Avenue Montaigne · Stay in Paris
Hôtel Plaza Athénée
The hotel's façade and entrance on avenue Montaigne in November 2019.
The Atlas take
About Hôtel Plaza Athénée
A 208-room hotel on avenue Montaigne, opened in 1913 and run today by Dorchester Collection. It holds France's Palace distinction, the highest official rating for a hotel. It is known for the red awnings and geraniums on its façade, and it has five restaurants and a bar, including a Michelin-starred dining room and the Art Deco Relais Plaza, as well as a Dior spa.
Best for
- Travellers who want a Palace hotel on avenue Montaigne, among the fashion houses.
- Visitors who want a suite with an Eiffel Tower view, or dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant without leaving the hotel.
Know before you book
Check-in is from 3 pm and check-out is by noon. The hotel lists the Paris tourist tax at €15.93 per person per night. Smoking is not allowed inside the hotel except on the second floor. The hotel's pages differ on the weight limit for dogs and on whether men must wear a jacket at La Grande Table, so check before you go.
- Palace distinction
- One of France's Palace hotelsClassified five stars, with the extra Palace award.
- La Grande Table
- Michelin-starredExecutive chef Jocelyn Herland.
- Le Relais Plaza
- Art Deco brasserie, 1936Its shopfront and bar relief are listed.
Hôtel Plaza Athénée is at 25 avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement, on the street of the Paris fashion houses between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine. The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is about 100 metres away. The nearest Métro station is Alma-Marceau on line 9, with an entrance about 250 metres away on avenue Montaigne.
There are 154 rooms and 54 suites. Rooms start with Classic Single rooms of 25 m² and Superior rooms of 30 m² on the courtyard. The largest is the Royal Suite of 450 m², with four bedrooms. Floors one to six are decorated in a classical style, and the upper floors in an Art Deco style by the designers Bruno Moinard and Claire Bétaille. Several suites look towards the Eiffel Tower, and five suites are adapted for guests with reduced mobility.
La Grande Table du Plaza Athénée, led by the executive chef Jocelyn Herland, is the hotel's Michelin-starred restaurant. Le Relais Plaza is an Art Deco brasserie that opened in 1936. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea are served in La Galerie, and Le Bar serves cocktails every evening. In summer a restaurant opens in the courtyard, and a terrace runs along the avenue. The Dior Spa has treatment rooms and a fitness studio.
Choose the right fit
Rooms at a glance
Compare the hotel’s room categories, then check your preferred configuration and dates when booking.
01 / ROOM CATEGORY
Classic Single and Superior Rooms
25–30 m² · queen bed · courtyard view
Room details
Marble bathrooms. Superior rooms can connect to a neighbouring room.
02 / ROOM CATEGORY
Deluxe Room
38 m² · courtyard or avenue Montaigne view
Room details
Italian marble bathroom.
03 / ROOM CATEGORY
Junior Suite
45–57 m² · up to 3 guests · king or twin beds
Room details
Views of the courtyard, avenue Montaigne or the rooftops, depending on the category.
04 / ROOM CATEGORY
Suites on avenue Montaigne
60–95 m² · avenue Montaigne view
Room details
Some have a balcony with a view of the Eiffel Tower.
05 / ROOM CATEGORY
Eiffel Suites
95–130 m² · Eiffel Tower view
Room details
The Haute Couture Eiffel Suite has a grand piano, and the Signature Eiffel Suite a private terrace and hammam.
06 / ROOM CATEGORY
Royal Suite
450 m² · four bedrooms and four bathrooms
Room details
A private balcony runs the width of the hotel, with views of the Eiffel Tower and the courtyard.
The practical details
Amenities & guest services
- La Grande Table du Plaza Athénée
- Le Relais Plaza brasserie
- La Galerie for breakfast and afternoon tea
- Le Bar
- Summer courtyard restaurant and avenue terrace
- Dior Spa with fitness studio
- Underground parking
- Pets accepted for a fee
La Grande Table
Lunch is served on Saturdays from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. Dinner is served from 7:15 pm to 9:30 pm, Tuesday to Friday, and until 10 pm on Saturdays. The restaurant asks for elegant dress and does not allow caps, shorts or sportswear.
Families
Cots are free for children under three. An extra bed costs €100 a night for guests from 13 years old.
Pets
Up to two pets per room are welcome for €40 a day each. They are not allowed in the restaurants, the bar or the spa, except in La Galerie.
Parking
The hotel's underground car park costs €45 a day.
PhotographThe Paris Atlas · Beyond the booking
History & cultural connections
The history of the Hôtel Plaza Athénée
Avenue Montaigne is named after the 16th-century French writer Michel de Montaigne. Until 1850 it was called the allée des Veuves.[1]
The hotel opened on Sunday 20 April 1913 as the Hotel Plaza. Its managing director, E. Armbruster, announced the opening in the New York Herald, and Le Figaro reported crowds of visitors admiring the new rooms. The building was designed by the architect Charles Lefebvre and built in two stages between 1912 and 1919. By November 1913 the newspapers were calling it the Plaza-Athénée.[2][3][5][4]
The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, about 100 metres away, opened on 31 March 1913, about three weeks before the hotel. The hotel's own history says the theatre opened a few weeks after the hotel.[7][8]
The hotel changed owners in 1933 and was modernised. It reopened in 1936 with a new restaurant next door, Le Relais Plaza, designed by the architect Constant Lefranc. A carved relief of Diana the huntress by the sculptor Francine Saquy hangs above its bar. During the Second World War the hotel was occupied first by the German and then by the American military command, and it reopened to the public in 1946.[5][6]
On 30 August 1933 the film star Marlene Dietrich spoke to reporters at the Plaza-Athénée after a transatlantic telephone call with her director, Josef von Sternberg, according to the New York Herald.[9]
A popular story says the dancer Mata Hari was arrested at the hotel in February 1917, shortly before she was tried and shot as a German spy. The story was printed in a 1931 popular book by the novelist Arthur Bernède. Newspapers of 1918 placed her rooms at another hotel, the Élysée Palace. The hotel also says that the couturier Christian Dior, whose fashion house opened on the same avenue in 1946, held many of his fashion shows and photo shoots there.[10][11][8]
In 1994 the façade on the avenue, the roof, the hall, the main gallery, the dining room and the Salon Montaigne were listed as historic monuments, together with the Relais Plaza's shopfront and bar relief.[5][6]
Sources for this history
- 1.Ville de Paris open data — street names and origins (avenue Montaigne)
- 2.New York Herald, European edition, 13 April 1913, p. 10 — "New Hotel Plaza … will open April 20" (Gallica)
- 3.Le Figaro, 18 April 1913, p. 1 — visitors at the Plaza before its opening (Gallica)
- 4.New York Herald, European edition, 28 November 1913, p. 4 — "Hotel Plaza-Athenee" (Gallica)
- 5.French Ministry of Culture, Mérimée database — Hôtel Plaza-Athénée (PA00132983)
- 6.French Ministry of Culture, Mérimée database — Restaurant le Relais-Plaza (PA00132982)
- 7.Le Figaro, 1 April 1913, p. 1 — opening of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Gallica)
- 8.Hôtel Plaza Athénée — About the hotel (Dorchester Collection)
- 9.New York Herald, European edition, 31 August 1933, p. 3 — Marlene Dietrich at the Plaza-Athenee (Gallica)
- 10.Arthur Bernède, Mata-Hari (Tallandier, 1932 edition) (Gallica)
- 11.La Libre Parole, 31 January 1918, p. 1 — Mata Hari's jewels seized at the Élysée-Palace-Hôtel (Gallica)
See where you’ll be
Paris, just outside the door
Places to discover nearby
theatre · Champs-Élysées
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
The concrete temple of the avant-garde — where The Rite of Spring caused a riot in 1913, and the Ballet Mécanique caused another in 1926, with Ezra Pound shouting over the pianolas.
Explore this place
office · Champs-Élysées (8th)
American War Relief Clearing House, 5 rue François-Ier
The Paris address to which Edith Wharton told readers of The Book of the Homeless to send donations in kind — the clearing house through which American war relief reached the French charities.
Explore this place
restaurant · Place de l'Alma
Chez Francis
The brasserie on the Place de l'Alma that Cendrars scholarship names as one of the writer's regular stops — a Right Bank address in a café life mapped mostly through Montparnasse.
Explore this placeBefore you go
Useful questions, clear answers
Where is the Hôtel Plaza Athénée?
At 25 avenue Montaigne, 75008 Paris, between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine. The nearest Métro station is Alma-Marceau (line 9).
Is the Plaza Athénée a Palace hotel?
Yes. It is classified five stars and holds the Palace distinction from Atout France, the national tourism agency.
When did the hotel open?
On 20 April 1913, under the name Hotel Plaza. It was called the Plaza-Athénée by November 1913.
Was Mata Hari arrested at the Plaza Athénée?
That is a popular story, first printed in a 1931 book by the novelist Arthur Bernède. Newspapers of 1918 placed her rooms at another hotel, the Élysée Palace.
What are the check-in and check-out times?
Check-in is from 3 pm and check-out is by noon.
Are pets allowed?
Yes. Up to two pets per room are welcome for €40 a day each, but they are not allowed in the restaurants, the bar or the spa, except in La Galerie.
The details behind this page
Sources & image credits
Hotel information reviewed .
Hotel information & sources
Image credits
Illustrations and reconstructions are labelled throughout this page.
- The hotel's façade and entrance on avenue Montaigne in November 2019.Ali Sabbagh, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsSource & reference
- The red awnings and geraniums on the façade in July 2017.Joe deSousa, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsSource & reference
- Le Relais Plaza, the hotel's Art Deco brasserie of 1936, in September 2024.CVB, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSource & reference
Your next Paris chapter
Find your room. Discover the story.
Plan your stay at Hôtel Plaza Athénée.