Le Meurice

Salvador Dalí spent at least one month a year here for three decades. He once demanded a herd of sheep be brought to his room and, upon their arrival, pulled out a pistol and fired at them — mercifully loaded with blanks. On another occasion he paid the staff five francs per fly to capture specimens in the Tuileries Garden. His Christmas tips to favoured employees were autographed lithographs. Picasso held his 1918 wedding reception here. The hotel began in 1771 as a coaching inn in Calais for English travellers and moved to its present site overlooking the Tuileries in 1835. During the Liberation, General von Choltitz surrendered Paris from his suite. 160 rooms in Louis XVI style, two Michelin stars at Restaurant le Meurice Alain Ducasse, and Cédric Grolet's patisserie. Dorchester Collection.