Stay by area: our top hotel picks in Le Marais, Paris

Paris has no shortage of beautiful hotels, but Experimental Marais isn’t trying to impress with grandeur – it’s here to make you feel at home, in the most distinctly chic way possible. Set in a 17th-century hôtel in the heart of the Marais, this flagship hotel from the Experimental Group is everything the brand does best: impeccable taste, a buzzing social heartbeat and cocktails so good they’ve redefined drinking culture. French designer Dorothée Meilichzon has woven together textures and tones that feel both effortless and intimate – arched doorways, sculptural lighting and a warm, intimate palette of mustard, deep green and soft neutrals. The real soul of Experimental Marais lives in its bar and bistro. By day, the restaurant serves classic produce-driven French dishes. By night, the dimly lit cocktail bar fills with locals and in-the-know travellers. The drinks? Pure alchemy – elegant, unexpected, always a little playful.

Maison Proust turns a tree-lined street in Haut Marais into a private literary salon. The 23-room hotel is the third Paris address from Collection Maisons Particulières, founded by Sylviane Sanz and Yoni Aïdan, and was designed by Jacques Garcia as a Belle Époque tribute to Marcel Proust’s social and artistic world. Each room or suite is named after a figure from that orbit, with painted walls, heavy textiles, collected objects and theatrical colour doing most of the storytelling. There is no big lobby scene; the point is the bar, library, winter garden and Spa La Mer, with its Moorish-style pool, hammam and sauna below stairs.