Rates: From €188 per night
Added extras: Attic rooms and a wine bar with (300 wines) on the ground floor
Services: 24 hour room service and late check-out
Go back in time by ascending the spiral stairs, treading the velvet carpets and climbing up to your room. In the corridors of the Grand Pigalle Hotel, it seems as if time has stopped. Just hit the golden pineapple knocker to access another universe. Decoration by Dorothée Meilichzon, the hotel designer from the Experimental Group (which includes Romée de Goriainoff, Olivier Bon and Pierre-Charles Cros) reflects its intimate atmosphere and attention to detail: brass lamps, fireplaces and mouldings, fluffy Martini-shaped pillows and in the bathroom, light earthenware. And in the middle of the room, a king size bed crying out for someone to flop onto it.
A night-blue colour palette with touches of gold gives the hotel and its thirty seven rooms a Romantic classic Parisian atmosphere. From the fourth floor balcony, you can see silhouettes in the Villa Frochot gardens and envelope yourself in the white satin sheets post-bath. With the cosy bedding and softened light, you don’t get more comfortable than this. For TV-nuts, there’s a massive flatscreen hanging over the fireplace.
The first – and oh-so-Parisian – hotel from the Experimental Group did not appear in this area by chance. Rue Frochot and its clutch of cocktail bars is only steps away and you have enter the hotel via its bar – complete with huge black sofas and a serious New York speakeasy vibe, perfect for sipping a glass of Etna Bianco 2014. On evenings during the autumn and winter, the Bordel de la Poesie recites poetry in the nooks and crannies of the Grand Pigalle Hotel, and around octagonal tables down the wooden staircase. These evenings are busy so be sure to book in advance to enjoy the sombre mixture of poetry, cheese and red wine. But if you prefer breakfast to dinner, juices are freshly squeezed and the scrambled eggs are exquisite. A good enough reason to get out of bed, we think.