The longer term is looking vibrant for the award-winning chef Thibault Sombardier.
Last yr, under financial pressure from successive coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions on hospitality businesses, the owners of Antoine restaurant on the Right Bank — where Mr. Sombardier had won a Michelin star for his inventive seafood dishes — decided to sell the decade-old establishment, which had regaled everyone from French politicians to tennis star Serena Williams.
But on a day in April, Mr. Sombardier struck a remarkably positive tone concerning the current Paris dining scene and his latest project, an elegant Left Bank bistro called Les Parisiens.
“Individuals are keen to find the most recent spots,” he said. “Things are going well in Paris. The crowds are out. I’m optimistic.”
“We’re taking a look at a stunning yr,” he said.
It’s a sentiment that one hears more often in Paris nowadays. Masks are off (except in hospitals and retirement homes), and proof of vaccination is not any longer required in restaurants, bars, museums, concert venues and public transportation. (Updated information on coronavirus measures may be found on the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau website.) Pressing between the weekend crowds within the Marais or Saint Germain-des-Près neighborhoods, you would possibly almost consider that it was 2019 again.
Recent retail temples and art à go-go
Essentially the most long-awaited Paris project has been the rebirth of Samaritaine, a classic belle epoque department store perched along the Seine. Owned by the worldwide luxury group LVMH (whose chief executive, Bernard Arnault, is France’s richest man), the Nineteenth-century landmark closed in 2005 to deal with structural issues and wound up sitting idle for the higher a part of 16 years.
Unveiled in June of last yr, the multibuilding, multilevel new edition is a cathedral of consumption, encased in Art Nouveau and Art Deco detailing. If the concept of exploring the constructing’s greater than a dozen restaurants, a 5-star hotel (Cheval Blanc; doubles in May from around 1,450 euros, or about $1,500), a spa, a perfume atelier, a VIP lounge and scores of outlets selling around 700 brands sounds too intimidating on your personal, consider a 90-minute guided tour (15 euros).
To not be outdone, France’s second-richest man, François Pinault, last yr opened his own magisterial establishment in a historical icon. Housed within the centuries-old circular constructing that was once Paris’s stock exchange, his recent museum, often called the Bourse de Commerce-Collection Pinault (14 euros admission) was renovated by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando and accommodates works from Mr. Pinault’s vast holdings in contemporary art, including Sigmar Polke canvases, Dan Flavin lighting tubes and Urs Fischer sculpture.
The style mogul Agnes B. took a special tack, selecting a white modern constructing in Paris’s unfancy thirteenth Arrondissement to display her own extensive art collection, which runs the gamut from photographs by Man Ray to subway-style graffiti by Futura. Referred to as La Fab (7 euros admission), the space is currently showing “L’Enfance dans La Collection Agnes B.” (till June 30), a take a look at childhood through paintings, drawings, photos, sculptures and installations.
Old favorites, real and virtual
Paris’s two marquee museums, the Musée du Louvre (17 euros admission) and the Musée d’Orsay (14 euros) are very much open.
Among the many special exhibitions are “Yves Saint Laurent on the Louvre,” showcasing a few of the French designer’s most exquisite creations (through Sept. 19) at the previous royal palace, and “Pharaoh of the Two Lands,” dedicated to the Eighth-century B.C. Nubian-Egyptian empire of King Piankhy (through July 25). Across the Seine on the Musée d’Orsay, “Gaudì” (through July 17) offers a wide-ranging retrospective of the Spanish architect though artworks, furniture and more.
And while Notre Dame cathedral stays closed for reconstruction within the wake of a 2019 fire, a virtual-reality recreation within the La Defense neighborhood offers another probability to go to the long-lasting medieval Gothic structure. Referred to as “Eternelle Notre-Dame,” the 45-minute “tour” (from 20.99 euros per ticket) immerses visitors in fully digitized renderings of the cathedral from the Middle Ages up to the current.
Haute cuisine and gourmet street food
On the dining front, the loftiest recent experience could be Les Ombres restaurant atop the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, which mixes the talents of France’s biggest name in architecture and the nation’s most famous restaurateur. Conceived by Jean Nouvel and now run by the Alain Ducasse team, the avant-garde, glass-roofed dining room serves up a 110-euro dinner menu of French classics (including white asparagus, foie gras and duck breast) amid the shifting natural light and shadows that Nouvel’s design accentuates. However the foremost attraction is the view of the Eiffel Tower.
Mr. Ducasse and other Paris culinary stars have also been busy creating recent spots that try to elevate street food, fast-food and desserts. To assemble a reasonable Paris-wide meal, try the signature item (15 euros) at Yannick Alléno’s upscale grill (Burger Père et Fils par Alléno) and a superloaded croque monsieur (8.50 euros) at considered one of the brand new Croq’Michel outlets from “Top Chef” judge Michel Sarran. For dessert, you’ll be able to hit the Bastille district for sorbet and more (6.50 euros) from Mr. Ducasse’s first ice-cream shop (La Glace Alain Ducasse) and an oven-fresh choux (2 euros) from Tapisserie pastry shop, the most recent neighborhood offering from Septime chef Bertrand Grébaut.
Luxury lodgings and cinematic stays
Big things are also afoot on the earth of lodging, and never just the gargantuan recent 32-story, 957-room Pullman Montparnasse (doubles in June from around 280 euros) or the ten,700-square-foot penthouse atop the 76-room Bulgari Hotel Paris (1,700 euros) along fashionable Avenue Georges V.
Hotel Paradiso (from 170 euros), owned by the MK2 movie-theater chain, was conceived with input from local creatives — including the road artist J.R., the musician-director Woodkid, and the coffeehouse developer Marc Grossman. The property, near Place de la Nation, features 36 rooms equipped with video screens, high-tech projectors and a library of movies. Additional entertainment awaits on the rooftop bar and within the private karaoke room.
Petite Paris: Indie, intimate and international
To seek out Paris’s smaller recent gems, follow the scent of roasting vegetables and foreign culinary accents. In Bastille, you would possibly just end up at a candlelit table, loaded with African-influenced pescatarian delights, at Persil. The menu from the chef Kumpi Lo may feature Mikaté (Congolese fried dough balls of shredded cod with violet purée; 22 euros) and a lush sweet-potato gratin with truffle butter, Cheddar and tofu (19 euros).
Or you would possibly find yourself at the hours of darkness confines of Stéréo wine bar, near Pigalle. Though not strictly vegetarian, the menu will win over carnivores with meatless morsels — roasted carrots with coconut curry (10 euros); grilled pumpkin with honey, tahini, hazelnuts and pomegranate seeds (10 euros) — cooked up by the Bangladeshi chef Swaran Joshi.
And when you can’t afford a round-the-world airline ticket, book considered one of the 31 colourful, ethno-chic rooms at Babel, whose lobby and restaurant in Belleville feel like a mixture of a Rajasthan tent camp and a Moroccan tea salon (nightly rates in June around 135 euros). After a meal of Middle Eastern hummus (6 euros), Aleppo terrine (lamb, dried apricots, spices; 12 euros) and Croatian wine, you would possibly reasonably ask: Am I getting frequent-flier miles for this?
“The Tower of Babel brought together all of the nationalities of the world,” said the manager Johan Diony on a recent afternoon. “That is what we try to do here on the hotel.”
