The catch at Shangri-La Paris
Five things are worth knowing before you book. The Eiffel Tower is really there, about 600 metres to the south across the Seine, but the hotel sells it room by room and floor by floor, and none of the five categories priced below the Eiffel View Room has it. None of this is hidden, and all of it decides which room to book.
On our shortlists
- Best spa hotels in ParisA 17-metre daylight pool in the prince's former stables
- Best central hotels in ParisThe Eiffel Tower 13 minutes on foot, over the Pont d'Iéna
- Best quiet hotels in ParisCourtyard rooms in the residential 16th, on the Chaillot hill
- Best hotels with a view in ParisThe Eiffel Tower about 600 metres across the Seine, at an angle
The five cheapest categories do not see the tower, and the first room that does costs €1,275 a night more.
The hotel sells five categories without the tower, and they are the five cheapest. The 36 m² Superior Room looks onto the courtyard or the glass cupola. The 40 m² Deluxe Room and the 45 m² Terrace Room look over the hotel garden or the surrounding avenues, the second from a private terrace. The 55 m² Junior Suite and the 60 m² Deluxe Suite face the courtyard, Avenue d'Iéna or Rue Fresnel. On Tuesday 23 February 2027, a low-season night, those five ran from €1,732 to €2,922 for two. The first room sold on the tower, the 45 m² Eiffel View Room, was €3,007, so the view costs €1,275 a night over the Superior, and a suite without the tower costs almost as much as a room with it.
What to do. Decide before you book whether the tower is the reason for the trip. If it is, budget from the Eiffel View Room. If it is not, the Deluxe Room's French windows over the garden or the avenues are the sensible spend.
The tower is seen at an angle, and from the lower floors only from about the first platform up.
The tower stands about 600 metres to the south, across the Seine, but the main building's façades face south-south-west and south-east, so from an Eiffel View Room it sits to one side of the French windows rather than straight ahead. A row of apartment blocks on Avenue de New York and the riverside trees stand between the hotel and the river, and they decide how much of the tower each floor gets: on the lower floors it rises from about the first platform, above their roofs. Only the upper-floor terraces see it down to its arches: the Duplex Terrace Eiffel View Suite, the Paris Panoramic Signature Room, La Suite Chaillot, La Suite Gustave Eiffel on the sixth floor and La Suite Shangri-La on the top floor. The hotel publishes no floor numbers for its Eiffel View Rooms.
What to do. Ask for the highest floor available when you book, and say the tower is the reason for the stay. If the whole tower, arches and all, is the point, the terraces start with the Duplex Terrace Eiffel View Suite, €6,932 on the same February night.
The suites named Paris View see only part of the tower, at Eiffel View prices.
The names invite the wrong assumption. The 55 m² Junior Suite Paris View looks over the hotel's French garden with a partial view of the tower, and on 23 February 2027 it cost €3,007, the same as the Eiffel View Room. The 70 m² Terrace Suite with Paris View, at €4,452, has the same garden and the same partial view, from the suite or from its terrace. Both are good suites, with a separate living room and a sofa bed for two children under 12, and some of the Junior Suites Paris View are on two levels. But if the tower is what you are paying for, the categories named Eiffel are the ones sold on it, and the 80 m² Duplex Eiffel View Suite, with two-storey windows on the tower, was €4,962 that night.
What to do. For the tower and a living room, book the Duplex Eiffel View Suite. For a family that needs the sofa bed and will settle for part of the tower, the Junior Suite Paris View at the Eiffel View price is the reasonable compromise.
No restaurant in the house holds a MICHELIN star now, and Shang Palace closes on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Europe's first Shang Palace held a star from 2012 to 2024 and appears in the 2026 guide without one. Chef Tony Xu cooks Chinese food there, with dim sum and a tea ceremony, at lunch from noon to 2pm and dinner from 6.30pm to 10pm, Thursday to Monday only. The two other restaurants are new: Les Salons du Prince opened in the listed salons in March 2026 and Maison Roland, the garden bistro, in May, and both open every day from noon. They are hotel restaurants priced as such. At Maison Roland the onglet with pepper sauce is €35 and the sole grenobloise €67; Les Salons du Prince has a €32 club sandwich and €69 linguine with caviar. The starred tables are outside, a few minutes up Rue de Longchamp.
What to do. If dinner matters, book Blanc or Astrance when you book the room, and keep Shang Palace for a Thursday to Monday.
Breakfast is €70 a head, the city tax adds €15.93 per adult a night, and the pool is shared.
The Art of Breakfast, served on the lobby level from 7am to 10.30am, costs €70 a person for the French or the Chinese breakfast, tax and service included, unless your rate includes it; the Roland Bonaparte version adds €250 for 30 g of Baeri caviar and a bottle of 2019 Louis Roederer Blanc de Blancs. The Paris city tax for a Palace is €15.93 per adult per night in 2026, charged on top of the room rate, so two people pay €31.86 a night before anyone has eaten. The 17-metre daylight pool in Chi, The Spa is included in the stay, and it is shared: hotel guests and the spa's club members have it from 7am to 9pm, outside guests from 9am, and a day's access is sold to non-residents at €250.
What to do. Check whether breakfast is in your rate before you book: two people at €70 each for three mornings is €420. Swim before 9am, when the pool is open only to hotel guests and club members.
Who should skip it
Anyone who will not pay for a room named Eiffel, because the five cheaper categories look at a courtyard, a cupola, the garden or the avenues at palace rates. Anyone who expects the whole tower, arches and all, from an ordinary room on a low floor. Food-led trips that want the stars under the same roof, and anyone who wants a lively street outside the door at night: this is a quiet, residential corner of museums in the 16th.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone for whom the Eiffel Tower in the window is the point of the trip. This is a palace that sells it 600 metres away across the Seine, from Prince Roland Bonaparte's 1890s house, with his grand staircase and salons, a listed monument, downstairs. The Eiffel View Room is 45 m², the 17-metre pool runs under daylight, Iéna Métro is two minutes from the door and two starred restaurants are a short walk away. Book a room named Eiffel, ask for the top of the building, and the catch is mostly paid for.
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.
- 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.
- 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 Shangri-La Paris
What are the downsides of Shangri-La Paris?
Five things are worth knowing before you book. The Eiffel Tower is really there, about 600 metres to the south across the Seine, but the hotel sells it room by room and floor by floor, and none of the five categories priced below the Eiffel View Room has it. None of this is hidden, and all of it decides which room to book. The five cheapest categories do not see the tower, and the first room that does costs €1,275 a night more. The tower is seen at an angle, and from the lower floors only from about the first platform up. The suites named Paris View see only part of the tower, at Eiffel View prices. No restaurant in the house holds a MICHELIN star now, and Shang Palace closes on Tuesday and Wednesday. Breakfast is €70 a head, the city tax adds €15.93 per adult a night, and the pool is shared.
Who should not book Shangri-La Paris?
Anyone who will not pay for a room named Eiffel, because the five cheaper categories look at a courtyard, a cupola, the garden or the avenues at palace rates. Anyone who expects the whole tower, arches and all, from an ordinary room on a low floor. Food-led trips that want the stars under the same roof, and anyone who wants a lively street outside the door at night: this is a quiet, residential corner of museums in the 16th.
Our verdict
Book Shangri-La Paris for the Eiffel Tower in the window of a prince's house, and pay for a room named Eiffel, as high up as you can, to get it. Without the view, you are paying palace rates for a courtyard or garden outlook.
Last checked: October 2026