The catch at Hôtel Molitor Paris
Molitor is a swimming hotel at the south-western edge of Paris, and most of its catches follow from that. The pools are the reason to book and they are not the guests' alone, the sights are a Métro ride away, and the cheapest room does not promise the water. All of it can be planned around.
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Central Paris is a Métro ride away, and the station for it is a ten-minute walk.
Molitor stands at the south-western edge of the 16th, 7 km from Notre-Dame, in a district of stadiums and gardens. The Métro into the centre is a ten-minute walk, at Michel-Ange-Molitor on lines 9 and 10, and Exelmans, on line 9, is eleven. Porte d'Auteuil, on line 10, is nearer at eight minutes, but its trains run towards Boulogne, away from the centre. From Michel-Ange-Molitor, line 9 reaches Trocadéro in six stops and Franklin D. Roosevelt, on the Champs-Élysées, in nine, and line 10 reaches Odéon, in Saint-Germain, in twelve. By car the Eiffel Tower is about 11 minutes away off-peak and the Louvre about 16.
What to do. Give each day one part of Paris rather than coming back between sights, and walk to Michel-Ange-Molitor, not the nearer Porte d'Auteuil. After a late dinner in the centre, a taxi back saves the ten-minute walk at the end.
The pools are shared with the hotel's sports club, whose classes include swimming and aqua fitness.
Swimming is included in the room, but the water is not the hotel guests' alone. Members of the Molitor Club, the hotel's own fitness and swimming club, get free access to both pools, and the club's timetable runs 136 group classes a week across its studios and pools, from 7am to 8.30pm every day, among them swimming and aqua fitness. Spa-day visitors on the Evasion Molitor package, from €350 a person, use the indoor and outdoor pools too. The hotel publishes no pool hours for guests, so how busy the water will be at a given hour is a question for the front desk rather than something to know in advance.
What to do. Ask at check-in for the week's class timetable and plan your swims around it.
The 22 m² entry room may face the city, and the Deluxe is the first to promise the pool.
The Superior Room is 22 m², with a queen-size bed or twin beds and a shower, and it is sold with either a view of the outdoor pool or a Paris view, so the entry price does not buy the water. The Deluxe Room, at 26 m² with a king-size bed, is the first category with a guaranteed view of the outdoor pool and its blue cabin doors; on Tuesday 23 February 2027 it was €412 for two, against €382 for the Superior. Both have showers only. A bath first appears in the 30 m² Executive Room, listed with a shower or a bathtub and still sold with a pool or a Paris view, at €589 that night.
What to do. Pay the step up to the Deluxe. If you want a bath, book an Executive and ask for a bathtub and the pool side when you book, because neither is promised.
In winter the promise is one pool, not two, and the rooftop is closed.
Both pools are heated, and the hotel guarantees access to at least one of the two throughout the year; it promises nothing more for winter. The indoor pool is heated to 28°C, and the outdoor one is the club's summer pool. The rooftop, with its Mediterranean restaurant, its bar and the Eiffel Tower in view, is closed from October 2026 to May 2027, and Restaurant Molitor, facing the outdoor pool, takes over. Restaurant Molitor serves dinner Monday to Saturday; on Sunday evening it is closed, and hotel guests are welcomed instead at Le 1929, the clubhouse between the pools.
What to do. In winter, count on the indoor pool and treat an outdoor swim as a bonus; if it matters, ask the hotel before you book. On a Sunday, book dinner out.
Match nights and Roland-Garros change the neighbourhood, and the extras add up.
The neighbours are stadiums. The Parc des Princes is five minutes on foot and Roland-Garros six. On Parc des Princes match nights the streets fill with crowds, the hotel suspends its valet parking, and the Serres d'Auteuil gate on Boulevard d'Auteuil, across the road, shuts four hours before kick-off. During Roland-Garros, from 17 May to 6 June in 2027, the garden's Boulevard d'Auteuil and Avenue Gordon-Bennett gates close, and rates are highest in June, as the tournament finishes, and again in September. On top of any rate come the Paris city tax for a five-star hotel, €11.70 per adult per night, and breakfast, at €37 a person unless the rate includes it.
What to do. Check the Paris Saint-Germain home fixtures before choosing dates, and arrive by Métro or taxi rather than by car on a match night. Unless you are going to the tennis, avoid late May and early June.
Who should skip it
Anyone whose Paris is museums by day and the river at night, because every outing starts and ends with a Métro ride. Anyone who will not swim, since the pools are what the rate pays for, and swimmers who want the water to themselves. And anyone planning an outdoor swim in January, which the hotel does not promise.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone for whom swimming, the spa and the building are the holiday and Paris is the backdrop. The two pools are a close copy of the 1929 baths, 46 metres outside and 33 under glass, with access to at least one guaranteed all year and swimming included in the room; the Spa by Clarins has 13 treatment rooms and hammams; and a 26 m² Deluxe Room looks out over the blue cabin doors. Book the Deluxe, swim around the club's classes, and take the Métro into town for the sights.
The catch elsewhere in Paris
- Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood HotelPlace de la Concorde
Only signature suites are sold with the Concorde view: Lagerfeld's Grands Appartements on the fourth floor and the Louis XV and Bernstein suites on the sixth. The 32 m² entry Deluxe Room faces an inner courtyard, and the Premier and Grand Premier Rooms a courtyard or the pedestrian Rue Boissy d'Anglas.
- Le Bristol ParisFaubourg Saint-Honoré
The pool is small and indoors, open to hotel guests from 6.30am to 10.30pm: a swim with a view, not a place for lengths.
- Hôtel Madame RêveLes Halles
The entry Superior and Deluxe Balcony rooms look onto the courtyard's hanging garden, not across Paris; the city views start with the Paris View rooms.
- Shangri-La ParisTrocadéro
The entry Superior Room, 36 square metres, looks onto the courtyard or the glass cupola, and the tower view starts with the Eiffel View Room at about €3,005 against €1,730 on the same February night.
- Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, ParisSaint-Germain-des-Prés
The entry Grand Superior Room is 33 m² and looks onto the inner courtyard; the balconies start two categories up.
- Le Grand MazarinLe Marais
The entry Classic Room is 20 m², and the space starts at the Prestige Room.
- Le Pavillon de la ReinePlace des Vosges
Entry rooms are small: the Classic is an attic room of about 21 m² on the top floor, and the Superior is 22 m².
- Le PigallePigalle
The ground-floor bar runs until 2am from Thursday to Saturday, the other bars on Rue Frochot keep the street lively at night, and noise can reach the rooms, most of all at weekends; the courtyard side is quieter.
- Grands Boulevards ExperimentalGrands Boulevards
The entry Petit Boulevard rooms are 14 to 15 m², and room size is the complaint guests make most often.
Questions people ask
Good questions about Hôtel Molitor Paris
What are the downsides of Hôtel Molitor Paris?
Molitor is a swimming hotel at the south-western edge of Paris, and most of its catches follow from that. The pools are the reason to book and they are not the guests' alone, the sights are a Métro ride away, and the cheapest room does not promise the water. All of it can be planned around. Central Paris is a Métro ride away, and the station for it is a ten-minute walk. The pools are shared with the hotel's sports club, whose classes include swimming and aqua fitness. The 22 m² entry room may face the city, and the Deluxe is the first to promise the pool. In winter the promise is one pool, not two, and the rooftop is closed. Match nights and Roland-Garros change the neighbourhood, and the extras add up.
Who should not book Hôtel Molitor Paris?
Anyone whose Paris is museums by day and the river at night, because every outing starts and ends with a Métro ride. Anyone who will not swim, since the pools are what the rate pays for, and swimmers who want the water to themselves. And anyone planning an outdoor swim in January, which the hotel does not promise.
Our verdict
Book Molitor for the water: the rebuilt 1929 pools, a serious spa and a room that looks out over the cabins. Central Paris is a Métro ride away, so plan the days around the pool rather than the other way round.
Last checked: October 2026