France for City Breaks - Paris

KUBE ROOMS AND BARS

1-5 passage Ruelle
75018
Paris
France
Tel: (Fr) 1 42 05 20 00
www.kubehotel.com
€250-€750 per room per night.

On arrival at Kube in a quiet corner of Paris’s cosmopolitan 18th arrondissement, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’d walked into a time warp and been transported to the 23rd century. Not only is the reception found in a solitary glass cube in the hotel’s courtyard, but you’ll find all sorts of weird and wonderful design ideas throughout the interior.

As I am shown to one of its 41 rooms, I take a lift with an interior covered in orange cow-hide, and sweep my hand along the corridor walls decorated with black fur and trompe de l’oeil-patterned wallpaper. The room itself is clean and simple with an integrated bathing area, while the loo is in a separate cubicle complete with magazines and black, yes black, toilet roll (or white for those who object!). There is a computer on which to surf the internet, listen to music or watch DVDs or TV, but the real entertainment is not in the room, but in the bar-restaurant. Upstairs on the mezzanine area, where Aeero Aarnio’s 1968 bubble chairs are also found, is the Ice Kube Bar – the hotel’s star attraction. Built from 25 tons of ice and kept at a temperature of minus 5°C, visitors (whether hotel guests or not) are provided with warm coats and mittens and are admitted for just 30 minutes of drinking Grey Goose vodka cocktails from cone-shaped ice glasses.

It’s the city’s only ice bar and, unsurprisingly, tourists and Parisians swarm here to experience it, moving on to the bar-restaurant downstairs for dinner or more cocktails afterwards. Dinner is also a futuristic experience, with nibbles coming in strange little ‘piston’ dispensers that pop the contents into your mouth. Breakfast, meanwhile, will have you marvelling at the ways in which ‘cubes’ have been incorporated into the table wear and condiments. With clientele of every age coming through the doors, it seems there are plenty of people who want to glimpse the future.
CAROLYN BOYD

 

Hôtel Westminster

13 rue de la Paix,
75002
Paris,
France
Tel: (Fr) 1 42 61 57 46
www.warwickwestminsteropera.com
Rooms cost from €500 per night bed and breakfast.

Parisians have the reputation for being a grumpy set of people, but on entering the classic-meetscouture lobby of Hôtel Westminster the staff certainly prove otherwise. They are the friendliest group of Parisians I met during a four-day visit to the capital, which got the trip off to a great start. Built in 1807 and established as a hotel in the 1830s, the hotel is actually the oldest in Paris – a theme that is used throughout. All of its 101 rooms are classically decorated with antiques and each has a guide on where to buy antiques in Paris. The cosy bar, which has the feel of a private members club, boasts a huge shelf of books on art, antiques, fashion and history as well as a large portrait of the Duke of Westminster who frequently stayed here and after whom the hotel is named. These days, guests include tourists, business people and even a few celebrities – although the hotel is proud to offer the utmost discretion and won’t admit to the stars among its clientele.

Set in a beautiful Hausmann building, the lobby changes its décor every season and has had everything from palm trees to a curtain of red roses adorning its entrance, and inside the displays are often inspired by haute couture. When I visited, there was a ‘pluie d’étoiles’ (‘shower of stars’) falling from the ceiling. The hotel is close to place de l’Opéra and place Vendôme and so is within walking distance of most of Paris’s main attractions, and boasts its own Michelinstarred restaurant. Visit the website for some excellent promotional deals.
CAROLYN BOYD

 

The Victoria Palace Hotel

6 rue Blaise Desgoffe
75006
Paris
Tel: (Fr) 1 45 49 70 00
www.victoriapalace.com
Rooms from €332 a night

If discreet luxury is your bag, then you need look no further than the Victoria Palace Hotel in Paris’s fashionable Left Bank. This elegant hotel has been owned and run by the same family for more than 70 years and is a member of the elite Great Hotels of the World club. Parisian home to such luminaries as Irish writer James Joyce and Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico, the Victoria Palace is tucked away in a quiet street situated between Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Montparnasse. With opulent décor, marble bathrooms and giant-size rooms, this is luxury on a truly grand scale. But it’s the little touches which make the Victoria Palace so charming. Fancy a gastronomic tour of the area? The hotel provides a leaflet detailing a walking tour which takes in the best of the speciality food shops nearby and the shops listed offer free tastings to hotel residents. Want to find the best of Parisian cooking? Then take a look at the hotel’s leaflet recommending authentic French bistros in the area, with a handy map and brief pen-picture of each establishment.

It may be grand, but the Victoria Palace is anything but stuffy with very friendly reception staff who offer a charming welcome pack for children, including a traditional French story book and Cornet Surprise – full of toys and sweets. And for Valentine’s Day the hotel will transform a junior suite into a lover’s haven, complete with hand-made chocolates, eaux de toilette, a bottle of champagne on ice and a bouquet of fresh roses. The special package costing €370 per room per night also includes a daily buffet or in-room continental breakfast. With friendly service and oozing Parisian chic, the Victoria Palace makes a stay in Paris truly unforgettable.
RACHEL SCOTT

 

Intercontinental Paris- Le-Grand

2 rue Scribe,
Paris,
75009
Tel: (Fr)1 40 0 73 232
www.paris.intercontinental.com and www.cafedelapaix.fr
Prices start from €365 per room per night staying in a standard room on a bed and breakfast basis.

Grand by name and certainly both grand and enormous in nature. This is a favourite hotel for those looking for imperial opulence and grandeur. There are 398 rooms and 72 suites, and even four presidential suites (should Bush and his international counterparts wish to have a weekend away together). Many of the rooms boast a fantastic view of the Paris Opera.

Located close to Galeries Lafayette and place de l’Opéra, the city’s other attractions are easily reached on foot (or for the lazier, the métro is just opposite). The rooms are plush and comfortable, with classic furniture and velvet curtains, as well as a CD/TV/DVD player for those wanting a quiet night in. Those preferring to venture out won’t need to go far to find a decent meal. The Café de la Paix offers a fantastic menu in splendid, Belle Époque surroundings. Go for one of the enormous seafood platters and you won’t be disappointed. The wine list, too, is seriously impressive (and expensive), so you’re guaranteed a good tipple.

If a Parisian pamper is on your wishlist the hotel’s spa offers sea treatments, beauty therapy, traditional and oriental massages, or you could simply pamper yourself in the room with the gorgeously scented l’Occitane products.
CAROLYN BOYD

 

Hôtel Colbert

7 rue de l’hôtel Colbert,
75005
Paris,
France
Tel: (Fr) 1 56 81 19 00
www.lecolbert.com
€340 per room per night

Hôtel Colbert is located on Paris’s trendy Left Bank, tucked down a perfect Parisian back street just off the quai de Montebello, which runs parallel to the Seine. Originally a 19thcentury mansion house, it’s a very quiet, small and classic-style hotel, ideal for a weekend break due to its location. It is within walking distance of all the designer boutiques, restaurants, art galleries and public gardens of the very exclusive Latin Quarter and Saint-Germain. A further short walk across one of the many bridges over the Seine will give you access to many of Paris’s great tourist attractions – Notre Dame, The Louvre, the Pompidou Centre and rue de Rivoli. The hotel has very pleasant, classic décor throughout, with a clean and luxurious feel to boot, while a nice, cosy bar and intimate reception area add to the charm. Its 39 rooms are large, spacious, well-furnished and luxurious and have double glazed windows so the hum of traffic on the quai de Montebello is silenced.
ROBERT BRADY

 

AFTER DARK

So you’ve pinpointed the perfect hotel. If you can bear to tear yourself away from your little piece of bliss, where do you head for a night on the town?

If you find the Kube Rooms’ Ice Bar a little on the cold side, head to the Lapin Agile, where the atmosphere at this intimate artistic cabaret is anything but glacial. Housed in a pastelcoloured house dating back to the mid-1800s, the Lapin Agile remains a legend to this day, stranded in the traditions of yester-year. Don’t expect flapping legs and kaleidoscopic costumes in this traditional cabaret, but jolly old French songs and poetry belted out with piano accompaniment. True to its Montamartre bohemian roots, this age-old cabaret boasts a string of well-known clientele: a certain Picasso supposedly paid off his tab with one of his paintings, and poet Apollinaire read his verses in this very spot. 22 rue des Saules. Tel: (Fr) 1 46 06 85 87; www.au-lapin-agile.com

If Lapin Agile is an independent art house film, Le Lido is a Hollywood blockbuster of a cabaret opened in 1946. Both the Champs-Élysées address and the greeting from tuxedoed hosts at the door, sets the scene for this unashamedly kitsch night out. A glitzier, more popularised version of the cabaret, the Lido is all about glamour; with parades of sumptuous costumes straight from the set of a Bollywood production and blinding light displays, all just a short walk down the Champs from the Intercontinental. The revues begin at 9.30pm and 11.30pm each night, lasting around an hour and a half: €90 for the show and half a bottle of champagne. 116 bis, ave des Champs-Élysées. Tel: (Fr)1 40 76 56 10

The Vélib’ may have done a good job of stripping Parisian residents of their four-wheeled monopoly of the roads, but now there’s a new way to get around. With both mechanical and navigational help from the experts, taking a trip around Paris by night couldn’t be any easier. Paris Secrets and Charms is the first tour company to offer nightly guided tours leaving just a stone’s throw from the Hôtel Westminster on their phenomenal electrically assisted bikes. A three-hour evening tour beginning at 8pm from the place Vendôme whisks you off into the night to the less-known treasures of the city, and there are plenty of anecdotes along the way. Tel: (Fr) 1 40 29 00 00; www.parischarmssecrets.com; €45 per person.

When in the heart of the Latin Quarter, there is no better way to get a feel for the area’s low-key intellectual charm than a visit to Shakespeare & Co. Opened in 1951 by George Whitman, the store itself has become a creative institution, where writers such as Henry Miller and Laurence Durrell would chat over a cup of tea. Join a small gathering of book worshippers in the legendary English language bookstore on Monday nights where you are entertained by the authors book readings between the shelves groaning under the weight of the vast and eclectic book collection. 37 rue de la Bûcherie; open 10am-11pm. Tel: (Fr)1 43 25 40 93, readings start at 7pm, admission free.

When staying in St-Germain, making the most of the thriving café culture and swanky bars is the way to get a feel for the chic quartier. Stroll past Les Deux Magots and you’ll stumble across the Chez Papa Jazz Café. From the outside an unimposing façade conceals an animated music venue with quirky interior: ceilings decorated with old gig posters, and a balcony overlooking the ground floor where the tables cluster around a piano and the jazz artists play their sets. You can either dine in the lively company of jazz enthusiasts, or enjoy the night-long instalments with a few drinks (with an €8 cover charge per person). Chez Papa Jazz Café, 3 rue St Benoit. Tel: (Fr) 1 42 86 99 63 www.papajazzclub.com.
FRANCESCA UNSWORTH