traveltourist: Shop like a true fashion icon in Paris

The Eiffel Suite 361 living room at the Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris. Source: Supplied

Restaurant Alain Ducasse at the Plaza Athenee hotel in Paris. Source: Supplied

YOU know you're in Paris when the hotel's spa menu offers a beauty treatment aimed solely at easing leg fatigue a condition caused by too much shopping, I'm told.

But my pins are going to have to suffer in silence because, if you've seen The Devil Wears Prada or Sex and the City's final episode, you'll understand the urgency of getting to my room at the Hotel Plaza Athenee, one of the most chic and most recognisable Parisian hotels, so I can throw open the shutters to a sea of cascading red geraniums and scarlet awnings. The view to my right seals the deal on my French fantasy as the world's most famous landmark presents itself.
Colour and colourful guests have been constants at this hotel since it opened in 1911. Mata Hari was arrested in her room as a spy for Germany in 1917. Grace Kelly, Josephine Baker and Marlene Dietrich have also called the hotel home, while Christian Dior marked the area as a haute couture hot spot when he opened his first boutique on the same avenue in 1946, using the hotel as his second home.

Now the avenue is bursting with big-label boutiques and fashion houses including Chanel, Valentino and Dolce & Gabbana, while the hotel's stunning renovation in 2000 brought a new breed of hip young fashionistas - and Hollywood elite.
The location
You'd be hard-pressed to pick a more fashionable spot in Paris. Sandwiched between the River Seine and the Avenue des Champs Elysees, the area known as the Golden Triangle becomes a veritable catwalk during Fashion Week. The 40-minute cab ride from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle will cost you €60 ($A81), or €267 (A$360) in the hotel's Mercedes E-class limo.
What we like
A slightly bemused look from concierge staff suggests that not many guests take the hotel's complimentary red bicycles out for a spin. Shame because it's the perfect way to see Paris. You also have to love a hotel that has won a second world championship in pastry making. In France there are pastry collections for the seasons and here, they are served by the lip-smacking metre.
What we don't
Don't dive into the hotel's deliciously decadent Christian Dior Institute without backing up your credit card. At €190 ($256) for an anti-jet lag treatment or to have retail ache massaged away, you'd want them to carry your bags around all day, too.
A cheeseburger on the room service menu will sting at €32 ($43) compared with €13 ($17.50) at a nearby cafe, while cannelloni with lobster sauce will set you back €84 ($113).
The room
The hotel has 191 rooms six floors of classic French Louis XVIth style and two Art Deco-inspired.
Our room has views of the chestnut trees that line Avenue Montaigne (and of course the Eiffel Tower) but you'll be spoilt for choice overlooking the charming courtyard garden or blessed with a panoramic view of the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre and classic Parisian rooftops.
The Louis XVI and Regency-styled suite has all the state-of-the-art technology you could want, along with a luxurious bedroom and heavenly bathroom.
Food and drink
If you treat yourself to one lavish lunch in Paris, step into the hotel's La Cour Jardin, an open-air courtyard with walls of scarlet awnings and intertwining vine. This little oasis is Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse's seasonal Riviera-style restaurant, where the plump red tomatoes, deep purple beetroot and strongly scented herbs growing next to you will end up on your plate. The catch, apart from the price (roughly $155 without drinks), is that the restaurant is only open from mid-May to mid-September, with the courtyard turning into a mini ice-skating rink in the cooler months.
Those in fashion, politics and power appear to frequent all five of the dining venues Ducasse supervises at the hotel. Guests including Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp and Sarah Jessica Parker are regulars.
The Hotel Plaza Athenee is part of the Dorchester Collection group and a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. Single rooms start from $815 a night, superior rooms from $970 and deluxe rooms from $1175. Suites start at $2210.