I can never get tired of the 7th arrondisement in Paris. I like the feel of quiet residential neighborhood and close proximity to good restaurants that lined Rue St Dominque and Rue Cler.
For our 3rd visit to Paris we decided to get a nicer hotel closer to Rue Cler and after much research settled on Relais Bosquet due to the positive comments about customer service.
In that regard I was not disappointed. The customer service was top notch. The front desk was very polite, and took care of business with class.
Rue Cler is about 1/2 block away and the hotel is very close to the very rustic but good value Cafe du Marche. Unfortunately I did not know it at the time, but Rue Cler is a bit dead on Mondays. But during other days you can really pick up a lot of nice supplies for a picnic lunch or snack - from raw oysters to pates to fruits to cheese to bakery to chocolates to ice cream. A foodie heaven to sum.
Rue St. Dominque is another street that is packed with nice shops and restaurants and about 10 minute walk away. We went to Fables de la Fountaine and Cafe Constant and they were both very good.
The hotel was really 2 residential buildings transformed into a hotel. The is a hallway that connects the two on the ground floor. As a result, the elevator is miniscule (fits 2 person and 2 suitcases), and the staircase is narrow and not advisable to use.
Partially due to the retrofitting, our room is a bit peculiar and a disappointment. It was a very large room by Parisian standards, and it was decorated nicely and very clean. But the toilet was in a tiny room next to the bed, and there was no sink near it. So every night we had to go through the ritual of going to the toilet, and then run across the room to go to the shower/tub/sink in the bathroom at the other end. Not fun.
Lastly, the sound travels. One night on our floor, the kids (apparently in a different room) kept knocking on the door of their parent's room, looking for toothbrush and such. We could hear every word.
So I will consider this hotel again because overall it was really a good hotel, but I will want to double check the layout of the room.
- Hotel Relais Bosquet
