Recommended hotels in the 6th arrondissement of Paris (Saint-Germain and Luxembourg Gardens)

Haussmannian building on quiet Rue Stanislas, between the Luxembourg Gardens and Boulevard Montparnasse . 41 rooms, and downstairs a small spa with a hammam paved with shimmering tiles and blue lighting. Breakfast here is entirely French: regional cold cuts, hot waffles, and cheeses and eggs as a small tribute to the English neighbors. Once a week they hold a 'French hour' with wine and cheeses from a changing region, and the first glass is on the house. It's not the heart of Saint-Germain, you're a fifteen-minute walk away in the area adjacent to Montparnasse, which I personally really like. Notre-Dame-des-Champs station in two minutes.

If you have difficulty walking and are looking for an accessible hotel , this is the hotel for you. A family hotel, third generation, since the 1920s. It is one of the few addresses in the district where the rooms are really large: a walk-in closet, a sofa bed and space to open two suitcases without moving the bed. On the upper floors there are suites with a terrace and a view of the Eiffel Tower, and from some rooms you can see the Sacré-Cœur. The breakfast is hot and serious: sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs and cheeses, and there is also a gluten-free option. The decor is conservative and not youthful.

A 17th-century building on Rue Jacob. Breakfast is served in a vaulted cellar with exposed stone walls. Outside is a small Tuscan-style courtyard with a bar and fireplace, and the rooms feature Pierre Frey linens. From the top-floor suite, you can see the tower of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the rooftops of Paris. The Delacroix Museum and Place Fürstenberg are two minutes away, and the Louvre is about a 10-minute walk away (more or less). Basic rooms are 16 square meters, which is relatively large for a room of this class, and breakfast is an additional charge. Ask for a room facing the courtyard.

A Haussmannian building on Rue Racine, redesigned by Sandra Benhamou with plenty of literary allusions, is certainly fitting for a street named after a playwright. The lobby has a bar with a champagne and cocktail menu and a quiet library corner, and breakfast, which includes pastries, savouries and vegan dishes, is served in the basement. Cluny–La Sorbonne station is 270 metres away and the Senate is five minutes away. On the downside, note that the rooms are relatively small and the lift is slow. What is described as a balcony is sometimes just a window, so check the room carefully before booking.

This is not a hotel but 17 serviced apartments on Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, with a full kitchen including a dishwasher, washing machine and a Nespresso machine whose capsules are refilled every day. On the lower floor there is a heated pool, hammam and sauna. The largest units are eighty square meters (great for families). The Sorbonne is three minutes away and the gardens are six. The furniture is not new, and entrance to the spa is charged separately. For a family staying for a week, it is a great deal.

Just sixteen rooms, a few steps from Via Buci and the Odeon station. Each room is decorated with watercolors by the inventive couple for whom the hotel is named, and the floors are solid oak. There is a bar in the lobby, and in the mornings, eggs are made to order, crepes and freshly squeezed juice. Those who request in advance can get a gluten-free breakfast. The rooms are small and the elevator can only hold two people at a time. Pack light.

Only ten rooms, in a 17th-century building, each furnished differently with antique furniture. Gît-le-Cœur street is a narrow alley that hardly any cars enter, and it leads directly to the Seine. The rooms are much larger than usual in Paris and the beds are huge. Breakfast is served across the street. Notre Dame is a five-minute walk away. The design is not new, the elevator is very small and some of the rooms are dark. Ask for a high floor. And if you're really bored and want to do some sports, you'll be happy to know that on the street itself there is a 19th-century fencing school, which is still active.

You enter through an arched gate on Jacob Street, cross a cobblestone courtyard and only then do you arrive at the hotel. Its treasure is the garden behind it, with two old chestnut trees, and on nice days breakfast is served there. The croissants are brought in every morning from the neighboring bakery, and there are also scrambled eggs and bacon. In the vaulted basement there is a bar with velvet armchairs open until midnight. The rooms are small, as in quite a few hotels in the area. Ask for a room facing the garden.

A side alley off Buci Street, and a building partly built of stone and exposed wooden beams. 33 rooms and no two are the same: colorful fabrics, traditional furniture and marble bathrooms. Breakfast is served in a vaulted stone cellar. The location is the real story here: four minutes to the Fontainebleau and ten to the Louvre. Basic rooms are 12 square meters and the elevator is tiny. Pay a little more and you'll get a room you can move around in.

The hotel is located on Grande-Chaumière Street, next to the art academy that bears the street's name, and according to what people here say, Modigliani, Fitzgerald, and Beckett visited it in the 1930s. The 54 rooms are each decorated according to a different artistic movement from the early 20th century. Breakfast is served in a glass-enclosed veranda that opens onto an interior garden. Vavin station is adjacent to the hotel. Breakfast is basic and the WiFi is sometimes problematic (hopefully they've fixed that). Ask for a room facing the garden.

A chain hotel but with something that is hard to find at this price in the 6th arrondissement. Nine of the 42 rooms have private jacuzzis. The Saint-Placide metro station is across the road, and a second station is fifty meters away. The Bon Marché and the shops of Rue Rennes are right next door, and the gardens are a five-minute walk away. The decor is standard and the street is noisy. Ask for a room that doesn't face the front.