HÔTEL DES GRANDS VOYAGEURS, LEFT BANK

Exhibiting all the elegant insouciance one might expect from a Parisian establishment, Hôtel des Grands Voyageurs has joined the city’s hotel scene on the Left Bank and rewritten the style rules. Last year, Fabrizio Casiraghi reinvented the corner property, giving it a subtle but masterful upgrade, which the hotel says celebrates ‘the golden age of ocean travel’. Indeed, there’s a nostalgic feel to the rooms, with their Art Deco-style wood panelling, vinyl record players and French navy cruise-liner carpets scattered with stars. The bathrooms, too, have a pared-back, utilitarian feel (yet also have oversized showerheads and Diptyque products). Downstairs in the lobby-cum-restaurant, a sweeping mahogany bar dominates and leather banquettes hug the walls. The effect feels very mid-century Mad Men: glossy yet grown-up, and an antidote to Paris’s more ostentatious offerings.

In a rather gorgeous neighbourhood – the 6th arrondissement, between Saint-germain-des-prés and Montparnasse, minutes’ walk from legendary department store Le Bon Marché and the equally beloved Café de Flore (a favourite of the Red team) – the hotel is well suited to people who have already ticked off the tourist boxes and now want to experience the cooler, boutique side of the capital. Streets are lined with chocolate shops and independent fragrance houses – try Oriza L Legrand, which was established in 1720 and still offers scents created a century ago, alongside more modern iterations.

The hotel’s restaurant is described as a love affair between France and the USA, and classics such as New York steak frites, lobster roll and cod blanquette are, frankly, faultless. The mood here is low-key but seductive (perhaps the place you’d bring a lover). For something more sceney, try the restaurant at sister property Hôtel Dames Des Arts, in the Latin quarter, where the Mexican and Japanese-inspired sharing plates can be enjoyed alongside seven different mezcals and 10 tequilas. The crowd here is definitely younger and the atmosphere more vibrant – if that’s what you’re into – but really, it’s impossible to make a bad choice.

ROOMS AT HÔTEL DES GRANDS VOYAGEURS FROM £258 A

NIGHT; HOTELDESGRANDSVOYAGEURS.COM. ROOMS AT HÔTEL DAMES DES ARTS FROM £280 A NIGHT; DAMEDESARTS.COM

Rooms have a pared-back stateroom feel and bathrooms feature Diptyque products

Right: Le Bar is decked out in wood panelling. Bottom right: the hotel’s cruise lineresque lobby

Above: the bathrooms take inspiration from transatlantic liners. Right: enjoy a tipple in the ‘semi-secret’ Poppy bar