Best central hotels in Paris

Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel stands on the Place de la Concorde, which opens onto the Tuileries and the Seine, so the first walks need no planning. It is 5 minutes to the Tuileries gate on the square, 8 to the Musée de l'Orangerie, 16 over the river to the Musée d'Orsay and 20 to the Louvre Pyramid. Hermès, at No. 24 on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, is 3 minutes away, the Madeleine 7, Place Vendôme and the Petit Palais 11 and the Palais Garnier 17.

Dinner is as close. Maxim's, Bistrot Minim's and Mimosa at the Hôtel de la Marine are each 3 minutes away, and Angelina's hot chocolate under the Rivoli arcades 10. For the longer hops, the Concorde Métro exit on Avenue Gabriel is a minute from the door, for lines 1, 8 and 12, and line 1 runs straight to the Louvre and the Marais.

Le Grand Mazarin is on the corner of Rue des Archives and Rue de la Verrerie in the 4th, a step from the Hôtel de Ville, with the islands and the Marais on foot. From the door, Notre-Dame is 11 minutes on foot, as is the Musée Carnavalet; Berthillon, on the Île Saint-Louis, and the Musée Picasso are 12, the Marché des Enfants Rouges and the Place des Vosges 13, and the Louvre Pyramid 22. L'As du Fallafel, on Rue des Rosiers, is 7.

Hôtel de Ville station, on lines 1 and 11, is 2 minutes away, and Châtelet, 7 to 9 minutes on foot, adds lines 4, 7 and 14, with line 4 straight from Gare du Nord. Benoit, a bistro since 1912, Miznon's pitas and Au Bourguignon du Marais are each 6 minutes away, and back at the hotel the 8-metre mosaic pool is for guests.

Grands Boulevards Experimental is set back down a passage off Boulevard Poissonnière, among the theatres and covered passages of the 2nd, with Grands Boulevards station, lines 8 and 9, a minute away. On foot, Le Grand Rex is 3 minutes, the Passage Jouffroy and the Passage des Panoramas 4, Rue Montorgueil about 10, the Palais-Royal garden 13, the Palais Garnier and the Galeries Lafayette 14 to 15 and the Louvre about 22.

For the longer hops, line 9 runs west to the Champs-Élysées and the Trocadéro, and Gare du Nord is five minutes by taxi for the Eurostar. There is no car park of its own, and no need for one: dinner is on foot, with Bouillon Chartier and Panurge 4 minutes away and Giovanni Passerini's menu in the courtyard downstairs.

Le Bristol Paris is on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré at the corner of Avenue Matignon, three minutes from the gates of the Élysée Palace. On foot, the Place de la Concorde is 15 minutes away, the Madeleine 13, the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais 11 and the Musée Jacquemart-André 10, while the Champs-Élysées, at the Rond-Point, and Hermès at No. 24 are both 9. Parc Monceau is 16 minutes north and the Palais Garnier 20.

The Louvre is half an hour on foot, so for the museums further east take the Métro: Miromesnil station, on lines 9 and 13, is 4 minutes from the door. You will not need a car, though the hotel parks one for €55 a night in its underground car park. Dalloyau's pâtisserie is 4 minutes up the Faubourg, Le Melville, a jazz club, 4, and Le Grand Restaurant, Jean-François Piège's two stars, 6.

Le Pigalle is on Rue Frochot in South Pigalle, at the foot of Montmartre, and its best walks go up the hill rather than down to the river. The Musée de la Vie romantique and the Place des Abbesses are 6 minutes on foot, the Moulin Rouge 7, the Place du Tertre 10 and the Sacré-Cœur 12, most of it climbing; the Palais Garnier is 20 minutes away.

Pigalle Métro, on lines 2 and 12, is 2 minutes from the door, and line 12 runs straight to Madeleine and Concorde. Rue des Martyrs closes to cars at weekends and Montmartre has car-free Sunday streets, and the hotel has no car park of its own, so come without one. Dinner is on the doorstep, with Bouillon Pigalle 2 minutes away, Le Pantruche 4 and La Mascotte, the old Montmartre brasserie, 9.