Nicest breakfast in Paris Hotel

“My husband and I have just returned from a three night stay at the Hotel des Academies et des Arts where we were celebrating our wedding anniversary. We had visited Paris once before and stayed in the 1er arrondissement and, although we enjoyed our first stay, this time we wanted to find a more authentic Parisien neighbourhood to experience a different Paris.

Staying at the Hotel des Academies et des Arts we were not disappointed as this is a great hotel in a very appealing area – don’t be put off by looking at a map of Paris and wondering if you may be too far off the beaten track as this is not the case at all. The Hotel des Academies et des Arts is located a short and very pleasant 5 minute walk from the Jardin du Luxembourg which is a real hive of activity – recommend lunch in the little cafe there – and you can walk through the Jardin and find yourself near Saint Sulpice and Boulevard Saint Germain in no time at all. However, the local neighbourhood around Rue Vavin is very buzzy on a Saturday with lots of nice little shops and cafes plus the peaceful Musee Zadkine is just around the corner and you can happily while away a morning or afternoon in the area. There are also several Metro stops near to the hotel for taking trips further afield although you may find yourself, like us, longing to return to the local area when you find yourself emerging from a Metro stop into a typically busy and touristy area!!

The Hotel itself is delightful – recently refurbished with a lot of thought and style yet small enough to be really friendly, offering first class personal service. The team on reception were able to recommend some excellent local restaurants, the three that we chose were all no more than a 5 minute walk from the Hotel and we had three superb meals. We decided to pay the extra 15 euros each for breakfast and this was probably one of the nicest hotel breakfast experiences we have had as there is no unseemly battling at a large buffet – instead the hotel staff deliver your own breakfast to your table and, given the current cost of eating out in Paris, we thought that we were getting good value for our 15 euros.

Are there any downsides? Well, if your budget allows we would recommend booking into one of the largest rooms as space is at a premium here and our room was a little on the small side. Also try to get a front facing room which will be lighter than those at the back of the hotel. But that’s it really – all in all a great find and we will certainly return!”

From MoneypennyEngland from England

Best design hotel in Montparnasse Paris

What does The Times think of Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris?

By George Sivell, The Times Online

“I have never been trusted with a work of art before, let alone slept with one, but that is what happened to me in Paris.
The place – Montparnasse, and the Hotel des Academies et des Arts, a new boutique hotel in rue de la Grande Chaumiere. The street is famously intertwined with the threads of French art history winding back to the French Revolution. Surrounding houses were home to Paul Gauguin and Amedeo Modigliani.Hotel des Academies et des Arts is a 150 year old town house converted from a one-star hotel by its current owners Laurent Inchauspé and his wife Charlotte, who have lovingly maintained the area’s artistic tradition.

The art – delivered in each of 20 beautiful rooms at Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris by one-time street artist Jerome Mesnager, known for his characteristic black and white silhouette paintings of human bodies on walls and open spaces around the world. Sophie de Watrigant, the French sculptress, has furnished the hotel with numerous white figures, invariably climbing model ladders.

Her most spectacular work “joins” the basement to the fifth floor of the hotel in the vortex of the spiral staircase. The lift offers a progressive view of a giant Mesnager sretching a similar distance at Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris.

Rooms at Hotel des Academies come in one of four themes which can be specified on reservation. I soaked up the ambience in a Man Ray room, with a black and white interior styled in tribute to the famous photographer, but would recommend any of the alternative themes available. Parisienne represents classic French city living in cream and taupe, Comedienne, as the French word for actor/actress implies, invokes the red of French theatre, and La Ruhlmann where the rooms were inspired by the luxurious textiles used by one of the most famous French art deco designers.

Cost per double room is from €210 to €270, which seems to me to be good value for a boutique hotel in the Paris arrondissements, especially a trendy one, such as the sixth. Also some very interesting extras. The hotels offers a range of cultural visits in addition to seeing the studios used by Jerome Mesnager or Sophie de Watrigant. A personal shopper can be hired for a half day tour of the deluxe boutiques in the sixth arrondissement or a full day shopping trip which combines, compares and contrasts the best of the sixth arrondissement with the delights of the Palais Royal area in the deluxe right bank first and second arrondissements.

The surrounding area of the Hotel des Academies et des Arts is classic Left Bank Paris. It is near a quiet, less frequented corner of famous Jardins de Luxembourg. Stepping out of the hotel in the other direction gets you onto what is now known as the Place Pablo Picasso, the junction of Boulevard Montparnasse and Boulevard Raspail. From there, and in all too brief a time, I squeezed in a walk to the fascinating Jardin Atlantique, an oasis of deliberately wild garden built behind the Gare Montparnasse, Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Montparnasse Cemetry and the Fondation Cartier. “

Book a room at Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris