Not a Factory Hotel: La Manufacture in Paris

Where: 8 rue Philippe de Champagne, Paris, France, 75013

March 19, 2008 at 9:00 AM | 0 Comments

The European Independent Film Festival took place this weekend (14-16 March) at Paris's least-known but most superb building, the National Library, or Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

We went along to check out the scene, and the place was filled with American film directors and talent-spotters looking to snatch up the young&hopefuls of European cinema. All of them complaining loudly about their pricey city-centre hotels miles and miles from the National Library, which is tucked away in the south east of Paris.

Damn, there's no need for that. No one outside Paris has heard about the 13th arrondissement, which is where you'll find the National Library, but we bet a night's stay in the George V that within a year it'll take over as the trendy boho area of Paris.

The 'Hood
Also known as Gobelins after an old tapestry factory, it's currently stuffed with students and Chinese shops, but its borders with the Seine are starting to shoot up with new bars and restaurants. And it contains one super and little-known hotel, the La Manufacture.

Pink Panther Design
La Manufacture's a strangely beguiling hotel. It's shabbily elegant on the outside and bright and bold and modern on the inside, filled with the kind of quirky home furnishings you'd find in a modern home design shop. There's a few touches you'd find in a cheap hippie shop as well, like the stripy rag rugs, and the website plays Pink Panther at you. It's hard to get your head around.

56 rooms over seven floors, all slightly different in a quasi-minimalist, contemporary bright-splash way. Get a top floor suite is you're on the posh side of contemporary, as these are a little more classic with their white cotton and dark wood furnishings.

Shabby Paris Chic
Okay, okay, so the area's not quite achieved Paris chic status yet. Don't walk around alone in a mini-skirt at night, girls (although to be fair, the hotel's opposite a police station), and watch out for the dog mess. Shabby chic perhaps, though, and cheap with it. Get here soon if you wanna lead the crowd not follow it.

Standard rates from €120 (€185) to €230 (€358) for a double plus breakfast, depending on how good your room is - top floor mini-suites with their views better are worth the extra cash. Although anyone coming for the film festival could have got it at the off-peak internet rate of €90 ($140) a night for two, including the morning café and croissant.

Tags: Paris Hotels / Budget Hotels / Monica Guy

by femmefatale

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