(upbeat jazz music)
- Hello, and thank you for joining us at Legacy Travel's
Top Five video.
Today we're talking about the top five hotels
in Paris that we like.
I've got Erin here with me and Jackie.
Erin, you are our specialist for Europe,
and Jackie, you lived in Paris for a year, right?
So anyway I'm in good company and they probably know
a lot more about it than I do, but I will chime
in when I can.
I'll actually lead us off if you don't mind.
- Sure.
- We think we might have a lot of overlap.
We haven't seen each others' lists, but there's a chance
we'll have some overlap here, but we'll see.
The first one, maybe not so much, my number five
is called the Hotel Regina.
And on this list of five that I have, three of them
are really quite pricey.
Hotel Regina is not.
I'm not saying it's cheap by any means, but compared
to the other ones, it's more of a value, more of a
you can save a little bit of money on that one.
And it's a nice hotel, it really is, and a great location.
It's gonna be near the Louvre, and it's right by
the gardens, across the street from
- Tillery Gardens.
- Tillery Gardens, yeah, it's fantastic.
I stayed there two years ago and just enjoyed the location.
The hotel was fantastic.
Went across the street, spend time in the gardens,
it's a lot of fun.
And again, compared to the other ones on my list,
it's not as pricey as those are.
So that's my number five.
What do you have for your number five?
- Okay, so it's called Le Littré, and it's really quaint
and charming, located in one of my favorite areas
in Paris, near Montparnasse.
My old stomping grounds.
What I like about this area is that you can do shopping
and you can actually go to an avenue that's really
close from there and you'll find dozens, literally dozens
of creperies so you can have crepes.
So there's so many things to do around that area,
and even though I haven't stayed in this hotel,
we do have it in our inventory, of course,
and I've always...I always saw it and I always thought
it was really, really cute, so definitely one to go to.
- I don't have old stomping grounds in Paris.
(laughing)
So I feel kind of bad.
(laughing)
What's your number five?
- My number five is The Victoria Palace.
It is, out of some of the options that we have,
I would say it probably falls in the middle price range.
But I love it because it's on the Left Bank.
The Left Bank is gonna be kind of the more authentic
Parisian vibe, you're gonna have lots of little cafes
and restaurants and little boutique shops.
And so I think it's a really great place to hang out.
And again, out of the ones I'm gonna suggest, it falls
a little bit in a better price range.
- Okay.
Number four, why don't you lead us off with number four.
- Okay, so I have a Hyatt property, it's the Hotel Du Louvre
and it's really close to the home of the Mona Lisa, the
Musee du Louvre, and really close to Opera Garnier as
well as the gardens that he mentioned before, the Tillery.
Napoleon the Third, fun fact, actually demanded this
hotel to be built right around the time that
the World Fairs, what was it?
- Yeah.
- Yeah the World Fairs were going on, to accommodate
all the visitors coming from all around the world.
So it definitely has history and it's perfectly located.
It's a Hyatt property, so you know you'll be in good hands.
- I'm getting a little intimidated by her pronunciations,
also, very French.
(laughing)
- I'm sorry, I don't want to pronounce it...
- No, you're good, you're doing great.
- You totally got it.
- Go ahead, number four.
- My number four is the K&K Cayre.
It's also on the Left Bank.
It is going to probably actually price a little bit
less than the Victoria Palace.
It's just a few blocks, a little closer to the Seine,
so you're going to be close to the Notre Dame,
you're still going to be in the Left Bank,
really easy walking distance to a lot of things,
but again, just a little bit more of an authentic
Parisian vibe.
Typically people that have been back to Paris a couple
of times, or people that live in Paris, they like
to hang out on the Left Bank.
Although the more northern side of the river
around, closer to the Louvre or the Champs Elysees,
things like that.
It's still nice, but it has a little bit more of
a touristy vibe.
The Left Bank is gonna have...you're gonna be
hanging with the locals.
- That's true.
- Good deal.
My number four is one of the ones I warned you about
that would be on the pricey side.
It's the Peninsula Paris.
It's right by the Arc de Triomphe and this is an amazing
hotel, beautiful rooms.
It is pricey.
Some of the things that are really cool about it,
it has a lot of history with it.
George Gershwin wrote An American in Paris while staying
in this hotel, which is cool.
Also the Paris Peace Accord which ended the Vietnam War
was signed in this hotel, in one of the salons of
the hotel, so great hotel.
A little bit pricey, great service, great restaurants,
but also some cool history along with it.
Number...
- Number three for me is going to be the Grand Hotel
du Palais Royal.
It is going to be close to the Louvre.
The thing that I really like about this hotel is that
it's very boutique.
It only has 68 rooms.
So it makes you feel, even though it is like I mentioned
before, in the slightly more touristy part of Paris,
it's still very central and with it being boutique,
you feel like you're...even though you get all the
luxuries of the hotel, when you're walking up to it
you're like "Maybe I have an apartment here, or a flat"
you feel a little bit more like you're a part of Paris,
rather than staying at a really big hotel.
And it's also part of the, I believe Small Luxury World
hotels, so again, top notch service, really, really nice.
- What I did, I've got a brand I like.
So I picked my brand and I picked one of the hotels.
I like Sofitel.
(laughing)
- You're stealing mine.
- You're stealing mine, too!
- I like Sofitel and I think that is my wife's favorite
hotel in Chicago and it's a good brand.
And they've got a few hotels in Paris.
The one I picked as my favorite, and I know you're fluent,
Sofitel Paris Le....
- I have that one as my third one, so yeah, Faubourg.
- So that is my mainly, I like it better than the
other ones, but I mean it's my favorite of the group,
but I really picked it for the chain itself, Sofitel.
So if that's yours, why don't you go in and give me
your reasons for doing it.
- Well yes, it's definitely a brand to be trusted.
Sofitel has many hotels around the world and this one
in Paris doesn't fail to impress.
It is located in the Right Bank.
Like Erin has said, this part of Paris is definitely
more of a touristy vibe, but it's very elegant.
It's actually located really close to Saint Honore
which is a street just full of luxury boutiques,
so if you want to do some spending and spend some cash,
you'll have Givenchy and Chanel and all that other
brands that I can't afford, but...
(laughing)
But one of my favorite things around there is that
the famous Laduree, which they're famous for their
French macarons, is less than five minutes away.
So you can have sweet treats every day while you stay there.
- Cool.
And also I forgot to mention that while, she's
talking about it being in a very nice area,
for my list, it's again one of the more affordable ones.
So, which is crazy 'cause it's fairly expensive,
but compared to my other list, it's okay, price wise.
- Yeah.
- Number two, I'll lead off my number two.
The Shangri La.
Beautiful, again, this one's gonna be on the pricey
side along with the Peninsula.
Just a beautiful, beautiful place.
This is the former home of Napoleon Bonaparte's
grand nephew, he was a prince, and has great views
of Eiffel Tower.
Another thing that's really interesting about it,
is that it has...two of its restaurants have
Michelin stars.
So I think one of them has two, one of them has one.
But that's amazing to have one hotel with both type
restaurants in it.
Beautiful, great service, beautiful rooms,
amazing restaurants.
You're gonna pay for it, it's expensive.
But that's number two on my list.
How about you?
(laughing)
- Shangri La.
- Really?
Wow, we didn't prepare this ahead of time.
- Like you said, it has a lot of history and the thing
that I like the most, it has the most amazing views
of the Eiffel Tower I've seen.
So definitely if you want to feel like you're in Paris
by looking at the Eiffel Tower, this is a good place.
- So my number two is the Sofitel Paris, like they
both mentioned in number three.
- Okay, okay.
- What I love about it is that Sofitel is actually
a French brand, and so it's just like the essence
of brands in Paris.
It's just really, really amazing.
The hotel itself, out of the other ones I've mentioned,
the others I've mentioned are a little bit more traditional,
a little bit more elegant.
The Sofitel Paris is very chic.
So they do offer an elegant edge to it.
But it's a very, very chic, modern, classy,
it's really beautiful.
And they're also still going to be near the Louvre
and the Champs Elysees.
And like she mentioned, fantastic shopping district.
So again, for people that like their chic vibes,
Sofitel offers it all.
(laughing)
- Ready to lead us off with number one?
- Okay, so I have Pavillon de la Reine, which is
translated into Garden House of the Queen.
It's located in the Place des Vosges,
and this area is definitely different from
the other parts of Paris because it's more
quaint, more charming.
Basically it's this courtyard surrounded by
green and gardens and you'll definitely be,
or you'll feel like you're in a different
part of Paris because of that area just
more quaint and charming.
I don't know why I'm repeating that,
but this is actually where the French royalty
used to live back in the day,
so if you feel like you want to be treated
like royalty, this is a good hotel.
And then another famous person who used to
live around this area is Victor Hugo.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
- Les Mis.
- Yeah, Les Mis.
- Cool.
Very cool.
What's your number one?
- My number one is the Peninsula, so...
- Oh, okay.
(laughing)
The reason being, I do think that it's fabulous,
it's very classy, top notch service.
It is near the Arc de Triomphe, which when I stay,
I actually prefer to stay a little bit moreso towards
that end of the Champs, because although I like
visiting the Louvre and everything, around the
Arc de Triomphe, I don't know, I just feel the
location is easy to walk to the Eiffel Tower,
the Louvre or wherever you want to go.
It's kind of a good base area.
And it's also, I don't know, I really enjoyed it.
But my top thing about the Peninsula,
their rooftop terrace,
they have a restaurant on the top of their hotel,
it is stunningly beautiful.
Especially at night.
You can see the Eiffel Tower.
During the day or at night, but at night especially.
If you have dinner at the restaurant on that top
terrace, the Eiffel Tower lights up every so often,
it will sparkle and everything, and it's just
completely magical and romantic.
I think it's amazing.
- Very cool.
My number one is the Ritz.
And again, pricey.
(laughing)
Really, really pricey.
But a phenomenal hotel.
This has been recently renovated.
This is 2017, so it was renovated, I think it opened
again last year after the renovation.
But just an amazing...taking luxury to a whole
'nother level.
And they have some ridiculous things, like you book
the rooms you get transfers to and from the airport.
I think they even meet you at the airplane almost.
A good thing about a hotel like that, we have
arranged with them where you book through us, we've
gotten deals where we get automatic upgrades for
our clients, so it's a really great thing.
Free breakfast, which a few of these places have
free breakfast, which can be important.
- Yes.
- You stay in some of these places like Peninsula,
the Ritz, Shangri La, those type of places,
food is expensive and we've
got it where you get free breakfast, which can be
a really good value.
But what I would recommend, staying somewhere like
the Ritz, or even Shangri La, something like that,
you may want to do a couple of nights at this property,
a couple of nights at a more affordable one if you
can't do the whole time.
If you do that I think I'd do the affordable one
first, the more affordable one first,
end up at the Ritz, or at Shangri La, or at Peninsula
or something like that.
But do check out the Ritz because this thing has gone,
it's even above and beyond craziness as far as
the luxury goes, even compared to Peninsula
and Shangri La.
So do check it out, it's amazing.
Thank you all so much for doing this.
- Absolutely.
- And thank you all for watching.
See you soon.