The most famous hotel bar in the world, tucked inside the Ritz Paris on Place Vendôme, where Ernest Hemingway reportedly 'liberated' the bar during the Allied advance on Paris in 1944 and where the legend has been maintained with remarkable fidelity ever since. The room is small — perhaps thirty seats — and every surface is covered with Hemingway memorabilia, leather-bound books, and the particular patina of a space that understands the value of its own mythology. The bar's programme was shaped for decades by Colin Peter Field, whose legacy of treating each drink as a miniature act of hospitality continues under the current team. The Ritz surroundings mean the crowd is a mixture of hotel guests, visiting dignitaries, and people who have saved for the occasion — all of whom are treated with the same measured attention. The prices are Ritz prices, which means you will feel them, but the experience of drinking a perfectly made Sidecar in a room where Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Coco Chanel once sat is not available at any other price point.
Location
1st, Paris
Map
Insider Intel
The Sidecar or a dry Martini — classic cocktails made with the accumulated precision of decades. The 'Clean Dirty Martini' (clarified olive brine) is a modern signature worth trying. Ask the bartender about the Hemingway stories — they are rehearsed but genuine, and the history of the room deserves to be narrated while you drink in it. The bar snacks (particularly the toasted almonds) are exactly right. Champagne is always appropriate at the Ritz.
Early evening before 8pm to secure one of the limited seats and experience the room when it is intimate rather than crowded. The bar is small and fills quickly; later arrivals may wait. The Place Vendôme entrance and the walk through the Ritz corridor to the bar is part of the experience — do not rush it.
Enter through the Ritz's Rue Cambon entrance (the Hemingway Bar side). Smart dress code is enforced — no trainers, no shorts. Cocktails are €30-35, which is the Ritz tax on history. The bar seats approximately thirty people and does not take reservations — first come, first served. The Hemingway memorabilia is genuine and the stories the bartenders tell are true, or at least true enough. Place Vendôme / Opéra métro. The bar closes relatively early by Paris standards.