24-Hour Room Service: Hotel Plaza Athénée Paris

In January this year, the wrap party for the final episode of Sex and the City was held in the bar of the Plaza Athénée - the hottest venue in town.

In January this year, the wrap party for the final episode of Sex and the City was held in the bar of the Plaza Athénée - the hottest venue in town. The cast and crew were staying in the hotel, and some of the final scenes were shot there. Thierry Hernandez, the bar director, is still in touch with Mr Big, the actor Chris Noth. No doubt they bonded over one of Hernandez's Rose Royals - 2oz of champagne, 1oz of raspberry coulis and half an ounce of cane sugar. Then again it could have been the jelly shots served on a plate like canapés. Or the DIY - take a test-tube of vodka and serve with a glass of crushed raspberries; you can mix the two or take the shot separately. Or how about the champagne mojito? The cosmopolitan iced lolly served in a bed of crushed green ice was a big hit over the summer.

The bar's design is as daring as its cocktails - a mix of classic and contemporary with a twist: dramatic lighting which changes the mood throughout the evening. The long, sand-blasted glass bar is illuminated in electric blue, the columns, wood panelling and 17th-century oil paintings a stark contrast that doesn't jar. Perched on high stools at striking metal tables or lounging in leather armchairs are Paris's rich and beautiful. No wonder Sarah Jessica Parker felt so at home. And that's before setting foot outside.

The Plaza Athénée is eight storeys of Haussmann-esque elegance, its façade decorated in signature red awnings and splashed with scarlet geraniums cascading over balcony railings. Inside, the lobby is a vision of golden marble, columns hung with extravagant blooms, a heady amber infusion in cut glass scenting the air.

The hotel is situated on the most salubrious shopping street in Paris - the Avenue Montaigne. Since it opened its doors in 1911 it has seduced the great, the good and the just plain wealthy. The Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, Jacqueline Kennedy and Grace Kelly all checked-in. More recently Naomi Campbell, Uma Thurman and Meg Ryan were wowed here. Christian Dior was reputedly so enamoured with the Plaza Athénée that he opened his couture salon on Avenue Montaigne in 1946 because he wanted to be close by. The rest followed. Today it is also home to Louis Vuitton, Jil Sander, Max Mara, Calvin Klein, Escada, Chanel, Salvatore Ferragamo, Bulgari, Valentino, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana.

But it's not just the location, luxurious surroundings and graceful ease with which the staff (many of whom have worked at the hotel for decades) greet their guests that makes the Plaza Athénée stand out. For fine dining - from haute couture to haute cuisine - the Restaurant Plaza Athénée comes courtesy of Alain Ducasse; there's the courtyard restaurant La Cour Jardin, where, in the summer, ladies waft themselves with complimentary red fans; and in the Galeries des Gobelins you can nibble on sandwiches and pastries while listening to the delicate strains of a harp.

LOCATION?

Hotel Plaza Athénée, 25 Avenue Montaigne 75008 , Paris, France (00 33 1 53 67 66 65; www.plaza-athenee-paris.com). The Plaza Athénée is on the swankiest shopping street in the whole of Paris, just off the Champs Elysées on the Right Bank of the Seine and within neck-craning distance of the Eiffel Tower.

Time to international airport: a taxi to Charles de Gaulle airport takes from 35 to 50 minutes depending on traffic and costs around €50 (£36). A taxi to the Eurostar terminal at Gare du Nord takes around 25 minutes and costs about €10 (£7)

COMFORTABLE?

You'll be tempted to change the locks and refuse to leave. Remember the scene where Carrie leans over her balcony and catches sight of the Eiffel Tower? Rooms either look out over the rooftops to Montmartre, over the courtyard garden, or onto the Eiffel Tower and the Avenue Montaigne. There are 145 rooms and 43 suites furnished in a combination of Louis XVI and Regency-style furniture - although two floors have recently been refurbished in a 1930s style. Our (presidential) suite was sumptuous and elegant with marble columns, velvet-and-gilt wing-chairs, rich silks and taffetas, ornate mirrors and oil paintings. Craning over the stone balustrades we could see the Eiffel Tower floodlit, then twinkling against the night sky. Rooms also come with a pillow menu and you can choose from linen sheets and cosy blankets, duvets or special non-allergenic linens.

Freebies: delicious own-brand toiletries.

Keeping in touch: state of the art technology. As well as telephone and fax there's plasma screen television with internet access.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Double rooms with courtyard views cost from €620 (£442). Our suite on the first floor costs from €4,100 (£2,928). Continental breakfast is an extra €33 (£23.50).

I'm not paying that: Hôtel des Tuileries, 10 rue St-Hyacinthe, 75001 (00 33 1 42 61 04 17; www.hotel-des-tuileries.com) has doubles from €170 (£121) without breakfast which costs an additional €13 (£9).