Grand Pigalle Experimental

After years of visiting and trying out a lot of places in the city, I’ve finally found my perfect spot in Paris. The Grand Pigalle Hotel is brilliantly located in the newly revamped and trendy SoPi (South Pigalle) neighbourhood, nice and close to the Gare du Nord train station. From here it’s easy enough to wander; everywhere I wanted to see was within a reasonable 40-minute stroll. Like any flâneur worth her pumps, I like to walk in Paris, because it’s the best way to see it and I just can’t face the city’s chaotic traffic. While staying in SoPi, be sure to wander up to the art district of Montmartre, just a few minutes away from the hotel by foot, and check out the Sacré-Cœur basilica. This is one of the most important monuments in Paris, from which there’s a beautiful view of the city laid out below its hilly perch. If you're lucky like us, a street musician will play classic, romantic French songs as you gaze adoringly at the City of Light.

Our room in the Grand Pigalle is modestly sized with very limited wardrobe space, but what it lacks in elbow room, it makes up in glamorous Gallic design. Our little hideaway is super stylish with vintage furniture and – my number-one hotel desire, duly checked off – a greatly-sized bed with a firm mattress. I love having a bath tub in the elegantly tiled, dark-green bathroom, and I thoroughly enjoy a relaxing, pre-dinner soak accompanied with an excellent Negroni ordered up from the bar downstairs. The terraced balcony is furnished with a little table and two chairs; and, as it’s situated on a corner, the people-watching opportunities are excellent. I immediately create a Pinterest board populated with lots of the room’s features as inspiration for my future house renovation. There are some charming touches, including a radio next to the bed and very flattering lighting, which is always appreciated…

The scent wafting in from the highly rated bakery next door ensures you wake up ravenous, so it’s a welcome treat that breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant is delicious, with great coffee to wash it down. A surprise birthday party we attend runs rather late, and the next morning my boyfriend runs down to catch the last call for breakfast (which – I think – is a very generous 11am on a weekday); the lovely staff load him up with a heaving tray of eggs, bacon and fruits to bring upstairs for me to eat in bed.

For later dining, the restaurant serves tempting Italian food all day and night, we arrive to find it thronged with hip Parisians who add a buzzy ambience. We plunder the menu and decide to share several plates: figs with burrata with artichokes, fried mushrooms with hazelnuts and smoked ricotta, and lamb meatballs with garlic and capers. The restaurant are justly proud of their vast wine selection and the drinks list is, it must be said, ‘mega’ (the liquid-connoisseurs behind Grand Pigalle Hotel are the brains and talent behind the Experimental Cocktail Club). Of course, one must try the city’s other gastronomic hotspots, so when we decide to eat out, the receptionist marks up a map with some of his favourite cafés, bars and restaurants in the surrounding streets. We can highly recommended Le Pantruche bistro, and if you overindulge, there’s a petite health-food shop with organic wares close by (if that’s your kind of thing…) – it’s a very cool little neighbourhood; SoPi is deserving of its hipster cachet. On the day you leave, before you head home, be sure to go down historic Rue des Martyrs, a extremely attractive boulevard (scandalously immortalised in Emile Zola’s novel Nana) lined with cheese, wine and charcuterie shops. Fill a bag, or several, for a reverie-inducing nip of nostalgia for Paris and the Grand Pigalle back home.