Le Bar du Hôtel le Bristol

Champs-Élysées - 8eme, Paris –

Even for a hotel of almost mythical extravagance and size, The Bar in Hotel le Bristol is staggeringly luxurious.

Dripping with chandeliers and studded with flower sculptures, the large marbled room manages to remain on the safe side of gaudy with a tasteful and calm atmosphere that belies its grandeur.

Plush antique settees offer space for chic international hotel guests to lounge in their suits and satin, muttering secretively in various languages, while aproned waiters glide silently between tables to refresh the cocktails for which the bar is famous.

Those concoctions do not come cheap, however, as the well-off patrons can attest as they sip longtime bartender Cyril’s storied Drako, a curious treasure of gin, lime, passion fruit, and tarragon.

Guests celebrating a special occasion often head to the jewel in the Bristol’s crown, a spacious seasonal courtyard that sits beyond the glass colonnade and features crimpled grass and careful flowerbeds walled in by the florid balconies of the upper suites.

Fashionistas stopping in for high tea and crumpets fill the tables during the week, while immaculately-dressed drinkers gather in twos and threes at dusk, strutting around the trimmed privacy of the garden as melodies from the grand piano float out through the open windows.

Posh and sophisticated, The Bar in Hotel le Bristol is perfect for a relaxed evening of lyrical music, a night of celebration, or just a decadent taste of Parisian extravagance.