Cour des Vosges

Cour des Vosges is the only hotel with a direct view of Place des Vosges itself, a 12-room property inside the former Hôtel de Montbrun, a 17th-century residence at number 19 of Henri IV's 1605 royal square. Lecoadic & Scotto designed the interiors, threading contemporary pieces through period objects rather than fighting them. The suites are 16-foot-ceilinged, four-poster-bedded rooms; the Roman bath, in-room massages and personal trainer sit one floor down. Brach Pastry Shop runs a tea-and-pastry corner. It's the antithesis of a grand-hotel experience: residential scale, almost private-club hush, and a window on one of Europe's most beautiful squares.