Situated in 5 minutes walk from the infamous Champs-Elysées, Le A is the hidden boutique hotel with charming interiors and spacious rooms. The location is perfect if you are planning to stroll around the city and want to see the major sightseeings casually passing them by. You will find the Arc de Triomphe just around the corner, and if you wake up a bit earlier you can get the best shots of quiet but elegant Paris in the early morning (this is exactly what we did).
The area has a lot of pretty cafes and remarkable restaurants, it has 2 metro stations nearby, which makes travelling around the city so much easier. In the evening, the area becomes a true party zone and you will find a lot of night clubs and bars just around the corner, but the noise from them never disturbed us in the hotel.
The hotel is quite small, it has only 26-room that were designed by Frédéric Méchiche and it surprises with its restrained contemporary decor. Stripes are Méchiche’s signature, and, depending on your room, you get them on the walls and/or the carpeting in a soothing palette of ash and sand. Double-glazed windows, electrically operated shades, and brilliant lighting—every lamp is on a dimmer—make for ideal rooms for anyone who’s bored by the formulaic Louis-whatever Gallic pomp that prevails elsewhere in the neighborhood. Bathrooms seem to be refurbished recently and I was delighted to find some L’Occitane toiletries in there. The same colour palette is used throughout all of the rooms: white walls and loosely covered furniture; chrome; dark-chocolate wood veneers. Details echo Hybert’s painting (in the case of our room,a striped black and white carpet). King size beds are just right, with sheets of the highest quality, and the whole hotel is lit perfectly.
The ground floor of this all-white boutique Paris hotel opens into a glassed-over central courtyard, which breaks the room into two natural areas that contrast beautifully. Dark hardwood floors, art-gallery white walls and chocolate velvet curtains are set off by a flood of natural light. It’s an interesting space that Mechiche has used just so, for a discreet reception, cosy library, and intimate café bar.
The hotel has everything the passionate little modernist needs: literature, art, good food and companionship. Surely recommended.
Location: 4 Rue d’Artois, 75008 Paris, France
Hotel website: Hotel Le A