As fashion’s favorite Parisian palace hotel, the legacy of Plaza Athénée and Christian Dior are famously intertwined—legend has it that he even chose his 30 Rue Montaigne atelier for its proximity to the impossibly elegant hotel favored by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren. Today, the Plaza Athénee and the designer’s namesake are still closely linked, thanks to the Dior Spa’s 15-year presence at the five-star property. Recently, the two spaces unveiled a total redesign of the flagship spa, cementing the status of this pocket of Rue Montaigne as a wellness and fashion destination.
For starters, a palette of ivory, ecru, boucle, and Dior’s signature toile transports guests far from the cacophony of the nearby Champs-Elysées. Plus, the lobby has more to offer than just spa water: instead, peruse Dior sunglasses, silk scarves, fine jewelry, as well as the house’s beauty and fine fragrance line. Serenity abounds in each of the five individual treatment rooms, along with a couple’s treatment room, sauna, and hammam. Plus, the Dior Light Suite makes the Plaza Athénée the first of Paris’s palace properties to offer LED light wellness treatments to address woes relating to jet-lag, energy, and sleep.
After a particularly soothing massage experience—these editors are fortunate to be able to recommend the Constellation, aimed at relieving tension and instead replacing it with “restored inner peace”—hit the spa lounge. There, treatment professionals help you settle into plush chaise lounges with toile Dior blankets and pressed juices from Wild & The Moon (a favorite of the likes of Ulla Johnson). Plaza Athénée guests can even come back the next day for the spa’s most covetable perk: an ultra-Instagrammable fitness center designed with Gymate and teeming with the fashion house’s fitness gear.
