Built in 1910 by the founders of neighbouring department store Le Bon Marché to accommodate their customers, the landmark Lutetia received a magnificent 2018 overhaul that preserved its art-nouveau structure and art-deco styling. Among its 184 rooms are 47 lavish suites; five-star amenities include a lavish spa, glamorous cocktail bar and destination restaurants including one by triple Michelin-starred Gérald Passedat.
The hotel is steeped in Parisian history: during WWII, it sheltered refugees until the Nazi occupation, then was used by the Abwehr (counterintelligence) and, following the Liberation of Paris, as a repatriation centre. James Joyce wrote part of Ulysses at the hotel; other patrons included Hemingway, Beckett and Saint-Exupéry, Picasso, Matisse, entertainer and French Resistance agent Josephine Baker, and former president Charles de Gaulle, who stayed overnight in WWII before departing for England to govern in exile.