Cheval Blanc Paris ranks #8 on our 2026 list of the best honeymoon hotels in the world. It earns the place on one thing no Right Bank rival can match: direct Seine frontage, with the three-star Plenitude above and a 30-metre pool at river level. The case below covers the hotel, what it does for a honeymoon, the honest trade-off, and the rivals.
“LVMH's Paris debut: 72 rooms, the three-star Plenitude, and Seine views that make the rate feel almost reasonable. The most design-forward palace in the city.”
The hotel itself
LVMH's masterwork: opened 2021 in the restored Samaritaine landmark, 72 rooms, the Seine below, Plenitude above. Paris at its most persuasive.
Cheval Blanc Paris opened in September 2021, occupying the upper floors of the restored Samaritaine, the historic Parisian department store that LVMH closed in 2005 and spent years rebuilding. It is the group's first urban European address and is read within the industry as a statement of what a contemporary palace hotel can be when the owner is effectively unlimited.
Why it works for a honeymoon
A city honeymoon is the riskiest format and the one that pays off the most for the right couple. The hotel needs to do what a destination resort does, give you the reason to stay in, without losing the case for the city outside. The best urban honeymoon hotels have the Michelin restaurant inside the building, the spa that erases the morning's flight, and the staff that get the table at the city's hardest restaurant for tonight.
Cheval Blanc is LVMH's quiet bet that the most decorated luxury house in the world can also build the most decorated hotels in the world. It mostly is. The properties are few, Courchevel, St-Barth, Randheli, Paris, St-Tropez, and the standard is uniformly absurd: Bonpoint amenities for the children, Guerlain for the spa, food rooms run by chefs the hotel has stolen from three Michelin-starred kitchens. For a honeymoon Cheval Blanc rewards the couple who has done luxury before and is now tired of being told what to do with it.
Peter Marino, the architect behind a generation of LVMH retail interiors including Louis Vuitton and Dior flagships worldwide, designed the 72 rooms and suites in what he calls tone-on-tone residential luxury. Each room is unique, and more than 600 French artisans contributed to the project. The rooms reflect a level of design investment that simply is not possible at other price points.
The Seine views are the hotel's most discussed attribute, and they earn the discussion. Rooms facing the river look directly at the Île de la Cité, Notre-Dame Cathedral (visible in the mid-distance and now fully restored), and the Pont Neuf. At night, the view of the illuminated bridges and water is genuinely moving. The terrace suites on the upper floors amplify this to the point of excess.
Where it ranks against rivals
On our 2026 honeymoon list, the closest neighbours are Aman Venice (#6), the sibling Cheval Blanc St-Barth (#7), and the Paris rival Le Bristol Paris (#10). Cheval Blanc Paris sits at #8 on its Seine setting and the freshest Palace product in the city; if you want classic Belle Epoque grandeur instead, Le Bristol is the call, and for a beach honeymoon the St-Barth sibling.
Practical: getting in
Address: 8 Quai du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France. Honeymoon-suited categories book six to nine months ahead in shoulder season, twelve months ahead in peak. The full review at the hotel page has current rates, room categories worth paying up for, and the dining and spa programmes worth booking pre-arrival. Use our honeymoon occasion page for the broader context.