A new addition today to Paris’ already-impressive collection of top-end hotels – The Peninsula
Today, France’s first Peninsula hotel opens its doors to a well-heeled public. The new baby was six years in gestation and was formerly the Majestic Hotel. The Hong-Kong-based luxury hotel group have put a huge amount of energy meticulously restoring the Second Empire building (see slide show and video below).
The building chosen for both France and Europe’s first Peninsula hotel (the next one is under construction in London) is located on Avenue Kléber in the 16th arrondissement; a wide-avenued street typical of Haussman’s reconstruction of Paris in the 1870s. One of its claims to fame is as the place where the American composer George Gershwin wrote American in Paris during a stay here in 1928.
Much of both the spirit of the Haussman era and that of the 1920s has been retained in the decor and look of the hotel, but with no shortage of energy put into creating a modern palace of superb pampering proportions.
The views from the rooftop terrace (Terrasse Kleber – possibly the largest enclosed terrace in Paris) are magnificent, with a picture-postcard vista of Parisian rooftops and the Eiffel Tower.
The cuisine of the new hotel hopes to make a splash in the French capital too. There are no fewer than six eating venues contained within the hotel and with a top-notch kitchen team led by Jean-Edern Hurstel. Hurstel is a well-known personality in France from the popular TopChef programme and has been working for the last six years in some of the finest hotels in Dubai.
The New Peninsula in Pictures
Where Exactly?