Boutique hotels are somewhat of a buzzword, but you need not look further than Paris for some of the very best boutique stays. Palaces aside, Parisian buildings aren’t spacious. They may teeter up to eight or nine floors, but Haussmann buildings often culminate in chambres de bonne, the former maids’ quarters.
Ironically, what would have once been the least desirable rooms (no one with money wanted to walk up and down eight floors multiple times a day in the pre-elevator age) are now the best rooms in the house, where you can spot monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré-Cœur Basilica without even leaving your bed.
