Paris Hotels – Alastair Sawday’s Special Places to Stay

Talk about spoilt for choice! Cosseted or contemporary, simple or decadently baroque. Sensual, shimmering and feminine – partitions of pale organzas, crinkly taffetas, fabrics la Marie Antoinette. The rectangle is out, undulation is in; carpet is out, parquet is in. Soft velvets in chocolate, apricot and prune, bedheads in burnished crocodile (fake). Interior patios and private terraces in old and new neighbourhoods: the Marais, the Bastille, the Canal Saint Martin and all the way up to Montmartre. Bars with warm fires and deep sofas, flea market finds, a grand piano in the lobby and a Parisien beauty who sings at cocktail hour. Saunas and hammams, 18th-century staircases, Empire antiquities, home-made jams and croissants, country-house style. Where to find a private chauffeur or a bicycle rental.

Over 150 hotels that stand out from the crowd. The selection here is broad, from a ‘Pension de Famille’, a French institution that is definitely only for those who know and want exactly that kind of homely simplicity, to some rather grand establishments where superior comfort comes with genuine attentiveness – at four-star prices.

Quick-reference indices show for example which places are pet friendly, which have fireplaces in their public rooms, which serve afternoon tea, which have a double room for 100 or below (more than 20), which have terraces, patios or small gardens.

There are many good hotels to choose from, but for a well-researched selection of small, interesting hostelries, look no further than Alastair Sawday’s Special Places to Stay Paris Hotels
BBC Homes & Antiques

"At last, a Paris Hotel guide that I can dish out to friends and acquaintances who ask for recommendations". The Daily Telegraph

As the undisputed master of guidebooks about places to stay in France, Alastair?s hotel and g?te recommendations are always worth noting.
French Magazine

Renowned hotel critic
The Sunday Times

Hotel doyen Alastair Sawday
The Mail