This autumn, Paris delivers an appealing mix of culture and style, with major art openings, new design-focused hotels and a dining scene that never disappoints.
There’s never a bad time to visit the city of light, the world’s most visited capital but this autumn seems particularly attractive, thanks to the blockbuster exhibitions, new restaurants and hotels.
Where to Stay
Among the new openings in Paris this year, here are three excellent new places to stay, from a stylish 4-star boutique not far from Gare du Nord to designer apartments and a super chic 5-star close to the Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre.
Luxury, 5-star hotel Maison Barrière Vendôme has one of the best locations in Paris between Place Vendôme and the Tuileries Garden. Musée de l’Orangerie with Monet’s massive water lilies paintings and the photography museum, Jeu de Paume are both a stone’s throw away in the Tuileries. Despite its prime location, the hotel feels like an insider secret as it’s at a discreet address on a small street behind rue de Rivoli. Service is welcoming with just the right amount of attentiveness. Each of the 26 spacious, unique rooms and suites are named after iconic women such as Sarah Bernhard, Nina Simone, Bette Davis and Agatha Christie. The Sarah Bernhard suite features embossed velvet that echoes the patterns of the legendary French actress’s stage costumes. Breakfast and dinner is served in the petite Frida, with a vibrant décor inspired by Frida Kahlo’s unique aesthetic. The dinner menu is superb, with tuna and avocado tartare, sea bream ceviche and possibly the best wagyu beef burger anywhere. A double room starts from €548 per night.
Hôtel Massé, in a grand Haussmann building, is an excellent new addition to the hip Pigalle district in the ninth arrondissement. Each of the 40 guest rooms in this 4-star boutique hotel is unique, with a minimalist design, vintage 1970s furniture generously sized bathrooms (unusual for Paris) and some have small balconies. There’s no restaurant but a lovely breakfast is served in the lounge area on the main floor which is comfortable with a quietly cool aesthetic. A double room starts from €149 per night.
High Stay is a specially chosen collection of over 100 design-focused, luxury serviced apartments in the city’s most interesting neighborhoods, including Le Marais, Louvre-Rivoli, Saint-Honoré, Opéra and the Champs-Élysées –placing guests just steps away from Paris’s main attractions. The latest addition, Pyramides, features one to three bedroom apartments in a glorious historic building just a short stroll from the Louvre. Each stylish apartment has a fully equipped kitchen and dining area, great for breakfast and you have the option of staying in after a long day of sight seeing. Rates start at €350 per nightfor a one-bedroom apartment.
Where to Eat and Drink
For the ultimate in chic Parisian dining experiences, one of the hottest tickets this fall is the stunning Le Grand Cafe at the Grand Palais where you’ll feel you’ve stepped back into the Belle Époque. The grand interior features extremely high ceilings, huge windows and lots of greenery but it still manages to feel like an intimate space in part due to its cosy banquette seating and soft lighting. There’s a live jazz singer too, adding to the sophisticated atmosphere. Gorgeous design aside, the food under Benoît Dargère, the Loulou Groupe’s Executive Chef, is outstanding. The traditional brasserie menu with foie gras, steak, oysters and tarte au citron also has more modern items like lobster salad with raspberries and green beans and roasted langoustines with lemongrass and ginger.
Drouant, a classic brasserie near the Opera, has an impressive literary heritage. Founded in 1880, the restaurant has been the meeting place for the jury of the Prix Goncourt since 1914 and the Prix Renaudot since 1926. You’ll find prize winning books, author and jury photos in the halls of the restaurant. The interior is rich with Art Déco character and history: walnut paneling, lacquered walls, and the menu features French culinary standards like sole meunière and roast chicken.
Le Cafe Marly is not only ideal for a pre or post Louvre visit as it’s right across the courtyard from the Pyramid at the Louvre but the food is excellent too. The avocado and tuna tartare and seabass carpaccio are great choices, as is the Croque Monsieur. For dessert, Crackers cheesecake is divine. If it’s not too chilly, be sure to ask to sit on the grand covered terrace and watch the multitude of Louvre tourists scurrying below or sit indoors in the elegant dining room.
The incredible lobster roll at RH’s chic, seafood dominated Le Jardin is alone worth a visit. The restaurant, located on the second floor terrace, under a spectacular curved glass and steel structure inspired by the Grand Palais is one of three food and beverage offerings in American luxury interiors company RH, previously called Restoration Hardware. The billion-dollar lifestyle brand has just opened its inaugural European flagship on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, featuring an impressive seven-story gallery spanning 3,900 square meters. Visitors might remember the address for Abercrombie & Fitch but the building underwent a major transformation led by architects Foster + Partners. If you don’t dine at Le Jardin, Le Petit is a lovely roof garden terrace restaurant on the seventh floor with great views of the Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais and the Louvre, or for drinks, sink into one of their legendary sofas and enjoy a glass of champagne or cocktail in The World of RH Bar.
There are other menu choices but as the name suggests, pork reigns supreme at Club Cochon, a new restaurant from Joseph Gastinel who oversees the food and wine expert Valentin Allard. Pork is often overlooked as a menu choice so the duo aims to redress what they consider to be a great oversight and rolled up their sleeves to create Paris’ very own cathedral to pork. Rustic wooden tables, vintage posters full of wit, mismatched décor. Chef Romain Bréchignac runs the kitchen while seasoned sommelier Nicolas Burnier (ex-Caves du Louvre)
What to See and Do
Rick Owens, Temple of Love at Palais Galliera until 4 January 2026 is a brilliant retrospective of the American designer’s radical, avant-garde universe with over 100 silhouettes, personal archives, film footage and installations. Showcasing pieces from his early days in Los Angeles to his latest creations, the exhibition examines his inspirations from a diverse array of sources — from the decadent writings of Joris-Karl Huysmans to modern and contemporary art (there are works by Gustave Moreau and Joseph Beuys on display), as well as early 20th-century Hollywood cinema. Rick Owens himself is the artistic director of the exhibition, in collaboration with the Palais Galliera’s curatorial team.
Jacques-Louis David at The Louvre until 26 January 2026, features 100 works from the Louvre and on special loan, including the grand “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” and the original version of his well known, gruesome painting, “The Death of Marat.” David’s paintings portray the great moments of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire, while his portraits bring to life the society of this period. The exhibition spans the long career of an artist who witnessed six different political regimes and actively participated in the French Revolution. The exhibition is a rare chance to see all these works together including the massive, although incomplete, “Tennis Court Oath” documenting the pivotal revolutionary moment in 1789 when it was asserted that political authority came from the people, not the king.
“Minimal” at Bourse de Commerce until 19 January 2026 is not only a chance to see more than 100 major Minimalist art works by 50 artists but to visit the historic neoclassical building that was Paris’s main commodities exchange for hundreds of years. Curated by Jessica Morgan (Director of the Dia Art Foundation), the exhibition brings together works from artists including Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Robert Ryman and Lee Ufan in the Pinault Collection and from prestigious international loans. The show traces the diversity of Minimalism since the 1960s, when a whole generation of artists initiated a radical approach to art.
“Sargent: Dazzling Paris” at Musee D’Orsay until 11 January 2026 includes “Portrait of Madame X” sometimes described as the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s own “Mona Lisa.” John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), born in Florence, celebrated in London and revered in New York, was one of the foremost portrait painters of his era. Together with James McNeill Whistler, he shaped the transatlantic art scene at the dawn of the 20th century. Yet despite his ties to Europe, Sargent’s name is still surprisingly not well known in France and this is, in fact, the first major Sargent solo exhibition in the country. The exhibition brings together over 90 works of paintings, drawings and watercolors. If you’re in Paris this autumn, this is an unmissable chance to see the city through the eyes of a painter who bridged continents.
Soulages, Another light. Paintings on paper at Musee Luxembourg (until 11 January 2026) brings together 130 abstract works by the “painter of black,” created between the 1940s and early 2000s, including 25 previously unpublished works. Pierre Soulages, known for his black paintings, used layers of dark pigment to capture the shifting reflections of light on textured surfaces. This exhibition focuses on works on paper where he used ink, gouache and printmaking techniques to explore the dynamic interplay between darkness and radiance on a flat surface. After visiting the exhibition, stroll through the Luxembourg gardens and see the mini bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty (2.74-meter/ 9 ft) originally created by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi for the 1900 Exposition Universelle.
For Jazz fans, Paris is fantastic, with the clubs on Rue des Lombards in the 1st arrondissement providing brilliant gigs from French and international musicians. Sunset/Sunside is a club for serious jazz fans with two intimate spaces for gigs. In Sunside, rows of chairs are packed into a small space, making for a truly intimate musical experience. An excellent recent gig featured the music of the late Wayne Shorter by a quartet fronted by Julien Lourau on sax, Mathieu Debordes on piano, Joan Eche Puig on bass and Jim Hart on drums.
On the corner, another well known club Le Duc des Lombards offers twice nightly gigs at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. A recent highlight was an energetic show by American vibes player Sasha Berliner, in town promoting her brilliant new album Fantôme. A third jazz venueon rue des lombards, Le Baiser Salé (“The Salty Kiss”) is open until 6am with eclectic programming that blends jazz with soul, funk, hip-hop and electronic music.
Getting There
If you’re traveling from London, Eurostar remains the most convenient option. With numerous daily departures leaving from London’s St Pancras Station and arriving at Paris’s Gare du Nord, the journey is under two and a half hours. And if you book far enough in advance, fares can be as low as £39, with tickets exchangeable as many times as you want with no fee up to one hour before departure.
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This story was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD, unless otherwise specified.
