Travel 53
Need to
know
JEROME GALLANDdiscreetly screened by trellises of artfully
trailed ivy. This alfresco playground is
off-limits to the public until next spring,
when its bar will open, making it the
preserve of hotel guests for the next few
magical months. Tonight it’s all mine. I
tick off fairy-lit landmarks including
the Centre Pompidou, the Église Saint-
Eustache, Notre Dame Cathedral, the
Louvre and the spot staff have already
nicknamed Proposal Corner because it
takes in Montmartre and the Eiffel Tower.
Down in the inky darkness tomorrow’s
destination awaits: Rue Montorgueil,
which is possibly the most charming street
in Paris.
But first, sleep. All 82 rooms are on the
newly created third floor, where the zinc
girders of the original roof are encased in
a twinkling glass dome whose slopes give
my room an atelier cosiness. My view is the
elegant apartments of Rue du Louvre.
Eight have close-ups of the gothic glamour
of Saint-Eustache, nine have eyefuls of the
tower and ten have the Sacré-Coeur in
their sights, while 39 look on to a serene
internal garden. If the mood board down-
stairs is cognac, the bedrooms are more
Cohiba cigar, with tobacco-coloured
leather furniture, walnut panels and a
respectful nod to those postal roots
through 800 examples of mail art — elab-
orately designed envelopes donated by a
private collector.
The next morning Rue Montorgueil is a
two-minute walk away. It is home to the
city’s best chefs, chocolatiers and delis. It
feels like a French version of the opening
scene in Notting Hill, a too-good-to-be-
true stylish neighbourhood. Shopfronts
have exquisite wood and plaster façades,
some dating back 300 years, and pave-
ment tables do a roaring trade, from
mid-morning coffee to late-night Coin-
treau. It is so upmarket, a busker is playing
a piano. I could have tried out my French
again at L’Escargot Montorgueil, where
Sarah Bernhardt, Charlie Chaplin and
Marcel Proust have eaten snails with
24-carat gold leaf, but I don’t want to push
my luck, so I get a takeaway from Stohrer,
the city’s oldest patisserie, and stroll for ten
minutes to the Seine and a riverside bench
in the sunshine.
Next stop is the Bourse de Commerce,
the new contemporary art museum that
opened last May and exhibits pieces from
the 10,000-strong collection of François
Pinault, the billionaire owner of luxury
brands such as Alexander McQueen and
Gucci. It reminds me of the Guggenheim
Museum in New York and proves a
rewarding afternoon.
My hotel is only minutes away, but I
linger among the promenaders in Les
Halles. Its cafés’ streetside tables are busy
with post-work drinkers, there are joggers,
dads kicking footballs with their lads and
teenage boys perfecting their best rapper
moves to Drake. As the opening bars of
Hold on, We’re Going Home start up from
their portable speaker, I wish I wasn’t. I
rather like this new-look Paris.Susan d’Arcy was
a guest of Madame Rêve,
which has room-only
doubles from £430
(madamereve.com)its sauce piquant, but the riviera’s supply
lines are clearly compromised. I have
precisely one baby courgette, one baby
turnip and one baby carrot on my plate.
Can someone please tell Parisian chefs it’s
five a day not five a fortnight?
For my final course I skip the cheese-
cake suzette in favour of a trip to the
rooftop. This is the hotel’s theatrical
masterpiece: a romantic 1,000 sq m with
sunbeds and lounging benches embedded
between borders fluffy with delicately
scented herbs and textural plants, and
db t llisesofartfully1 Bulgari Hotel Paris
Richard Burton famously said: “The
only Italian word Elizabeth knows is
Bulgari.” Since Elizabeth Taylor’s day,
the Roman jeweller has branched out
into hotels and the actress would
undoubtedly have approved of its latest
location, the French capital. The hotel
opens on Avenue George V, between
the Champs Élysées and the Avenue
Montaigne, next month. It will have
76 rooms, two thirds of which will be
suites, and all decorated in the brand’s
understated flair, including discreet
photographs of its celebrity fans, Taylor
among them. There will also be a spa
with a 24m pool, a restaurant overseen
by Niko Romito, whose Reale
restaurant in Abruzzo has three
Michelin stars, and a bar overlooking
its courtyard garden.
Details Room-only doubles from £1,075
(bulgarihotels.com)Madame Rêve
opened last monthA view of Église Saint-Eustache
from one of the hotel suitesmore new
hotels in
the city
6 of light
admired home from very posh home
ambience. There are covetable objets
d’art and the walls are adorned with
original sketches by Hermès. Nice
touches include the complimentary
minibar, being able to book private
sessions at its dinky basement pool and
the anytime breakfast for those who
want a lie-in. Dinner is a particular
treat — the conservatory restaurant is
overseen by Miami’s best-loved Italian
restaurant, Casa Tua.
Details B&B doubles £675 (jkplace.paris)4 Cheval Blanc Paris
This 72-room hotel is within the
recently renovated art deco landmark
La Samaritaine department store and
comes with dangerously time-wasting
views of the Seine, from romantic
morning mists to the city’s lights
reflected in the water. Interiors are
as sumptuous as you’d expect from
its owner, LVMH, the luxury
conglomerate behind Louis Vuitton,
Moët & Chandon and Christian Dior.
They feature contemporary furniture
in champagne shades, with striking
modern art adding a dash of colour. Its
rooftop bars look across to the Eiffel
Tower. For dinner there’s Le Tout-
Paris, a twist on the traditional French
brasserie; Plénitude, from Arnaud
Donckele, who was voted best chef in
the world in 2019; and Langosteria, the
first international outpost of Italy’s
favourite seafood restaurant.
Details Room-only doubles from £980
(chevalblanc.com)5 Soho House Paris
Pigalle is the capital’s former red-light
district so has just the right soupçon of
naughtiness for a Soho House location,
given that the private club-cum-hotelier
has a reputation as somewhere A-listers
let their hair down. The 19th-century
building was once home to the family of
French poet, artist and film-maker Jean
Cocteau, so there is a pleasing avant-
garde frisson to its rooms. Cocteau’s
influence is immediate, with the tiled
entrance inspired by the artist’s famous
face drawings. Many original features
have been restored, including intricate
cornice work and the smart black-and-
white tiled flooring. The 36 bedrooms
stick closer to the Soho House formula,
with art deco and mid-century pieces
in pastel velvets, contrasting with vivid
abstract art on the walls. To stay,
non-members must become a Soho
Friend (£100 annual fee).
Details Room-only doubles start at
£175 (sohohouse.com)6 Mama Shelter
La Defense
This quirky French brand has
expanded into eight countries, but
Paris, where it all started in 2008,
remains its spiritual home. When La
Defense opens in the former Litman
Tower next spring it will be its third
hotel in the capital. Expect the same
winning combination of playful design
bordering on the eccentric, informal
but razor-sharp service, and a
concentration on luxury where it
matters most: high-thread-count linen
for the 211 bedrooms, quality organic
toiletries and risqué touches such as
complimentary movie streaming,
including X-rated films. There will be
two all-day restaurants, a sports bar, a
coffee shop and a rooftop playground
with Insta-worthy views across the city.
Details B&B doubles from £110
(mamashelter.com)2 Hotel Paradiso
The cinematic references start at
check-in at this movie-inspired hotel in
the 12th arrondissement close to the
Place de la Nation, with guests advised
to call 007 if they have any issues. The
newcomer is a celebration of celluloid
from brothers Nathanael and Elisha
Karmitz, who own the French cinema
chain MK2. All 36 bedrooms are
connected to an adjoining MK2 six-
screen theatre, and with a few swipes of
a tablet your bedroom goes dark, a
near 3m-wide projection screen
descends and MK2’s latest releases as
well as platforms such as Netflix and
Disney+, are yours to watch. For the
more sociable there is also a 17-seat
cinema exclusively for guests for dusk-
till-dawn movie marathons, as well as a
rooftop bar with a lawn for alfresco
viewings. When not in cinema mode,
the rooms are fresh and whitewashed
with pops of primary colour. The top
suite is La La Land, which comes with
a karaoke machine for your best Ryan
and Emma impersonation.
Details Room-only doubles from £110
(mk2hotelparadiso.com)3 JK Place Paris
After several false starts because of
Covid, this 29-room bolt hole opened
in earnest last August in the former
Norwegian consulate on the Left Bank,
close to Musée d’Orsay. The architect
Michele Bönan and the owner Ori
Kafri spent years scouring French flea
markets for pieces to ensure a layered
authenticity for its series of salons and
bedrooms in line with JK Place’s much-Soho House Paris