Hotel Amour

If you’ve been around the block a few times, you’ll be wary of a love-themed hotel in the City of Lights. But you can enter here without fear of the usual clichés. The Hotel Amour Paris is the real thing, the Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec and Jean Rhys, with all its glamour and seediness, bars and brothels, its decadence and heartbreak.

Located in the Pigalle quarter, home of the Moulin Rouge — and today, a seemingly infinite number of sex shops and adult-only cinemas — it was designed by a graffiti artist turned nightclub magnate, and was modeled after the book-by-the-hour “love hotel” concept first popularized in Japan. You’ll certainly feel like you’re in another country when you’re rolling your carry-on suitcase down these black hallways, or opening the door to a guest room decorated with graffiti, erotic photographs, hundreds of mini disco balls, or a personal library of Playboy magazines.

Each of the twenty rooms are individually decorated, many by big names like Terry Richardson or Alexandre de Betak. Some are larger and others more petite — single rooms are downright tiny, if you want to live out the starving-artist fantasy — some are light-filled and the others are moody and dark. And some are, shall we say, naughtier than others. But by and large, there’s nothing too over-the-top: the vibe is more like bohemian Paris meets slightly risqué nightclub. There isn’t a wealth of in-room amenities, either. But you didn’t come to Paris to watch pay-per-view in your room. And you didn’t check into a love hotel so that you could sip tea and do the crosswords before turning in early. Indeed, Hotel Amour is best-known for its hip bar and restaurant, long frequented by fashionable Parisians who may or may not even realize there’s a hotel upstairs. In other words, it’s the perfect place to settle in for an aperitif (or two) and get into the spirit of things.