Recommended Hotels in the Northern Marais (the 3rd Arrondissement of Paris)

It sits just behind Place des Vosges (a simply wonderful location). You walk in under the arcades into an ivy-covered courtyard, and all the noise of the square stays outside. There are 56 rooms, a free minibar, and a spa in the basement with a hammam and a Jacuzzi. Guests can also borrow bicycles, and there’s private valet parking, which is rare in Paris. The combination of indulgence and a perfect location easily makes it one of the best hotels in Paris. If this website ever makes me a millionaire, I promise you this will become my “home hotel” :-).

It opened in 1885 as the Guerbois family’s bathhouse, and Marcel Proust (1871-1922) used to come here for the sulfur baths. In 1978 it became the club Les Bains Douches, designed by Philippe Starck (born 1949), where Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) and David Bowie (1947-2016) danced. Since 2015 it has been a 39-room hotel, and the original pool has been restored and still sits in the basement, next to the club. Breakfast at the Roxo restaurant is served until 3 p.m. (perfect for the night owls among us who like to sleep in). On weekends you can hear the club, so I recommend asking for a room on a high floor. The hotel is very central, about a five-minute walk from Les Halles.

It’s on Rue du Temple, named after the Knights Templar, and the hotel takes that idea all the way: stained glass, candlesticks, church-style door knockers, and a candlelit crypt across from the reception desk. There are 43 rooms, each with a record player and a collection of vinyl records. In the basement there’s a spa with a heated pool inspired by Roman baths and a hammam. I wrote separately about the history of the Marais, and it helps you understand where all this aesthetic comes from. The lighting is very dark, even at 10 a.m., and that’s not a bug, it’s a feature. If you need natural light to wake up, look elsewhere. The hotel used to be called Sinner Paris.

It opened in 2017 behind a completely ordinary Haussmann facade, with 66 rooms designed by Raphael Navot. On the ground floor there’s an Italian restaurant and a cocktail bar called Herbarium, where the cocktails are built like perfumes and you’re handed little scent bottles to choose from. Some of the rooms have a balcony. Important: the rooftop bar is open only in summer, so if you’re coming in January for the view, don’t book here. Breakfast is also fairly expensive for a neighborhood full of cafés.

There are 19 rooms on Rue des Archives, a minute from the Carreau du Temple. Breakfast is made on site and served until noon, and you’ll find fresh baguettes, pain perdu (French toast) and eggs made to order. The lobby has a cocktail bar with jazz in the background. There’s no restaurant, but there are plenty of options within a three-minute radius. The rooms in the basic category are small, and I recommend upgrading to a bigger room if you’re staying for a week.

There are 31 rooms on Rue de Commines, and on the ground floor there’s a real café that’s also open to the street. That’s where breakfast is served, including avocado toast and eggs. When you arrive, two madeleines are waiting for you on the bed. Room sizes vary a lot: some are nine square meters and some are twenty-five, and you feel the difference mostly in the bathroom. The elevator is tiny and doesn’t reach every floor, so if you have a heavy suitcase, mention it when you book so they give you a room with elevator access. The Musée Picasso is five minutes away. The hotel used to be called Hotel Sookie.

The building was one of the first bakeries in Paris, dating back to the days of Henri IV (r. 1589-1610), and the facade with its 1900 Boulangerie sign has been kept exactly as it was. The reception desk sits inside the old shop. The 17 rooms were designed by Christian Lacroix (born 1951), and each one is completely different from the next: wallpaper with animal prints, bold colors and heavy curtains. In some rooms the shower is handheld only, so if that bothers you, ask before you book.

This used to be a workshop for precious metals, and all that’s left of it is the 18th-century wooden frame that now holds up the bar. There are 23 rooms in three buildings around two cobbled courtyards. You can’t see the bar from the street: you go in through the reception, step out into the courtyard, and there’s an open fire burning in winter. The entrance hallway serves as a rotating gallery for local artists, and the works are for sale. Breakfast isn’t cheap. The Jules rooms are the smallest and suit a solo traveler; as a couple, ask for a Hi-Macs room or a duplex.

There are 19 rooms on Rue du Grenier-Saint-Lazare, in an excellent location (the Centre Pompidou is a five-minute walk away). Each room is dedicated to a different modern art movement: Pop Art, Dada, Op Art, Land Art. It sounds like a gimmick, and it works because they took it seriously. At check-in they pour you a glass of champagne, there’s a self-service bar in the lobby, and the staircase with its wooden banister was kept from the original building. The rooms are small and there isn’t much space to hang clothes, so don’t bring the entire contents of your closet from home.

The building was the home of Salomon de Caus (1576-1626), an engineer, mathematician and designer of fountains and gardens. Today it’s a 4-star hotel right across from a lovely garden. Breakfast is served in an Art Nouveau room with a glass roof, and there are gluten-free and dairy-free options (bonus: they cut a fruit salad for you right in front of you). The rooms have no minibar and no bottled water, but you get a carafe. The standard rooms are small and there’s only one narrow elevator. Ask for a high floor with a balcony. It’s fifty meters from the Réaumur-Sébastopol metro station.

The hotel is in a 1910 stone building, the kind they built at the end of the Belle Époque, and you can see it as soon as you walk in: stone vaults and an original mosaic floor. The ground floor has three places to sit: a lobby with armchairs, a lounge with sofas, and a café with an old-style metal counter. The location on Rue de Turbigo is simply great: right next to the Marais on one side, not far from Les Halles on the other, and all within walking distance (if you still want to go farther, the Temple metro station is right next to the hotel, and République is about a two-minute walk away, from where you can reach the Eiffel Tower without changing lines). The furniture in the rooms is somewhat dated, and the rooms face the street and the public areas, which can make the hotel a little noisy.

The building dates from the 17th century, and the name comes from the Hôtel des Tournelles, the palace that stood where Place des Vosges is today. That’s where Henri II (r. 1547-1559) was wounded in a jousting accident and died of his wounds. There are 24 rooms, all renovated in 2016. Breakfast is served in a vaulted cellar from the same period, and it’s the most beautiful part of the hotel. The lobby has an honesty bar and a small library. The rooms are small and the bathrooms are even smaller, so this is a hotel for a couple with carry-on bags, not for a family with lots of gear.

I’ve stayed at this hotel twice and really enjoyed it. It’s a 3-star hotel on Rue Montgolfier, thirty meters from the Arts et Métiers metro station, served by lines 3 and 11. There are 29 rooms, and a standard double is about twelve square meters, so a couple with two suitcases will feel it. Breakfast is decent, but if you listen to me, there’s a boulangerie a one-minute walk away that makes great sandwiches, and if you’re a little more adventurous, there are Chinese restaurants a few minutes’ walk away that will serve you Chinese soup for breakfast. I recommend asking for a room on a high floor facing the courtyard, since those are the quietest.

I stayed here in 2005, and even though it’s a fairly modest hotel, I really enjoyed it. The location is simply great, right next to the northern Marais and a metro station. There are 36 rooms, and the price is relatively low precisely because of their size: a double room is about eleven square meters. The breakfast room opens onto a small courtyard, and you can eat out there when the weather allows. The elevator is tiny and fits one person with a suitcase. Ask for a room facing the courtyard: the street side is noisy at night.

Another pleasant, modest hotel where I stayed in 2018. It’s on Rue Meslay, a minute from Place de la République, which means five metro lines right under your door (on the other hand, I have to mention that this is the square where Paris’s big demonstrations take place, so on the day of a demonstration it’s best to stay away). Breakfast costs €12 and is served from 7 to 10 a.m., and some rooms have a small balcony. But there’s one drawback you need to know about in advance: there’s no air-conditioning. In summer the place can turn into an oven, but in spring and fall it’s excellent value for money. The attractions of the arrondissement are all within walking distance.

There are 46 rooms on Rue Meslay, a few minutes from Place de la République, so it shares the same location advantages as the previous hotel. There’s air-conditioning, soundproof windows and an espresso machine in every room with plenty of capsules. What it doesn’t have is a lobby: there’s no lounge to sit in and no bar, and it’s a hotel meant for sleeping and heading out. The rooms are small and the showers are compact. The rooms are renovated and modern.

A small, renovated hotel on a quiet street, with an elevator and air-conditioning in every room. Breakfast costs €8, one of the cheapest in the area, and is served from 7:30 to 10 a.m. There’s one double room with a private patio, an accessible room on the ground floor and a family suite. Some rooms also have a kitchenette with a fridge and a stovetop. Important: the rooms are very small and the walls are thin, but considering the price and the location (the Musée Carnavalet is about a ten-minute walk away), I definitely recommend it.

It’s named after Jacques de Molay (1243-1314), the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, who was burned at the stake in Paris. There are 23 rooms on Rue des Archives, with exposed wooden beams and stone walls. The gym and sauna are free for guests, and breakfast is served under a glass dome, with crêpes and macarons. Some of the rooms are really small, so I highly recommend taking a bigger room, even if it means paying a little more. The Marché des Enfants Rouges is about 150 meters away, and the Musée Picasso is about an eight-minute walk from the hotel.

I stayed here with a friend in 2006, back when we were both on a fairly tight budget, and I still remember the hotel fondly. It’s a 2-star hotel with 53 simple rooms, basic furniture and a price you almost never see in central Paris. What it does have is character: each room has a different theme, with comic-style prints, and the common area has a piano along with board games and a small library. Breakfast starts as early as 6 a.m., which is perfect if you have an early train to catch. It’s a two-minute walk from a metro station and a ten-minute walk from Les Halles (great if you want to get to Disneyland Paris or just go shopping).