“We wanted the hotel to feel like it has always been a part of the Marais landscape,” Swedish, London-based interior designer Martin Brudnizki is quoted on the website of the new Paris 5-star hotel Le Grand Mazarin as saying. “… We were therefore inspired by the great Houses of the aristocratic era.”

He is referring there to the mansions and townhouses built in the 17th century when the Marais became trendy territory for the construction of noble residences and their continued use and decorative evolution by the titled and entitled through most of the 18th century. The Revolution then sent the aristocratic owners and renters either into exile or to the guillotine, after which “always been a part of the Marais landscape” came to mean something vastly different.

No longer marked by great wealth and privilege, the Marais was increasingly defined by labor, light industry, immigration and poverty. There were still dozens of grand old mansions around, but by 1900, the Marais swelled with a poor and working-class population, including many immigrants, among them thousands of Jews from Yiddish-speaking communities in Eastern Europe, with many more arriving through the 1930s. The Holocaust then sent the Jewish population either fleeing or to the death camps, leaving behind a decrepit cityscape that the rare visitor in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, even 1970s may well have thought had “always been a part of the Marais.”

The 311-acre heart of the Marais was saved from further ruin and the specter of concrete-and-glass renewal by a national law of 1962 calling for district-wide historic preservation and restoration. The law, along with the subsidies, public works and business opportunities that would eventually follow, accompanied the continuing evolution of the Marais, with: the arrival of Sephardic Jews to Paris in the 1950s and 1960s; the opening of the Picasso Museum in 1985; the opening of gay bars and clubs in the latter half of that decade; the steep rise in real estate prices in the 1990s; the development through the 2000s of rue des Rosiers, formerly part of the Pletzl at the epicenter of pre-war Yiddish-speaking immigration in the Marais, into a street that’s part Jewish food court part internationally-branded boutiques, and, in the 2010s, the listing of a considerable number of properties on Airbnb, each promising “charm” and “exposed wooden beams” (read: old buildings now gentrified).

Slowly at first, then much quicker since the mid-1980s, the Marais evolved into such a well-maintained on-the-radar quarter for strolling, shopping, museum-going, art-gallery-contemplating, café-sitting, with a few gay bars here, and a few Jewish restaurants there, that today’s visitor might think that its trendy bourgeois-casual lifestyle and the ease of communicating in English “have always been a part of the Marais landscape.”

Le Grand Mazarin

Where, then, do Le Grand Mazarin and its restaurant Boubalé fit into today’s Marais?

On the edge, or in many ways as its main entrance, catercorner to City Hall, in a 19th-century building across the street from the BHV Marais department store, at one corner of Place Harvey Milk, named for assassinated American defender of gay rights. A doorman in pride purple livery stands by the hotel entrance.

Past the small reception area, the drawing-room lobby presents a muted flamboyance, introducing visitors to the muted greens, reds and blues that dominate throughout the building and to the cozy, quirky, sophisticated nostalgia that impregnates the place.

The 50 rooms and 11 suites present a potpourri of furnishings, each outlined with a prominent curve or bevel, with enough reminders of 18th-century styles that the pre-Revolutionary petite noblesse would feel very much at ease here. It’s design without being high design, welcoming without being precious, indulgent without being lavish. Above all, it’s stylishly comfortable. The rooms are of modest size, as one would expect in the Marais. Rates start at 590€ and will rise beginning spring 2024.

The hotel’s restaurant Boubalé, described below, serves traditional Askenazic/Israeli fare. There’s also has a little, kitsch-chic, ground-floor bar. In the basement there’s an attractive pool with a fresco reminiscent of Cocteau’s work along its arched ceiling. A VIP basement lounge-bar will also soon open in another portion of the basement.

All told, the upmarket hotel, restaurant, bar and VIP room that form Le Grand Mazarin don’t seem to have “always been a part of the Marais landscape” so much as they present a cheery, nostalgic pastiche of major markers of the Marais of the past five centuries.

Boubalé

This restaurant and its adjacent bar are very much part and parcel of Le Grand Mazarin but with separate entrances from the hotel. So they can certainly be considered for anyone not lodging upstairs.

While the hotel’s rooms and suites call to mind the well-being of the petite noblesse, Boubalé—the restaurant’s name is a Yiddish term of endearment—and the bar appear to have been inspired by a vigorous and stylish older actress in Yiddish theater who enjoys hanging out with the younger crowd.

As noted above, the restaurant serves traditional Ashkenazic/Israeli cuisine. Jerusalem-born chef Assaf Granit has become a prime purveyor of Israeli cuisine in France. He’s the first Israeli chef to have a Michelin star in France (at Shabour in the Paris’s 2nd arrondissement). As executive chef with the JLM Group, he has been overseeing Boubalé in its opening period before the restaurant’s executive chef Itmar Gargei takes full command of the kitchen.

“Tradition, tradition!… Tradition!”—you know the song. This is the menu version of that: challah, pastrami plate, gravlax, roast beets with feta and horseradish, chopped chicken liver… seafood knaidlach, “ashkenazi mesachen,” “goulash+gnochhis”… strudel, babka… More polished than revisited, it’s all tasty—“entertaining” is perhaps a more accurate word—in a traditional smorgasbord kind of way. If not made with Bubbie love, then at least made with open-kitchen care. Ordering several appetizers (we ordered nearly all of them) to share is the way to go, both to get a taste of the various dishes and to get into the upbeat spirit of the place. The aforementioned Yiddish actress may well have had the tableware custom-made in the old country; her children will let it gather dust in the closet when they inherit it, but the grandkids and their kids will find it delightful. Anyway, Boubalé isn’t meant for her own children, now too old for this. On the two evening that I dined here (once as a guest*, once as a host), the majority of the crowd appeared to be under 35. There’s a good, upbeat vibe if you don’t mind the rising music and voice level as the evening progresses.

A 3-course meal, with challah (10€), will run about 75€, without drinks. I leave it to you to decide if that’s “oy vey” pricing.

The Bar

As someone who enjoys the atmosphere of hotel bars, I found the playful kitsch-chic décor of the little ground-floor bar quite to my liking as a place to wind down the evening. Here, I had my first taste of the Tunisian fig brandy Boukha, a drink with an Ashkenazic-Sephardic history of its own. The basement club/bar, is intended as a no-cell phone space to wind up the night, wasn’t yet open when I visited.

Le Grand Mazarin and the restaurant Boubalé, 17 rue de la Verrerie, Paris 4th arrondissement.

Le Grand Mazarin is the latest of the Pariente family’s slowly growing collection of distinctive 5-star hotels under the umbrella name Maisons Pariente, including Crillon Le Brave in Provence, Le Coucou in Méribel and Lou Pinet in Saint Tropez.

* Disclaimer: As many readers know, I wear various professional hats: travel writer and editor of this publication, travel and tour advisor for agencies and individuals, and organizer/guide in Paris and throughout France. I have worn all three with respect to Le Grand Mazarin: 1. In writing this article. 2. In first dining here as a guest on a site visit with a luxury travel agency, then second dining here on a tasting tour that I organized and hosted for visitors to Paris. 3. Subsequent to that first visit I was hired by the hotel to give a tour of the Marais to visiting journalists.

© 2023, Gary Lee Kraut

The post Paris Hotel & Restaurant Report: Le Grand Mazarin and Boubalé appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

The full one-hour presentation can be viewed below.

Part 1 of this series, which examined the creation and evolution of luxury hotels in Paris from 1855 to 1909, i.e. from the era of Napoleon III though the Belle Epoque, can be viewed here.

Part 3, covering the history of luxury hotels on the French Riviera, from the Hotel de Paris in Monaco to the Byblos in Saint Tropez by way of the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, the Negresco in Nice, Les Belles Rives in Juan-les-Pins, the Hotel du Cap-Eden Rock on Cap d’Antibes, and the Carlton in Cannes, can be viewed here.

Jean-Pierre Soutric follows in the footsteps of three generations in the hotel industry. His great-grandmother opened a hotel in 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War. Jean-Pierre has held marketing positions at leading hotel groups, including Four Seasons, with which he worked for 20 years. Passionate about history, culture, art and the evolution of French elegance and style through the centuries, he now works as a Paris-based consultant advising luxury hotels in France on how to live up to the expectations of demanding and well-heeled travelers from around the world.

Gary Lee Kraut has been inspiring and informing travelers to France for three decades. His unparalleled experience as an editor, travel writer, journalist, lecturer, consultant and guide has made him one of the most trusted voices for English-speaking travelers, armchair travelers and travel professionals interested in France.

Part 2 was originally subtitled “From the Roaring 1920s to the Vaccinated 2020s,” but our story actually begins a decade earlier, with two hotel openings in 1910 and 1913, shortly before the outbreak of the war. You’ll learn about the following hotels in this presentation:

Starting time on video – Hotel – Year opened

00:44 – Guess where?
07:56 – Lutetia – 1909
18:36 – Plaza Athénée – 1913
23:37 – San Régis – 1923
25:00 – George V – 1928
35:11 – Raphael – 1925
36:10 – Bristol – 1925
44:46 – Royal Monceau – 1928
49 :04 – The Peninsula Paris – 2014
49 :21 – Shangri-La Paris – 2010
50 :09 – Mandarin Oriental Paris – 2011
52 :01 – Cheval Blanc – 2021
52 :51 – Bvlgari – 2021
53 :20 – Le Grand Contrôle – 2021

Stay tuned for Part 4, coming in the fall.

Invitations to attend future France Revisited conversations and presentations live are sent out through the France Revisited Newsletter. If you aren’t already a subscriber, you can signing up now to receive the France Revisited Newsletter.

© 2021, Gary Lee Kraut. All rights reserved.

The post The History of Luxury Hotels in Paris, Part 2, 1910-2021 (Video) appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

France Revisited’s “Conversation with an Expert” series has launched with the first part of a 4-part discussion between Gary Lee Kraut, editor of France Revisited, and Jean-Pierre Soutric, a leading French specialist and consultant on luxury hotels around the world, on the history of luxury hotels in Paris, on the Riviera and along the Atlantic Coast.

In Part 1, which can be viewed below, Gary and Jean-Pierre examine the creation and evolution of luxury hotels in Paris from 1855 to 1909, i.e. from the era of Napoleon III though the Belle Epoque, and is illustrated with historical and contemporary images of hotels created during that period that still hold their heads high today within the triangle formed by the Louvre, the Garnier Opera and Place de la Concorde, including the (Grand) Hôtel du Louvre, the Grand Hôtel, the Ritz, the Regina, the Meurice and the Crillon. The difference between a palace hotel, which is the most prestigious category in the official French rating system, and other luxury hotels is discussed. Major historical events and famous figures associated with these hotels are presented as are their contemporary bars and tea rooms.

Jean-Pierre Soutric follows in the footsteps of three generations in the hotel industry. His great-grandmother opened a hotel in 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War. Jean-Pierre has held marketing positions at leading hotel groups, including Four Seasons, with which he worked for 20 years. Passionate about history, culture, art and the evolution of French elegance and style through the centuries, he now works as a Paris-based consultant advising luxury hotels in France on how to live up to the expectations of demanding and well-heeled travelers from around the world.

Gary Lee Kraut has been inspiring and informing travelers to France for three decades. His unparalleled experience as an editor, travel writer, journalist, lecturer, consultant and guide has made him one of the most trusted voices for English-speaking travelers, armchair travelers and travel professionals interested in France.

Part 2, covering luxury hotels in Paris create from 1910 to 2021, continues here on France Revisited.

Part 3, covering the history of luxury hotels on the French Riviera, from the Hotel de Paris in Monaco to the Byblos in Saint Tropez by way of the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, the Negresco in Nice, Les Belles Rives in Juan-les-Pins, the Hotel du Cap-Eden Rock on Cap d’Antibes, and the Carlton in Cannes, can be viewed here.

Stay tuned for Part 4, coming in the fall.

Invitations to attend future France Revisited conversations and presentations live are sent out through the France Revisited Newsletter. If you aren’t already a subscriber, you can signing up now to receive the France Revisited Newsletter.

© 2021. All rights reserved.

The post The History of Luxury Hotels in Paris, Part 1, 1855-1909 (Video) appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

This launches what will be an on-going series of conversations between editor Gary Lee Kraut and guest experts in various fields with respect to travel, tourism, history and culture in France. We are particularly interested in the interplay between history, culture and points of interest for today’s travelers and armchair travelers. Registration information is sent out through the France Revisited Newsletter.

The series’ inaugural guest is Jean-Pierre Soutric, a leading French specialist and consultant on luxury hotels around the world. Born in Lourdes and based in Paris, Jean-Pierre follows in the footsteps of three previous generations in the hotel industry. His great-grandmother opened a hotel in 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War. Jean-Pierre has held marketing positions at leading hotel groups, including Four Seasons, with which he worked for 20 years. Passionate about history, culture, art and the evolution of French elegance and style through the centuries, he now works as a luxury travel and hotel consultant.

In three separate Zoom conversations, Gary and Jean-Pierre will discuss the history of luxury hotels in Paris (Parts 1 and 2) and on the Riviera (Part 3). Dates and times of Parts 2 and 3 to be announced.

Part 1 examines the creation and evolution of the first luxury hotels in Paris from 1855 to 1909, i.e. from the era of Napoleon III though the Belle Epoque. The conversation will be illustrated with historical and contemporary images of hotels created during that period that still hold their heads high today within the triangle formed by the Louvre, the Garnier Opera and Place de la Concorde, including the (Grand) Hôtel du Louvre, the Grand Hôtel (and its Café de la Paix, image above), the Meurice, the Regina, the Ritz and the Crillon. We will also discuss major historical events and famous figures associated with these hotels as well as the hotels’ contemporary bars and tea rooms.

Following the 50-minute presentation, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions via the Zoom chat feature.

In May, readers will be invited to attend Part 2 (from the Roaring 1920 to the Vaccinated 2020s) and Part 3 (the French Riviera) of this Luxury Hotel Series. Attendance for this Luxury Hotel Series is free for readers of France Revisited.

Upcoming conversations with other leading experts in their fields will also be announced in May.

The post The History of Luxury Hotels in Paris and on the Riviera appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Until recently I had never bedded down in the 7th arrondissement. You know the 7th, right?, that district with the Dome of the Invalides at its center, extending from the Eiffel Tower to just past the Orsay Museum and from the river to rue de Sèvres. Home to the prime minister, high functionaries, government ministries, the National Assembly, UNESCO and the Rodin Museum, it rhymes with power, deliberation and monumental tourism, none of which is particularly sexy to me when it comes to sleeping around.

But I’m available, so when a public relations agent invited me get to know the Hotel Thoumieux by spending the night “with the person of your choice” I immediately accepted. In fact, I was flattered, not so much by the invitation (I receive them often) but by the bit about “with the person of your choice.” It made it sound as though I could snap my fingers and a chosen person would show up to spend the night with me at a 4-star boutique hotel. I snapped, but no one answered, so I made a few phone calls, and still no one answered, then I sent out a few texts made a few swipes on an app, and finally “the person of my choice” agreed to be chosen.

I packed an overnight bag, promisingly known in French as a baise-en-ville, and set out across the city on foot to get myself in the mindset of a traveler from afar in search of the unknown. I entered the 7th arrondissement by crossing the unguarded border from the 6th along boulevard Saint Germain, then proceeded east-west along rue Saint-Dominique. Eventually I caught sight of the Eiffel Tower peeking out from above the buildings. The tower disappeared and reappeared again as the vertical sign of the Thoumieux also came into view.

An inconspicuous door beside the Brasserie Thoumieux opens to a steep staircase that leads to the small hotel reception area upstairs. There’s an elevator, somewhere, but I appreciated the stairs because they reminded me of climbing to upstairs pensions in Italy and Spain during my backpacking days. How far I’ve come, I thought, somewhat sadly.

But my room perked me up. The 15 rooms at the Thoumieux have been delightfully decorated by India Mahdavi with fluid curves, playful contrasts, leopard print throws and busy bathroom marble and tiles. The eye won’t rest until you go to sleep. Facing either the narrow street or the narrow courtyard, the rooms go from tiny to cozy to room for jumping jacks to nearly space for a cartwheel, 130-355 square feet, maximum 325-505€ but often priced less. Even the smallest room (mine, photo) feels welcoming, lively and charming.

This is indeed a hotel for romance and intimacy. And the neighborhood lends itself to rewarding culinary explorations for any couple (or more if you’re into that kind of thing). The Thoumieux itself houses two worthy restaurants: its elegant brasserie with the red velour banquettes on the ground floor and Sylvestre Wahid’s upstairs den of high gastronomy.

Only come with someone you like, I mean really like, as I hoped that I would, while I waited by the entrance.

Hotel Thoumieux
79 rue Saint-Dominique, 7th arr.
Metro La Tour-Maubourg, RER Pont de l’Alma
Tel. +33 (0)1 47 05 79 00

A Beaumarly / Costes establishment

The Thoumieux is among the collection of stylish cafés, restaurants, bars and hotels within the Beaumarly/Costes group. See here for the complete list. Gilbert and Thierry Costes have been on the Paris scene since the late 1990s, with much success. Years ago, I was put off at several of their establishments by the condescending attitude of their staff; it was as though friends and I weren’t worthy of having a drink or a meal there but would be tolerated if we stayed out of view. I steered myself and visitors elsewhere. The staff at Thoumieux appears to take a more welcoming view at both the hotel and the brasserie—not warm and fuzzy, mind you, but proper, comme il faut. Genuine warmth, however, is found in encounters with Sylvestre Wahid, eponymous chef of the stellar upstairs restaurant (article coming soon) at the Thoumieux. Wahid treats every curious diners like an honored guest.

Eating and drinking on and around rue Saint Dominique

For culinary explorations, you’ll have little reason to leave your neighborhood when staying at the Thoumieux. Brasserie Thoumieux is an excellent place to start, as is the ultra-traditional bistro La Fontaine de Mars down the street, and there are many other worthy options within a 10-minute walk. Closer still:

Your 5-minute radius guide to the Hotel Thoumieux

Your local bakery: Boulangerie Douceurs et Traditions (Nelly Julien), runner-up in the Paris region’s 2019 Best Chocolate Éclair competition.
Your local food market street: Rue Cler.
Your next-door Irish pub: O’Brien’s.
Your local bistro with the easy-priced menu: Chez France.
Your local Greek restaurant and take-out gyro shop: Apollon.
Along with Sylvestre Wahid, your other local high gastronomic restaurant: David Toutain.
Your local caviar shop and restaurant: Petrossian.
Your local foie gras boutique, where you can purchase vacuum-packed liver to enjoy at home: Dubernet.
Your local Argentinian beef restaurant: Unico.

Also, your local 19th-century Catholic church with an elegant barrel ceiling and organ that no tourist other than you has ever visited: Saint Pierre du Gros Caillou, 92 rue Saint-Dominique.

© 2019, Gary Lee Kraut

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* * *

The gilt bronze equestrian statue of Joan of Arc on Place des Pyramides, across the street from the Louvre and the Tuileries Garden, is one of the most well-known and copied statues of the martyred heroine of the Hundred Years War with the English. Though glimpsed daily by thousands of tourists, few stop to contemplate the work or even to photograph it—and with good reason: they are intent are on preserving their own lives as they cross the street. Greater notice is likely given to copies of the statue in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Portland and Melbourne. Nevertheless, holding her standard high, Joan rides on here in (temporary) victory over the “invader” as a symbol of, well, whatever one group or party wants or needs her to be.

In the wake of France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), France’s young Third Republic needed her to represent a proud and unified nation marching in progress. Emmanuel Frémiet was commissioned to create the statue. No sooner was it installed on Place des Pyramides in 1874 than another invasion gathered strength: the invasion, welcome this time, of wealthy British tourists for whom the 1st arrondissement was becoming their Paris headquarters. In the decades that followed the statue’s inauguration, major new hotels opened or expanded on and around Rue de Rivoli and Rue Saint-Honoré—the Normandy, the Continental (now the Westin), the Meurice, the Ritz and others—as did shops and tea rooms and restaurants (“We speak English”).

As the prosperity and innovation of the Belle Epoque raced toward the turn of the century, a new hotel, the Hotel Regina, prepared to open on Joan’s Place des Pyramides. The Regina was under construction at the same as the Alexandre III Bridge, the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, all to be ready in time for the World’s Fair of 1900.

The Regina was founded by Léonard Tauber, working with an associate named Constant Bavarez. Eventually Bavarez would take the reins, and the hotel is still majority owned by the Bavarez family, as are two other hotels developed by Tauber, the Raphael and the Majestic, both 5-stars near the Arc de Triomphe in the 16th arrondissement.)

Enter the Regina’s original art nouveau revolving door today you’ll find yourself in the lobby of old-fashion luxury with a choice of three directions: to the left to check in at the reception desk to one of 100 rooms and suites, straight ahead into the oak-paneled English bar for a cocktail or whiskey or to the right to the new wine bar.

The Hotel Regina was refurbished in 2015 without losing any of its character circa 1900, gaining a fifth star in the process. Its room style is clear and direct in its sense of well-being, with grey, beige and off-white walls and fabrics offset with the occasional touch of red. Excellent sound-proofing allows rooms facing the street to shut out the traffic on Rue de Rivoli.

Some furnishings, notably desks, from the opening years of the hotel are still present. Several rooms might even fulfill a guest’s fantasy of living luxuriously in Paris circa 1900, both for the décor and, in the case of exceptional corner rooms, the view to the Tuileries Garden and beyond it Eiffel’s Tower, a remnant of the World’s Fair of 1889.

Having refurbished its rooms and repolished its reputation, Regina opened a new wine bar this year. The bar is a sleek, boldly lit little white box with gold trim, high saucer stools and a corner view toward the garden and the tower.

It’s a sign of the times that the old English bar is called le Bar Anglais and the new French wine bar is named Wine & Friends.

Wine & Friends is the domain of sommelier and barman Antoine Henon, who counsels and pours with the cool and gracious demeanor of a man who is trying to please but not entertain or impress. Henon supplies the wine; you supply the friends.

With friends I turned right at the revolving door to have a drink—actually four, but I’m not one to try to impress with beverage consumption. They were small glasses, several tastes to get acquainted with the pleasantly balanced Dourthe wines while getting a feel for the place.

Dourthe is a company that owns ten Bordeaux vineyards (among them Saint-Estèphe, Haut Médoc, Saint-Emilion, Pessac-Léognan, Graves) including several grand crus. Producing grower and merchant wines, it is part of the Thiénot Group,  whose home soil is in the Champagne region. Other regions are also selectively represented at Wine & Friends.

I’m not a fan of the presence of branding stamped into the décor of luxury bars as found here, but many now have them—an indiscretion that is also a sign of the times. Nevertheless, Wine & Friends (& Dourthe) offers a nice variety of wine styles.

Considering the location between the Louvre and Rue Saint-Honoré, the sense of privilege of leaving hurried Rue de Rivoli and the elegant presence of Antoine Henon, a decent bottle of wine is rather moderately priced at 29-55€, a glass at 9-15€, with several more prestigious wines available by the glass or bottle.

A glass or a shared bottle can be accompanied by a fine plate of cheese and charcuterie, as one would expect in a Paris wine bar. Foie gras and sourdough toast (tartines) topped with smoked salmon or Bayonne ham or chicken are also available.

The atmosphere depends on the aforementioned friends as well as the light, which together lend themselves to cheery aperitif, showy chicness, rising romance in fading light or post-dinner dialogue. Wine & Friends is open daily from 5pm to midnight.

The cocktail-drinker among a group of wine friends needn’t go his or her separate way since one can also get a cocktail served here from the hotel’s Bar Anglais. That bar, with its oak paneling and red velvet armchairs and sofas, is the domain of Marc Desange, who has been shaking and stirring cocktails and pouring whiskey here since last year.

Previously he worked at the Regina’s sister hotel the Raphael, another worthy stop on the Paris hotel bar trail.

Hotel Regina
2 place des Pyramides
75001 Paris
Tel. 01 42 60 35 58
Metro: Tuileries
© 2016 Gary Lee Kraut

The post Hotel Regina: Wine & Friends & Classic Paris Luxury appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

(Updated April 2016)

1. Hotel Saint-James

Two metro stops west of Etoile, the site of the glamorous 4-star Saint James was once far enough away from the central Paris to serve as a launch pad for hot air balloons. While tall buildings have sprouted in the area, the lush private garden of this luxuriant refuge, accented with fanciful balloon canopies (photo above), remains intact and serves as an open-air bar during the fine-weather months. Like its classy library bar and Michelin-starred restaurant, the open-air bar is reserved for hotel guests and club members during the day, but all of them are accessible to visitors after 7pm.

Hotel Saint James, 43 avenue Bugeaud. 16th arr. Tel: 01 44 05 81 81. Metro: Porte Dauphine.

2. Regent’s Garden Hotel

Napoleon III liked his private physician so much that he built him a delightful townhouse with an enclosed garden on the western edge of Paris just beyond the Arc de Triomphe. This year the 4-star hotel has made its private garden an even greater draw with an outdoor exhibition of bronze and ceramic sculptures by Mickie Doussy on view through September 30. Beyond breakfast, when open only to guests, the garden bar/tea salon is open to visitors on reservation.

Regent’s Garden Hotel, 6 rue Pierre Demours. 17th arr. Tel: 01 45 74 07 30. Metro: Ternes.

3. Villa du Square

Tucked between Le Corbusier townhouses in the residential 16th, the Villa du Square (open since September 2015) is a B&B offering five luxurious bedrooms in a 1920s mansion lovingly decorated by art collector hosts Marie-Victoire and François-Christophe Gicqueau. The garden—200 square meters of urban Eden shaded by centenary pines—has enough secluded ‘corners’ that guests won’t trip over each other while they smell the roses.

Villa du Square, 26 rue Raffet, 16th arr. Tel: 01 71 72 91 33 Metro: Jasmin. The garden is only open to overnight guests.

4. Hotel des Marronniers

The secluded garden behind this 3-star Left Bank hotel is open to the public from 2pm until 11pm for tea or drinks.

Hotel des Marronniers, 21 rue Jacob. 6th arr. Tel: 01 43 25 30 60. Metro: Mabillon.

5. Villa Montabord

The Cité des Fleurs, a one-block pedestrian street in the Epinettes district on the northwest edge of the capital, is one of Paris’s original gated communities. The guidelines laid down by the developers in 1847 mandating at least three flowering and/or fruit trees for every garden are still observed. Thus, the four-room bed-and-breakfast that Isabelle and Jérôme Sciard opened in their 19th-century home has a pocket-sized private garden within a garden community. Expect fluent English (Jérôme is a former submarine commander who was stationed in Newport, RI for a year) plus large, luxurious bathrooms, WiFi and television.

Villa Montabord, 3 Cité des Fleurs, 17th arr. Tel: 06 14 88 74 06. Metro: Brochant. The garden is only open to overnight guests.

6. Hotel Eldorado

This hipster enclave in rapidly gentrifying Batignolles is one of the last places in Paris where budget-minded visitors can get a double-digit priced room with facilities “down the hall,” in a decor that mixes fake leopard skin throws and real cat-hair from resident felines. The hotel may have two stars but its popular Bistrot des Dames restaurant/wine bar, nestled in a pleasant but not-overly-groomed garden, goes by its own standards and is open to the public.

Hotel Eldorado, 18 rue des Dames, 17th arr. Tel: 01 45 22 35 21. Metro: Place de Clichy.

7. Novotel Paris Les Halles

With a giant, custard-colored canopy hovering over the Châtelet shopping center, catching ”a patch of blue” in Les Halles is as rare as it was for Oscar Wilde at Redding Gaol. Given the forbidding façade  of the Novotel Les Halles, it’s a triple-fine surprise to find a delightful, tree-shaded garden terrace-bar nestled within its walls. An oasis of calm in a chaotic neighborhood.

Novotel Paris Les Halles, 8 Place Marguérite de Navarre, 1st arr. Tel: 01 42 21 31 31 Metro: Châtelet.

© 2015-2016, Corinne LaBalme

Updated April 2016

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* * *

The best adjective to describe the family-run Hôtel San Régis, nestled on a side-street betwixt the Grand Palais and the Avenue Montaigne haute couture shops, is discreet. However its latest renovation, completed in 2013, is all about glasnost. Owner Elie George literally blew the roof off his “insider’s only” restaurant, which originally catered only to hotel guests. The lighter-and-brighter glass-roofed result is now open to all hungry and thirsty travelers and residents seeking a quiet refuge from museum blockbusters, Dior ODs, and Champs-Elysées traffic.

The restaurant/tea room, now re-named Les Confidences du San Régis, has a glass roof that shows off the half-timbered walls of the hotel’s attractive, provincial-esque courtyard. The new concept also includes longer hours. Jet-lagged travelers can now drop in for a cozy little chorizo-laced cheeseburger (24€), club sandwich (22€), Caesar salad (28€) or organic omelets (16€) in sophisticated surroundings from 3 to 6pm.

Reflecting the hotel’s new contemporary spin on its classic decor, the new menu adds curcuma-laced quinoa to the tomato fritters (16€) and proposes a hummus garnish with the lamb filets (34€). Quite astutely, the wine selection tends towards to affordable, rather than aspirational, vintages. The Château de Lachaize Brouilly, one of the best bargains in Beaujolais, is a case in point at 24€.

The San Régis has also expanded its tea-time offerings, with over a dozen super-stylish Kusmi teas accompanied by finger sandwiches and/or lush pastries from Philippe Conticini’s ‘Patisserie des Rêves’, like the re-visited Paris-Brest.

The latest renovation includes guestrooms given 21st century pastel update (bayberry greens, powdered azur and gold) by designer Pierre-Yves Rochon while retaining classic touches like the Art Deco style light fixtures beloved by SR regulars.

Hôtel San Régis Paris. 12 rue Goujon, 75008. Tel: 01.44. 95.16.16. Metro Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau or Alma Marceau

© 2014

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When Sandra and Jean-Michel Abecassis wanted a  makeover for their Right Bank hotel near Parc Monceau, they enlisted Sandrine Alouf, a designer who’d already created hotels where guests can sleep on clouds (Hôtel One By the Five, 2008); play can-can with Moulin Rouge dancers (Hôtel Secret de Paris, 2009); and commune with Piaf, Sartre or Jean Seberg (Hôtel Montmartre Mon Amour, 2012).

A self-styled “atmospherist,” Alouf quickly caught on to her client’s magic mindset and the theme of this, her tenth hotel project, took shape. Why a decorating niche of theme hotels? “Because I’m someone who likes to tell stories,” she said.

The 24 rooms of the Splendor showcase illusions like levitation, card tricks and celestial magic along with a smattering of penthouse rooms dedicated to pioneering mystic/moviemaker Georges Méliès. Each room has a large hologram above the bed, a theme-imprinted carpet and enchanting wallpaper.  All the bathrooms are shower-only with handsome tiles and the occasional funhouse mirror. As boutique 4-stars go, rooms, whether used as a single or double, are on the small side, about 160 to 180 square feet. There’s also a delightful little single on the top floor.

All in all, the mood is closer to Houdini than Hogwart’s with a decor in the public areas that features historic posters purchased from Paris’s Magic Museum (see below), a magician’s cape and magic books, and top hats rising with the staircase. While other hotels may have a cat as their mascot, this one has a rabbit, named Pomponnette. And who better to keep a rabbit company than an actual magician as French magician extraordinaire Jack Barlett mans the reception desk.

Splendor Hôtel, 38, rue Cardinet, 17th arrondissement. Tel : 01 46 22 07 73.  Metro Maleherbes or Monceau. Since the hotel just opened in October 2013, the launch price is quite reasonable. Inquire about promotional rates.

A magical postscript: Paris’s Magic Museum, Musée de la Magie, where visitors descend into the history of magic, is often forgotten by parents trying to convince their children that seeing the Mona Lisa should be a magical experience. 11 rue Saint-Paul, 4th arrondissement. Metro Saint-Paul or Sully-Morland. Open Wed., Sat. and Sun. 2-7pm and during French school vacations.

© 2013

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The ever-chic Théâtre des Champs-Elysées,  designed by the Art Deco dream-team of Auguste Perret, Antoine Bourdelle and Maurice Dénis, opened on March 31, 1913, followed three weeks later by the ever-fashionable Hôtel Plaza Athénée.

Thanks to the twin anchors of the TCE and the PA, Avenue Montaigne became an international roadway of haute couture, especially after WWII when Christian Dior et al. set up shop along the avenue.

While the venue that showcased Nijinski, Stravinsky and Josephine Baker “back in the day” focuses its centennial season on its greatest hits with a dash of 21st-century stardust, the hotel that Dior was so fond of celebrates its birthday with a year of special menus and surprises.

The TCE’s first 2013 production opened on a high note in February with Donizetti’s La Favorite, a slice of gorgeous 1840 bel canto rarely performed in its original French. Against a minimalist set by New York artist Andrea Blum, director Valérie Nègre skillfully underlined the contemporary political implications of the twisty baroque plot.

After a Don Giovanni  (seen through the eyes of Stéphane  Braunschweig) that debuts on April 25, the TCE goes into nostalgia overdrive with Le Sacre du Printemps… the earthshaking ballet that premiered on this gilded stage in May 1913. Starting in May 2013, dance fans will get numerous spins on this classic: Stravinsky’s wonderpiece plays to Nijinski’s original choreography, followed by new interpretations by Sascha Waltz and Pina Bausch.

Not to forget productions by Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, Benvenuto Cellini (Berlioz), Agrippina (Handel), The Barber of Seville (Rossini) and a dance-in-the-aisles Big Band homage to Josephine Baker and Sidney Bechet on July 5. Ticket and schedule information at www.theatrechampselysees.fr.

Meanwhile, several graceful steps away, one would expect a fashion-conscious belle like the Plaza Athénée to lie about her époque, but instead she’s releasing 100 birthday balloons over the 8th arrondissement on April 20th, drinking “Baccarat Harcourt” cocktails from cut-crystal glasses in the bar, and definitely not watching her waistline with special centennial dishes like pâté chaud de pintade truffé in her three-star restaurant which operates under the supervision of ubiquitous stellar chef Alain Ducasse.

The Plaza-Athenée is also planting 100 trees at Versailles this spring, minting a special (gold) card for her favorite customers, and offering packages that include tickets to Le Sacre du Printemps next door.

The Plaza-Athénée is classified as a “palace” (i.e. a rare and exceptional 5-star) by official French hotel standards. All the info at www.plaza-athenee-paris.com.

Théatre des Champs-Elysées, 15 avenue Montaigne, 8th arr. Tel. 01 49 52 50 50. Metro Pont de l’Alma.

Hôtel Plaza-Athénée, 25 avenue Montaigne, 8th arr. Tel. 01 53 67 66 65. Metro Pont de l’Alma.

© 2013, Corinne LaBalme

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