Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [251]
HÔTEL ST-GERMAIN DES PRÉS Map Hotel €€€
01 43 26 00 19; www.hotel-paris-saint-germain.com; 36 rue Bonaparte, 6e; s & d €190-265, ste €325; St-Germain des Prés;
Situated just up from the cafés and hubbub of place St-Germain des Prés, this is a tastefully appointed 30-room hotel. Rooms can be somewhat small; if you need more space, splurge on a ‘superior’ room (numbers ending in 4 and 5) or a ‘deluxe’ room (ending in 6) or even go for the suite (room 26) with the baronial four-poster bed. Many guests come to lay their head where Henry Miller did Click here.
HÔTEL DES MARRONNIERS Map Hotel €€
01 43 25 30 60; www.hotel-marronniers.com; 21 rue Jacob, 6e; s €115-181, d & tw €161-181, tr €216, q €256; St-Germain des Prés;
At the end of a small courtyard 30m from the main street, this 37-room hotel has a delightful conservatory leading on to a magical garden – a true oasis in the heart of St-Germain. From the 3rd floor up, rooms ending in 1, 2 or 3 look on to the garden; the rooms on the two uppermost floors – the 5th and the 6th – have pretty views over the courtyard and the roofs of central Paris.
HÔTEL AVIATIC Map Hotel €€
01 53 63 25 50; www.aviatic.fr; 105 rue de Vaugirard, 6e; r €149-270, ste €310-355; Montparnasse Bienvenüe; Filles du Calvaire;
This 42-room hotel with charming, almost Laura Ashley–style décor and a delightful canopied Art Deco entrance has been around since 1856, so it must be doing something right. The tiny ‘winter garden’ is a breath of fresh air (literally). Some rooms face the street and a quieter courtyard. For more space choose a ‘superior’ or ‘deluxe’ room.
HÔTEL DANEMARK Map Boutique Hotel €€
01 43 26 93 78; www.hoteldanemark.com; 21 rue Vavin, 6e; s & d €148-168; Vavin; Filles du Calvaire;
This positively scrumptious boutique hotel southwest of the Jardin du Luxembourg has 15 very tastefully furnished rooms and eclectic contemporary décor contrasting with ancient stone walls. Public areas such as the reception and its corner rooms are full of vibrantly coloured furniture and objects that match and contrast. The bedrooms are well soundproofed and of a generous size (minimum 20 sq metres) for a boutique hotel in central Paris, and all have bathtubs.
HÔTEL LA SAINTE-BEUVE Map Hotel €€
01 45 48 20 07; www.hotel-sainte-beuve.fr; 9 rue Ste-Beuve, 6e; s & d €145-295, ste €295-345; Rue Notre Dame des Champs;
The lift is as slow as cold treacle in this three-star hotel southwest of the Jardin du Luxembourg but the rooms are stylish and very well proportioned; both rooms 18 and 20 are good choices and the former has an especially large bathroom. The neoclassical style of the lobby is clean and soothing, and recalls the life and times of its eponymous former resident, the literary critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804–69).
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ERICH GAUCHERON
The son of hotelier parents, Erich Gaucheron owns and operates what many consider to be among the most welcoming and well-run hotels in Paris, the two-star Familia and, just next door, the three-star Hôtel Minerve.
What’s the worst thing about being a hotelier? Dealing with people’s expectations... Guests sometimes expect things we just can’t provide. In America, hotels have big guestrooms, for example; there’s a lot of land there. Those who have travelled to Europe know that this is not the case here.
OK, and for the saints among the sinners out there, what’s the best thing about your job? Learning from guests. Whether they’re from Norway, New Zealand or China, my guests and I share ideas. Because I can’t travel everywhere, I move with my guests.
Just how difficult can people be? People are a lot more demanding these days because life is so much faster. In fact, it