mini-bars, luxury linens) and temperature and light controls are blessedly easy to manage. But every room room is assigned its own personal butler if you should need explanations.

Two of the hotel's ten signature suites, the "Les Grands Appartments," were designed by Karl Lagerfeld, artistic director of Chanel and Paris sophisticate-at-large.

Photo: Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

Photo: Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

bathroom

Spectacular marble baths all have heated floors, separate tubs and walk-in showers, beautiful (and bright) lighting, and luxury products by Buly 1803, a chic new all-natural brand that channels ancient Parisian apothecaries.

Photo: Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

Photo: Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

lobby

Separate from the reception area (in its own historic inlaid-wood panelled room), the lobby consists of a sumptuous sitting area and cozy gaming room, in front of the hotel boutique, men's grooming salon, and a shoe-care boutique, and the entrance to the spa and women's hair salon, all punctuated with colorful contemporary art. The winter garden tearoom and terrace are also on the ground floor, as well as the two restaurants and Les Ambassadeurs bar, which repeat clients will recognize as the former gastronomic restaurant.

Photo: Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

pool

A small but lovely pool, surrounded by sculpted copper walls resembling gilded undersea crustaceans, benefits from skylights on the hotel's upper terrace and serene lounging areas.

YOU SHOULD KNOW Small changing rooms do not communicate easily with the pool, sauna, and steam room areas so you may find yourself wandering a bit in your robe.

spa

The lavishly serene Sense spa features a menu of "lost" plant-based remedies from French skin specialists EviDenS de Beauté and Maison Caulières.

gym

The well-equipped guests-only gym offers a half-dozen different types of state-of-the-art fitness machines, weights, sauna, and steam room. A personal trainer is available by appointment.

Photo: Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

dining

Guests have a choice of the chic Brasserie d'Aumont for lunch or dinner, featuring French classics (including dishes from the original 1910 hotel menu), or the exquisite 22-seat L'Ecran gastronomic dining room, helmed by Christopher Hache, who earned two stars at the hotel's former Les Ambassadeurs restaurant before the renovation, and seems poised to earn them back again. The lovely Jardin d'Hiver and terrace are open all day for lunch, teatime, or a glass of champagne.

Photo: Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

Photo: Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

drinking

Set in the old historic dining room, with its dimpled putti and gilded scenery all luminously restored, the bar is really the hotel's pièce de resistance. This is where you'll want to hang out, whether a guest or not, for a cocktail or drink at the glistening bar or artfully reclined on a plush velvet sofa. DJ nights spice things up, in a sophisticated way, on weekends.

Champagne lovers will delight in the wine list's 100-plus bottles.

Photo: Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

shopping

For high-end shopping you've hit the jackpot: the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, and its continuation, the Rue Saint-Honoré, is one of Paris's great high-end shopping streets, jammed with dozens of top designers, including Hermès, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Goyard, Chloé, etc. Ten minutes away in the othe direction, the capital's other haute shopping area, Avenue Montaigne, George V, and the Champs-Élysées, which intersect to make up the Golden Triangle, are home to the likes of Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo, Céline, Guerlain, Gucci, Valentino, Marni, Aläia, Dior, and many more.