Paris in the spring might be perfect for lovers but the city is magnificent to visit at any time, even November and December. The museums are still open, from the vast, wonderful but confusing Louvre to the Pompidou Centre, home to modern and experimental arts in different media. The bateaux-mouche continue to ply along the Seine and the city’s many gardens exude charm.
For many, however, the main attraction at this time of year will be the shops, whose illuminations put London to shame. Galeries Lafayette is among the brightest, with the widest selection of gifts, but the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and streets in St Germain des Pres continue to entice those looking for the latest fashions.
The choice of hotels is bewildering and visitors looking to do Paris in style could start by exploring the Concorde Hotels group’s seven properties in the city, which range from the latest, the Hotel Concorde Montparnasse, to the most famous, the Hotel de Crillon on the Place de la Concorde.
The frontage of the Montparnasse hotel and many rooms offer breathtaking views of the Eiffel Tower, which sparkles with thousands of lights for ten minutes on the hour throughout the evening. The hotel is elegant and comfortable, with a restaurant, bar and fitness area, and, with double rooms from €130 (£88) a night, not much more expensive than many of the city’s modest hotels.
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The Hotel du Louvre, obvious resting place for lovers of classic art, and the Concorde Saint-Lazare, well placed for department stores, are both moderately priced but the jewel in Concorde’s crown, the Crillon, comes at a high price that is worth it.
The hotel occupies the end of one of two buildings designed as palaces to front the new square when it was created in the mid-18th century. The imposing Ambassadors Restaurant, boasting two Michelin stars, on the ground floor and the function rooms above look out over the square. The largest of three upstairs rooms is famous for the four pairs of golden eagles occupying the corners of the ceiling. Another contains a huge tapestry from the Gobelin factory showing Marie Antoinette, happy in a rural setting. Double superior rooms cost from £425 a night.
For guests with serious money to spend, such as €2,500 (£1,690) a night, and a liking for musical instruments and modern art, the place to stay is the Arman suite at the Hotel Lutetia. The rooms were home to the sculptor Armand Pierre Fernandez during his frequent visits to Paris and reflect his role as a leading figure in the new realism movement.
He is famous for turning everyday objects into sculpture and the suite is an example of turning musical instruments and cases into furniture. Cello-shaped chairs, sofas with arms made up of clarinet and violin cases and glass tables held up by an intricate weave of stringed instruments fill the lounge-cum-dining room. The main bedroom features a maple-wood, violin-shaped headboard and a lifesize metal sculpture of a woman bearing numerous working lamps.
The suite, refurbished by Sybille de Margerie, the interior designer, opens into a long corridor with a black carpet encrusted with optical fibres, while the five balconies look out over the rooftops to the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides. Fittingly, the hotel in St Germain des Pres is in an area associated with artists and writers.