We loved this charming little hotel in Le Marais. It was a good price for the area and though not on the scale of modernity I am used to in the US, it was reasonably updated for Paris.
The building is clearly centuries old and the rooms carved out of unusual shaped spaces. Our first floor room had the old carved beams in the ceiling, our friends had an "attic" style room on the fourth. The bathrooms worked fine and looked to have been tiled in the 90's, with vessel sink and vanity updates in the last few years. We had plenty of hot water. Both rooms had classic wallpaper, ours very dark with gilt, the other very pink. Our room was rather small but was fine for our needs, out late, up early, we only had the weekend to see Paris. The petite dejeuner was adequate but nothing special, but served in the cutest little stone walled rooms, perhaps a former wine cellar or coal storage basement. We ate there twice for the convenience, but on Sunday had our brunch a short walk away.
The front desk staffers were so friendly, spoke English well but were patient and courteous as we tried not to resort to it. The women serving the breakfast were quick to bring us pots of tea or coffee, though everything else was laid out on a counter. There was always a table available whenever anyone came in. The restrooms on this lower level were adorable, the women's scented with the classic Shalimar, as there is a Guerlain shop in the neighborhood.
The only unfortunate thing we encountered was that though they advertise the rooms as air conditioned, the units are rather old and not very effective. The staff was unable to adjust them cooler. It was a warm, but not hot weekend in Paris, so opening the big windows at night cooled the rooms right down. I could not have stayed in the room during the warm day, but then, who would want to?
There is a Metro stop nearby, many nice cafes and all the attractions of Le Marais. The street is a little noisy at night with all the cafes quite popular with what appeared to be locals and tourists alike. The street washers are a little noisy in the early morning, but this is the heart of a great city, so it was expected. I didn't come to Paris to sleep all that much. read more