This show-stopper Paris hotel is walking distance from the Eiffel Tower

The hotel

Sax Paris

Check-in

It’s rare to find a hotel around the southern edge of Paris’ seventh arrondissement, an exclusive residential area walking distance from the Eiffel Tower and the Hotel des Invalides. It’s even more unusual to find one as salubrious as Sax Paris, the first LXR Hotel – Hilton’s boutique collection of luxury properties – in Europe, and a show-stopper from the second you step into the discreet lobby on Avenue de Saxe. There, you’re greeted by smiling staff in expensively cut clothing (you feel like you’ve wandered into a fashion shoot), who seat you immediately, ply you with a glass of champagne and begin the painless process of getting you into your room.

The look

Can a hotel be sexy? Because that’s the word that continuously springs to mind while touring the public areas and the rooms of this gorgeous, stylish new property. Upon entry there’s the Galerie, a bar area so long and thin it inevitably brings catwalks to mind, this one shaded by chandeliers and drenched in sultry red. Through the lobby there’s a secluded courtyard restaurant and pool that speaks of the potential for Chateau Marmont-style debauchery. Frescos on the lobby ceiling are by street artist Sto. Everywhere you look there’s black-and-white marble, brushed brass, dark leather, and deep red tones. Sexy, right?

The room

You better hope you like looking at yourself – you’re a supermodel, after all – because the bulk of the walls in your Sax suite are covered in mirrors. In my King Prestige junior suite there’s a huge mirror behind the bed, a large TV hidden behind another mirror on the opposite wall, a mirror by the dining table, and the bathroom door pulls across to reveal … another mirror. Oh, hi there. The walls that aren’t mirror-clad, meanwhile, are panelled with wood, as is the floor, lending a welcome natural warmth to an otherwise thoroughly modern space, where a vast table and banquette seating lines one wall, and a leather-clad chaise longue reclines beside floor-to-ceiling windows at the other. The bathroom is a real highlight, with a standalone bath overlooking leafy Avenue de Saxe, and black-and-white marble throughout. The tap fittings at the basin deserve a mention, too: horn-shaped and sleek, certainly eye-catching, though also requiring explanation of how they work (twist the bottom end).

Food + drink

Prepare to scrape your jaw off the floor on your first morning at Sax Paris, as you make your way up to Kinugawa, the hotel’s top-level restaurant. It’s the view, this uninterrupted gaze at one of the world’s most famous edifices lurking on the horizon. Stunning. Eiffel Tower aside, Kinugawa is your spot for breakfast (a mix of buffet and a la carte offerings), or a see-and-be-seen lunch or dinner when it morphs into an up-market Japanese eatery. Elsewhere in the hotel, there’s all-day dining at SAX, alfresco meals at Le Jardin, and drinks with canapes at the Galerie.

Out + about

Walk out of the main entrance: to your right, the Eiffel Tower, about a 15-minute walk away. On the journey you can call past Marche Saxe-Breteuil, a twice-weekly produce and flower market. Or perhaps drop into L’Espirit Gourmand, an ever-popular patisserie. Or, you could turn left and follow Rue de Sevres to the fashion boutiques and gourmet food stores of the sixth arrondissement. The Musee d’Orsay is about a half-hour stroll; the Latin Quarter the same. There are also multiple Metro stations nearby to get you further afield. Or, on a beautiful Parisian day, find a shady spot on the lawn at Avenue de Breteuil and just watch the world go by.

The verdict

The new Sax hotel has style and sex appeal, a Parisian dream in one of the city’s most sought-after neighbourhoods.

Essentials

King Sax rooms start from $1290 a night. 55 Avenue de Saxe, Paris, France. See saxparishotel.com

Our rating out of five

★★★★½

Highlight

Sitting in the top-level breakfast room, eating a fresh pain au chocolat, sipping Taittinger champagne, staring at the Eiffel Tower? It doesn’t get much better.

Lowlight

The pool, positioned inside the garden restaurant directly behind several tables of beautiful people enjoying a meal (in front of whom you will need to disrobe), is really not usable in any practical way.

The writer stayed courtesy of Sax Paris.

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