Small Group Travel Blog: Expert Travel Tips, Destination Guides & Tour Advice

Welcome to the Small Group Tours by The Traveling Professor travel blog, featuring expert travel tips, destination guides, cruise advice, airfare strategies, packing suggestions, and first-hand insights from more than 17 years of planning small group tours.

Since 2009, we have helped solo travelers, couples, and friends enjoy adults-only small group tours and luxury river cruises with quality hotels, expert local guides, thoughtful pacing, and personal service.

Explore articles on Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Iceland, Peru, Newfoundland, Paris, Normandy, Santa Fe, Canada, Italy, and AmaWaterways river cruises — then view our current Small Group Tours and River Cruises.

26Feb

Paris’s Most Lavish and Expensive Sunday Brunches

The Most Lavish (and Most Expensive) Sunday Brunch Spots in Paris

We usually don't go to any of these places on The Traveling Professor's small group tours to Paris, but we can dream, can't we.

If you want the full Paris “palace brunch” experience—champagne, seafood, carving stations, chef “animations,” and dessert rooms that feel like a pastry museum—these are the heavy hitters. Below are the most lavish and most expensive Sunday brunches in Paris, with prices and real menu highlights.

1) Ritz Paris — Le Grand Brunch (Place Vendôme)

Price: €235 per person (includes a glass of champagne).

Traveling Professor angle: If our group wanted the most iconic “Paris splash” brunch, this is it. It feels like a once-in-a-lifetime event—and it’s perfect for celebrating a birthday, anniversary, or simply the joy of being in Paris.

Menu highlights:

  • A seafood counter with items like oysters, crab claws, whelks, and shrimp.

  • Ritz press materials also reference “bench-to-plate” preparations, including luxe hot items (e.g., foie gras, scallops) plus international touches like gyozas.

  • The Ritz describes multiple savory buffets and abundant sweets (often with seasonal themes).

Best for: “We’re in Paris—let’s do it properly.”


2) Le Meurice — Sunday Brunch (near the Tuileries)

Price: €195 per person.

Traveling Professor angle: Le Meurice is the choice for travelers who want elegant and distinctly French, with a dessert finale that’s practically a Paris attraction on its own.

Menu structure & highlights (from the brunch menu):

  • Basket of pastries, hot drinks, and fresh fruit/vegetable juice

  • Buffet-style assortments from the land and sea + mixed salads

  • One main course of your choice, plus matured cheeses

  • Desserts: original creations from pastry chef Cédric Grolet

Best for: the “foodie” in the group who wants brunch to feel like a curated culinary event.


3) Hôtel Plaza Athénée — Brunch du Plaza Athénée (Jean Imbert) (Avenue Montaigne)

Price: €185 per person ( includes a glass of Moët & Chandon champagne).

Traveling Professor angle: Avenue Montaigne is Paris at its most fashionable. This is the brunch for travelers who want style, polish, and a plated-luxury feel—a great pairing with a post-brunch stroll past designer storefronts.

Menu highlights:

  • Eggs Benedict with lobster

  • Cod in hazelnut “Viennese” style with vegetables and beurre blanc

  • Desserts include classics like warm chocolate tart, Paris-Brest, and flan

  • Great for fans of "Sex and the City"

Best for: travelers who love a refined, “this feels like Paris” dining room.


4) The Peninsula Paris — Sunday Brunch (Le Lobby) (16th)

Price: €185 per adult (soft drinks included; alcohol & mocktails extra).

Traveling Professor angle: This is the brunch for the group that wants abundance—the classic grand-hotel experience where everyone can find their favorites and try something new.

Menu highlights: The Peninsula promotes this as a major Sunday event; coverage commonly describes lavish hot and carving-station selections as part of the experience.

Best for: a mixed group—there’s something for everyone, and it’s a very comfortable “social meal.”


5) Shangri-La Paris — La Bauhinia Sunday Brunch (16th)

Price: €178 per person with a glass of champagne, or €158 without champagne.

Traveling Professor angle: This is a terrific “luxury but flexible” option—especially if you like the idea of buffets plus plated dishes, and you want a refined setting.

Menu highlights:

  • Unlimited access to buffets plus two dishes per person

  • The Shangri-La also publishes special-event menus featuring luxe add-ons like caviar selections, a seafood bar, and even dim sum buffets on certain themed dates.

Best for: travelers who want luxury with a little more structure and variety.

 

 

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Who Writes the Small Group Tour Blog?

Professor Steve Solosky, The Traveling Professor, is the founder of Small Group Tours by The Traveling Professor, operating since 2009. A former college professor and author of The Traveling Professor’s Guide to Paris, Steve has planned and led small group tours throughout Europe, Canada, South America, and beyond. His travel expertise has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, WCBS Radio, and The New York Times Travel Show.

Each article is written or reviewed from the perspective of a working tour operator who plans real itineraries, works with local guides and hotels, and helps travelers prepare for successful small group trips.

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