Hotel Bel Ami
Paris
from Travel Intelligence

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Address:	7-11 Rue St. Benoît, Saint Germain-des-Prés, 75006 Paris, France
Telephone:	+33 1 42 61 53 53
Fax:	+33 1 49 27 09 33
Cost:	from 260 euros
Rooms:	115 rooms. 1 suite

The Hotel Writes

"Located in a converted 18th Century print works on the rue Saint Benoît, the Hotel Bel Ami is an oasis of calm and tranquillity in the heart of Paris' chic Left Bank. The 115 rooms and suite Hotel Bel Ami opened its doors in January 2000. Directed by Grace Leo Andrieu, the project was undertaken by a design team that included Interior Designers' Nathalie Battesti, Véronique Terreaux and the architect Christian Lalande. Opening its doors on the dawn of a new Millenium, Hotel Bel Ami provides the latest modern conveniences and conforts for its clientele with Mme Andrieu's deft sense of style and a feel for zeitgeist immediately apparent. The hotel makes extensive use of the finest natural materials and simple lines to create an atmosphere of pared down luxury."

Review

Matthew Barker:
Handsome Left Bank hotel housed in what was once a wing of the Abbey St Germain, later an 18th century printworks. A recent revamp by a new generation of French designers has seen the introduction of earthy tones, sleek lines and exposed remnants of its industrial past, with the occasional echo of its ecclesiastical beginnings. 115 rooms.

No restaurant, but the Cantine, a converted jazz club in the basement, is a natty and mercifully informal place to take bleary-eyed breakfast. The bar, with its copper coloured mosaic tiles and bleached ash tables, an equally dapper pit stop.

Saint Germain des Prés: the Deux Margot and Café de Flore, legendary hang-outs of Satre and de Beauvoir; or Emporio Armani and Louis Vuitton, latter day hang-outs of Posh ‘n’ Becks. You choose. Could always do both of course, and find time too for the Church of Saint Germain des Prés, with its small Picasso sculpture in the courtyard dedicated to Apollinaire; the bookshops and galleries along rue St André des Arts and rue Jacob by the river, and lunch at Café de la Croix Rouge.

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