Hotel Saint Andre Des Arts

Hotel Saint Andre Des Arts

The 6th arrondissement does not need introduction and Rue Saint-André des Arts does not need defending. The street runs from the Odéon to the Seine, passing through one of the denser concentrations of good bookshops, old cinemas, and worthwhile restaurants in Paris, with the Cour du Commerce Saint-André, a narrow cobblestone passage dating to the 18th century that contains the oldest bistro in the city, accessible through an arch twenty metres from the hotel entrance. The building itself dates from 1730, and musicians, writers, and actors have been checking in since long before the current renovation gave it a reason to be interesting again. Chloé Nègre redesigned the 30 rooms and suites around the 1960s and 70s, and the result is a specific kind of Left Bank retro that earns its references: Verner Panton lights, Tam Tam stools, custom-made furniture with a pop sensibility, vintage pieces sourced rather than styled. The rooms are not large, which is either a Parisian reality or a Parisian charm depending on your attitude, and the best ones have enough wit in them to make the size irrelevant. The TERRAKÉ Paris wellness area on the ground floor has a Bain des Sens pool and treatment rooms, bookable in advance and complimentary for superior room guests, which is the kind of detail that makes a small hotel feel larger than it is. There is no restaurant, which is the correct decision for this street, where the dining options within five minutes' walk are numerous and considerably better than what an in-house kitchen would produce. This is a hotel for people who know which Paris they want and have already decided it is this one: the Seine, the Luxembourg, the bouquinistes, Le Procope, the covered market on Rue de Buci. The Louvre is 800 metres. Notre-Dame is 800 metres. If those distances feel manageable, so does everything else about the stay. The short version: Thirty rooms in an 18th-century building on Rue Saint-André des Arts, redesigned by Chloé Nègre with a 1960s and 70s sensibility, no restaurant, and the oldest bistro in Paris through an arch across the road. The Left Bank as it should be, without apology.