Le Meurice

Le Meurice sits on the rue de Rivoli as it has for two centuries, the view from the front rooms running the full length of the Tuileries. The arcades below are how the city arrives at your door — a walk past the Louvre, a coffee at Angelina, a late return through the gardens.

The rooms on the sixth floor are the ones worth asking for, where the Tuileries become a carpet and Montmartre sits at the far horizon. The service is quiet, accurate, and slightly unhurried — the kind that notices the weather and the hour without being asked.

Keep a morning for the tearoom, a late afternoon for the spa, and one evening for Dalí's dining room under Starck's ceiling.