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One of my favourite times to visit Paris is spring. There’s something in the air that can’t be described, and I am always happy to be there, wandering around, visiting small museums, crossing bridges, sitting in brasseries lost to time… The city really is my ideal destination for a weekend before the summer months.
When it comes to booking a room, I look for hotels with interesting design. And Paris has a lot to offer.
Located in the ‘design district’ of Paris, with galleries, furniture showrooms and fabric shops all around, the Hôtel Dame des Arts was conceived by Maison & Objet 2023’s ‘Designer of the Year’ Raphael Navot. True to his philosophy, Navot curated it with a love for natural materials and the tactile importance of craft: repurposed wood, smokey glass and dark bronze abound. The warm and cosy lobby doesn’t have that ‘hotel’ feeling; it’s almost like entering someone’s home. The dark wood of the furniture and floor makes for a very sexy ambience – the quintessence of contemporary Paris. I was impressed by the small gym, which is wood-panelled. Unusually, the exercise equipment – by Nohrd – is made from wood too (pictured above); it is probably the chicest hotel gym I have ever seen. What’s more, the roof terrace has the best views of the entire Latin Quarter.
I like the JK Place Paris because it’s very discreet – a feeling that begins in the main entrance and continues throughout the space. Interior designer Michele Bönan is behind it, mixing classical designs in luxurious Italian fabrics with antiques from Paris’s marchés aux puces and some interesting contemporary art. The impression is of being in a sophisticated Roman flat or a stylish Milanese apartment. The communal rooms, some decorated with fireplaces, have a homely atmosphere. The restaurant is in a bright conservatory, ideal for my early breakfasts. Most rooms have four-poster beds with the softest bedlinen (Italian) and feature chic trimmings for the sofas and chairs. Not to miss: a negroni in the intimate bar (open till very late); the ice cubes have a big heart embossed on them.
Château Voltaire has probably become the trendiest rendezvous of the rive droite without even knowing it. Located in the heart of the city, and designed by the Parisian interior architecture practice Festen, the hotel is a place of soft tones, soft lighting and a very soft carpets (1940s in style, with swirling yellow-and-gold leaf motifs on black). All that makes the atmosphere very relaxing and very Parisian, from the moment you check in. The rooms are all different, cosy and personal, and they too have seductive lighting. I loved going back to my room (it’s always late in Paris) to find the radio turned on to Classic FM, my favourite. The top-floor apartment has a garden terrace designed by landscape designer Louis Benech.
The first time I booked a room at the Duc de Saint-Simon I simply did so because I found the name so fascinating. Little did I know that I would end up loving it so much from the off. Based in an 18th-century building, the hotel has a hidden terrace and some of the rooms have a private balcony overlooking it. Toile de Jouy, ikats, chintz and heavy patterns – on walls, chairs, sofas and matching curtains – are what make it all so charmant. Oil paintings are hung over pleated fabrics on walls and line the tiny staircases, large antique Persian rugs decorate the original floors, and a piano is free for any guest who likes to play it. This all serves to foster a warm feel, almost like staying in an auberge in the French countryside.
When I heard that Laura Gonzalez was going to decorate a hotel, I knew I was going to like it. Akin to a château in the middle of the elegant 16th arrondissement, in a building that formerly housed a private mansion (a French president lived there for some time), then a members’ club, the sumptuous Saint James has all the trappings of a grand house. The magnificent staircase in the entrance hall, covered with a beautiful bespoke carpet that leads you to the upper floors, is the best welcome you can have. The bar occupies the original wood-panelled library, containing books both old and new, and the bright restaurant is decorated with bold prints personally chosen by Laura – as is every fabric and wallpaper in the 40 rooms. Some feature my favourite Pierre Frey fabrics. The winter garden, with trellises and a gazebo, is my dream place to spend a lazy afternoon.
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The salons of Belle Epoque Paris are as evocative as tea-dipped madeleines. Set in the erstwhile aristocratic Marais district on the Rive Droite, Maison Proust, the hotel group Collection Maisons Particulières’s latest addition, has been decorated by Jacques Garcias as if for past patrician visitants. Such associations – of the flowering of the city with the birth of modernity – have here been conjured more vividly than the lengthiest tome of literary realism. Each room is home to an original artwork, with matching wallpapers and fabrics from a league of leading designers. The details of mouldings and cornices are picked out in gold, creating the kind of setting that leaves one searching for more time to spend there.
