Rates: from €350
Added extras: round bathtubs and rainforest showers
Services: wifi, bar-restaurant and Toto toilets
With its enormous golden dragons on the walls, lacquered furniture and Chinese wardrobes, the Buddha-Bar Hotel is the mirror image of its famous restaurant, which enough to fill anyone with wanderlust for the Eastern climes. 4 Rue d’Anjou invites guests to travel back in time to 1930s Shanghai.
Illuminated by a hundred cinnabar lanterns, the entrance of the hotel is like an Asian temple. It earns every one of its five stars; the reception is neat and welcoming but not overly so. In this magnificent eighteenth century mansion, which is now classified as a historical monument, a labyrinth of corridors leads to the 37 rooms and 19 suites decorated by the architect François Wapler (DWA) – who also designed the interior of the Buddha-Bar Hotel Prague and Barrio Latino in Paris. Imperial yellow pleated silk in the corridors, prunus branches with flowers along the bar and delicate amber-coloured silk suspensions in the rooms: the Asian decor of the hotel borrows inspiration from Japan and China. A guaranteed change of scenery (at least for Western tourists).
The Buddha-Bar Hotel is split over five floors and is set around a paved 200m2 courtyard. The Queen superior rooms are between 28m2 and 180m2 (of which 60m2 living rooms and 30m2 bathrooms) for the Gagny suite (the former owner). If you want our opinion, go for a 32m2 Deluxe King room with a fluffy king size bed, a huge round bathtub, a sumptuous vermilion dressing-room, Toto toilet and a Nespresso machine (three capsules offered per day). The Saint-Honoré area is very lively during the day but quiet at night when all the luxury boutique shops close. The Buddha-Bar itself too is rather quiet. As for the morning, the breakfast buffet lived up to expectations: Bordier butter, fresh fruit, pressed fruit cocktails and sublime viennoiseries. In the evening, the Qu4tre lounge bar on the ground floor offers a very elaborate cocktail menu (around €20 for a glass and €15 for a mocktail). You won’t want to leave that’s for sure.