European summer is just around the bend. Typing those very words has taken everything from me, as a consummate Parisian by-proxy and someone who will not be joining the tidal month-long emigration to the frescoes and beaches of the northern hemisphere. For the first time in two years I will be abstaining from Paris, where my cousins and ticks and newly imported models co-habit a city so wonderful and grimy that it is almost poetic.
I love Paris. I like to think I know where to stay in Paris. My first trip took my best friend and I to the first arrondissement, where we stayed in a mid-tiered hotel that hovered between three and four stars. We took advantage of its prime position and filled up on free croissants from the breakfast offering, thundering past the cobblestones until they were waxy with night.
The year following we moved between the 3rd and the 11th arrondissement, a sling-shot away from Le Marais but still close enough to the Chinese-immigrant run neighbourhood of Belleville, where I got a wash and cut for twenty euro. More friendly on the wallet than Usfin.) This year, I'll be sitting on my hands in Darlinghurst where I will be notating seminal work: providing you with the most-happening happenings to habit and plan your stay around.
If you're planning a trip to Paris anytime soon, these are the areas and top neighbourhoods that will give the best experience of the city.
Republique
This is the main backdrop for skaters, lovers and Carly Rae Jepsen's 'Come away with Me' music video. It's also a footwalk away from vintage cinema Le Grande Rex, which rolls out enough French New Wave cinema on a weekly basis to make Jean-Luc Godard weep.
For boutique hotel offerings, head to La nouvelle Republique. The leafy surrounds and egg-shell yellow exterior make it a sunny and compact experience, complete with triple-glazed windows. Bike rental, steam room and a shortlist of the best eateries in surround perimeters are additionally available, because they care.
Les Marais
If I had to triangulate a favourite neighbourhood it would be this one. There are bars, cafes, consignment stores and patisseries aplenty. Les Marais is the shopping spot, and for good reason. The Acne Studios here is particularly well-stocked. If you're hunkering after deadstock, I'd hit Predilection, and aptly named Thanx God I'm a VIP. Onto the stays.
Hotel Emile Le Marais is affordable, chintzy, and well-positioned. With rooms overlooking the clandestine rue de Rivoli, the loft-style establishment is perfect for something diminutive on the wallet.
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If you're after head-lopping levels of opulence, I would suggest Le Grand Mazarin. Expect herringbone stitching and canopy-heads to drape each beds. The pool is a delight of mosaic and limestone, sunken deep in the caverns of the hotel's basement. This is the place to let your hair down while you let them eat cake. Make sure to book in advance.
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Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine
Nested in the northern suburbs of Paris, the commune features a smattering of antiquated decor from flea market Marche Dauphine and Marche Biron, a red-carpetted antiques selection. Here I trawled past faux yeezys and greco-roman busts alike, before alighting on a cheerful little print shop that took my order: an XL shirt with prints of one of miss Lana Del Rey.
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Entreat to Mob House after a busy day of the sights. A semi-brutalist haven nestled in the 18th arrondissement, it is aggressively chic, if its Instagram tiles are anything to go off of.
Belleville
Belleville offers no-frills dining and many a hilly birds-eye juncture for a panoramic view of the city of love from every angle. It's a young quadrant of the city, and it feels that way, with bars and boulangeries skirting every second street. The multicultural core not only boasts great food but a magnificent time that won't call for a tightening of the purse strings.
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For a classically french experience, stay at Hôtel Les Deux Girafes. Industrial in style with crimped cement tiling, the chambers are done up in a robin's egg blue with pops of white. There's breakfast, wellness, a coworking space and cobbled streets within reach. Belle Du Jour indeed.
