All posts filed under: France

Hotel La Tremoille, Paris

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If it’s good enough for Gaga, it’s good enough for me. La TREMOILLE was just what we needed after a busy few days of wandering the city of Paris, dancing our feet off at Pitchfork festival and eating a glut of rich food. It’s everything you would expect from a boutique five star hotel in one of the most luxurious and romantic cities in the world. Exceptionally friendly and helpful staff, a bed fit for five kings, all the amenities you could possibly need, no less than a choice of six Moulton Brown shower gels, the softest bath robes and padded slippers, high ceilings and a balcony looking out onto the cobbled streets below. As I entered the room, the child in me was unleashed and I took a running leap and crashed down onto the bed, enveloping myself in expensive silky smooth bedding. I could have easily crawled under the duvet and not moved until I had to check out, but I sensibly dragged myself up and took one last wander into the city, a …

Running in Heels Review: La Clairière, Alsace

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This was originally posted on Running in Heels following a press stay at La Clairière in Alsace. Even in the dim evening light, the quaint villages between Strasbourg and eco spa hotel La Clairière are a fairytale feast of delicate gabled roofs and charming crooked cottages. Further on, as you speed  through dark forests, the impression grows stronger until, suddenly, La Clairière looms up out of the foliage like Rapunzel’s tower. I, however, had not come to eat enchanted gingerbread or drink magical wine – or indeed, anything approaching either of those at all. Instead, I was here for a detox programme, one of the many wellness programs offered by the Alsace-based spa hotel. Three days, scores of treatments, four-course detox lunches and dinners and unlimited use of the spa – I was ready to go. First though, I headed upstairs to check out my room, which was far more traditional than the brightly coloured communal seating area downstairs and equipped with twin beds, a living space with a sofa, two balconies, a TV, mini bar and kettle with …

Hotel Pont Royal, Paris

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I felt very lucky on my birthday last year – lucky to have a friend so lovely that she bought me a return ticket to Paris on the Eurostar. We decided to go in late January for a couple of nights, which gave us a lot to look forward to following the December Christmas celebrations. We stayed at Hotel Pont Royal for the first night and moved up north closer to the station for the second. We caught the early Eurostar train from King’s Cross and three hours later arrived at the hotel where we checked in and dropped our bags off before heading straight out to wander around the streets of Paris. While we were waiting to check in, we glanced up and saw pictures on the wall of famous American intellectuals, who back in their heyday made Hotel Pont Royal their Paris home. The cocktail bar was a thing of beauty – dark and lavish and we learned it was one of the leading cocktail bars in Paris from the 1920s and frequented …