Paris_ The Collected Traveler - Barrie Kerper [243]
Photo Credit bm1.7
(top and bottom photo)
Hôtel Récamier, opened in 2009, is the jewel of the group. Recently featured in the pages of Elle Décor and Maison Côté Paris, the Récamier is chic and classic at once. The hotel has a very similar feel to the J.K. Place hotels in Florence and Capri—in fact, when I met Sylvie de Lattre, she told me that although she’d not yet seen those noteworthy hotels, the designer she hired for the Récamier, Jean-Louis Deniot, had, and it’s apparent that there is some J.K. Place influence in the rooms of the Récamier. I happen to love J.K. Place, and so I also love the Récamier’s original touches. The Récamier was the first hotel project for Deniot, and the only direction she gave him was to create a cross between a traditional hotel and an elegant private town house, something that was special and that nobody had seen in Paris before. Deniot created twenty-four unique rooms using 150 fabrics and 50 wallpapers, and he put elements together that might at first seem not to blend. Each room mixes texture and pattern and each bed features patterned coverlets and a canopy, but every room is different and no two pieces of furniture are alike.
Every floor of the hotel has its own color scheme or theme—black and white, ethnic chic, gold and black, coral red and Asian, blue-gray—and on every level of the central spiral staircase is a bust of Madame Récamier, each a newfangled interpretation of Jacques-Louis David’s famous painting of the same name in the Louvre, in the styles of such artists as Niki de Saint Phalle, Christo, and Yves Klein. A nice feature is that, on every floor, the two rooms overlooking Place Saint-Sulpice can be opened up and made into a suite. The Récamier has a small outside patio where breakfast is served in nice weather; otherwise it is offered in the petit salon where complimentary tea, coffee, and refreshments are served to guests for l’heure de goûter (snack time) from four to six p.m. The hotel’s location in the sixth right by Saint-Sulpice is just fantastic. Room rates range from approximately 250 to 420 euros.
Photo Credit bm1.8
Recommended Budget Choices
Hôtel Chopin (46 passage Jouffroy, 9ème / +33 01 47 70 58 10) and its sister property, the Hôtel de la Bretonnerie (22 rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie, 4ème / +33 01 48 87 77 63); both reachable at hotelbretonnerie.com.
Hôtel des Grandes Écoles (75 rue du Cardinal-Lemoine, 5ème / +33 01 43 26 79 23 / hotel-grandes-ecoles.com).
Hôtel des Grands Hommes (17 place du Panthéon, 5ème / +33 01 46 34 19 60 / paris-hotel-grandshommes.com).
Hôtel Mayet (3 rue Mayet, 6ème / +33 01 47 83 21 35 / mayet.com).
Hôtel Saint Thomas d’Aquin (3 rue du Pré-aux-Clercs, 7ème / +33 01 42 61 01 22 / hotel-st-thomas-daquin.com).
Mama Shelter (109 rue de Bagnolet, 20ème / +33 01 43 48 48 48 / mamashelter.com).
Port-Royal Hotel (8 boulevard de Port-Royal, 5ème / +33 01 43 31 70 06 / hotelportroyal.fr).
Recommended Hôtels de Charme
Hôtels de charme are in abundance in France and are perhaps a little hard to describe because there are so few in North America. An hôtel de charme is usually a place that is small, charming, not expensive or luxurious, and a good value. The phrase also denotes quality and character, and may be run by family members. Hôtels de charme may be found in rural areas as well as urban, and there are a number in Paris. Generally, an hôtel de charme is not the equivalent of a boutique hotel, which typically costs