Recommended Hotels in the 5th Arrondissement of Paris (the Latin Quarter)

On Rue Cujas, right across from the Sorbonne, stands a 47-room hotel that hides a hammam and a gym in its basement, open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Breakfast includes hot dishes and made-to-order omelets, and in the afternoon tea is served in the lobby. Luxembourg RER station is about a three-minute walk away, so you can get to Charles de Gaulle Airport without changing lines. Note that the standard rooms are a bit smaller than usual, so I recommend spending a little more and booking a renovated room with a balcony. The view of the Paris rooftops is worth the difference.

This hotel is built entirely around Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), and its basement hides an indoor pool surrounded by tropical plants, along with a sauna. The Bar 1802 on the ground floor has more than 1,600 kinds of rum(!), which makes it one of the best bars in the Latin Quarter. The rooms range from 16 square meters (the boudoir on the top floor, with a private balcony) to 38 square meters in the suite. Rue Pascal is very quiet at night, but it’s a bit far from the historic center. I especially recommend it for couples looking for a hotel they may not want to leave in the evening.

The 56 rooms and suites here are designed around Thierry des Ouches’s photographs of Paris, so it’s really a gallery you can sleep in. Breakfast is served in a vaulted stone cellar and includes scrambled eggs, bacon and cheeses, and in the afternoon there’s free coffee and cake in the lobby. There’s also a sauna, a gym and a hydraulic massage bed. All of this is in the heart of the 5th arrondissement, about 200 meters from Maubert-Mutualité station. Note that the ground-floor rooms can be noisy, so I recommend asking for a room on a high floor facing the inner patio.

A hotel that is one big tribute to champagne: 37 rooms and 7 suites designed by Sandrine Alouf, a champagne bar and a vaulted cellar for tastings led by a wine expert. The hammam and sauna are completely private and open 24 hours with advance booking, and the Amélie room has an antique foot bath and a view of the towers of Notre-Dame. It’s on Rue des Écoles, a few minutes from Boulevard Saint-Germain. The design isn’t for everyone and some will find it too bold, but if you’re coming to celebrate something, I don’t know a better address in Paris.

27 rooms in a 1950s style with a constant wink at “Alice in Wonderland”, right across from the Musée de Cluny. At the entrance a tray of macarons labeled Eat Me is waiting for you, and between 3 and 6 p.m. tea and cake are served free of charge. The building is old and the elevator is tiny, so if you’re arriving with big suitcases, keep that in mind. I recommend asking for a room on one of the upper floors, since Boulevard Saint-Michel stays busy until the small hours.

In an 18th-century building on Rue Saint-Jacques, which in the days of Louis XV (reigned 1715-1774) served as the first post office in Paris and in the summer of 1970 hosted Jim Morrison (1943-1971). The 20 rooms were designed by Sybille de Margerie, each one after a different period in the city’s history: the Middle Ages, Louis XV, Napoleon III, the 1920s and the 1970s. The windows are triple-glazed, so it’s quiet inside, and the Panthéon and the Luxembourg Gardens are a few minutes’ walk away. The hotel is small and has no spa, but for history lovers this address is hard to beat.

30 rooms behind a Second Empire facade, some of them looking straight onto the Arènes de Lutèce, the first-century Roman amphitheater that lay forgotten in the heart of the neighborhood until it was found during excavations in the 19th century. The minibar in the room is free and refilled daily, the lobby has a tea salon and an honesty bar, and the basement has a small hammam you can book for private use. Place Monge station is about 200 meters away, and the Jardin des Plantes is about a ten-minute walk. The rooms aren’t big, but they’re well planned, and I recommend asking for one facing the Arènes.

Only ten rooms, in a 17th-century townhouse on the Quai Saint-Michel, and all of them look out on the Seine and Notre-Dame. The beams and exposed stone were kept in place, breakfast is served in a vaulted room and is based on local organic products, and the suite on the top floor stretches over 38 square meters under the roof. Jean-Luc Godard (1930-2022) filmed scenes from “Breathless” in front of this facade. The quay is busy during the day, so if every noise wakes you up, I recommend asking for a room on a high floor. In my opinion, this is one of the best views in Paris.

I stayed here in 2002 and 2019. Pleasant and central. The hotel stands across from Place Saint-Michel and its fountain, in a 19th-century building with 39 soundproofed rooms. Breakfast is served in a vaulted stone room and includes a selection of cheeses and cold cuts, and in the afternoon there’s wine and snacks in the lobby. Saint-Michel Notre-Dame station is around the corner, with a direct RER to Charles de Gaulle and Orly. Note that the elevator is very small and breakfast is fairly average, so you’re better off eating out. I recommend asking for a room facing the inner courtyard, since the square stays awake until late.

I stayed here in 2009 and really loved the location (a three-minute walk from the Luxembourg Gardens). The hotel stands on Place de la Sorbonne, a small, shady square that most tourists walk right past. Behind the 18th-century facade opens a glass-roofed atrium with a two-story winter garden of cacti, and from there a stone and granite maze leads to the vaulted breakfast rooms. There’s also a library, a lounge with a fireplace and a small bar in an alcove. The 65 rooms are small but cleverly planned. Breakfast is fairly expensive, so I recommend having your coffee at one of the cafés on the square itself.

35 rooms in a 19th-century stone building, with decorated ceilings, murals and an original staircase. The Toulouse-Lautrec bar on the ground floor offers absinthe tastings, and the spa has a sauna, a hammam and a sensory shower that you can book for private use for forty-five minutes. From some rooms you can see the Panthéon or the towers of Notre-Dame. The design is heavy and very Belle Époque, and the Classic rooms are only about 14 square meters, so I warmly recommend taking a Privilege room, even if it means paying a bit more.

A family hotel on Rue Berthollet that opened in 1979 and is run today by the next generation of the family, and you can feel it as soon as you reach the front desk. The 40 rooms range from 15 to 45 square meters, and about half of them can be connected to a neighboring room, which makes it a rare address for large families. There’s an inner garden, and breakfast is served downstairs in the cellar. From Censier-Daubenton station on line 7, you reach the Louvre in twelve minutes without changing lines. The elevator is small, so if you’re arriving with heavy suitcases, be patient. I especially recommend it for anyone staying a week or more.

After a thorough renovation in 2022 there are 75 rooms here, a patio in a medieval style, and above all a heated 15-meter pool inspired by the Roman baths, along with a hammam and a treatment room. A pool of this size in the heart of the Latin Quarter is very rare. Breakfast costs 20 euros (fairly cheap for a hotel of this level) and is served from 7 to 11 a.m., and from here you can reach the Luxembourg Gardens in a 4-minute walk. The rooms aren’t big and the bathrooms are compact, but after a full day on your feet, I recommend going down to the pool before dinner, not after.

38 rooms a two-minute walk from Rue Mouffetard, one of the most fun streets in Paris and surely one of the tastiest. The lobby was redesigned in a 1970s spirit, with velvet and a round sofa, and in the afternoon they serve Kodama tea with homemade cakes and a selection of wines from women-run wineries. You can take your breakfast out to the inner courtyard. The building is old and sounds carry in the corridors, so I recommend asking for a room far from the elevator. In terms of value for money, this is one of the best deals in the arrondissement.