Paris for the last time

I’ll sadly be blunt. No time nor budget for your plan. You do not have 1.5 days. You have an afternoon and evening. Check-in will be early afternoon and checkout the following morning. Sept is high season for Paris. You cannot get a mere room at the Ritz for $1000. A proper 2 bedroom suite will cost you 15 - 20 times that.

Now- a very nice hotel, that is doable but for one night- your period of living the high life after check-in is going to be very limited and will not be long enough for a few sites, afternoon tea, cafes, and lounging in a fancy old world style room. Sorry.

Here are some choices from Andrew Harper”s hideaway report: Le Bristol, Four Seasons George V, Le Maurice, Hotel de Crillon, La Reserve, and Lutetia. You can check their websites.

Here are a few choices from Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report: Le Bristol, Four Seasons George V, Le Maurice, Hotel de Crillon, La Reserve, and Lutetia. You can visit their websites. But most will probably be over your budget and I agree you will not have much time there.

I've stayed two nights at the Intercontinental Le Grande across the street from the Opera Garnier. Lovely hotel. Excellent location.

For just one night I think I would be inclined to get a 'really nice hotel' ( not 'luxury'), but splurge on a very special dinner.

I like Joe32's approach.

As others have said for $1,000 (I assume US), you will not get a room in the top (palace) hotels. If you are willing to up the budget, I suggest Le Bristol followed by Shangri-La Hotel That being said, I would skip one of the palaces and look at someplace like Le Pavillon de la Reine on the Right Bank and Hôtel L'Aubusson on the Left Bank. They are both lovely properties. I would not consider either Le Meurice or Hôtel Plaza Athénée though if afternoon tea is your thing, Le Meurice used to have a great one (not sure if it is still offered). Afternoon tea (I know you wrote high tea but I have a feeling that what you are looking for is afternoon tea) is not really a French thing so if that is important to you, it can be a great limiter for your choice and help you eliminate a number of hotels. For work travel, I have stayed at a number of the palace hotels in Paris and while I have enjoyed them, my favorite was Le Bristol. I thought they were all madly overpriced (I don't need that much service, antiques, or crystal chandeliers) and I was not even paying for it myself and am not an especially budget minded traveler. I certainly understand wanting that high-end treat though and so would opt for Le Bristol which is really a terrific place.

Take a look at Hotel Parc Luxembourg in the 5th. Certainly not Monmartre. Across the street from the park and a gorgeous hotel.

IMO, the best hotel in Montmartre is Hotel Terrass
It's a high-end place but not fancy pants. I think high-end (fancy pants) is out if you want to be in or near Montmartre.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to admit to myself that I'm going anywhere for the last time, unless it's someplace I don't like.

Relais Christine in the 6th..so lovely..and please contact them and let them know your wishes and why..they will make it happen! A favorite of mine! Paris is ALWAYS a good idea!!

Go for it. Figure no less than $800 for two nights in your hotel and another $300 for that dinner for two.

A search of booking.com for a random September weeknight, filtered for Montmartre, 4-5 stars, rated "awesome" or "very good," produced 21 candidates with nightly two-person rates from $443 down. A number of these were chains, some were "apart'hotels," others non-chain hotels. You could check some of those out based on location, amenities, whatever's important to you. The reviews on this site are from people who have actually stayed in the hotels, making them more reliable than those on Trip Advisor. Good luck finding the place you want, and hopefully this won't be your last trip to the City of Light.

JHK is our resident Paris hotel expert and she knows them well. I’d follow JHK’s helpful info.

Thanks to everyone for your helpful suggestions!

We are aware that an afternoon and an evening isn't much time...we've been to Paris before and have the 'lay of the land'. Our situation is such that we will be enjoying a coffee in a cafe, doing a bit of walking around, then going out for a lavish dinner.

No big sights or 'must sees ' this trip...just being in the moment. Then, adieu Paris...
I think we will look outside the Montmartre area...
We were in Paris in September on our last trip and had no problems finding lodging, although we weren't in a high-end hotel, bien sur!
Encore, merci!

James E: A high-end dinner in Paris for 2 for $300? That would be Beograd, not Paris.

If you want HIGH-END (La Tour d'Argent), with high-end wine, for dinner, count on €900 - "Le Renomees de la Tour" 6 courses €340/person. Add €250 for wine, maybe another €100 for coffee and desert. €1000

https://tourdargent.com/en/menu/

You're probably thinking of Kadarka Wine Bar.

Kadarka would set me back $40. But I guess you are right, there is high end and then stupidly high end .... which i would love to do.

Wow Paul, when you say high end, you aren’t kidding. From the the way I read it, I would probably still be Hungary afterwards - cause I wouldn’t eat most of the items listed and I doubt they would be large portions. We’ll stick with our ‘low end’ food.

I am with Barbara. The tourdeargent, would be memorable, but probably not for the right reasons.