Les Bains is back, blazing a trial for this century’s trendsetters in the historic Marais district in Paris. Baroque Travel explores this bathhouse turned boutique hotel with its ghosts of revelers past
“What happened in Les Bains stays in Les Bains.” – Lenny Krawitz
This one’s not for the faint-hearted. The famous Les Bains is back in Paris’s bohemian Le Marais neighborhood. In its new incarnation, it’s a luxury boutique hotel. Opened as a private bathhouse in 1885, it was a hotspot for bohemians of the Belle Epoque including Marcel Proust. It was then transformed into a famous nightclub where Yves St Laurent, Mick Jagger, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss and David Bowie used to party. Created by then-unknown designer Philippe Starck, and home to resident DJ David Guetta, the club was a celebrity-filled haven, full of beauties with spiked heels, red lips and oh so glam attire.
The new iteration honors the establishment’s glorious past and offers a bold new take on Parisian hospitality. Completely refurbished and redesigned by acclaimed architects and designers Tristan Auer, Vincent Bastie and Denis Montel, the new property has a sense of entitlement and a certain cachet, a spirit picked up from its glamorous past that still lingers, while offering a modern, chic hotel and club of international standard.
Featuring a restaurant, bar, private lounge, the club and 39 guest rooms and suites, Le Bains is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to cool. Located at Rue du Bourg L’Abbe in the historic third arrondisement, it sits shoulder to shoulder with other aristocratic buildings, many architectural masterpieces in their own right.
Les Baines epitomizes the creative lifestyles of those who visited here before, offering the new generation of rebels and revelers, a lifestyle more than just a place to stay, to eat and to party. A blend of home-from-home, hotel and club, Les Bains has been reborn with the same creative energy, beckoning to those who know they are entitled.
The building’s public spaces each create a different mood. While the guest rooms are sleek and comfortable, inviting and intensely personal, the public areas inspire bonhomie and rousing conversation. The bar, the heart of the hotel, is as much a place to gather as it is a daringly beautiful architectural creation. The ceilings curve, walls disappear into darkness and lights reflect off surfaces creating an almost hallucinatory experience. And when you savor the creative cocktails imagined, mixed and produced for you at the bar, using fresh herbs, house wines and spirits.
The restaurant Les Bains – La Salle-à-Manger, was inspired by the original legendary restaurant that was located here. The regal purple décor offsets the rich mahogany tables, on which guests enjoy seasonal French dishes made from fresh local ingredients. For private parties of up to 12 people, there’s Le Reservoir, located in a 15-meter water tank previously used to supply the spa at Les Bains.
An integral part of the hotel, The Club Les Bains conjures up memories and new emotions, an on-trend, eclectic establishment specializing in great music. Home to a swimming pool, black and white tiles and checkerboard, it sets the scene for live shows, concerts and events that rock the building from midnight to dawn, Thursdays to Saturdays.