Wow!  That’s the word my nieces kept saying as they ran around the room.  I was just welling up I was so happy.

I knew that on this trip the novelty of staying in a hotel room together was as much of a treat as going to Paris at all, so I really, really agonised over finding the right hotel.

Paris has 1,845 hotels, according to Tripadvisor, and, although I’ve never stayed in a bad one, the words clean and safe probably would knock out a good 20% of them.  Add in the shocking fact that some hotels in Paris do not allow children (!) and that many of them are too small to allow an extra bed, and finding a family friendly, good value hotel in Paris for one adult, one twelve year old and one eleven year old was a tough challenge to start with.

Then you have to factor in my pride in wanting to be the best auntie in the world and find somewhere that was not only all of the above but also had a traditional Parisienne feel, wasn’t seedy, was in a good location and would, in short, blow their socks off.

Salvation came in the form of the Sunday Times Travel Magazine’s Best Value Awards - their best value hotel in the world - Design Sorbonne, where you can find a discounted hotel room for €100 - a bargain for central Paris.  It’s part of the Hotel Rive Gauche boutique chain, which also includes several apartments to rent.  After emailing each hotel I finally found that they have triple rooms (not advertised) for €200-240 in high season.

Booking was not without its difficulties - they sent me back a confirmation for the wrong night, then told me there was a problem with my credit card (it turned out it was at their end), but the receptionist apologised profusely and sorted everything out.  But they also sent me an email to confirm the trip and very obligingly organised an early check-in even though I didn’t even ask (I just asked if there was somewhere we could leave our bags!)

The hotel is right next to the Pantheon, so it’s a 5-10 minute walk from the Luxembourg RER - which is 3 stops from Gare du Nord (1 RATP ticket each).  The girls were unimpressed by the seedy RER and the walk - although seeing the Pantheon in front of them perked them up, but as soon as we walked into the lobby they were intrigued.

Stepping into the room they went crazy.  The bedroom itself has the most Parisienne look and feel, the hallway with its many doors, the pink bathroom with a petal resting on a towel, the slippers, the mini-bar with champagne, the array of old lamps, and of course the Toblerone in the corner.  When they realised the wall coverings were fabric rather than paper I thought they were going to explode.

Then we noticed the view - we were on the 2nd floor looking directly at the Pantheon.  I really could not have asked for more.

The bathroom was small with the toilet separate - handy for us - and it had three separate taps; one for the bath, one for the overhead shower and one for the handheld shower.  (The overhead is really strong and relaxing, but does tend to soak the floor a bit.)  The toiletries were delicately scented; body wash and shampoo, as well as soap, and as well as the essential “bonnet de douche” there were also manicure kits in the room.  I thought this was a great touch for the girls, but they were unimpressed as they had bigger kits in their bags!

You often hear the view that a hotel is “just a room” but more and more I disagree.  Not only does a good hotel make a trip, it can also save you money - by providing a quality breakfast, reasonable or free extras such as toiletries, plus it can be a great place to absorb the culture of your destination. With the girls there was never any rush to leave or hesitation in going back to the hotel and they were in seventh heaven when I had a snooze and they painted their nails as we waited for night to descend in Paris (with appropriate towel and tissue deployment to prevent any accidents on the carpet!)

It’s not perfect - the skin on my back reacted to the plastic/rubber under sheet and I had to put my dress back on to sleep - but I think that was just me being over sensitive as the girls slept fine (and the rest of my body was fine).  The third bed in the room was a good quality single bed with beautiful wood carving on the frame.

You can hear the other occupants of the hotel, but after midnight it was incredibly quiet with no noise from the street below until almost 8am.

Although I usually head to the nearest boulangerie (bread shop) for breakfast in Paris the detailed breakfast menu in the room persuaded me to give it a go.  When I finally got the girls out of bed we plodded down the spiral staircase to the sous-sol (basement) which was a real French “cave”, another wonderful experience for the girls.

Breakfast was outstanding (apart from a slightly weedy nectarine) and we shared the fruit and honey plate (7€), the continental breakfast; hot drink, juice, croissant, brioche, bread, selection of jams and top notch butter (10€) and the hearty breakfast (10€), ham, salami, mild goats cheese, cheery jam, more bread and more butter.  All excellent and more than we could finish.  My pot of coffee was enough for about 3 large cups, and the girls had a big pot of hot milk for their chocolat chaud; enough for at least 2 cups each so it really set us up for the day!

If you prefer to eat out there are countless cafes and other shops along the Rue Soufflot which leads directly to the Jardin du Luxembourg.  And if the weather is nice and you want to save a few pennies you can always find a local boulangerie or creperie and head to the park for a breakfast picnic!

N.B. The weedy looking peach was actually a doughnut or easy eating peach/nectarine - so apologies for doubting!