Book Cheval Blanc Paris for the arrival that feels least like a hotel: 72 keys, a near one-to-one staff ratio, and Arnaud Donckele's three-Michelin-star kitchen over the Seine. Book the Ritz Paris for the grander ceremony, Place Vendôme, Bar Hemingway, and 142 rooms of palace ritual. Intimacy against institution.
Affiliate disclosure: when you book through links on this page we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We never accept payment for placement or rankings.
Start with the door, because that is where these two part ways. At Cheval Blanc Paris there is no grand lobby to cross; you are met, walked up, and settled into one of just 72 rooms by a team large enough to learn your name on day one. At the Ritz Paris you arrive into theatre, the Place Vendôme forecourt, the long gallery, a service tradition that has been rehearsed since 1898. One stay whispers, the other performs, and most travellers know within a day which they wanted.
The newcomer is barely five years old. Cheval Blanc Paris, the LVMH house, opened on 7 September 2021 inside the restored Samaritaine, the Seine-side landmark by the Pont Neuf, with interiors by Peter Marino: 72 rooms and suites, all of them facing the river or the rooftops, and a near one-to-one staff-to-guest ratio that you feel at turndown more than at check-in. The institution is its opposite number. The Ritz Paris opened on Place Vendôme in 1898, the hotel César Ritz built to his own standard, and after closing in 2012 it reopened in June 2016 following a roughly four-year renovation; today it holds 142 rooms and suites and three Michelin Keys.
The honest split: Cheval Blanc gives you the most intimate luxury arrival in Paris and, in Plénitude, the higher-rated kitchen by two Michelin stars. The Ritz gives you the address, the history and the rituals, Bar Hemingway, the Chanel spa, the named suites, that no five-year-old hotel can manufacture. The full case for each follows.
The quick read: Cheval Blanc is the smaller, newer, more private house with the stronger restaurant; the Ritz is the larger, historic palace with the deeper sense of occasion. The table sets the verified specifics side by side.
| Cheval Blanc Paris | Ritz Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Intimate arrival, the Seine, three-star dining | Ceremony, history, the bar and spa rituals |
| Address | The restored Samaritaine, by the Pont Neuf | 15 Place Vendôme |
| Opened | 7 September 2021 | 1898; reopened June 2016 |
| Rooms & suites | 72 (26 rooms, 46 suites) | 142 (71 rooms, 71 suites) |
| Signature dining | Plénitude, 3 Michelin stars (Arnaud Donckele) | L'Espadon, 1 Michelin star (Eugénie Béziat) |
| Bar | Limbar; Le Tout-Paris rooftop | Bar Hemingway; Bar Vendôme |
| Spa & pool | First Dior Spa; ~30m indoor pool | Chanel au Ritz Paris; Ritz Club pool |
| Ownership | LVMH | Al-Fayed family (since 1979) |
| Rate tier | $$$$ | $$$$ |
Book Cheval Blanc when you want the arrival to feel private. With 72 rooms and suites and a famously deep staff bench, the first impression is residential rather than ceremonial; nobody hands you off, and anticipatory service, the small things done before you ask, is where this house earns its rate.
Signature: The sense of a borrowed Parisian home. Set inside LVMH's restored Samaritaine by the Pont Neuf, with interiors by Peter Marino, every room and suite faces either the Seine or the rooftops, so there is no second-class view in the building, and the smallest rooms still start around 45 square metres. The food is the other headline: Plénitude, Arnaud Donckele's dining room, won three Michelin stars in 2022 within months of opening and keeps them in the 2026 guide, supported by Langosteria, the Italian kitchen's first outpost outside Milan, the Le Tout-Paris rooftop brasserie, and Maxime Frédéric's Limbar for pastry and a quiet drink. Downstairs sits the first Dior Spa, six treatment rooms and a roughly 30-metre pool, one of the largest hotel pools in central Paris. In 2026 the house joins France's official Palace distinction.
Concierge's tip: there is genuinely no bad room here, but if the view matters, ask for a Seine-facing suite on an upper floor for the Pont-Neuf and Louvre line; and book Le Tout-Paris on the rooftop before you arrive, as the terrace is the table everyone wants at golden hour.
Honest trade-off: intimacy has costs. At 72 keys the hotel sells out fast around the fashion and autumn seasons, so spontaneity is hard. It is modern luxury, not heritage; if you came to Paris for patina and a century of ghosts, this house cannot fake them. And the contemporary, fashion-house aesthetic is a clear point of view that not every traditional guest will love.
Weighted: Service 25%, Design 20%, Romance / Value / Food 15% each, Location 10%. Scores are HotelsForKings editorial judgments, not guest review averages.
Book the Ritz when the occasion is the point. The arrival is staged in the best sense, the forecourt, the gallery, a doorman-to-guest choreography refined over more than a century, and the service trades on memory: this is the house that effectively wrote the modern grammar of the grand hotel.
Signature: Continuity you can stand inside. César Ritz opened the hotel on Place Vendôme in 1898; Coco Chanel lived here for some 34 years, and her name is on one of the 15 historic Prestige Suites. After closing in 2012, the Ritz reopened in June 2016 following a roughly four-year, multi-hundred-million-dollar renovation that rebuilt the house without erasing it. The rituals are the draw: Bar Hemingway, still among the most storied cocktail bars in the world; afternoon tea and the gardens; the École Ritz Escoffier cooking school; and Chanel au Ritz Paris, the marque's first standalone spa. The kitchen has been rebuilt too, L'Espadon earning a Michelin star in 2024 under chef Eugénie Béziat, the only starred table on Place Vendôme, and the hotel carries three Michelin Keys.
Concierge's tip: Bar Hemingway is small and does not take reservations, so arrive close to its early-evening opening if you want a seat rather than a wait; and if a named suite is the dream, the historic Prestige Suites are a scarce category, so ask about them at the time of booking, not on arrival.
Honest trade-off: the grandeur cuts both ways. With 142 rooms and a steady stream of bar and restaurant visitors, the public spaces are busier and less private than Cheval Blanc's; the formality is real and not for everyone; and on the strict Michelin measure the dining sits two stars below its rival. You pay, in part, for the name and the address.
Weighted: Service 25%, Design 20%, Romance / Value / Food 15% each, Location 10%. Scores are HotelsForKings editorial judgments, not guest review averages.
Book Cheval Blanc Paris when you want to be left alone in the best way: a 72-key house on the Seine, service close enough to feel personal, and a three-star kitchen you can reach in a lift. On intimacy and food, it leads, and our score reflects it.
Book the Ritz Paris when you want Paris to put on a show: Place Vendôme, Bar Hemingway, the Chanel spa, and a sense of occasion no new hotel can buy. In one line: Cheval Blanc is the private apartment with the great restaurant; the Ritz is the institution with the great story. Pick the feeling you came for.
They reward different travellers. Cheval Blanc Paris is the more intimate stay: 72 rooms and suites inside the restored Samaritaine on the Seine, a very high staff-to-guest ratio and a three-Michelin-star restaurant, Plénitude. The Ritz Paris is the grander institution: 142 rooms and suites on Place Vendôme, Bar Hemingway, a Chanel spa and 127 years of history. Choose Cheval Blanc for the residential feel and the food; choose the Ritz for ceremony and address.
Cheval Blanc Paris, by the Michelin measure. Plénitude, chef Arnaud Donckele's dining room over the Seine, holds three Michelin stars, earned in 2022 within months of opening, and retained in the 2026 guide. The Ritz answers with L'Espadon, awarded one Michelin star in 2024 under chef Eugénie Béziat and the only Place Vendôme restaurant currently starred. For sheer kitchen ceiling, Cheval Blanc leads by two stars; the Ritz counters with the deeper heritage table and the École Ritz Escoffier.
Cheval Blanc for privacy, the Ritz for occasion. With only 72 keys, near one-to-one service and a rooftop with the Seine at your feet, Cheval Blanc Paris feels like a borrowed Parisian apartment, which honeymooners who want to disappear tend to prefer. The Ritz makes romance an event: the Place Vendôme arrival, the gardens, the named historic suites. Book Cheval Blanc to be left alone, the Ritz to be feted.
Cheval Blanc Paris, simply because it is small. Seventy-two rooms and suites sell out fast around fashion weeks and the autumn season, so book several months ahead and be flexible on dates. The Ritz, with 142 rooms and suites, has more inventory and slightly more give, though its named Prestige Suites are their own scarce category. A concierge tip: at Cheval Blanc every room faces either the Seine or the rooftops, so there is no bad view, but request a Seine-facing suite on an upper floor for the Pont-Neuf and Louvre line.
Different strengths. Cheval Blanc Paris houses the first Dior Spa, with six treatment rooms and a roughly 30-metre indoor pool, one of the largest hotel pools in central Paris, which families and lap swimmers notice. The Ritz Paris has Chanel's first standalone spa, Chanel au Ritz Paris, plus a pool beneath a painted sky in the Ritz Club. Pick Cheval Blanc for the swim, the Ritz for the brand-name treatment ritual.
Cheval Blanc is the hotel brand of LVMH, and the Paris Maison opened in the group's restored Samaritaine building on 7 September 2021. The Ritz Paris has been owned by the Al-Fayed family since Mohamed Al-Fayed bought it in 1979, and it reopened in June 2016 after a roughly four-year, multi-hundred-million renovation. One is a modern luxury house; the other is a privately held institution that has kept the same name on Place Vendôme since 1898.
Subscriber only hotel offers, suite upgrade alerts, and one honest review every Sunday. Free, weekly, unsubscribe anytime.