Maison Souquet

Paris being Paris, there’s not exactly a dire shortage of sexy hotels. But Maison Souquet, an authentic “pleasure house” in the Pigalle that’s been turned into a five-star hotel by designer Jacques Garcia, makes quite a few of them look like cold showers by comparison. Here, just across from the Moulin Rouge, he’s created a fantasy that’s opulent, mysterious, and just slightly unreal — the perfect setting for a temporary departure from the world of the mundane.

You might ask what, exactly, a “pleasure house” is. In the 19th century this is where you found your courtesans, your aesthetes, your gratification-seekers of all stripes. And today it’s where you’ll find the 21st-century equivalents, in bedrooms named for those very same 19th-century courtesans. Pigalle’s days as a red-light district are behind it, but that doesn’t mean you’ll find yourself tucked-in at eight in the evening, with a warm glass of milk by the bedside — unless that’s your thing. Maison Souquet trades in a sort of luxury that’s still properly decadent, rather than just expensively dull, and thus it’s more likely to play host to thrill-seeking couples than the expense-account set. (Not that the expense-account set hasn’t been known to get into a bit of trouble now and then.)

The rooms and suites are dark and romantic, plush and polished, and the public spaces follow suit. The Bar is patterned after a reading room, complete with fireplace and row upon row of books. It’s a profoundly relaxing place, but it has competition in the form of the spa, which is reserved for private use — no awkward waiting-room shuffle, just a key that unlocks the Maison Souquet’s most fantastic space.