Paris, France · Palace Hotel · ★★★★★
Cheval Blanc Paris
LVMH's masterwork. Opened 2021 in the reimagined La Samaritaine building. Seventy rooms. The Seine below. Plénitude above. Paris at its most persuasive.
LVMH's masterwork. Opened 2021 in the reimagined La Samaritaine building. Seventy rooms. The Seine below. Plénitude above. Paris at its most persuasive.
"LVMH's Paris debut, 2021 opening in the Samaritaine, the only Right Bank Palace with direct Seine frontage."
Why this rank, Cheval Blanc Paris is LVMH's first Paris hotel, opened September 2021 in the restored La Samaritaine Pont-Neuf building, with interior architecture by Peter Marino. 72 rooms and suites across the 1869 Belle Époque building, the smallest room count among Paris Palace hotels and the only Palace with direct Seine frontage. The property received Atout France Palace classification in 2023, two years after opening, marking the fastest Palace recognition in the certification's history. The property holds four restaurants including Plénitude under chef Arnaud Donckele (three Michelin stars), the Tout-Paris brasserie, Limbar (cocktails), and Le Tout-Paris on the rooftop with Seine views. The Dior Spa Cheval Blanc, operated under LVMH-sister-brand partnership, occupies two floors and includes the largest hotel pool in central Paris (30m × 7m). Best for honeymoon, anniversary, and any first Paris stay where the Seine view matters. The Pont-Neuf address means Île de la Cité, the Louvre, and Notre-Dame are all visible from the upper-floor suites, the most-comprehensive central-Paris view of any Palace.
Best room: Quintessence Suite, top-floor Seine-view, 200 sq m, private terrace.
"LVMH's masterwork. Seventy rooms, three-Michelin-starred Plénitude, and Seine views that make the room rate feel like a bargain. The most design-forward palace hotel in Paris, and possibly the most beautiful room in the city."
Cheval Blanc Paris opened in September 2021, occupying the upper floors of the reimagined La Samaritaine, a historic Parisian department store that LVMH closed in 2005 and spent sixteen years restoring. The hotel is the group's first urban European address and is understood within the luxury industry as a statement of what a contemporary palace hotel can be when the owner is effectively unlimited.
Peter Marino, the architect responsible for a generation of LVMH retail interiors, including Louis Vuitton flagships worldwide, designed the seventy rooms and suites with what he calls "tone-on-tone residential luxury." Each room is unique. The commission ran to approximately €360 million for the full La Samaritaine restoration project. The hotel's rooms reflect a level of design investment that is simply not possible at other price points.
The Seine views are the hotel's most discussed attribute, and they earn the discussion. Rooms facing the river look directly at the Île de la Cité, Notre-Dame Cathedral (visible in the mid-distance and now fully restored), and the Pont Neuf. At night, the view of the illuminated bridges and water is genuinely moving. The terrace suites on the upper floors amplify this to the point of excess.
Plénitude, the hotel's flagship restaurant, holds three Michelin stars under Chef Arnaud Donckele. The restaurant serves a single tasting menu, changes with the seasons, impossible to describe in advance, and is one of the most technically accomplished dining experiences in France. The experience at Plénitude is deliberately unhurried; an evening there takes four hours and leaves guests with the feeling that time has been used correctly.
The Dior Spa Cheval Blanc is the hotel's wellness expression: a collaboration with the Dior beauty house, offering treatments using exclusive Dior skincare formulations in rooms that are themselves worth the visit. The indoor pool is extraordinary, not merely in size but in the quality of the light and the acoustic calm that Marino's design achieves.
The location combines the best of two Paris worlds: the Louvre is a six-minute walk across the Pont des Arts. The Île de la Cité, with Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame, is directly across the river. Rue de Rivoli shopping begins immediately. The 1st arrondissement is Paris's geographic and cultural centre, and Cheval Blanc sits at its absolute heart.
Cheval Blanc Paris is the finest honeymoon hotel in Paris by the margin of its design and its river view. The Seine-facing suites, particularly those with private terrace access, are among the most romantic rooms in Europe. Dinner at Plénitude on arrival night, breakfast in the room facing Notre-Dame the next morning: this is the honeymoon that people describe for years afterwards. Book the Penthouse Suite if the occasion warrants it. The views do most of the work.
There is no better proposal setting in Paris than a Cheval Blanc Seine-view terrace at dusk, with Notre-Dame illuminated across the water. The concierge team coordinates proposals with the kind of precision that reflects the group's experience in this area, champagne timing, photographer positioning if desired, Plénitude reservation immediately after. The hotel takes the occasion seriously, which is more than can be said for some of its peers.
For couples returning to Paris for milestone anniversaries, Cheval Blanc offers something the older palaces cannot: a sense of discovery alongside the ceremony. The hotel opened in 2021 and carries none of the over-familiarity that weighs on some more famous Paris addresses. The Dior Spa and the Plénitude dinner together constitute an anniversary experience of remarkable completeness.
Rates shown are approximate. Verify at time of booking.
The King's Suite
Monthly. No noise.
Editorial · #6 on the Top 20 Paris Hotels 2026 list
Cheval Blanc Paris is the strongest 2021-onwards Paris hotel opening, LVMH's first hotel in the city, in the restored Samaritaine building, with the only direct Seine frontage at Palace-grade certification level. The Peter Marino interior architecture, the four-restaurant program anchored by Plénitude at three Michelin stars, and the Dior Spa Cheval Blanc with its 30-meter swimming pool (the largest hotel pool in central Paris) define the contemporary luxury that other Palace properties don't yet match.
For Paris visitors, Cheval Blanc is the address for first-time Paris stays where the iconic central views matter, and for repeat Paris visitors who want the freshest Palace-tier product. The Pont-Neuf address puts Île de la Cité out the window, Notre-Dame visible from the upper-floor rooms, the Louvre five minutes by foot, and the Marais and Saint-Germain both walking distance. The Atout France Palace classification granted in 2023, the fastest Palace recognition in the program's history, confirms the operational standard.