Hotel 7 Eiffel

14/20
At the heart of the 7th arrondissement, the hotel is ideally located for walking to both the Eiffel Tower and the Invalides. This is a residential neighbourhood particularly popular among British expats, with a vibrant local life resulting from its numerous eateries, brasseries, restaurants and museums, among other things. La Tour Maubourg metro station (line 8) is also just a few minutes' walk away.

It took a year and a half to transform the former Best Western Eden Park into the very fine establishment we see here today, which features decor created by Emmanuèle Thisy and Anne Peyroux, no less.

The hotel boasts a striking façade, complete with two mini Zen gardens in front of the entrance and some very up-and-coming decorative features. The style of the place is immediately apparent: a beautiful combination of genres and discreet luxury with a large vintage Chesterfield to the left, along with a gilded textile mosaic, some very fine materials used for the subtle furniture and an original play on transparency and light making for truly unique surroundings. The competent and discreet staff man the reception desk, whilst to the right you'll find a relaxing lounge area, complete with library corner and fireplace and furnished with club chairs, white furniture and a marble bar. The bar here has two main highlights during the day, starting with tea at 4:00pm, complete with Hugo et Victor pastries, and then, at 6:00pm, the opportunity to sample the many different wines produced by small local vineyards. Just beyond the bar lies the breakfast room, which features fresh decor and plenty of greenery and even has a small furnished terrace complete with artificial lawn making for a great place for smokers. The star of the show, however, has to be the furnished New York loft-style terrace on the 5th floor, which is a great place from which to admire the views across the rooftops of Paris, The terrace itself is covered and heated from 5:00pm onwards, but you can also have breakfast up here when the weather's good. Free Wi-Fi access is also available.

You might be surprised when you step out of the lift to find that the carpet in the corridors features a Parisian cobblestone pattern, and the decor in the hotel's 32 guest rooms also plays around with materials, incorporating velvet, fur, plastic and even leather. In terms of amenities, you'll find everything you need here, including a flat-screen television, individual air-conditioning, a mini-bar complete with welcome tray, a safe, a wardrobe, a suitcase stand, a desk and a separate toilet. Bear in mind, though, that the rooms here come in 3 different categories: the City rooms have a floor area of 16m² and are perfect for business travellers, done out in shades of taupe and grey, whilst the Premium rooms are 22m² and come with an iPod docking station. The Open Space rooms, meanwhile, have a floor area of 24m² and all have a balcony overlooking a quiet street below. These rooms also come provided with a complimentary bottle of Voss water. The bathrooms are beautifully appointed using the finest of materials (including Porcelanosa) and come with a bathtub or Italian-style shower, a make-up mirror, Fragonard hospitality products, a hair-dryer, bathrobes and slippers. The rooms are cleverly designed to maximise the available space, so you won't find any doors here but rather curtains so as not to divide the space up so much, which is great!