La Réserve Hotel and Spa Paris

I'm not going to lie, while I was researching Paris’ La Reserve (the opulent 8th arrondissement home built for the hedonistic Duc de Morny), my expectations for staying there were quite high. So high in fact, that I was pretty sure that somehow, I'd be met with disappointment.

Well, I'm here to say that this was not the case. At all.

In fact, within about 10 minutes of arriving, my expectations were fully surpassed. It was, without a doubt, one of the best hotel experiences I’ve had in my entire life.

Personally, I'm much more drawn to hotels that make you feel at ease and at home. I love understated elegance, effortless service, beautiful interiors and attention to detail. La Reserve ticks all of these boxes and then some.

You feel completely at home immediately. There's not really a lobby – instead you enter into what feels like the most gorgeous living room you've ever seen. It’s flawless: slightly formal but cosy and intimate all at the same time, complete with a stone-carved, mirror-topped  fireplace as its centrepiece.

We were greeted warmly, and introduced to Susannah, our butler, who would be there to help us with anything we needed during our stay.

The service at La Reserve, it’s safe to say, is some of the best I’ve ever experienced. You don’t even realize how good it is until you realise that every possible need has already been met. Seamless, basically.

We got a brief tour of the hotel – the double-Michelin-starred restaurant and its cute garden, the chic nightcap-perfect bar, the dreamy spa (where I later had the best massage of my life), and, my highlight, the library: a stunning green-velvet accented room with a fireplace and various private nooks where you could sit, have tea or cocktails, and read for hours on end.

The hotel’s Belle Époque swagger is evident throughout: herringbone-parquet flooring, marble fittings, priceless antiques, gem-bright pops of colour, busts of emperors, rich brocades and eye-wateringly expensive works of art line rooms and corridors.

I hadn't even seen my room yet and I was already madly in love.

The room, of course, did not disappoint – it felt like I’d walked into my dream Paris apartment. From the enormous windows through which that perfect Parisian light streamed, to the enormous marble bathtub where I could have stayed for about three days, not a single detail was left unnoticed. The French doors separating our bedroom from the living room made me feel a bit like royalty (a duchess, perhaps). Cold champagne and hot espressos waited for us by way of a greeting – the perfect combination to start a vacation.

The following day, we began our morning with breakfast in the garden, where I was so overwhelmed by the beautiful spreads I spotted at nearby tables, I completely over-ordered (can you blame me?). We sipped café au lait and tucked into the most delicious French pastries, breads and croissants, and perfectly cooked scrambled eggs with salmon.

Later that day, I sampled the spa. The staff were so attentive – basically tailoring the massage to my particular preferences in any way they could (hence my ‘Best Ever’ claim). Afterwards, I swam in the enormous pool, drank mint tea and snacked on fresh apricots. I left feeling more relaxed than I’ve been in a very, very long time.

If I had one complaint about this hotel it would be this: You go all the way to Paris to spend your days exploring the city, but, checking into La Reserve, you basically never want to leave. C’est la vie, I suppose…