Museums.artBook
Number 8 of 20 in Paris

Ritz Paris

César Ritz opened his hotel on the Place Vendôme in 1898 and changed what a hotel was. It is still the most famous address in Paris to sleep at.

The front of the Ritz Paris on the Place Vendôme, its arched windows under white awnings.
Nicolas Vigier, CC0
Class
Five-star hotel
Opened
1898
Rooms
About 140 rooms and suites
Area
Place Vendôme

Paris this week

    What sets Ritz Paris apart

    1. The Place Vendôme

      The hotel sits behind one of the façades Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed for the square at the start of the eighteenth century. The jewellers of Paris are its neighbours, and the Tuileries Garden and the Louvre are a few minutes away on foot.

    2. Bar Hemingway

      A small wood-panelled bar at the back of the hotel, named for the writer who drank here for decades and claimed to have liberated it in August 1944.

    3. The pool and the Ritz Club

      A swimming pool, with a spa and a health club around it, on the lower level of the hotel.

    4. The École Ritz Escoffier

      A cooking school in the hotel's kitchens, founded in 1988 and named for Auguste Escoffier, the chef who opened the Ritz with its founder. It gives classes to amateurs as well as professionals.

    5. The suites

      Coco Chanel lived at the Ritz for more than thirty years, and the suite she kept bears her name. The Imperial Suite is listed as a national monument in its own right.

    What it has

    • Indoor pool
    • Spa and health club
    • Bar Hemingway
    • Restaurant L'Espadon
    • Cooking school
    • Garden
    • Shopping gallery

    Where Ritz Paris is

    Address

    15 Place Vendôme
    75001 Paris, France

    Nearest metro

    Opéra, on lines 3, 7 and 8

    Museums and sights nearby

    Distances are in a straight line from the hotel.

    The hotel that invented the grand hotel

    The Swiss hotelier César Ritz opened the Ritz on 1 June 1898, with the chef Auguste Escoffier in charge of the kitchens. The architect Charles Mewès built it behind an existing façade of 1705 on the Place Vendôme. It was among the first hotels in Europe to give every room its own bathroom, electric light and a telephone.

    It became the Paris address of a certain kind of fame. Marcel Proust dined here, Coco Chanel made it her home, and Ernest Hemingway its bar. In the summer of 1940 the Luftwaffe made it a headquarters. On 30 August 1997 Diana, Princess of Wales, dined in the Imperial Suite a few hours before she died.

    The hotel closed in 2012 for four years of renovation and reopened in June 2016.

    Ritz Paris: common questions

    Where is Ritz Paris?
    At 15 Place Vendôme, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The nearest metro station is Opéra, on lines 3, 7 and 8.
    Which museums and sights are near Ritz Paris?
    Musée de l'Orangerie is 650 m away, Musée d'Orsay is 900 m away, Louvre Museum is 1.0 km away. Distances are in a straight line from the hotel.
    Does Ritz Paris have a swimming pool?
    Yes. It has an indoor swimming pool, with a spa and a health club.
    Is Ritz Paris a Palace hotel?
    It is a five-star hotel. It does not hold the Palace distinction, the title the French state gives to a small number of five-star hotels.
    When did Ritz Paris open?
    In 1898. It has about 140 rooms and suites.

    What visitors say about Ritz Paris

    Rating from Google

    4.6

    4,631 ratings on Google

    Google's figures as read on 4 October 2026.

    Read every review on Google

    Things to do near Ritz Paris

    The nearest of this site's best things to do in the city. Distances are in a straight line.

    All 20 things to do in Paris

    Artists to see near Ritz Paris

    The museums nearest to here, and the most famous artists on show in each.

    All artists

    Other hotels in Paris

    All 20 hotels in Paris, rankedMuseums and attractions in Paris