Within €25 of each other, both four-star, neither with a spa, a pool or parking of its own. Grands Boulevards Experimental, from about €260, if you want dinner from Giovanni Passerini's menu under a glass roof, a rooftop bar and Dorothée Meilichzon's canopied beds; Le Pigalle, from about €285, if you would rather live inside South Pigalle, with DJs and a record library downstairs and Sacré-Cœur a 12-minute climb.
The smart moneyFifty designer rooms down a passage off the Grands Boulevards, with a glass-roofed courtyard restaurant and a rooftop bar.
€From about €260 a night
Choose Grands Boulevards Experimental if
The catch
The entry Petit Boulevard rooms are 14 to 15 m², and room size is the complaint guests make most often.
The insider oneA 40-room South Pigalle hotel whose ground floor is a café, bar and record library for the whole neighbourhood, with the Métro at the door and the quarter's cafés and grocers all around.
€From about €285 a night
Choose Le Pigalle if
The catch
The ground-floor bar runs until 2am from Thursday to Saturday, the other bars on Rue Frochot keep the street lively at night, and noise can reach the rooms, most of all at weekends; the courtyard side is quieter.
| Best for | Grands Boulevards Experimental | Le Pigalle |
|---|---|---|
| Best design hotels in Paris | On the list | On the list |
| Best value hotels in Paris | On the list | On the list |
| Best central hotels in Paris | On the list | On the list |
Grands Boulevards ExperimentalLe Pigalle
Grands Boulevards Experimental
Le Pigalle
The verdict
Within €25 of each other, both four-star, neither with a spa, a pool or parking of its own. Grands Boulevards Experimental, from about €260, if you want dinner from Giovanni Passerini's menu under a glass roof, a rooftop bar and Dorothée Meilichzon's canopied beds; Le Pigalle, from about €285, if you would rather live inside South Pigalle, with DJs and a record library downstairs and Sacré-Cœur a 12-minute climb.
Questions people ask
Within €25 of each other, both four-star, neither with a spa, a pool or parking of its own. Grands Boulevards Experimental, from about €260, if you want dinner from Giovanni Passerini's menu under a glass roof, a rooftop bar and Dorothée Meilichzon's canopied beds; Le Pigalle, from about €285, if you would rather live inside South Pigalle, with DJs and a record library downstairs and Sacré-Cœur a 12-minute climb.
Grands Boulevards Experimental spends its money on the courtyard restaurant, the rooftop and the decoration, and keeps the rooms small and the rates low. Book a Parisian Eaves room, eat downstairs at least once, and spend the days out in the city. A design-led, sociable 50-room hotel in the middle of Paris, priced for people who would rather spend on the city than on the room. The draw is the courtyard restaurant, the rooftop bar and the decoration, not floor space or hush.
There is no pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.
Le Pigalle is a Paris hotel for people who want a neighbourhood more than the sights, at a fraction of what the grand hotels ask. Book a Pigalle 21 for the records and pack earplugs for Friday and Saturday. A small, characterful hotel that works as a café and bar for Pigalle as much as a place to sleep, at a fraction of grand-hotel prices. You book it for the street, the records and the ground floor, not for space, silence or a spa.
There is no pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.