Hôtel Mandarin Oriental Lutetia Paris

The Lutetia was founded in 1910 by the Boucicaut family, owners of Le Bon Marché, and takes its name from the Roman city that became Paris. According to the MICHELIN Guide, it was conceived as an elegant place for the department store's well-heeled clients to stay when they came to shop, arriving at the newly opened Gare d'Orsay. Built in a blend of Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles, it carries vine motifs sculpted by Léon Binet on its exterior, recalling the vineyards that grew on the site before construction. Inside, the lobby keeps intricate ceiling mouldings, there is a mosaic in the entrance hall, and the decor repeats the oared sailing ship from the crest of Paris. The façades and roofs are listed as historic monuments, together with the lobby, the reception hall, the gallery, the three staircases and the Borghèse, Saint-Germain and Président salons.

It became a high-end haunt of the city's literary and artistic establishment. Pablo Picasso, André Gide, André Malraux and Samuel Beckett were frequent guests, and James Joyce wrote much of Ulysses while staying here; the hotel also names Henri Matisse, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Josephine Baker among those who made it their Paris retreat. As the writer Pierre Assouline notes, Charles de Gaulle stayed at the Lutetia when he came to Paris.

In the late 1930s the Lutetia was a gathering place for anti-Nazi German exiles, among them Heinrich Mann and Willy Brandt. The German army occupied Paris on 14 June 1940, and the next day the Abwehr, the intelligence and counter-espionage service of the German general staff, took over the hotel and set up its headquarters there; German troops abandoned the building when Paris was liberated in August 1944.

In April 1945 General de Gaulle had the hotel requisitioned as the Centre d'accueil et de contrôle des déportés, the reception and screening centre for deportees, and from 26 April they arrived at all hours of the day and night. Until after the end of the war it served as a repatriation centre for prisoners of war, displaced persons and returnees from the concentration camps; between April and August 1945 it received some 17,000 to 20,000 survivors of the Nazi camps, and so that families could find one another, the files and photographs of deportees were put up on electoral boards unused since 1936. A plaque on the outside of the hotel recalls this episode, and until the early 21st century a group of former deportees met there every month for lunch in the brasserie.

As Paris returned to normal, the Lutetia was restored as a luxury hotel. The Taittinger family acquired it in 1955, and in the late 1980s the designer Sonia Rykiel, who opened a boutique in the building, oversaw a large-scale redesign that sought to bring back the Art Deco style of earlier decades. The Alrov group bought the hotel in 2010 and closed it for four years of works in April 2014; it reopened in 2018 after a restoration led by the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, who strove to recreate the building's original splendour. Mandarin Oriental announced a management contract in December 2024, and the hotel took its current name on 4 April 2025. The Salon Saint-Germain is crowned by a painted glass roof with motifs conceived by the artist Fabrice Hyber, and the MICHELIN Guide awards the hotel Two MICHELIN Keys.

The address is 45 Boulevard Raspail in the 6th arrondissement, in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district on the Left Bank. Le Bon Marché, the oldest department store in Paris, is just down the street, and Sèvres–Babylone Metro station is next door. The original Poilâne bakery, at 8 Rue du Cherche-Midi, is less than 850 feet away.

Within a five- to ten-minute walk lie the Jardin du Luxembourg, Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots and the streets of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The Musée d'Orsay, the Musée Rodin and Notre-Dame de Paris are fifteen to thirty minutes away on foot, and the Eiffel Tower fifteen to twenty minutes by taxi, depending on traffic. By taxi or private car, the journey takes about an hour from Charles de Gaulle and about thirty minutes from Orly, traffic permitting, and the hotel can arrange a private airport transfer when contacted in advance.

Rooms are decorated in beiges and blues, the favourite colours of Jean-Michel Wilmotte, with Murano glass wall lights and oak floors, and all bathrooms have white marble floors and walls, most of them with large windows. The Grande Chambre Supérieure has custom furniture, a bright marble bathroom and a view the hotel calls peaceful, while Deluxe rooms add bespoke design details and a view the hotel describes as calming.

The Deluxe Balcony Room, at 40 m², looks over Saint-Germain-des-Prés from a private balcony on the Art Nouveau façade. It has stained oak parquet, a Carrara marble bathroom bathed in natural light, a desk and soundproofing, with a king bed or two twins. The Deluxe Balcony Eiffel View rooms sit on the highest floors, in a contemporary style, with views of the Eiffel Tower, Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the Left Bank. The Junior Suite Balcony looks over the Left Bank, as does the Deluxe Suite, with its soft blue textiles, custom-made furniture and dressing room.

For families, the Family Room joins two connecting Deluxe Rooms with a balcony; the Family Suite combines a Junior Suite with a connecting room and two bathrooms, facing Saint-Germain-des-Prés or the patio; and the two-bedroom Deluxe Family Suite adds a seating area and a dressing room. Higher up, the Parisian Suite sits under the eaves with light-filled terraces, and the 47 m² Amour Suite on the top floor has an Art Nouveau balcony with views of Paris and the Eiffel Tower, a separate living room and a Carrara marble bathroom with its own balcony.

Among the Signature Suites, the 73 m² Josephine Baker Suite on the fifth floor has her life-size portrait on the ceiling, a private terrace and a Carrara marble bathroom with a deep bathtub. The Haute Couture Suite by Isabelle Huppert, designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, opens onto a terrace overlooking Paris and carries the actress's personal touches. The 83 m² Rooftop Penthouse by Coppola holds pieces from Francis Ford Coppola's collection and a 60 m² roof terrace with 360-degree views that take in the Eiffel Tower; the 94 m² Eiffel View Rooftop Penthouse has mansard ceilings, a kitchen and a 74 m² roof terrace reached by a marble staircase. The 144 m² Presidential Suite on the sixth floor, designed with the Carré Rive Gauche association of Saint-Germain-des-Prés gallery owners and art dealers, is the largest suite in the hotel.

Brasserie Lutetia, led by Chef Patrick Charvet, serves classic French cuisine revisited with contemporary interpretations in an Art Deco room with an outdoor terrace. It is open from 07:00 to 22:30, and a buffet brunch is served on Sundays. The Salon Saint-Germain is the all-day alternative, with an Italian menu by Chef Alessio Maselli and, every weekend, an afternoon tea by Chef Pâtissier Nicolas Guercio.

Bar Joséphine is named after Josephine Baker, an illustrious guest of the Lutetia, and pairs its historic frescoes with modern design by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Head Bartender Angelo Forte, who oversees both bars, directs the cocktails; the bar opens from 17:00 to 01:00, with live music on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 20:00 to 23:00. Bar Aristide, named after Aristide Boucicaut, the founder of Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, reinvents the private jazz club as a speakeasy, with a cocktail list by Forte inspired by alternative music albums of the last thirty years and DJ sets of electro jazz and downtempo; it opens Thursday to Saturday from 18:00 to 01:00.

The spa spans 700 m² and was named Best Hotel Spa in France 2023 at the World Spa Awards. It holds a 17-metre indoor pool, a hammam, a sauna, a jacuzzi and relaxation areas. Treatments and signature rituals are developed with myBlend, combining advanced technologies with natural active ingredients, across five individual cabins and a double cabin with its own jacuzzi. Treatments run from 10:00 to 20:00.

The pool and the fitness centre, which covers more than 100 m² and offers personalised training, are open from 07:00 to 22:00. The spa also houses a Hair Studio by Christophe-Nicolas Biot. Through the MiniMO programme, guests aged 5 to 16 may use the spa with an adult during reserved hours.

Children are welcomed with gifts including the Lulu plush toy, children's and baby bath linen, an activity booklet, a book and a treat. A Children's Passport guides them on a treasure hunt through the hotel. A collaboration with Atelier Choux produced illustrations by the Swedish artist Mattias Adolfsson showing the façade surrounded by hot-air balloons, used on a collection of bibs, stationery sets and gold-leaf temporary tattoos.

The concierges are Clefs d'Or members who arrange tailored Parisian experiences. For events, the hotel has seven modular salons and two bars that can be privatised, with the Salon Cristal accommodating up to 260 guests. The hotel is adapted for reduced mobility, with step-free access, lifts, adapted rooms and wheelchair-accessible common areas.