Hotel Charing Cross

It is a perfect departure point for a shopping marathon: Pasquier street takes you straight to Boulevard Haussmann's great department stores. The Opera and La Madeleine church are just a stone's throw away. As this is also a business district, the fact that the underground train and Gare Saint Lazare are nearby is very convenient; and the closest car park to the hotel is the one on rue de Londres street.

The Charing Cross is a small hotel with 31 guestrooms but no focus is put on small details and a personalised service. The lobby and corridors lack charm and finishing touches. The breakfast buffet serves industrially-made fruit juices, pastries, bread, cold cuts and cheese at will. The bland setting with rusty mirrors and cold white tile flooring probably won't give you an appetite though.

If your passion for fashion takes you to this Parisian hotel, you may be disappointed with the choice of upholstery in the guestrooms - the decoration is very tasteless and can certainly not be defined as 'haute-couture'. The accommodation, however, is very functional - there may not be any air-conditioning, but all other amenities necessary for your comfort are available: a small television, WiFi internet access, an individual safe, a direct telephone line, a mini-bar and a courtesy tray set up with tea and coffee-making facilities. The bathrooms are equipped with a hair-dryer and some have been renovated to very good standards, others haven't.