Author of the guidebook Paris Precincts, Donna Wheeler invites you to wander through the arrondissements* of this chic city to find the best shopping, drinking and dining haunts. Here we’ve compiled some select excerpts from the book with a few additional experiences for the luxury traveller.
SHOP
BEST FOR FASHIONISTAS
Montaigne Market
57 avenue Montaigne, 8e
01 42 56 58 58
Open Mon–Sat 10.30am–7pm
Metro: Champs-Élysées–Clemenceau, Franklin D.Roosevelt
Despite having clients that include one-name models (Kendall, Gigi) and conjoined-name celebs (KimYe, aka Kim Kardashian and Kanye West), there’s no need to fear the shop assistant snarl at Liliane Jossua’s multibrand fashion shop: it has some of the most welcoming staff in luxuryland. Two floors house more than 100 clothing, accessory and jewellery labels, making for a heady shopping experience indeed. That’s some good breadth, but there’s also a good amount of curatorial nous on display (note Jossua’s penchant for black, more black and white). Coo over Azzedine Alaïa leather and Lanvin lace, and don’t miss trying on the Leetha cashmere pieces and Reiss tees.
BEST FOR FAMILY-FRIENDLY FINDS
Bonton
5 boulevard des Filles du Calvaire
01 42 72 34 69
Open Mon–Sat 10am–7pm
Metro: Saint-Sébastien-Froissart
Irène Cohen, from the visionary retail family behind Merci and children’s label Bonpoint, wanted to create a family destination rather than just a shop. Indeed, Bonton, her rambling three-floor emporium, feels like a celebration of childhood itself. Shelves and baskets brim with beautiful toys, party things, kids’ bracelets and necklaces, jewel-coloured bed linen and little people’s cookware. There’s even a photo booth and children’s hairdresser. Then there’s the relaxed playful clothes, from newborn to size 12, which come in rich, earthy toned cotton, linen and wool – they are so wearable and so delightful that parents have been known to shed a tear when their littlest finally outgrows the range.
BEST FOR BAUBLES AND TRINKETS
Quidam de Revel
26 rue de Poitou
01 42 71 37 07
Open Tues–Sat 2–7.30pm
Metro: Saint-Sébastien-Froissart
Antiquarian Philippe Harros and his art historian partner Emmanuelle Chesnel have been a source of by-appointment-only beautiful vintage clothing for costume designers, stylists, fashion houses and canny Parisians over in the 10e for almost two decades. This glittering little shop houses their couture jewellery collection. Most of the pieces are from iconic design houses – Lanvin, Schiaperelli, Yves Saint Laurent – and are museum-quality. Bold, gold ‘80s chokers face off with ‘60s haut-hippy silver, while drawers secret a cache of 18th- and 19th-century pieces, rare Scandinavian work and exquisite items by cult Parisian designers Claude Lalanne and ‘the poet of metals’ Line Vautrin.
BEST FOR VINTAGE FINDS
Atelier Florence Lopez
18 rue du Dragon
06 60 44 33 75
Open by appointment
Metro: Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Saint-Sulpice
While there’s a great amount of pleasure to be had stumbling around French brocante markets hoping for a pulse-quickening find, a far more, well, Parisian way to source antique and vintage pieces is to engage an expert. Antiquarian and interior designer Florence Lopez has one of the most sought after eyes in the business, and the who’s who of haute-bourgeoisie and cool-kid clients (just between you and me, these might include actor and musician Charlotte Gainsbourg and one of the Daft Punk duo). Her studio, where she presents her seasonal collections, is an airy 1920s atelier daubed in her signature hues of deep green, blue and grey. If you’re in the market for extraordinary 20th-century pieces, from vases, mirrors, sculptures and prints to sofas and sideboards, visits are by appointment.
BEST FOR BOOKWORMS
Shakespeare & Company
37 rue de la Bûcherie
01 43 25 40 93
Open Mon–Sun 10am–11pm
Metro: Saint-Michel, Cluny – La Sorbonne
George Whitman, Paris’ great expat literary patron and friend to writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, bequeathed his Left Bank English-language bookshop to daughter Sylvia after his death in 2011. Apart from some gentle modernisation, it remains the rich, rambling, bohemian hub that’s nurtured, nourished and often housed writers and readers since the Beat era. Mythological back story aside, there are books to be browsed and bought here. The thoughtfully curated section on Paris – including history, food, politics and city life – should be your first stop, followed by the endless shelves of fiction where you’ll find every novel you’ve ever wanted to read. Don’t miss the antiquarian collection next door too; with its first editions by the likes of D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce, as well as more affordable treasures. It’s a bibliophile’s delight.
BEST FOR SUMPTUOUS SCENTS
Les Salons du Palais
Royal Serge Lutens
142 Galerie de Valois,
Palais Royal
01 49 27 09 09
Open Mon–Sat 10am–7pm
Metro: Bourse, Pyramides
Serge Lutens, one of France’s most original perfumers, came to scent after careers as a designer, stylist, photographer, filmmaker and consultant to the likes of Christian Dior and Shiseido. Established in 1992, this salon was one fo the first new shops in the Palais Royal. Its décor, a glowing violet and black cocoon of friezes, panelling and infinity mirrors, is a wonderful way to encounter Lutens’ unconventional, complex and story-filled perfumes, like the classic, unisex Gris Clair – a medicinal lavender fragrance warmed by amber and tonka bean and deepened with smoky incense. Keep an eye out for limited editions that are released yearly, only available at the salon – snap one up and, for added luxury, have your initials etched onto the bottle.
EAT
BEST FOR THE FAMISHED
Saturne
17 rue Notre-Dame des Victoires
01 42 60 31 90
Open Mon–Fri 12–2.30pm & 8–10.30pm
Metro: Bourse, Sentier
There’s obviously a thrill in the chase for 20-somethings Sven Chartier and Ewen Lemoigne, Saturne’s chef and sommelier respectively. Their daily menus and natural wine lists highlight rare and often highly unusual ingredients – ancient vegetables and herbs, rare breeds of beef or lamb, foraged seafood – and many cult producers. Set menus and well-chosen wines by the glass relieve what-to-choose stress, and the Scandinavian simplicity of the glass-roofed space is also soothing, the restraint enlivened by a few subtly idiosyncratic Parisian touches like the Serge Mouille wall lights. Despite the quest for novelty and on-trend kitchen techniques, dishes have a straightforward rusticity and set new heights for the term ‘produce driven’.
BEST FOR DINNER AND A DRINK
Bachaumont and Night Flight
18 rue Bachaumont
01 81 66 47 50 (restaurant),
01 48 58 56 23 (bar)
Open Mon–Sun 12–3pm &
7–11pm (restaurant);
Mon–Sun 5pm–2am (bar)
Metro: Sentier, Étienne Marcel
The booming but hotel-starved 2e has finally got a destination hotel in the Bachaumont. With its restaurant and Night Flight bar care of Experimental Group … it’s definitely not just a place to stay. Highly regarded interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon has a penchant for pattern: her plum-toned marble-printed textiles pop against the sober navy and grey of the restaurant’s classical interior. Joyfully light-filled by day and candlelit by night, come here for brasserie favourites like slow-cooked lamb or prime rib with purée (mashed potato). Night Flight is a wood and velvet mood piece with the Experimental cocktail kings working their magic, and DJs and live sets creating the mood.
STAY, SEE & RELAX
BEST FOR ACCOMMODATION WITH A TWIST
Hôtel Particulier Montmartre
23 avenue Junot, Pavillon D
01 53 41 81 40
hotel-particulier-montmartre.com
Metro: Lamarck-Caulaincourt
Montmartre might not be the first place that springs to mind when thinking luxury Paris bolthole. Still, we think it’s worth the wander up the butte to the secluded idyll of Hotel Particulier Montmartre. Crisscrossed by network of vertiginous cobbled streets, secret staircases and big, wide views, there’s a fairy tale quality to this little corner of the 18e and checking in indeed feels like embarking on a mythical quest, your goal guarded by gates, passages and Montmartre’s mysterious rocher de la sorciére – the witch’s rock. Set in a stunning Directoire mansion with just five suites spread across three floors, you’re also surrounded by the largest – and lushest – hotel garden in the city. Each suite is gently, wittily themed and makes the most of their generous scale and lovely bones with opulent classical decoration and noteworthy contemporary pieces. Staff, under the fabulous GM Oscar Comtet (who can sometimes be seen pruning the bushes in the garden, other times joining local 30-somethings for a cocktail in the hotel’s oh so sexy, plant-fringed cocktail bar Le Très Particulier), are warm, no-nonsense and ever attentive.
BEST FOR DESIGN INSPIRATION
Galerie Patrick Seguin
5 rue des Taillandiers 11e
+33 (0) 1 47 00 32 35
Mon-Sat 10am-7pm
Ask any stylish Parisian their go-to for extraordinary design pieces and they’ll nod in unison: Patrick Seguin. Hidden behind a ramshackle façade just off the 11e’s busy rue Charonne, France’s most passionate champion of 20th-century design exhibits and sells stunning collections of five masters: Jean Prouvé, Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand and Jean Royère. The 300-metres-squared space itself is a fabulous example of another French great, the Pritzker Prize-winning Jean Nouvel, whose contemporary objects and furniture are also Seguin constants. While you’ll need to be seriously committed to take anything on display here home – these are museum quality pieces with matching price tags – it’s at least an exhilarating ride considering it. There’s a calendar of exhibitions, sometimes contemporary art along side a particular designer, or something from Seguin’s precious Prouve archive. An inhouse editorial line features beautiful monographs, most recently, boxed sets dedicated to Prouvé’s demountable architecture.
BEST FOR REJUVENATION
Le Spa de la Reine
Le Pavillon de la Reine
28 Place des Vosges, 3e
01 49 20 19 19
Paris’ palais hotels are known for their miles-of-marble spas, but this gem is a little more discrete. In the basement of Le Pavillon de la Reine, Marais’ loveliest hotel and a long time favourite with super models and fashion photographers, you’ll find a simple series of hushed treatment rooms along with a fitness room, hot tub and bijou hammam. What the spa menu lacks in gimmicks and glam, it makes up for in French precision: Carita is the country’s leading anti-aging range with facials and body treatments targeting sagging, dull skin and dehydration with the latest actives and techniques (all those super models can’t be wrong). It’s also a lovely spot for a travel emergency manicure, pedicure, wax, with touchups to full treatments offered, along with blow-drys and cuts. Retire for tea or a round of Champagne in the hotel’s moody library in winter or out in the pretty sandstone courtyard when it’s warm. You may be a few steps from the Marais frenzy, but here you are totally at peace.
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