Colombe McCarthy, director of the European division at Destinations & Adventures International in Beverly Hills, has endless insider tips about her native Paris. “I just went to Sola, a hot new restaurant that opened five months ago, and loved it—a great combination of Japanese and French techniques, and the young Japanese chef used to work at L’Astrance. Be sure to request downstairs when making your booking—a tatami room set in a beautiful vaulted cellar. Sola has great sake selections and they’re planning to open a sake bar too.”
McCarthy likes the Hotel Gabriel, a “contemporary, cocooning” hideaway known for its NightCove sleep machine that was developed by a French professor who specializes in sleep disorders. “It is not in Le Marais as the website indicates, but in a really trendy neighborhood near the Canal St. Martin. Apparently, the NightCove works so well that after three nights many guests want to buy it. The Hotel Gabriel sells the machine and ships it for guests [1400 euros].”
For clients looking for a day trip outside the city, McCarthy suggests the Chateau a Sceaux as an alternative to Versailles and Vaux Le Vicomte. “It’s accessible by RER train, has amazing gardens and a great art collection, and of course, is nowhere near the same crowds as Versailles.”
Guests of Hôtel Plaza Athénée’s Signature Suites are in for a treat: The hotel has secured two Aston Martins for exclusive use by guests staying in the Royal Suite, the duplex Art Deco Suite or one of three Eiffel Suites. The Rides: A four-door, four-seater Rapide and a fashionable two-seater Cygnet, both designed to explore Paris.
The Rapide is all about power and prestige, with a V12 under the hood, 6-speed automatic transmission, and four “swan song” doors. Meanwhile, at just 10-feet long, the 4-cylinder, 1.3-liter Cygnet is sized just right for exploring the City of Light, with a handcrafted interior comparable to the most exclusive Aston Martin sports cars.
Visit www.plaza-athenee-paris.com.
The Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris is set to invest around $28 million toward a three-year renovation project, which will concentrate on the hotel’s guest rooms. The hotel will unveil the first of its new-look rooms and suites in the middle of April.
Word is Pierre Yves-Rochon has been bought back to helm the redesign. “We have identified around 12 touchpoints we thought needed to be worked on,” said Christopher Norton, general manager of the hotel, to TTG Live. “These include everything from doubling the size of the mirrors in the bathrooms and adding in-mirror TVs, rewiring the entire room to accommodate guests’ needs for more sockets for devices, moving the mini-bar up to eye level, installing coffee-making machines and redesigning closet space.” Continue reading »
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Get ready, Saint-Tropez. Hotel Byblos—the Côte d’Azur hot spot that’s a favorite of the jetset crowd—is readying to open for the season. The hotel has been a mythical landmark on the French Riviera since 1967. Now helmed by Antoine Chevanne (CEO of Groupe Floirat) and Christophe Chauvin (General Manager), the five-star property has 51 rooms and 45 suites, completely redesigned and refurbished. Even the smallest room offers more than 320 square feet of living space. Choose a suite with a terrace and you’ll have views over the beautiful swimming pool and olive tree patio.
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Let’s face it: sometimes a day of Paris sightseeing can leave you feeling haggard. The ultimate pick-me-up? A relaxation massage at Le Spa at Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, a 250-square-meter sanctuary devoted to wellbeing. (Needless to say, some down time at Le Spa can also do wonders for weary and jet-lagged business travelers.) Located on the lower level of the luxury hotel, the spa is designed with Paris sandstone, mahogany and an onyx water wall. Walk through the door and you’ll feel instant calm. Perhaps it’s the spa’s signature fragrance, wafting through the air, that has that soporific effect, maybe it’s the soft music, or the warm Jacuzzi jets in the whirpool bath… Regardless, you’ll be relaxed and smiling in no time.
After a brutal winter, spring can’t arrive too soon. We say a trip to Provence and Hotel Crillon le Brave, 25 miles northeast of Avignon, is the perfect anodyne to the brumal season.
The hotel’s 23 double room accommodations—set in seven buildings, which date back to the 17th and 18th centuries and are linked by bridges, cobblestone walkways and courtyards—are decorated in cool whites with splashes of lavender, lime and framboise and have Bose sound systems.
The seven Junior and Master Suites are larger—we say Nos. 27 and 33 are the tops—with private terraces and views of Mont Ventoux and the Rhone Valley. There’s also a small house, La Sousto, with a lounge and two bedrooms—which we say is perfect for a family of four. The hotel’s pièce de résistance is a heated outdoor pool and new La Grange Bar.
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The three Rs of a wellness vacation—Relaxation, Recovery, Regeneration—are the foundations of La Réserve Ramatuelle, a cutting-edge spa hotel on France’s Côte d’Azur. Reopening in early April after a winter break, this private hillside domain is a short drive from the restaurants and beaches of Saint-Tropez, but, with peerless Mediterranean views, guests may find it difficult to leave the grounds.
The seven guest rooms and 16 larger suites have floor-to-ceiling windows, which allow natural light to flood in. France Chic’s pick is the contemporary, 1,076-square-foot Suite Taillat, which is decorated in ochre, white and sandy beige. The suite also boasts stone floors, woven rugs, sleek modern furniture and a private terrace and garden.
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The talk of the town in Paris today has been about the new Michelin guide for 2011. For the first time since 1992, notes authoritative food blog Paris by Mouth, there are no new three-star restaurants in France. The headline in the The New York Times Diner’s Journal sums it up best: “In France, Michelin dims its galaxy of three-star restaurants.”
Michelin announced that the new guide listings reflect the shift towards more value-oriented, bistro-style eating over the white tablecloths and silver service in the Michelin-starred world of haute gastronomy. Eater points out that the 2011 Michelin Guide France has more Bib Gourmand restaurants—honoring eateries in which a full meal costs than €35 (US$48) in Paris and €29 (US$40) in the rest of France—than starred-restos.
New two-star restaurants in the guide include: Jean-François Piège at L’Hôtel Thoumieux (currently appearing on the French version of “Top Chef,” Jean-François Piège used to helm Les Ambassadeurs at Le Crillon); L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon-Étoile, and Passage 53, formerly decorated with one star.
France is seeing several new museum openings this year; one opened just last month and several more are due to debut throughout 2011.
The town of Essoyes in Champagne has just opened a new museum dedicated to Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s work called “Renoir in Essoyes.” The museum primarily focuses on Renoir’s daily life and artistic style during the time he lived in Essoyes with his family, rendered by a reconstruction of the painter’s studio and exhibitions showcasing his family. Visitors can explore the area that once inspired Renoir’s works by walking through his former village and garden, where a selection of his canvases will be propped on easels. The permanent exhibition room, “The Renoirs’ Space,” covers the entire Renoir family’s life. By June of this year, a temporary exhibition will feature contemporary perspectives on the celebrated artist’s works, showcasing modern interpretations inspired by his paintings.
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Those traveling to Paris have a new hotel to check out: The 26-room Le Pavillon des Lettres, a classic Haussman townhouse in the 8th arrondissement. Erudite Touch: Each room is devoted to a letter of the alphabet and an international writer corresponding to that letter. Shakespeare, Baudelaire and Rousseau are among the authors whose quotes are scrawled on the walls en Français, bien sur! For English translations, boot up the room’s dedicated iPad, which is stocked with international bestsellers and daily newspapers, as well as jazz and classical music. A treat awaits bookworms that prefer the feel of paper between their fingers, with the hotel’s cozy library (complete with an Honesty Bar) that is stocked with the works of all 26 featured authors, and more.
