Le Marais

Maison Saintonge evokes the family residences of southwestern France, specifically the Saintonge region of Charente, and brings that unhurried provincial spirit into the middle of the Marais. Stone floors, exposed beams and antique furniture sourced from across France give the 22 rooms a warmth that sits at odds with the neighbourhood outside in the best possible way. The confectionery counter on the ground floor stocks gift baskets, glass candy jars and delicacies from French producers. Breakfast is locavore: organic bread from the local bakery, Lomi coffee, cold meat from Gilles Verlot, cheeses and crepes made in house.

Jacques Garcia spent seven years designing the interior around the Belle Époque salons Proust described in Remembrance of Things Past. Cordoue leather wall coverings from House Fey, carved woodwork, period tapestries, antique furniture selected by French craftsmen and lampshades inscribed with passages from the novel run through all 23 rooms. The library has a golden sun mural above it. The basement spa is the only La Mer spa in France, its hand-laid zelliges inspired by Moroccan hammams, with a 10-metre heated pool, sauna and steam room. Part of the Maisons Particulières Collection alongside Maison Souquet in Montmartre.

Olympe de Gouges arrived in Paris and stayed steps away from this building before writing the Declaration of the Rights of Woman in 1791. That history gave the hotel its name and its rooms, each one dedicated to a woman who changed something. Colette, Simone Veil, Marie Curie, Coco Chanel, Rosa Parks, Simone de Beauvoir. The George Sand suite sits on the sixth floor, accessible only by a 15-step staircase between the fifth and sixth floors. The decor shifts gently with the seasons. The bar stays open until midnight. The sister property, La Chambre du Marais, is nearby.

Philippe Jégou and Aurore Vachette de Lesquen designed the hotel as a Parisian family house rather than a conventional hotel, and the absence of a reception desk is the clearest signal of that. All staff act as concierges. The rough stone walls and original beams of the 18th century building stay visible throughout, alongside natural materials, linen, raw wood and a library that gives the ground floor a domestic warmth. Nineteen rooms, each different. Homemade breakfast is served until noon. The Marché des Enfants Rouges is a short walk away and the building feels like it belongs to the same unhurried rhythm.

Tristan Auer reimagined the building through the eyes of a fictional globetrotting aesthete, a character whose collected objects, souvenirs and art fill all 43 rooms with a gothic warmth that feels inhabited rather than designed. Grand arches, stained glass, darker tones and intimate corners give the building its weight. Temple & Chapon seats 100 beneath a cathedral glass ceiling with Chef Mélanie Serre running a brasserie built around the classic New York chop house. The American Bar runs cocktails late. The Susanne Kaufmann spa has a Roman bath below. One of the more complete hotels to open in Paris in recent years.

The building dates from the 18th century and the original beams and wooden staircase are still doing their work. Dorothée Delaye’s interiors dress them in velvet, blown glass, marble and ceramic in saffron, terracotta and almond green, warm without being loud. The coffee shop on the ground floor fills through the day with locals, remote workers and people passing between galleries, which keeps the whole place feeling connected to the Haut-Marais rather than sealed off from it. 31 rooms, each compact and carefully considered. The kind of address that takes a moment to find and then feels obvious once you have.