If you’ve ever
looked longingly at a hamster cage and wished you could run on a wheel and
drink out of a big bottle of water mounted to the wall, there’s a hotel in
France just for you. La Villa Hamster has guest rooms designed to resemble
hamster cages, complete with haystack beds and wrought iron wheels – including
one in the lobby that actually works. To reach the traditional mattress in each
room, you have to climb through a tube, and in the bathroom, you have your
choice between a regular toilet or a bed of wood chips.
The Kube Hotel gets
its name from the look of its reception area – a large glass cube that calls to
mind ice hotels in the frigid Arctic. And in fact, among the 41 guest rooms is
“The Ice Cube Room by Grey Goose”, where you can sleep in -10 degrees on an ice
bed covered with animal skins. Relaxing hues of blue and lilac continue into
the remaining guest rooms.
This hotel is
impossible to miss. Positioned on the waterfront in Bordeaux on a historic 18th
century block, the bright white facade of the Seeko’o is a pop of futurism and
serves as a fun, modern home base when touring France’s wine country. 45 rooms
outfitted with all manner of high-tech gadgets and gizmos feature large French
windows offering a view of the water and black ceilings surrounded with lights,
giving the effect of a night sky.
Sumptuous, intimate
and sexy: these three words sum up the One by the Five Hotel in Paris. Billed
as one of the city’s most romantic hotels, the One by the Five is located in
the colorful Latin Quarter and is actually just a single five-room suite with
no sign, lobby or staff – you check in at The Five hotel across the street.
Draped with velvet and decorated with giant art panels depicting close-ups of
human body parts, the hotel even has a purple boudoir full of perfume bottles.
Given a chic
makeover by fashion designer Christian Lacroix, Paris’ Hotel Bellechasse is a
stunning fusion of 19th century visuals and modern comfort and convenience.
Hidden away on a narrow side street in the oh-so-Parisian St. Germain
neighborhood, this boutique hotel is a feast for the eyes.
With
brightly-colored design details that pop against a minimalist white backdrop,
the Color Design Hotel in Paris definitely lives up to its name. Located in the
heart of the city between the Place de la Bastille and the Gare de Lyon
Station, the 3-star Color Design Hotel has 46 modern rooms that rent for
affordable prices in one of Europe’s priciest cities.
Rent an inflatable,
transparent ‘bubble tent’ and place it just about anywhere in the South of
France, from the hilly countryside of Mont Blanc to the beach or even in a
tree. CristalBubble Hotel is 13 feet in diameter with a king-sized bed;
certainly the most comfortable way to sleep under the stars with a 360-degree
view. Designed for two adults, the bubbles can be expanded to add a smaller
children’s room – or servant’s quarters, if that’s how you roll.
Chic and
understated, Hotel le A is a collaboration between designer/architect Fréderic
Mechiche and artist Fabrice Hybert, whose understated design sensibilities
combine to form a minimalist yet visually interesting and inviting place to
stay, just around the corner from the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées.
The hotel’s 25 guest rooms, including 9 suites and one apartment, are all
monochromatic relaxation.
Rated the third best
hotel in Europe by TripAdvisor, the Hotel des Academies celebrates the creative
arts – fitting for its location in one of the artsiest districts in Paris.
Choose from classic or Art Deco-styled rooms designed by artist Jérôme Mesnager
and sculptor Sophie de Watrigant – decorated, naturally, with many unique
artistic touches. It’s definitely all elegance, and not a budget hotel by any
means, but its creative 21st-century interpretation of the modern art culture
of the city makes it worth a splurge.
This cluster of 9
quirky bungalows on an island in Eastern France is fantastically
retrofuturistic, with groovy interiors full of pop art that seem straight out
of the 1960′s. Museumotel‘s bubble suites, which have private bathrooms and
a view of the sea.