The Peninsula Paris

When a big-league luxury-hotel concern like Peninsula sets up shop in Paris, you can safely expect an impressive result. Let’s start with the building, a 19th-century looker at N° 19 Avenue Kléber, roughly midway between the Arc de Triomphe and the Trocadéro. Hand-restored by 20 expert stonemasons, it’s pure Haussmann from the neoclassical ornaments on the ground-floor façade to the trademark mansard roofing. The majesty of its profile dovetails perfectly with its grand interiors, whose sumptuousness effortlessly absorbs the high-tech touches; it’s not hard to picture the tense negotiators signing the Paris Peace Accords here in 1973 or, half a century earlier, Gershwin laboring over the composition of An American in Paris.

As is their forte, Peninsula’s hospitality extends well beyond their own walls, thanks to a trademark fleet of stylish sedans, including a gleaming 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II and a quirky Citroën fourgonnette. One might use them en route to the hotel’s other trademark, a series of “Academy” excursions — to the opera, a VIP Versailles experience, or an in-depth vineyard tour in the heart of the Champagne province. No fewer than six venues serve up inspired plates and cups on site, of course; of particular note is L’Oiseau Blanc, an aviation-themed rooftop restaurant whose wraparound windows make for spectacular Eiffel-gazing. If you’re the cigar-savoring sort, that’s done best in the Kléber bar and lounge under a pair of exquisitely restored ceiling murals.

Rooms embody classic luxury via a lacquer-heavy treatment in rich grays with sepia and cream notes; crucially, each offers more than enough room to step back and take in the whole picture. Elaborate headboards and sleek lighting fixtures grace the bedrooms, while the marble bathrooms feature Japanese toilets and luxe amenities. Custom bedside tablets control every conceivable convenience, including a suite of bleeding-edge electronics comprising a flatscreen television, Blu-Ray player, docking station, and an integrated sound system. You’d do well to leave the room and explore the wellness facilities, though; at 19,000 square feet, the complex offers refined relaxation by nearly any means imaginable, not least the 65-foot indoor pool with a floor-to-ceiling waterfall or the multiple jacuzzis.