Le Pavillon de la Reine stands behind the arcades at no. 28 on the north side of the Place des Vosges, the square Henri IV ordered in 1605 and the oldest planned square in Paris. The hotel borrows its name from the Queen's Pavilion on that side and dedicates it to Anne of Austria, whose engagement to Louis XIII the square was opened to celebrate. You walk under the listed 17th-century arcade, through a gate and across a cobbled courtyard garden to the house, its front green with creeper from late spring to autumn and strung with lights in December. The Chevalier family has owned and run it since the mid-1980s, with interiors by Didier Benderli of Kérylos Intérieurs.
There are 56 rooms and suites, no two decorated alike, and what separates them is size, outlook and stairs. The Classic Room is a top-floor attic room of about 21 m². The Superior is 22 m² and faces the inner courtyard. Deluxe Rooms run from 21 to 32 m² over the inner courtyard, the hotel's terrace or a quiet street, and some are duplexes. Junior Suites, 30 to 40 m² and 40 to 50 m² in the Prestige version, add a separate sitting room under high ceilings or Marais beams. At the top sit Suites of 43 to 56 m², the 75 m² Queen's Suite with Versailles parquet and a period fireplace, and Le Petit Pavillon, a 62 m² three-level house in the courtyard.
It is the romantic one because it shuts Paris out without taking you out of it. The square's red-brick houses and clipped limes are the front garden, and inside the gate the courtyard is where breakfast, tea and a glass of Champagne are served, with Anne's tables moving onto the patio in fine weather. Anne holds one MICHELIN star, seats about twenty, and Thibault Sombardier's dinner menus cost €155 and €200. The fireplace lounge is the bar until midnight, and the hammam and jacuzzi of the Spa de la Reine are free to guests from 7am to 9pm. Victor Hugo's house is 3 minutes' walk across the square.
The trade is space. The rooms at the bottom of the ladder are small, some Deluxe Rooms and Junior Suites are duplexes with a staircase inside, and the lifts and upper corridors are narrow too. Anne serves dinner Tuesday to Saturday only, and there is no pool. An entry room costs about €550 a night in February and half as much again in May, June and from September to November. Book it for two, for a long weekend in the Marais on foot, and spend the extra on a Junior Suite on one level.
