After quite a few visits to Paris, I believed I’d seen all of it. So, after I was invited to expertise the French capital like by no means earlier than, I used to be sceptical: what might probably be new? The reply lies within the thirteenth arrondissement, simply south of the river from the favored homosexual bars of La Marais, the place the Tours Duo pierces the sky.
An award-winning masterpiece of contemporary structure, the towers had been designed by architect Jean Nouvel to resemble two dancers one another, frozen in motion, capturing the romance the town is world-famous for.
A change in native planning legal guidelines signifies that the Tours Duo can be one of many final nice skyscrapers to be constructed within the metropolis, making the TOO Hotel, which occupies the higher flooring of the smaller of the 2 buildings, one thing of a one-off.
If it initially appears unnatural to be in Paris and anyplace however inside walking distance of Notre Dame, then assume once more. The modish TOO Hotel permits guests — and residents — to absorb the town from 127 metres above its winding streets and promenades. Enabling Paris’s magnificence to be appreciated from a veritable hen’s-eye view, it gives a brand new perspective on this traditional metropolis.
The TOO Hotel, opened in October 2022 by unbiased entrepreneur Laurent Taïeb, options interiors designed by polymath Philippe Starck, who envisioned the lodge as inhabiting a place so excessive within the sky that it sits someplace between actuality and desires — the right idea for a lodge that floats above the town of sunshine.
Its 139 rooms, the smallest of which is a beneficiant 24 sq. metres, every offering a novel view throughout the town. No matter which course you face, that is actually Paris revisited.
Starting from €230 (approx. £200) a room, TOO Hotel delivers four-star excellence in design and ambiance at a genuinely reasonably priced value. Our huge suite is unfussy but cosily up to date in décor and the view from the massive bathtub is spectacular.
I dine within the magnificent Too Restaurant, which blends Asian flavours with European classics whereas, in fact, retaining a French twist to its menu, created by chef Benjamin Six.
Afterward, I ascend one flooring to take pleasure in a negroni or three within the TOO TacTac Skybar with its 150-metre panoramic terrace. As evening descends, I watch because the well-known mild of the Eiffel Tower, eight kilometres away, circles its peak and illuminates the sky, unusually almost at eye degree with the lodge terrace.
By day, the delights of central Paris are simply accessible from the lodge by way of the Metro, however I completely advocate renting a Vélib’ Métropole bike and biking alongside the Seine and previous Notre- Dame, which takes simply 20 minutes. Paris on the TOO Hotel is like an old lover — price re-discovering.
