A Chic New Hotel in Paris Feels Like a Relaxing Home
Paris is a city that is enjoyed mostly by pretending you live in it. After visiting for the first time, you dream of one day having our own pied-à-terre here. But life and the sometimes eye-popping state of real estate here make it less than realistic. But to pretend to live here, well that’s my favorite way to be in it. I have my own little Parisian routine—pastry, espresso, cigarette—to start the day. And from there it’s all about how French can I make myself look for a week? Can I blend in and not look like a tourist? Create a totally different persona—dressing well, late lunch with wine, and a side of people-watching.
The key, though, is to have a place to return to at the end of the day that doesn’t shatter the fantasy. This is exactly the feeling in the recently renovated and reopened hotel NUAGE, a boutique spot that has been in the same family since the 1950s and is the latest selection for Room Key, The Daily Beast series on exciting new hotels.
The hotel has a mere 27 rooms, and despite being located just off the high-end tourism madness of the lower Champs-Elysées, this property has been transformed into a sanctuary of calm and taste. In its previous life, the hotel was the Elysée Mermoz, and had the look of a small Parisian hotel that had been around for decades–dated wallpaper in the bedrooms, latticed atrium, old-fashioned bathrooms. With designer Jordane Arrivetz, the hotel has been transformed into an urban hideaway. To walk in its doors and into the light-filled atrium of travertine tile, light oak, beige furnishings, and stark, bare white walls feels like you’ve walked into the home of a friend who has dedicated this space to quiet relaxation. NUAGE isn’t French luxury that makes your spine stiffen.