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Paris is chic, so why not stay in a chic hotel? The city oozes class, whether you are shopping in elegant rue St-Honore or hip Marais, strolling hand-in-hand along the Seine, or sipping coffee in a Rive Gauche cafe. An appealing location is essential, and welcoming staff: however stylish the hotel, however long its illustrious history or its celebrity guest list we can do without those ice maiden receptionists who flick their designer wraps and watch with ill-disguised contempt as you drag your luggage across the hall and try to cram it into the world's smallest lift. As for Parisian design hotels, with a capital D, they may be chic too, but they are a breed apart, and we tell you our favourite separately in a list of the city's best hip hotels (see Paris Hip hotels). Of the venerable grand dame establishments such as the Ritz, the Crillon and so on, we find the chicest to be the Meurice, followed by the Bristol and Four Seasons George V. Here's our complete selection of hotels with a certain je ne sais quoi. Their order bears no reflection on our preference.

Written by Leonie Glass