The catch at Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, Paris
Five things stand between the photographs and the stay. None of them is hidden and none is a reason to pass on the Left Bank's only Palace, but each one changes which room you book, where you eat or what the bill comes to. The outlook is the one that costs most to get wrong.
On our shortlists
- Best design hotels in ParisArt Nouveau outside, Art Deco inside, and Bar Joséphine's frescoes
- Best spa hotels in ParisA 700 m² spa below ground with a 17-metre pool, open 7am to 10pm
- Best central hotels in ParisLe Bon Marché 4 minutes, the Café de Flore 9, the Luxembourg 10
- Best hotels with a view in ParisThe Eiffel Tower and the Invalides dome, 2.5 km off, from a balcony
The two cheapest rooms look into the courtyard, and the first balcony is the third rung
The hotel sells its 33 m² Grand Superior Room and its 40 m² Deluxe Room on the inner courtyard, the Art Deco patio at the heart of the building, and neither has a balcony. Both are listed as soundproofed, and both have the tinted oak floors, Murano glass wall lights and Carrara marble bathrooms of the rooms above, so the difference is the window, not the finish. For one night on Tuesday 23 February 2027 the Grand Superior came to €1,472 for two with taxes and the Deluxe Room to €1,632. The first balcony is the Deluxe Balcony Room at €1,712: the same 40 m² on the street front, mainly Boulevard Raspail, where Rue de Sèvres meets it at a busy junction. The hotel lists that room as soundproofed too.
What to do. If the outlook matters, the step from the Deluxe Room to the Deluxe Balcony Room, €80 on that February night, is the cheapest one on the ladder that changes the stay. If you only sleep there, the Grand Superior has the same finish for less.
The Eiffel Tower is a long view, and only the top floors see it
The tower stands 2.5 km from the hotel, across Square Boucicaut and the rooftops of the 7th, with the gilded dome of Les Invalides just to its right. The square's plane trees, 19 to 22 metres tall, stand in the line of sight, so in leaf the lower floors look into branches, and only from about the fifth floor up does almost all of the tower show. The hotel sells it that way: the Eiffel View Deluxe Balcony Rooms are on its highest floors, the Eiffel Suite and Two-Bedroom Eiffel Suite on the sixth and the Josephine Baker Suites on the fifth. A Deluxe Balcony Room lower down looks over the boulevard at the trees and the buildings opposite, and the hotel does not sell it with the tower.
What to do. Book the Eiffel View category by name rather than hoping for a high Deluxe Balcony Room, and ask for the highest floor it has. Expect the tower on the skyline, not filling the window.
The house cooks brasserie and Italian classics, not tasting menus, and the cigar bar opens three nights a week
Brasserie Lutetia is in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide without a star, for its sole meunière, sea bass tartare and snails in parsley butter; the sole is €72 on the September 2026 menu, and the room serves from 7am to 10:30pm with a seafood counter. Le Saint-Germain, under Fabrice Hyber's painted glass roof, runs from 10:30am to 10pm on Alessio Maselli's Italian menu, paccheri with tomato sauce at €28 among it, with afternoon tea at weekends only. Bar Joséphine opens every evening from 5pm to 1am, with live music from Thursday to Saturday, and asks men not to wear shorts, sleeveless shirts or open-toed shoes. Bar Aristide, the cigar lounge, opens only from Thursday to Saturday, 6pm to 1am.
What to do. Take the seafood counter at the brasserie once, and book the serious dinners out on the day you book the room: Marsan par Hélène Darroze holds two stars two minutes away and Quinsou one star seven minutes away, and both close on Sunday and Monday.
Breakfast, the city tax and the car all come on top
Breakfast is extra unless your rate includes it. In Brasserie Lutetia, where it is served from 7am to 10:30am every day, the American buffet is €72 a head and the wellness breakfast €75, and à la carte, eggs any way are €18 and soft-boiled eggs with caviar €46. Sunday brunch, from noon to 3pm, is €135 a head and €85 for children under 12, and afternoon tea in Le Saint-Germain is €75, or €95 with a glass of Champagne. The city tax for a Palace is €15.93 per adult per night, at the same rate in 2026 and 2027, charged on top of the room; under-18s are exempt. Parking is by valet, with electric charging, and the hotel gives its price only on request.
What to do. For two adults over three nights, budget about €96 in city tax, and about €430 more if you take the buffet every morning. Poilâne, three minutes away, opens at 7:15am from Monday to Saturday.
The pool is shared with members and spa visitors, and children have set hours
The 17-metre indoor pool lies below ground in a 700 m² spa with a sauna, a hammam and a hydrotherapy pool, and it is open from 7am to 10pm. It is not for hotel guests alone: the gym serves members as well as guests, and visitors who book a two-hour wellness ritual, from €340, spend an hour in the pool, sauna and hammam before their treatment. Children may swim only with an adult and only in two daily sessions, a morning one that ends at noon and an afternoon one from 2pm to 7pm. Treatments run from 10am to 8pm, and a treatment cancelled less than 24 hours ahead is charged in full.
What to do. Families should plan swims around the two sessions and ask the spa when the morning one opens. Adults who want the water without them can swim before 9am, over lunch or after 7pm.
Who should skip it
Anyone booking a Paris hotel for the restaurant downstairs, anyone who wants the Eiffel Tower filling the window rather than on the skyline, and families who want the children in the pool at any hour. Also anyone booking the Grand Superior or the Deluxe Room for the outlook, because both look into the courtyard.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone who wants the Left Bank's only Palace, with a 17-metre pool beneath it and Saint-Germain outside the door. Sèvres-Babylone station is two minutes away, Le Bon Marché four and the Jardin du Luxembourg ten, a two-star dinner is two minutes up Rue d'Assas, and Bar Joséphine's restored frescoes are under the same roof. Book a balcony, high up if the tower matters, and plan your dinners out.
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.
- 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.
- Hôtel Molitor ParisAuteuil
Auteuil is the western edge of Paris, 7 km from Notre-Dame, and the Métro into the centre is a ten-minute walk.
- 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 Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, Paris
What are the downsides of Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, Paris?
Five things stand between the photographs and the stay. None of them is hidden and none is a reason to pass on the Left Bank's only Palace, but each one changes which room you book, where you eat or what the bill comes to. The outlook is the one that costs most to get wrong. The two cheapest rooms look into the courtyard, and the first balcony is the third rung The Eiffel Tower is a long view, and only the top floors see it The house cooks brasserie and Italian classics, not tasting menus, and the cigar bar opens three nights a week Breakfast, the city tax and the car all come on top The pool is shared with members and spa visitors, and children have set hours
Who should not book Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, Paris?
Anyone booking a Paris hotel for the restaurant downstairs, anyone who wants the Eiffel Tower filling the window rather than on the skyline, and families who want the children in the pool at any hour. Also anyone booking the Grand Superior or the Deluxe Room for the outlook, because both look into the courtyard.
Our verdict
The Left Bank's only Palace, with a 17-metre pool under it, a famous bar inside it and Saint-Germain outside the door. Pay for a balcony and walk everywhere.
Last checked: October 2026