This gorgeous hotel was originally constructed in 1896 as the private residence of Prince Roland Bonaparte, a grand-nephew of Napoleon and has been classified as a Historic Monument since 2009. It also carries France’s coveted “Palace” designation—the highest official honor in French hospitality—awarded in 2014. When Shangri-La opened it in 2010 as the brand’s first European property, the four-year restoration was meticulous enough to preserve the original parquet floors, marble pillars, stained glass, and the wrought-iron and gilt staircase that makes the lobby spectacular.
Paris has no shortage of five-star hotels, and with so many excellent ones, choosing is the hardest part. The Shangri-La has received recognition from Condé Nast and Forbes Travel Guide among others, and has earns those designations consistently. But when travelers want views of the Eiffel Tower from their hotel rooms, this is the place.
Paris doesn’t really have an off-season for luxury hotels, but spring—April through June—and early autumn, September through October, are the windows when the light is extraordinary, the crowds at the monuments are more manageable, and the city feels most like itself. Summer brings peak pricing and peak tourism in equal measure.
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local Neighborhood
The hotel’s location in the 16th arrondissement positions it, practically speaking, between the Arc de Triomphe to the north and the Seine to the south. Candidly you will need to walk or Uber to the main attractions and shopping districts, but consider the calmer location an advantage for many.
The Musée Guimet (National Museum of Asian Arts) is steps away—and among the most undervisited major museums in Paris. The Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris are both nearby and consistently excellent for contemporary work. The Champs-Élysées is about a 15-minute walk and useful for orientation but not for shopping or dining.
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Best rooms & Suites At The Shangri la Hotel Paris
One hundred rooms and suites means a notably intimate scale for a palace property of this stature, and the variety within that inventory is worth understanding before you book. The baseline Superior Rooms (around 385 square feet) overlook either the hotel’s courtyard or the glass cupola, and they are lovely—but they don’t offer the Eiffel Tower views that define the hotel’s singular selling proposition.
If the view matters to you, and I’d argue it should, step up to a Deluxe Room or higher, and specify the Eiffel Tower orientation at booking rather than leaving it to chance.
The Terrace Rooms and Duplex Terrace Suites are where the experience shifts from excellent to unmistakable. The Paris Signature Room, with its 462-square-foot private furnished terrace facing the tower, is one of those rooms you’ll describe to people for years. Marble bathrooms with heated floors, deep soaking tubs, separate rainfall showers, and Guerlain toiletries throughout.
For families, the hotel offers Connecting Family Eiffel View Suites that have one king, two twins, and the option for two more children on rollaways.
If you book your hotel through Luxe Recess, you will receive complimentary VIP perks like resort credits, a welcome amenity, daily breakfast for two per bedroom, and you will be placed in the highest priority category for upgrades. Learn about these perks.
Shangri La Paris Restaurants
The Shangri-La Paris operates two Michelin-starred restaurants under one roof, which is rare at the palace hotel level and even rarer still given how dissimilar the two concepts are.
L’Abeille—named for the bee, Napoleon’s emblem—is the flagship French restaurant, currently holding two Michelin stars under Executive Chef Christophe Moret. The room is formal, intimate, and serves the kind of classical French cuisine that justifies an unhurried dinner with no particular agenda except the meal itself. Reservations are essential and should be made well in advance for peak seasons.
Shang Palace is the other starred restaurant, and it occupies an entirely different register: the only Chinese restaurant in France to hold a Michelin star, serving authentic Cantonese cuisine with a menu that rewards ordering the Peking duck—roasted whole—as an anchor and building around it. The private dining rooms within Shang Palace are worth knowing about for groups or special occasions.
But I need to give a shout out to room service, which delivered the most delicious and beautiful lobster salad, and I couldn’t resist combining it with dim sum from their Chinese menu as well.
La Bauhinia is where most guests spend their mornings and afternoons, and appropriately so. The kitchen serves French and Southeast Asian-influenced dishes across breakfast, brunch, and afternoon tea. This is where our clients will have their complimentary breakfast.
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pool
Tucked into the lower level of the property in what were originally Prince Bonaparte’s private stables, is one of the most beautiful indoor pools in Paris—a heated pool bathed in natural light through high windows, and an outdoor terrace for warmer months. The space is part of CHI, The Spa. The combination of classical architecture, the painted ceiling, and the calm, and the filtered daylight creates an atmosphere that is more restorative than recreational—this is not a lap pool for serious swimmers, but a sanctuary for deliberate unwinding.
If you’re traveling with children, know that the spa does not permit guests under 18. Families who use the pool must paddle around with spa-appropriate volume. Factor that into your planning.
spa
CHI, The Spa is the Shangri-La group’s proprietary wellness concept which draws on a blend of traditional Chinese medicine and European treatment techniques. The treatment menu has depth: the signature CHI Balance Massage (a 90-minute meridian-based technique using aromatherapy) and the Rose Diamond Lifting Facial were two of my favorites.
A practical detail worth knowing: the spa recommends beginning any visit with 15 to 20 minutes in the hammam before your treatment—the steam preparation noticeably deepens the effect of whatever follows. The steam room is small, eucalyptus-scented, and beautifully tiled. The signature herbal tea, developed specifically for CHI Paris by Chic des Plantes, is served throughout.
final thoughts
The Shangri-La Paris is, without qualification, a top option in Paris—and it earns that standing through the integrity of the physical property, a service culture that reflects Shangri-La’s Asian hospitality roots, and a dining program that would justify the address even if the rooms weren’t what they are.
The Eiffel Tower views from the terrace rooms are a legitimate reason to book a specific room category and pay the premium for it.
Look, I used to live in Paris and consider myself a somewhat jaded about many of the city’s tourist charms, but enjoying my terrace with those incredible views made me giddy. I deplore taking selfies, and yet I took several dozen at every hour of my stay that I was awake.
During my stay, I left my key in my room by accident and approached the front desk. They addressed me by name and asked if I needed a new key before I opened my mouth. Guests are queens and kings of the palace here.
I book the Shangri-La Paris with confirmed amenities like daily breakfast for two, a hotel credit, priority for room upgrades and Eiffel Tower-facing accommodations, early check-in and late check-out when available, and a warm welcome from a property that knows our clients are coming with specific expectations.
In a city with as many excellent hotel options as Paris, the difference between a good stay and the right stay often comes down to the room you’re in and how it was secured. That’s exactly what I’m here for.