The Best Hotels to Book in Paris That Are Perfect for Foodies

This quirky boutique address in the heart of Le Marais is the first hotel to be designed by Christian Lacroix, who has stamped his lavish signature style on each room with bold colours, mismatched prints and opulent fabrics. The hotel is also housed in the first-ever bakery in Paris and was the boulangerie where Victor Hugo used to buy his baguettes. In a nod to the hotel’s past life, guests can take macaron-making courses in partnership with La Cuisine Paris.

Great neighbourhoods for dining in Paris are no longer just inside the Boulevard Périphérique that surrounds the city centre. Head to Saint-Ouen in the suburbs, where you can visit the famous Marché aux Puces (flea market) before settling into the Parisian outpost of Brooklyn-born Mob group. This super-cool, affordable Paris hotel-with-restaurant does on-site dining with a difference – and a conscience. Ingredients for the veg-centric menu (still a rarity in France) are sourced locally and from organic co-ops wherever possible. In summer, it’s worth staying for its outdoor barbecues alone.

Looking for serious cocktails and fine dining? Head for Parisian pied-à-terre Amastan, just off the Champs-Élysées. Once you’ve sipped a cherry-infused gin and tonic in the hotel’s celebrated cocktail bar, Anouk, head out in search of culinary enlightenment. Five Michelin-starred restaurants are within a 10-minute walk; try L’Arôme, where Thomas Boullault’s tasting menus famously feature wild turbot in a coffee sauce. For something a little more relaxed, nearby bar-restaurant Le Mermoz was one of the first places to bring natural wine and small plates to this side of Paris.

Run by the Experimental Group (hospitality royalty that’s also behind La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels in London), this uber-central townhouse hotel celebrates French style with Italian passion. Chef Giovanni Passerini heads up the Grand Restaurant, where his spin on Franco-Italian country cooking runs the gamut from beef tartare with smoked ricotta to linguini with calamari. There are also two superb cocktail bars on-site: the whimsical Shell and the Shed, a summer-only rooftop spot. If you need even more marvellous mixology, Le Syndicat, officially one of the World’s 50 Best Bars, is just around the corner.

Few hostels have a rooftop with Sacré-Cœur views so spectacular it gets booked out for private events, but Generator doesn’t fit the budget-travel mould. Rooftop rosé at apéro hour aside, this flashpacking option is a budget-conscious foodie’s dream. Take a short stroll to the Canal Saint-Martin to visit cult bakeries Du Pain et des Idées and Boulangerie Utopie for flaky croissants, followed by rustic lunch dishes at Le Verre Volé’s Formica tables. Walk in the other direction for superb pho, dim sum and Korean hotpot around Belleville’s Chinatown.

Another creation from the ever-inventive Experimental Group, this classy boutique hotel has some serious pedigree. If you can bear to leave the Dorothée Meilichzon-designed rooms, a negroni in the ground-floor cocktail bar is the perfect way to start an evening exploring Pigalle’s restaurant scene. In the past few years, some of the most exciting places in the city have opened here, with the budget-friendly brasserie Bouillon Pigalle and too-cool-for-school Italian trattoria Pink Mamma among them. Alternatively, see if you can score a table at the smash-hit Israeli restaurant Balagan, a 25-minute walk away.

No luxury is spared at the Nolinski Paris, just a short walk from the Palais Garnier, the Louvre and the Palais Royal. The Nolinski Le Restaurant is helmed by Philip Chronopoulos, who runs nearby Michelin-starred Palais Royal Restaurant. Expect creative cuisine with Mediterranean accents. The dimly lit cocktail bar also serves up delectable snacks – from mini foie-gras brioche burgers to truffle pizzetta. Those in the know will also wander down the adjacent Rue Sainte-Anne, the heart of Paris’s Little Tokyo, where you’ll find great udon, okonomiyaki, ramen and more.

If your idea of a foodie pilgrimage is following in the footsteps of Andy Warhol, David Bowie and Mick Jagger, book into Les Bains. This epicentre of the ’80s club scene was reborn as an uber-glitzy club and hotel. In the sultry Brazilian restaurant Roxo, chef Bruno Grossi (who has worked with Marcus Wareing and Guy Savoy) devises sharing plates perfect for see-and-be-seen snacking – perhaps broccolini with ponzu dressing, tuna tataki or quail with baba ganoush. After a night out, there’s no better way to shake off a hangover than with crêpes at the nearby Marché des Enfants Rouges – the heart of the food scene in the hip Marais area.

Welcoming guests for nearly 100 years, Le Bristol Paris is a wonderful mix of the city’s classic charm and the modern conveniences of a contemporary hotel experience. Head chef Eric Frechon has overseen the hotel’s restaurant, Epicure, for the past 20 years. It holds a whopping three Michelin stars for its typical French cuisine, while the chic 114 Faubourg holds another.

Hôtel Particulier Montmartre is one of the smallest Paris hotels on our list, but what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for with a sleek aesthetic and an exceptional dining experience. Head chef Gabriele Faiella uses only the freshest ingredients in the Grand Salon’s seasonal menus – the Sunday brunch here is an absolute must-try.

First opening its doors in 1913, the Hôtel Plaza Athénée still has the lavish interiors you would expect from one of the few palace hotels in Paris. Alongside Le Meurice, Alain Ducasse also oversees the three-Michelin-starred restaurant here, run by executive chef Romain Meder. He takes a natural approach to the menu, with most of the sustainably-sourced ingredients taken straight from the queen’s garden on the grounds of Château de Versailles.