W Hotels has announced plans to open their very first Paris property by 2011. It will be close to Place Vendome, in the Opéra area of the city.

W Paris-Opéra will feature 90 stylish guest rooms, a world-class contemporary restaurant and destination bar, a state-of-the-art fitness facility with spa treatment rooms, and W Hotels’ signature lounge experience where guests are invited to mix, mingle and relax in a chic social atmosphere.

The hotel will be inside a “quintessentially Parisian” 1870s Haussmann-era building, close to the Galleries Lafayette.

Place Vendôme is a jewelry case for all the jewels of the world.

What is more symbolic to a tourist in search of French expertise than this Parisian square, where high-end jewelry brands intermingle?

For travelers, we present Le monde de Vendôme (The World of Vendôme), a documentary film with the “actors” of Place Vendôme, that will be broadcasted on all AirFrance long-haul flights beginning the 1st of April 2009.

Here is, exclusively for LUXUO readers, the preview to this superb film:

The French fashion publication, l’Officiel, has embedded three diamonds each worth 26,000 Euros ($34,000 USD) in three of the magazine’s December issue.

The three magazines have been placed in news stands somewhere in France. This may be actually a first in the history of print media !

Police are hunting for thieves behind the biggest jewellery heist ever in France when they made off with diamonds and other valuables worth up to €80 million (102 million dollars) from a luxury boutique in Paris.

The three armed robbers burst into the Harry Winston jewellers on the exclusive Avenue Montaigne in the centre of the French capital yesterday. They made off with almost all the valuables in the shop.

The value of the diamonds and other precious stones and metals taken was first placed at €50 million by French police, before being revised to €80 million.

A few months ago, I mentioned potential plans to change the Paris skyline. Now the first project, is moving into more serious planning stages.

Indeed, Paris council has unveiled plans for a 50-storey glass pyramid following an official decision in July to break the ban on buildings higher than 37m.

Proposals for the Projet Triangle, designed by Swiss architecture practice Herzog & de Meuron (who designed the Olympic stadium in Beijing), include offices, a conference centre and a 400-bed hotel as well as restaurants, cafes and gardens.

Here’s a rather elegant and understated alternative to some of the more ostentatious champagne accessories and gift sets we’ve reported on in the past.

The Grand Siècle Coffret is designed to showcase Laurent-Perrier’s delectable multi-vintage prestige cuvee, Grand Siècle. The cleverly-constructed black case contains a magnum of the good stuff and six hand-blown Baccarat crystal champagne flutes in separate compartments.

This isn’t something for lovers of bling, as there are no diamonds or precious shiny metals But, those who know pure class will enjoy everything about the case, magnum, spirit and flute. The Coffret costs $3,100

Laurent-Perrier, founded in 1812 and located in Tours-sur-Marne, France, is the world’s largest family-owned champagne house.

Grand Siècle is a blend of pinot noir and chardonnay, with the latter being slightly dominant. The grapes are supplied by twelve of the most prestigious crus or villages, all of them Grands Crus classified at 100%, such as Ambonnay, Verzenay, Mailly, Avize, Cramant, Chouilly and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.

Within the vineyards of these crus, only the very best plots are selected, as are the finest musts from the pressings. The blended wine is then aged for about 5 years.