Cheval Blanc Paris operates on a boutique scale, even as it ascends to grand-hotel heights of luxury — the most extravagant suite spans two levels and contains its own swimming pool. Its three MICHELIN restaurants, Plénitude (creative classical cuisine), Le Tout-Paris (a modern brasserie), and Hakuba (Japanese), sport 5 stars between them.

Proper luxury-hotel service is a particular point of pride here, as it should be from one of the hotels that arguably defined the form. And in a city not known for large hotel rooms the George V delivers ample spaces — the smallest of them span nearly 40 square meters, while the suites expand to residential proportions. Meanwhile the One MICHELIN Star restaurant, Le George, Simone Zanoni makes his culinary mark with Italian-inspired creations.

One street off the Champs-Élysées, the rooms and suites are as lavish as they come, large by any standard but positively palatial for Paris, and they’re equipped with every imaginable luxury, from Carrara marble baths to Toto washlets and individual butler service. In the dining room, Jérôme Banctel asserts his unique culinary personality in the Three Star Le Gabriel with two tasting menus: "Virée," a tribute to his native Brittany, and "Périple," an invitation to travel the world.

Redesigned from top to bottom by Philippe Starck, Le Royal Monceau is all about sensory overload, dazzling the spectator with rich materials and bold effects. Hallucinogenic stripes create op-art effects in the halls, and there’s glass and crystal everywhere. The same may be said of One Star Il Carpaccio, where the corridor leading to your table is embedded with thousands of mother-of-pearl shells in in an elaborate and artistic tribute to the nymphs of Italian Baroque.

Though more modest in size than some of the big-name grand hotels, it’s scarcely any less luxurious, and its location is ideal for both cultural and commercial purposes, close by not only to many of the major sights but to some of the planet’s finest high-end shopping as well. And of course there's the One Star Le Baudelaire on the premises, a haven of genteel tranquillity where the chef’s well-balanced cuisine revolves around veggies courtesy of painstakingly sourced ingredients.

This chateau-styled boutique hotel is blessed with a remarkable location, on the Place des Vosges, in the Marais, in the heart of historic Paris. It is housed in an eighteenth-century mansion, and the décor is full-tilt historical — tapestries, oak beams, luxurious fabric wall coverings, striped period furniture, even reproduction oil paintings. Anne is the One Star restaurant, its classic dishes reinterpreted with skill and real talent, using top-quality ingredients which are full of flavour.

Combining eighteenth-century elegance and Art Deco cool, this Belle Epoque hotel may be a classic but it is no museum. A comprehensive multi-million-dollar renovation has updated the surface of the hotel, though its basic character remains: that of traditional opulence side-by-side with fashionable modernity. At One Star Jean Imbert au Plaza Athénée, the “chef to the stars” gleefully, almost mischievously, throws a new light on France’s culinary heritage.