• Romantic weekends, liaisons, honeymoons
• Lacroix's exuberant, extravagant decor, full of suprises for the unwary

• Brisk, clean-lined people irritated by quirks of colour and design

Conde Nast Traveller Hot List 05

The hotel welcomes children, and they can arrange a babysitter for guests if needed. They recommend the Deluxe room for families, but can also provide extra cots in some of the larger rooms.

No restaurant, but there is room service and a charming cafe-style bar for a pre-dinner cocktails.

Hotel du Petit Moulin is in the Marais. The nearest metro stations are Saint Sebastien Froissard and Filles du Calvaire.

"The oldest boulangerie in Paris (where Victor Hugo probably bought his bread), its façade intact, now houses a petite, eccentric, one-off hotel with interiors by non other than Christian Lacroix, who displays the same riotous love of colour and richness, and traditional mixed with exotic as he does in his fashion designs. All 17 rooms are different, some very small; try for the best for a strong dose of Lacroix." The Hotel Guru

"In its previous incarnation as Paris's most ancient boulangerie, the whimsical Hôtel du Petit Moulin was patronised by Victor Hugo, who lived on nearby place des Vosges. The confection offered today is of an entirely different nature: the shop now serves as hotel reception, and beyond are 17 comfortable en-suite bedrooms created by French designer Christian Lacroix. Nadia Murano, the owner, met Lacroix by chance: he lives locally, and was intrigued to see the refurbishment of the 17th-century building and its neighbour, a hotel and bar of shabby repute. Lacroix's collaboration has produced the equivalent of an haute-couture dressing-up box. Just as his designs are an extravagant patchwork of textures, colours and influences, both geographical and historical, so is each bedroom: walls are papered in dusty-gold or raspberry florals, punchy stripes, toile de Joüy or polka dots; leather is juxtaposed with taffeta, linen and velvet. There are bold panels above some beds: a spacescape, a parade of fashion sketches, or gemstones. Woodwork is lacquered, floors are bare or shag-carpeted, and the eclectic furnishings, including Arne Jacobsen Swan chairs and Venetian mirrors, were sourced or commissioned by Lacroix. The bedrooms are well lit, with flat-screen TVs, Wi-Fi, crisp, white bedding and air conditioning; bathrooms are well appointed, with large baths and Anne Semonin products. Only breakfast is served (the kitchen is tiny), but food can be ordered in from several nearby restaurants for those too loved-up to explore the local cafés, galleries and vintage shops." Conde Nast Traveller Hot List 05

"The Marais is a great place for exploring on foot. Its mad collection of higgledy-piggledy streets, some no wider than a hay cart, should put you in the mood for something different. Du Petit Moulin fits the bill perfectly. The place is mad: the reception is part of an old boulangerie, the lifts are decorated with collage murals by Lacroix, and each room is individual in terms of colour, style, furniture and mood. You could write a book on all the different creative elements brought into this one property, and yet it doesn’t even have a bar or a restaurant. Mad — and very Marais." Herbert Ypma in The Times 06