Frank Mannion stays at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel and enjoys a luxury escape at a Paris palace with a Hollywood pedigree.
If Paris awarded Oscars for luxury hotels, the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel would surely win Best Picture. With an illustrious cinematic history, this legendary hotel has hosted Oscar winners like Katharine Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich. It is enviably located on Rue Scribe, a street steeped in celluloid heritage as the Lumiere Brothers exhibited the world’s first film there in 1895. Since then, the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand has become a popular filming spot, hosting the likes of Robert Altman’s fashion satire Pret A Porter and Harrison Ford in Polanski’s pacy thriller, Frantic.
This magnificent hotel is overseen by the charming and indefatigable general manager Christophe Laure who has welcomed Heads of State such as Joe Biden and Zelensky (who has stayed several times) to the Presidential Suite, designed by interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon. It is the only suite in France with its own Panic Room.
In Frantic, Harrison Ford’s suite at Le Grand overlooked the Opera Garnier. I was fortunate to have a similar view from the Charles Garnier Suite. For opera lovers, this gorgeous white and beige infused Garnier Suite facing the rooftops of the Opera House, is a must. It has twin balconies providing insta-perfect views of the sunset, made even more special by my hearing some opera singers practicing opposite.
In the 130sqm suite, there are nods to Swan Lake with bedside lamps with duck feet either side of the king size bed, feather shades from Porta Romana and feather themed wallpaper. The expansive marble bathroom is stocked with Byredo products. The suite is named after Charles Garnier who designed the Opera House which is celebrating its 150th anniversary and the hotel offers guests VIP packages and private tours.
Few hotels have a restaurant as iconic as the stupendous Café de la Paix where an exquisite breakfast is served among its frescoed splendour. It has a rich literary history with Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway being fans of the famed 1862 recipe French onion soup. For lunch and dinner, Executive Chef Laurent Andre crafts culinary masterpieces including Lobster salad with lettuce heart, avocado, pomegranate seeds and roasted stuffed poularde with foie gras of mushrooms, green asparagus, morels and yellow wine sauce. Leave room for the historic white cheese ice cream, Bologne honey and pollen and caramelised millefeuille.
The Dermo Ocean spa by Algotherm on the hotel’s first floor is one of the top pampering spots in Paris. Hotel guests have the option of enjoying the indoor heated pool at Le Grand’s sister hotel across the road on Boulevard des Capucines, the stylish Kimpton St Honoré Paris. Guests can enjoy the spectacular 10th floor Sequoia rooftop bar which boasts 360-degree views of Paris. While I enjoyed a sundowner, the Eiffel Tower twinkled in the evening sunshine on one side of the terrace while on the other the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre stood majestically over the rooftop of the Palais Garnier.
Both the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand and Kimpton St Honoré Paris are located moments away from the Opera Garnier, the Louvre, Faubourg St Honoré, and the Tuileries Gardens. The Kimpton, with its listed 1917 Art Nouveau façade exterior, attracts a younger crowd with 149 elegant rooms including 26 beautifully styled suites with a minimalist Art Deco aesthetic. The Kimpton’s Montecito Paris restaurant is a mix of casual elegance and Californian influences making it a new dining hot spot.
The Intercontinental Paris Le Grand offers a useful VIP service to the nearby Louvre Museum which is showing the marvellous “Louvre Couture”, the first major exhibition to place masterworks of modern fashion and their inspiration within the broader context of decorative arts and French history. The Louvre is notorious for its long queues, but Le Grand provides an unmatched service where guests are whisked through Louvre security to enjoy a guided tour of one of the most popular exhibitions in recent history.
Among the breathtaking designs of Hubert de Givenchy, Christian Dior and Nicolas Ghesquière (for Louis Vuitton), Karl Lagerfeld (for Chanel) are the tapestries, armour, jewels, paintings and porcelain embodying the glory of French craftsmanship that inspired these haute couture pieces.
The Intercontinental Paris Le Grand’s Qatari owners are the proprietors of the city’s greatest department store Printemps Paris on the nearby Boulevard Haussmann. What sets the Printemps experience apart is the personal shopping service that the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand arranges. The customer service is exceptional, and with several floors of high fashion, you could spend hours getting lost here. Take a break for a delicious lunch at the Brasserie Printemps and admire the exquisite stained-glass dome overhead. The panoramic rooftop view of the Paris skyline is glorious.
The Intercontinental Paris Le Grand hotel is always a hive of activity during Paris Fashion Week. With 470 exceptional rooms, its 72 sumptuous suites are snapped up by the likes of Kim Kardashian (her favourite is the aptly named Imperial Suite). With its central position and the unmatched experiences that it offers at the Louvre, the Opera and Printemps, it is no wonder that GM Christophe Laure believes that “there are many palaces in Paris but, at Le Grand Hotel, we are Paris in a palace and have been continuously since 1862”.
To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin – a stay at the opulent Le Grand “will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of life.”
I can’t wait to return to this magical palace of dreams.
All images ©Jérôme Galland
Tell me more about the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel
Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel 2 Rue Scribe, 75009 Paris, France. T: +33 1 4007 3232 E: legrand@ihg.com
Double rooms from £429, Breakfast £38 (€45) . Free Wi-Fi.
