8th arrondissement, Paris, France
Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris Review
The best service and the best eating of any hotel in Paris, and I don't think either is close. But at $3,000 a night it has become very hard to defend, and the lobby is full of people who came to be seen. I'd go once, for an occasion, and stay at Le Bristol the rest of the time.
Service
Service is why I'd choose the George V over the other Paris palaces. Grand hotels in this city can be a little cool with you until they know who you are, but here the style is relaxed, almost American in its friendliness, and for a hotel of 243 rooms it's remarkably personal. Staff use your name from the first morning and keep using it, and a birthday is noticed without you reminding anyone.
Housekeeping comes twice a day and children get their own welcome, which makes it an easy palace for families. The concierge desk is one of the best in Paris for sold-out tables and tickets. I like one modest detail a lot, the coffee, juice and croissants set out in the lobby each morning at no charge.
The crowds are the weak point. The lobby, La Galerie and the bar are a destination for half of Paris, and weekend evenings are the worst. Staying guests are looked after first, with tables held back for you in the bar, but Le George can run late on a packed night.
Rooms
For years the rooms were the weak spot here, yellowing and poorly lit, and the rebuild that finished in September 2025 has fixed that. Pierre-Yves Rochon designed them to feel like a Paris apartment, with oak parquet, shelves of books, far more daylight, and blinds and lights that work at a touch. They're big for Paris too, and even the entry Superior is around 400 square feet. The look is pale and calm, and I can see why some people find it a bit beige. It comes in champagne, light blue and light green, and I'd ask for the blue.
Rooms vary a lot within the same category, in layout, view and whether there's a terrace, so ask for exactly what you want. I'd skip the Superior, because the Deluxe usually costs only a little more, and book the Premier, at 540 to 650 square feet, on a high floor facing the courtyard for quiet. The marble bathrooms have a deep tub and a separate shower, but they're the plainest part of the room, and some have a single basin, so ask for a double if you care. Only certain upper-floor suites see the Eiffel Tower, so don't hope for it from a room.
Food and drink
The food is the other reason to come, with three Michelin-starred restaurants around the courtyard. Le Cinq has three stars under Christian Le Squer, and its tasting menu, about $750 a person before wine, is a wonderful evening I'd do once. It's dinner only, Tuesday to Saturday, and a jacket is required.
The table I'd go back to is Le George, Simone Zanoni's one-star Mediterranean restaurant, lighter and livelier and open every day, and the pasta is the thing to order. L'Orangerie, a tiny glass room of about 20 seats with two stars, changed chefs in July 2026. Bertrand Noeureuil came from Bordeaux and cooks six and nine course menus, so if you loved it before, expect a different kitchen.
Breakfast is the weaker meal. It's served in the Le Cinq dining room, or out in the courtyard on a warm morning, and the croissants and apple turnovers are superb. The cooked dishes, and room service generally, are more ordinary than three stars next door would make you expect, and I think Le Bristol does breakfast better. In the evening Le Bar has a pianist most nights, with cocktails around $35.
Setting
Inside, the public rooms are the grandest of any hotel in Paris. You walk in past Jeff Leatham's flowers, about 12,000 stems a week, and I never get tired of them. The 1928 Art Deco building wraps around a marble courtyard where I'd have lunch from May to September. Downstairs there's a real 55-foot mosaic swimming pool, rare in Paris, with a warm vitality pool and two hammams beside it, though it's all below ground.
The neighbourhood is where it loses me. Avenue George V is calmer than the Champs-Elysees around the corner, and you can walk to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. But this part of the 8th is designer shops, embassies and visitors from everywhere, and the hotel fills with people dressed head to toe to be seen. It's glamorous, but it isn't the Paris of cafes and bookshops, and the Louvre, the Marais and Saint-Germain are a taxi ride away.
Value
No, not unless the hotel is the point of the trip. It's now the most expensive of the Paris palaces, at $3,000 a night or more for much of the year, though an entry room can dip to the low $2,000s on the quietest winter dates. The Premier I'd choose is $3,500 and up, and suites start around $5,000 and rise very steeply. For that you get the best service and restaurants of their kind in Paris, which I'd pay for once, for an occasion.
Le Bristol, the Ritz and the Crillon are all noticeably less for a similar room, and Le Bristol gives you a garden and a quieter street. If you'll be out from morning until midnight, you're paying a great deal for a bed.
Who it suits
This is one for a big occasion, for food lovers who want three starred restaurants a lift ride from bed, for families, and for first-time palace guests who'd like to feel welcome and not judged. If you'd like a garden, a quieter street and better value, I'd look at Le Bristol. For river views and a modern look, Cheval Blanc, and for history and a more central address, the Ritz Paris or the Hotel de Crillon.