29 Rue Jacob, 75006 Paris

La Villa Saint Germain des Prés

Name: La Villa Saint Germain des Prés
Address: 29 Rue Jacob, Paris, 75006, FR
Rating: 4.75

Hotel 5-star with pool and spa in Paris

Presentation

Villa Saint Germain des Prés slips in between the Saint-Germain-des-Prés church and the École des Beaux-Arts, just a stone’s throw from Le Flore and Les Deux Magots. The entrance is discreet, almost invisible among the art galleries and bookstores on rue Bonaparte.

Inside, the atmosphere changes completely. The lobby feels more like a private home than a hotel lobby: dark wood, low lighting, a few sculptures placed as in a sitting room. You immediately sense a thick, almost hushed calm, far from the bustle of boulevard Saint-Germain just a few meters away.

The rooms and suites, about twenty in all, bear the signature of decorator Bruno Borrione. Dark parquet flooring, vintage photographs on the walls, generous bedding: each room feels like a small cabinet of curiosities where you sleep well. The categories vary little in spirit but differ in scale: a double bed in the Classic rooms, a sitting area added in the Privilege rooms, a true separate living room in the Junior Suites, practical for a family traveling with a child.

In the morning, breakfast is served on the ground floor between 7:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.: pastries, cheese, fruit salads, eggs made to order. There is an extra charge, which is still common in this type of establishment, but which is worth knowing before booking. For late risers or buffet-shy guests, a continental tray is brought directly to the room.

The bar is impossible to miss, open from 4 p.m. to midnight in a jazzy, dim atmosphere. It is there that the staff, often praised for their kindness and their memory for faces, are happy to recommend a place for dinner in the neighborhood: there is no restaurant on site, but room service and the bar are more than enough to never go out hungry.

In the basement, the wellness area is impressive for its seriousness: counter-current swimming pool, sauna, Technogym-equipped fitness room, treatment cabin for a massage or scrub. Enough to fill an entire morning without leaving the premises.

Step outside, and everything is within easy reach: the Louvre nine minutes away, the Musée d’Orsay twelve, the Jardin du Luxembourg a little over a kilometer away. Rue de Seine and rue Jacob line up their galleries and bookstores all the way to the end of the block. The rooms facing rue Bonaparte benefit from this activity, but those looking above all for silence would do well to request a courtyard-facing room or one overlooking the rooftops when booking.

One last tip: the evening turndown service often leaves a small snack in the room, enough to nibble before sleeping without having to go back downstairs.

Summary of a few positive reviews read on the Web

Julio, at the concierge desk, takes the time to greet every guest, morning and evening, always with a smile.
Heated floor in the bathroom, thick towels, an almost silent kettle, Wi-Fi that never cuts out.
Evening turndown service with a small snack left on the bed, simple but much appreciated.
At the bar, the staff prepares custom cocktails and gives their own recommendations for dinner in the neighborhood.
About twenty rooms in total, never any crowd in the corridors, a calm pace from morning to night.
Just steps from Les Deux Magots and Le Flore, bakeries and cafés on every street corner, the Louvre reachable on foot in fifteen minutes.