Hotel Le Ballu

Hotel Le Ballu

On rue Ballu, a street behind Place de Clichy in the ninth arrondissement, Hotel Le Ballu announces itself with a design brief unlike its neighbors: a nod to Tintin's mythical Syldavia, blending the graphic lines of old-school bande dessinée with the architecture of 1960s Eastern Europe. It's an unusual concept for a 37-room hotel, and it shows in details other Paris hotels this size skip, kitchenettes fitted with Nespresso machines and microwaves in the rooms, a garden and terrace, and an indoor heated pool that guests can book for a private 45-minute session rather than share with strangers doing laps. The pool sits next to a sauna, both open from seven in the morning until quarter to eleven at night, which works equally well for early risers and night owls. A ten-minute walk covers the distance to the Moulin Rouge and La Machine du Moulin Rouge, so this suits couples who want nightlife within reach but a calmer street to come home to, and it suits business travelers who need the private salon, built for up to twelve people with a projector and conference phone, more than a lively hotel bar. Families get a playroom and babysitting on request, and dogs and cats are welcome for a nightly supplement rather than turned away at the door. It is not built for anyone chasing pared-back, white-box design, or expecting the scale of a sprawling multi-wing property. Breakfast runs to half past ten on weekdays and later at weekends, in a restaurant that keeps serving until eleven at night, with staff who work in English, French and Spanish. Le Ballu commits to its own strange, colorful logic and doesn't apologize for it. A 37-room hotel behind Place de Clichy built around a comic-strip-meets-Eastern-Europe design and an indoor pool guests can privatize for 45 minutes. Ten minutes from the Moulin Rouge, with a private salon for meetings and a garden terrace. Not for minimalists.