Rates: from €300 per night
Added extras: its history and the gargantuan breakfast
Services: wifi, restaurant and spa
Every hotel has its own story but it’s safe to say that Hotel Scribe’s deserves a little more airtime. It has stoof on the street of the same name since 1861, not far from Opéra Garnier, with each floor harking back to different era. The first floor transports you to the Second Empire, when Baron Haussman redesigned the city and the hotel hosted all kinds of French and international aristocracy. Joséphine Baker, Serge Diaghilev and Jules Verne are also represented with their own floors.
But the Scribe is not completely locked in its past. The designer Jacques Grange has made a huge difference by adding contemporary touches that blend perfectly with classicism. The hall and tea room match, with checkered floors, magnificent chandeliers, columns, photos, period paintings and rich colours like orange and green. The bright, clean rooms are refined and the comfortable beds are fit for kings.
Other stellar details include the Hermès products, the spa (with a hammam, sauna and massage room), the breakfast buffet (probably the best after the Royal Monceau’s) and the restaurant – which like the hotel, is luxurious without making a show of it.
