What this place is and who it is for
Bar Botaniste sits inside the Shangri-La Paris in the 16e, a Prince Roland Bonaparte mansion now run as a hotel, and is the larger of the two bars on the ground floor — the smaller cigar room is technically the salon. The bar program leans botanical: house-infused vermouths, gin-forward classics, garnishes that come from a kitchen garden rather than the dry-store. The Telegraph called it “the most considered hotel-bar program in the 16e,” and it is consistently on the World’s 50 Best long list.
It works for a hotel-bar evening that needs to feel formal without being silly, with the option of a view of the Eiffel Tower from the salon side. Avoid if the price ceiling is below 22 EUR per cocktail or the goal is a casual aperitif — that is not the room. Regulars on r/paris flag it as “the bar where the cocktail actually justifies the hotel-bar markup, which is rare.”
What the space feels like
Two connected spaces: a salon with high windows and Eiffel Tower views, and a wood-panelled bar room with a brass-rail counter. The Telegraph described the design as “Belle Epoque without being a costume,” which is closer to right than most hotel-bar press copy gets.
What to order, what to skip
Order Le Botaniste (26 EUR), the gin-and-house-vermouth signature with a kitchen-garden garnish. The drink is what is on the World’s 50 Best long-list mention. Skip the bottled-water charge surprise — ask for a carafe with the order; a recurring Google Maps complaint is the 8 EUR Evian arriving uninvited. The cigar-room old fashioned, served in the smaller salon, gets called out on Reddit as the bar’s best non-signature.
Who shows up and when
Hotel guests, business meetings, an older couple-on-a-special-evening demographic. The room turns slower than a Marais cocktail bar — expect to sit and be there for an hour at minimum. After 10pm the room thins and a smaller, more local crowd takes over.
When to walk in
The salon side fills up by 6pm with the pre-dinner crowd from the hotel and stays full until about 9pm. The deeper bar room is quieter through the same window and is the right side to ask for if a conversation matters more than the Eiffel Tower view. After 10pm both rooms turn slowly and a small local crowd takes over from the hotel guests; The Telegraph noted that this is the only hotel bar in the 16e where the bartenders will still pour after midnight without looking at the clock. Reservations are accepted only for parties of four or more; for a pair, walking in at 6pm and asking for the salon window is the cleanest path. Smart-casual is enforced.
What regulars say
Pick this if
- A formal evening before or after dinner that needs a view
- An out-of-town visitor who expects a hotel-bar Paris experience
- Avoid if the budget caps cocktails below 22 EUR
Three siblings in Paris
Shangri-La Paris official bar page (2026-05); World’s 50 Best Bars long list mentions; The Telegraph hotel-bar feature; r/paris; Google Maps reviews (n=88).