Review of Le Grand Balcon Hotel, by Catherine Cooper

Le Grand Balcon is an ultra-chic boutique hotel right in the centre of Toulouse with great views of the city’s main square, Le Capitole. The 1920s building’s décor pays homage to its earlier incarnation as a second home to aviators including Antoine de Saint-Exupéry during the war.

You really couldn’t be in a more central location in Toulouse if you tried. The hotel successfully combines original features such as large, ornate doors, a tiled entrance hall with coving and an ancient (but no longer in use) lift with modern, minimalist décor. Reception is a laptop on a simple plinth with just a couple of large, thin vases each holding a large flower.

The bar, where breakfast is also served, has comfy white leather chairs set around low tables and jars of sweets and marshmallows on the bar give it a quirky touch. There is also a small, separate lounge area with large black and white canvases depicting famous aviators and a little of the hotel’s history stencilled on the wall.

The hotel has 47 rooms including five suites. Rooms feel modern and elegant but ultra-comfortable with soft carpets and muted grey and brown décor. The aviator theme is tastefully continued with cloud motifs on the ceilings of the suites and walls in the rooms along with a little toy plane in the bathroom. Bathrooms are crammed with L’Occitane toiletries – some have large, powerful showers, some baths, some both. All rooms are equipped with a huge flat-screen Loewe TV and iPod dock, free Wi-Fi and a Nespresso machine. The suites (except for the one on the fifth floor) all have excellent views of the Capitole from French windows.

Suite 32, which was originally Saint-Exupéry’s room (and retains the same room number as it did when he occupied it) is entirely different, and has been recreated as it would have been during the war. It has a wooden floor with rug, original fireplace and period wallpaper and furniture. It even has a bidet and sink in the corner behind a screen – although a modern bathroom has now been added.