Just south of Pigalle in the 9th arrondissement is the Hotel Arvor Saint-Georges, a slightly out-of-the-way stay on a quiet city street. The rooms are aesthetically austere but completely comfortable, and while you won't find many accents to catch your eye, there is a modern simplicity that is far more relaxing than the busier hotel rooms you find in Paris. Some rooms have rooftop views of the Eiffel Tower in the distance, some have floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, but all of them seem to have books, at the very least, owing to the proprietor's part ownership of Groupe Flammarion, the French publisher. The hotel affords guests a stay that is less a hotel room than your own small apartment in Paris, and that is the best design feature of all.

www.hotelarvor.com