8.0Avenue George V, ParisSince 1929
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The avenue George V is named after a British king, and its most famous hotel carries his name. Next door, at number 33, is a hotel named after his son. The Prince de Galles opened in 1929, a year after its neighbour, taking the title of the Prince of Wales of the day. The two hotels were never related, but they make an interesting pair. The king is grand and ceremonial. The prince next door is younger, lighter and a good deal less formal.
You see it in the building. The Prince de Galles is Art Deco through and through, and its restoration, completed in 2013, kept that spirit: pale stone, black and gold, polished surfaces and a little glamour. Its heart is Le Patio, a courtyard with intricate mosaics underfoot, rattan chairs and palms. You can have breakfast here, stay for lunch or come back for a drink in the evening. It is one of the nicest surprises on avenue George V: a sheltered place to sit in the middle of one of the busiest luxury neighbourhoods in Paris.
The hotel has always attracted people who enjoyed a little glamour. Marlene Dietrich stayed, and so did Elvis Presley during his army leave in 1959. Today the mood continues in a less formal way. Akira Back serves Japanese food with Korean influences, while Restaurant & Bar 19.20, by Norbert Tarayre, brings a more relaxed kind of French dining to the hotel. You can dress up for the evening if you like, but nobody seems especially interested in making an occasion of every meal.
What a stay gives you is the Golden Triangle at your feet without the full weight of palace ceremony. The Champs-Élysées are a short walk away, as is avenue Montaigne, and the rooms offer somewhere comfortable to retreat from it all. Their Art Deco details carry through to the bathrooms, with marble and patterned mosaics. Some have balconies, but these are not standard, so book the category you want rather than hoping for one at check-in. Rooms facing the courtyard are worth considering if a quieter outlook appeals more than the avenue.
The prince has his limits. Some of the Art Deco rooms measure only around twenty-five to thirty square metres, which is comfortable for a short stay but hardly expansive at these prices. There is no swimming pool or full-scale spa, though the newer Wellness Suite offers treatments by CALMA Paris, and the gym is open around the clock. Outside, the Golden Triangle is expensive, busy and more about shopping than neighbourhood life. Anyone who wants to spend their days in bookshops and little cafés may be happier across the river.
It suits couples, business travellers and visitors who love this part of Paris but prefer a hotel that wears its luxury a little more lightly. And after a day among the grand addresses of avenue George V, it is rather nice to come back to a quiet table on Le Patio.
Le Patio
From breakfast until half past midnight.
The lobby sets the tone for the whole house: a black marble floor, gilded wall lights, a chandelier of black shades and a stair curving up behind arched glass. It is 1929 seen through the 2013 restoration by Pierre-Yves Rochon, glamorous without being solemn.
The rooms keep to cream, sand and black lacquer, with a deep upholstered headboard and Deco lamps. The Art Deco rooms start at around 29 m², the Mosaic Suites reach about 48 and the Macassar Suites about 70, so size grows quickly once you move into the suites.
About two dozen rooms and suites have a balcony or terrace, among them the Art Deco Deluxe Balcony rooms, sold facing either Le Patio or the avenue. On the upper floors the reward is this: a table, two chairs and the zinc roofs of the 8th running away to the horizon.
Akira Back opens every evening from seven, with Japanese cooking given a Korean accent and a counter in dark wood for watching the knives at work. For an easier meal, 19.20 by Norbert Tarayre serves French brasserie cooking at lunch and dinner and a Gatsby Brunch on Sundays.
At a glance
Where
33 avenue George V, 8th arrondissement, between the Champs-Élysées and the avenue Montaigne; George V metro a few minutes away
Why this one
Le Patio's mosaics and tables make a sheltered place to sit from breakfast until midnight, in the busiest corner of luxury Paris.
Black and gold in the lobby, marble and patterned mosaics in the bathrooms: the 1929 spirit survives the restoration.
Japanese dinner at Akira Back or an easy meal at 19.20: you can dress up, but nobody insists on it.
The Edit Notes
Only a minority of the rooms and suites have outdoor space, so book a category with Balcony or Terrace in its name. The Art Deco Deluxe Balcony rooms come facing either Le Patio or the avenue: say which you want rather than leaving it to the desk.
Rooms over Le Patio escape the traffic of the avenue George V, but Le Patio serves until half past midnight. In the warm months a courtyard room is the sociable choice; for the earliest nights, ask for a room on an upper floor away from the terrace.
Among the rooms the hotel describes, only the Suite Lalique, a duplex with crystal by Lalique, is documented with an Eiffel Tower view. The Suite Saphir and the Suite d'Or have terraces over the avenue George V instead.
Akira Back opens only in the evening, from seven, and takes a summer break. For lunch, 19.20 serves from noon on weekdays and Saturdays; on Sundays it is the Gatsby Brunch or Le Patio instead.
The price question
The Prince de Galles charges the prices of the Golden Triangle, where nothing is cheap, but it is not a palace and does not price itself like one. The money buys the address, Art Deco rooms with marble and mosaic bathrooms, and Le Patio, one of the most agreeable places to sit on the avenue George V. It does not buy a pool, a full spa or very large rooms at the lower categories. For a relaxed few days among the grand addresses, it is fair value.
Book it if you love this part of Paris but want a hotel that wears its luxury lightly, with a courtyard to come back to. Look elsewhere if you want a pool, a grand palace's sense of occasion or the bookshops and cafés of the Left Bank.
Four Seasons George V
Next door: the king to this prince, with grand flowers, a pool and three restaurants, at a palace's price.
Fouquet's Paris
Round the corner on the Champs-Élysées: Garcia rooms, a garden, a 15-metre pool and the famous brasserie at the door.
The Extra Edit
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How the grade is made
The Edit score is the editor's grade for the level of the hotel, out of ten. It weighs what the outside judges say (Michelin Keys, Forbes Travel Guide, World's 50 Best Hotels, Atout France palace status, La Liste), what changed in the last two years and what guests write now; where these and the editor's own judgement disagree, the editor decides. A spa with a pool worth booking for adds up to two tenths.
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