6 Paris Afternoon Tea Experiences Worth Skipping Lunch For (Plus 3 to Avoid)

I was born in England, and there is something quintessentially English about afternoon tea. It conjures images of elegantly dressed ladies sitting at places like the Ritz Hotel in London, sipping from fine china teacups and eating delicate cakes on a beautiful cake stand.

However, this wasn’t exclusive to England; Paris had its own version. The grand hotels have turned it into an art form with a named pastry chef, a printed menu, and a bill that lands somewhere between 75 and 150 euros per person. Some are worth it, some really aren’t.

Each time I go to Paris, I try to have afternoon tea somewhere different so I can give an informed view on where to go. It’s a hard job, but hey, when you’re a travel journalist, you have to do what you can for your readers.

6 Paris Afternoon Tea Experiences You’ll Love

What follows is a ranked list of the 6 Paris tea services I’d happily skip lunch for, plus an honest opinion at the end about 3 famous ones I wouldn’t book again. Prices are for summer 2026, so remember to check before you go.

1. Marie Antoinette Tea Time at the Hôtel de Crillon

This is the one to book if you’re only doing one. The Crillon sits on Place de la Concorde in a building commissioned by Louis XV in 1758, and the salon where tea is served, the Salon Marie Antoinette, takes its name from the fact that the queen took piano lessons in this very building as a young dauphine. 

The room was restored during the hotel’s four-year closure that ended in 2017, and the gilt and the parquet are the real thing, not a recreation.

Matthieu Carlin runs the pastry kitchen, and the Marie Antoinette tea is his showcase. It will set you back around 110 euros and includes savory bites, scones with proper clotted cream, and a selection of pastries inspired by the queen’s known tastes, including a rose-and-lychee creation that nods to her perfumer, Jean-Louis Fargeon. The tea list is long, and the service is unhurried. Two hours minimum, and you won’t want dinner.

I took my daughter here for her birthday a couple of years ago, and she still talks about it. Book three weeks ahead, ask for a window seat looking onto Concorde, and wear something you feel good in. You’ll be glad you did when the photos come back.

Stay at the Hotel Crillon >>>

2. La Galerie at the Plaza Athénée

The Plaza Athénée’s tea is served in La Galerie, the long red-and-gold corridor that runs along the building’s interior courtyard, where the famous geraniums hang from the windows in summer, and the ice rink takes over in December. 

The building opened in 1913 as a hotel for the Avenue Montaigne fashion houses, and it’s been the unofficial canteen of couture ever since. Dior is across the street. Christian Dior himself lived around the corner.

Pastry here is run by Angelo Musa, who won Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 2007 and the World Pastry Cup in 2003. Afternoon tea costs about 95 euros, and it’s divine. The signature is a layered piece built around Madagascar vanilla that has become one of the most copied pastries in Paris.

The room is busier than the Crillon, and the acoustics are livelier, which means it’s a better choice if you want to people-watch. I’d go back for the pastry alone. Book a weekday afternoon if you can, because Saturdays get seriously busy.

Stay at Plaza Athenee >>>

3. La Scène at the Prince de Galles

The Prince de Galles is the underrated grand hotel of the Avenue George V, and it’s the perfect backup option if the Crillon is full. The hotel opened in 1928 in an Art Deco building, and during the 1930s, its bar drew the Anglo-American expat crowd. Marlene Dietrich drank here. Churchill held court here on visits to Paris. The mosaic patio is original and still one of the prettier rooms in the 8th arrondissement.

The pastry chef here is Yohann Caron, and you’ll pay around 78 euros, which makes it the best-value entry on this list. The scones come with a clotted cream that’s actually good, which is rare in Paris because most kitchens overwhip it. There’s a hazelnut and caramel pastry that I think about more than I’d like to admit, or that’s good for my hips, but hey, when in Paris.

Book afternoon tea at La Scene >>>

4. Le Dali at Le Meurice 

I’m including Le Meurice with a caveat, which I’ll explain in the avoid section at the bottom. The hotel itself is worth visiting. It opened on rue de Rivoli in 1835, served as the German military headquarters during the Occupation, and was the room where General von Choltitz signed the surrender of Paris on August 25, 1944, rather than carry out Hitler’s order to burn the city. Salvador Dalí kept a suite here for 30 years, and the restaurant’s ceiling was painted by Ara Starck in homage to him.

What I’d do at Le Meurice is skip the full Grolet-branded tea, which I think is overpriced and over-photographed, and order from the lighter à la carte pastry menu in the Dali salon instead. You can get a single Grolet pastry, a pot of good tea, and a glass of champagne for around 45 euros, which gets you the room, the ceiling, and one of the famous sculpted fruits without the 130-euro price tag.

Sit on the banquette side, and order the lemon if it’s on, the hazelnut if it isn’t. 

Stay at Le Meurice >>>

5. Hôtel Le Burgundy

Le Burgundy is a small luxury hotel on rue Duphot in the 1st, a few minutes from the Madeleine. The building dates from the late 19th century and was converted to a hotel in 2010. The tea is around 65 euros, the lowest of any I’d actually recommend, and the format is closer to a pastry tasting than a full British-style tea. 

There’s a savory course, a few small sweets, and a signature dessert that changes with the season. The chocolate work is seriously good. The hot chocolate, if you order it instead of tea, is among the best in Paris because they use Valrhona and don’t dilute it.

I come here when I’m in Paris on my own and want an hour to read and eat something good on a wet afternoon.

Stay at Hotel Le Burgundy >>>

6. Angelina on rue de Rivoli 

Angelina opened at 226 rue de Rivoli in 1903 and has been serving the same Mont-Blanc, a tower of meringue, chestnut cream, and whipped cream, for over 120 years. Proust came here. Coco Chanel was a regular. The Belle Époque interior by Édouard-Jean Niermans is still intact, with mirrored walls, a painted ceiling, and marble tables that have held millions of cups of the famous African hot chocolate.

My advice is to skip the formal tea set, which costs around 49 euros and isn’t the best thing they do, and order the Mont-Blanc and the African hot chocolate à la carte instead. Together they come to about 22 euros, which is what a single pastry costs at the grand hotels. The Mont-Blanc is the original and remains the best version anywhere in Paris, and the hot chocolate is so thick it’s served with a little jug of cream you stir in yourself.

There is usually a line down the block, so be warned. Sit at one of the marble tables in the front room rather than the back salon, because the front is the original Niermans interior and the back is a later extension. Don’t order anything chestnut-flavored anywhere else in Paris afterward because it’ll disappoint you.

Visit Angelina’s in Paris >>>

Three Paris Afternoon Tea Experiences I Wouldn’t Recommend

The three I wouldn’t book again, in case you’re wondering: Ritz Paris’s Salon Proust, where the 90-euro tea is fine but the room feels really staged, and the service rushed since the post-2016 reopening turned it into a destination. 

Ladurée on the Champs-Élysées charges 55 euros for a tea set built around macarons that aren’t as good as the ones in their boxes, with scones that taste reheated and a dining room full of tour groups. 

Le Meurice charges 130 euros for a Cédric Grolet-branded tea, but Grolet hasn’t personally touched it in years, the famous sculpted fruits are smaller than they look on Instagram, and you spend more time photographing the food than eating it. Save your money and order the single pastry instead.