The Brasserie Fouquet's has been the place where French cinema celebrates itself since 1899. Every year after the César Awards (France's Oscars), everyone ends up here for dinner. The walls are covered in Studio Harcourt portraits of French actors, and the red awnings on the corner where Avenue George V meets the Champs-Élysées are so iconic that tourists literally stop to photograph them. If you sit on the terrace, you're watching Paris happen in real time.

The hotel opened in 2006 when Groupe Barrière bought the brasserie and six buildings around it. Jacques Garcia did the interiors with velvet and mahogany and that particular shade of gold that only French hotels can pull off without looking tacky. The rooms feel like actual Parisian apartments rather than hotel rooms, and they have the kind of closet space that's genuinely rare in Paris. The 19 rooms that overlook the Champs-Élysées were added in 2019 and they're beautiful.

Spa Decorté just reopened and it's the only place in France where you can get Decorté treatments. If you're not familiar with Decorté, it's a Japanese beauty brand that French women are completely obsessed with. The spa has an ice room, which sounds terrible but does incredible things for your skin. The treatments use things like Queen of the Night flower extract and the Japanese massage techniques are a completely different experience from typical spa massages. There's also a 15-meter pool and a hammam.

The Harcourt Suite is special because you can book an actual Studio Harcourt photo session in your suite. Studio Harcourt has been photographing French celebrities since 1934 with that specific black and white lighting that makes everyone look devastating. The suite has Arc de Triomphe views from the terrace and enough space that you could genuinely live there. Most suites are smaller but still generous by Paris standards.

Pierre Gagnaire's name is on the brasserie menu now, but it's still classic French brasserie food done really well. Le Joy is the quieter restaurant that opens onto a secret courtyard garden, good for when you actually want to have a conversation. Le Marta is the speakeasy with a summer rooftop. The brasserie terraces are where you go to be seen, and you will see people.

This is the last major Paris luxury hotel owned by a French family rather than an international chain, which gives it a different feeling. Groupe Barrière sources everything from French producers when possible. The hotel draws fashion week crowds and cinema people during César season. It's less formal than palace hotels but still polished. You're staying where Parisian glamour actually happens rather than observing it from a distance.

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