Hotel: Intercontinental Le Grand - Paris

I was in Paris last summer and it was just really hard. Lines were long, vegetarian food was scarce, and it seemed to take forever to get anywhere. Part of that was because I chose us a funky hotel (fiber-optic stars in the ceiling and a levitating bed funky...a post for another day) that was not in the greatest neighborhood and that really was far from everything.

This time, I was determined that was not to be so if I could avoid it. We wanted to stay close to the central area of Paris, and opted for the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand near the Opera. The Metro was right there, it was a very short walk to the Louvre, and the neighborhood was beautiful. When I booked it, I had mainly just looked for good hotels from places I accumulate points. I had no idea what we were in for.

The Intercontinental in Paris is a Grand hotel. Built in 1861, it is a historic landmark, a block long on each side, and impressive in every respect.

Visit their site for more pictures of the public areas. Needless to say, it lives up to its Grand name very well.

Since I was traveling for work, we stayed in a Queen room with a courtyard view, the cheapest option. It was very nice, and much bigger than I expected, especially given European standards.

The bed was nice, and we had a small desk area. On the side of the bed not shown here was a similar amount of space as the other side and a large closet.

A hallway passed the room's door and went to the bathroom. The toilet and shower/sink were in separate rooms. It was small, but functional, and the separate facilities made it feel more spacious.

 And I can't deny that even on a rainy Paris afternoon, it's the best view I've ever had in a courtyard room.

The service was excellent as well. The concierge made the recommendation and reservations for La Romantica, which was exactly the thing we were looking for (medium price, close, veg options, open on Sunday), as well as reservations for another restaurant we wanted. The rest of the staff was extremely friendly and had good advice for us navigating our way to the airport on May Day.

And, of course, the neighborhood couldn't be beat. It was close to everything, cabs we plentiful when we were going out, and the metro right there let us opt for a resting trip home when we had walked too much.