I’m still going through an organizing how I want to do the posts for my Paris trip. I have a LOT to share and needless to say, it was an incredible trip. I think that I’m going to kick of my itinerary and outfit posts next week so I have some more time to organize the content. (If you can’t wait, I’ve been sharing some sneak peeks on Instagram.)
Before I go into the trip details, I thought I’d share where we ended up staying for the week. I spent what felt like hours searching through travel websites, and blogs, and rental sites to try to find a “cute” hotel. (Here’s the Official Blogger Caveat™: I wanted a cute hotel. If you don’t care what the place looks like, just know that this post is probably not for you. While it wasn’t a 100% complete work trip for me, I was going to be shooting content and the way the hotel looked, particularly the bathroom, was important.)
So many of the hotels I looked at were decorated with nice, but very modern, decor. I just felt like, okay, I’m going to Paris and don’t just want to stay anywhere. You know? (Maybe this sounds ridiculous!) The prettiest, most beautiful, hotel rooms I kept finding were over $1000 a night, and I just couldn’t stomach that. And many of the short term apartment rentals I found (Airbnb, Homeaway, Paris Perfect) were booked for the time we were traveling. For better or for worse, our travel dates were set in stone. I didn’t want to have to change hotels/rentals midway through the trip, so it was back to the drawing board.
I ended up asking you guys on Twitter if you had any recommendations for Paris hotels. I got SO many great leads… and ended up finding the perfect hotel through a reader: Hotel Providence. There was ONE room left for our travel dates and it felt a bit like fate. I booked immediately. (Also fun, my trip overlapped with the girl who recommended it so we got to meet one night in the hotel restaurant!)
It’s not the most cost-effective hotel for a Paris trip, but it’s pretty reasonable for a special European vacation in my opinion. I LOVED the whole hotel. It’s tucked away on a little corner in a “hipster-y” part of Paris. (I think? That’s the vibe I got anyway.) There are plenty of restaurants and cafes, but it’s still a little bit quieter than being right in the center of Paris. There were super easy Metro stops two blocks away so everything was super accessible and Carter and I walked would walk twenty or so minutes to check out a few sites.
I got to the hotel about two hours before Carter did and I immediately texted her, “OMG you’re going to die when you see how cute it is.” It truly is a gorgeous hotel with 18 impeccably designed rooms. So much character! And while it really is a darling hotel, the “cute” factor is only one reason on a long list of why I’d recommend the hotel.
The only room available when I was looking was the suite on the top floor. It’s the most spacious from what I hear and I appreciated not being in a cramped room, which is standard for European hotels. It was nice to be able to spread out and we felt like we had a true “home base” to work from and relax as necessary.
Notable features of the room: the wallpaper, the huge bathroom, a bar, large windows with lots of natural light, a record player, and air conditioning.
The air conditioning and the bathroom were particularly noteworthy. It ended up being in the 90s for most of our trip and many of the apartments we had looked at weren’t air conditioned. I’m sure that’s fine 99% of the year, but we were so thankful to have a cool room to come back to after an entire day of exploring.
I’ll go into more detail about our trip, but every afternoon, we’d come back to the hotel around 5 or 6 pm to shower and get ready for dinner. Because it was so hot out, a shower before dinner was necessary in addition to a regular morning shower.
From the bathroom windows, you can see Sacré-Cœur. And from the bedroom windows, we could people watch on the quiet street. It felt quite Parisian. Since our room is the very top floor, hence the sloped ceiling, we didn’t have a balcony, but a few of the rooms do have a terrace where you can enjoy a little snack or breakfast outside.
Wearing: Dress (under $30 right now!!!)
Wearing: Pajamas
I think the wallpaper speaks for itself, right?!
We hit the ground running on our first day, so on our first morning, I was struggling to wake up. I had plans of getting ready and sitting out in a little cafe, but I could barely slip into a robe let alone go outside, ha! We ended up ordering croissants and espressos to the room. It turned into our morning tradition and it was heavenly.
Photos by Carter Fish
The hotel also has a great restaurant. I try to avoid hotel restaurants as they’re usually pretty mediocre. However, this one is exceptionally delicious! It was my second favorite meal of the trip– and let me just say, we ate VERY well the whole time. Even if you don’t stay in the hotel, you should definitely consider swinging by for dinner one night. Also, every morning there were people sitting outside drinking coffee and catching up, even a few pups were there.
I loved everything about Hotel Providence and couldn’t recommend it enough. It’d be worth making a trip to Paris just to stay there, ha– I’m only half kidding.
PS If you’re not traveling abroad but want a similar hotel experience, Hotel Providence reminded me of 86 Cannon– another hotel I discovered this year in Charleston!
