Mandarin Oriental, Paris – Hotel Review

Centred on a verdant garden courtyard, the Mandarin Oriental, Paris is a contemporary and sleek hotel, with crystal butterflies that sparkle in the soaring lobby and silks and velvets that set the scene in the 138 rooms and suites. The modern palace impresses with clean lines, marble and glass and offers a range of features for business travellers: from function rooms and event spaces to a food menu specifically created to boost productivity and fight fatigue during creative brainstorms. Need to recharge after window-shopping the nearby boutiques or browsing the commercial galleries? Bar 8 specialises in champagne and there’s the avant-garde cuisine at Thierry Marx’s flagship restaurant. Or luxuriate in a tailored treatment in the spa. Read on for the full review.

Where is Mandarin Oriental, Paris?

With neighbours such as Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen and Louis Vuitton, the Mandarin Oriental is located in Paris’s fashionable heart, on rue Saint-Honoré in the first arrondissement. 

What’s near Mandarin Oriental, Paris?

It’s walking distance from the Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries and the Champs-Elysées and about 45 minutes by taxi from Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports.

Room types

Sleek in subtle shades of taupe, grey and plum, the 98 rooms and 40 suites range from Superior rooms (37 square metres) to the lavish three-bedroom 407-square-metre Penthouse (with panoramic views, private gym and two terraces). Interiors reflect the Art Deco origins of the building in the artwork (a velvet panel of Man Ray’s The Kiss adorns walls), dome lamps and 1930s-style furnishings. Ask for a Deluxe Suite with a balcony overlooking the garden, spacious lounge and vast freestanding bath.

Restaurants and bars 

Begin your day with breakfast at Camélia (don’t skip the flaky snails with roasted hazelnuts from food director Thierry Marx’s signature boulangerie), open 7am to 11pm. The alcoves in the light-filled lobby (where café L’Honoré serves healthy breakfast and lunch options) are perfect for indulging in pâtissier Adrien Bozzolo’s creations from The Cake Shop. As the sun sets, head through the Lalique crystal and Murano glass entrance of Bar 8 for a champagne cocktail and tapas around the Spanish marble bar. The intimate two-star Sur Mesure par Thierry Marx (closed Sunday and Monday) offers innovative dishes such as soya risotto with mascarpone and truffles.

Travel for work

The first-floor suite of four function rooms (three of which interconnect to open up 143 square metres of floor space) can host meetings, business dining and cocktail events, with state-of-the-art audiovisual facilities, fibre-optic connections, a dedicated reception and garden views. The concierge can fulfill requests such as interpreters, translations, laptop hire and shipping.

Pool, gym and spa

One of the city’s most spacious, the split-level spa covers 900 square metres with pearlescent mosaic and a 3D flower mural at the entry. There’s a 14-metre pool (open 7am to 10pm), oriental herbal hammam, seven treatment suites, boutique and 24-hour fitness centre, which is kitted out with TechnoGym cardio machines and free weights. Combining Western and Eastern techniques, beauty and body treatments use specially developed Guerlain and Aromatherapy Associates products. For that gadget detox, try the head-to-feet Digital Wellness Escape.

What you need to know

The “haute couture sleep” menu gives pillow options (if super-soft Drouault goose down is not quite to your taste), such as bamboo, rose-petal scented or shape-memory. 

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