Le Cordon Bleu Paris

Le Cordon Bleu Paris is the original school of the international Le Cordon Bleu network, teaching culinary arts since 1895 and now based at 13–15 Quai André Citroën in the 15th arrondissement. It is a private higher education institution focused on cuisine, pâtisserie, boulangerie, wine and culinary management.

What you buy is intensive practical training under French chefs, not an academic degree. The flagship Grand Diplôme combines the cuisine and pastry diplomas in nine months and costs $68,130 (€60,000) including the application fee, uniform and Sabatier knife kit.

• Next Grand Diplôme starts: 5 October 2026, 5 January 2027, 30 March 2027 and 28 June 2027.
• Good fit: career changers, future chef-owners and pastry specialists who want classical French technique.
• Weak fit: anyone needing a bachelor's degree, a student job alongside a full timetable, or a low budget.

The Grand Diplôme, the Diplôme de Cuisine and the Diplôme de Pâtisserie are institution diplomas delivered by the Le Cordon Bleu Foundation after all three levels (Basic, Intermediate, Superior) are completed. They carry strong industry recognition but are not French state degrees, so they do not by themselves give access to a French master's programme.

• Grand Diplôme graduation rate above 95% (average of 2023 and 2025, 101 students)
• Each discipline: Basic, Intermediate and Superior certificates in sequence
• Add-on routes: Culinary Management, Internship Pathway, or both

Teaching combines chef demonstrations, practical classes where you reproduce the dishes, theory classes and workshops. Demonstrations and theory are given in French and translated consecutively into English, so you hear every technique twice.

The Diplôme de Cuisine alone shows how dense the schedule is: three to nine class hours a day, five or six days a week on the standard nine-month format, and six to twelve hours a day on the six-month intensive. Plan a life that fits around that timetable.

Prices include the application fee ($1,703, €1,500, for the long diplomas), learning materials, uniform, the knife kit and school activities. The same price is shown for European and non-European students. The school's general tuition-fees overview page still shows lower, older amounts, so rely on the dated price table on each programme page.

1. Six months before: choose the diploma and intake; check whether an add-on (internship pathway or culinary management) fits your goal, since each extends the course.
2. Five months before: book an English B2 or French A2 test if you do not already hold one.
3. Four months before: apply online and pay as the school requires; places in each session are limited.
4. Three months before: start the French visa procedure with the enrolment confirmation.
5. One month before: finalise housing close to the 15th arrondissement.

Mistakes to avoid

• Quoting the lower price from the general fees page instead of the programme's own dated table.
• Expecting teaching entirely in English: chefs teach in French, with consecutive English translation.
• Planning a part-time job around a schedule that can run up to twelve hours a day on intensive formats.
• Treating the diploma as a bachelor's degree when planning later university study or immigration.

Applicants for the Grand Diplôme must be at least 18 and show English at B2 or French at A2 using one of the tests the school lists; the school publishes a correspondence table of accepted tests and scores.

• Passport
• Proof of English B2 or French A2
• Online application for the chosen session
• Diploma in Culinary Management: English at B1

The course price is only part of the bill. The Diploma in Culinary Management also requires a student kit costing $1,363 (€1,200) on top of tuition for new students.

Add rent, transport, food, health insurance and the visa fees. The French consulate also checks that you have enough funds for your stay; see the cost of studying in France.

The school has no residence of its own; students rent studios or rooms in shared flats or student residences, ideally on a metro line to the 15th arrondissement given early starts.

Students from visa-required countries apply for a French long-stay visa for the length of the diploma; the consulate decides the visa type and outcome. Our guides on French student visas and housing in France explain the steps.

Graduates work in restaurant and hotel kitchens, pastry shops, catering, food media and their own businesses; the internship pathway exists precisely because the first job depends on hands-on kitchen experience. The diploma opens doors, but chefs still judge you on speed and technique.

If you want the same programmes taught in English in the UK, compare Le Cordon Bleu London, which also offers a BBA and MSc with Birkbeck.

Diploma and intake selection, documents, the application and visa-stage support are provided under an agreement with StudyU; Le Cordon Bleu Paris decides enrolment and the French consulate decides the visa.