Hotel Des Grandes Ecoles by Jamie Dunford Wood

Just a few paces up from the Paradis Latin cabaret and close to the Sorbonne, staying in the des Grandes Ecoles is rather like staying in a private house. The charm of the hotel rests almost entirely on its pretty courtyard garden, onto which a number of the rooms look, so this is not particularly a winter hotel. Prices are reasonable too. Rooms are on the small side but generally this is made up for by the light flooding in large windows, and the pretty 18th patterned wallpaper, giving them a cottagey feel. The largest rooms are in ‘aile droit’ building which do not look over the garden, and have steep stairs and no lift. The garden building ground floor rooms are the most charming, though your fellow guests staggering in late at night through the courtyard may disturb you. The hotel is run with iron determination by an old Parisienne, who marks reservations on a massive booking sheet covering a large desk in reception, just off the small but pretty breakfast room, from where you can view any early new arrivals with interest.