Last Updated on August 1, 2022
A hotel with a bird’s eye view of Paris
On a bakingly hot day, booking into the air-conditioned Pullman Paris Montparnasse was a joy in itself. I would happily have spent a night in the comfortable lobby. But what took my breath away was not the cool air. It was the vista from our 30th-floor room. It might be a cliché to call this a room with a view, yet how else to describe the magnificent panorama of Paris? From Montparnasse station just below the hotel to the Sacre Coeur high on a distant hill, we had a bird’s eye view of this most beautiful city. Spectacular. What a way to kick-start a hotel stay.
Our deluxe premium room had a sizeable window and the view was reflected in the floor-to-ceiling mirror on the sliding doors of the large wardrobe. The room itself, with a king-size bed, was super comfortable and set up for work and play. A desk with flat-screen TV and iPad provided the tech and I was particularly impressed with the plug sockets as there was a range of countries represented in case you had left your adaptors at home. There was plenty of place to hang all those Parisian outfits, and an ironing board which I found very useful as I had been travelling and my clothes were rather crumpled. The colour scheme was grey with pops of mustard, a clean and contemporary look along with walnut veneer, polished chrome edgings and terrazzo tabletops. The bathroom had a large walk-in rain shower plus a wall-mounted showerhead. Plenty of fluffy towels and robe and slippers were provided. Bathroom products by C.O. Bigelow were fragrant.
Everything at the Paris Pullman Montparnasse, which opened in late December 2021 following a four-year refurbishment, is high-tech and aimed at visitor comfort. The check-in was efficient and the lobby was full of friendly staff who seemed to anticipate that you might have a question or need to find something. They approach rather than the guest needing to stand in a queue. There was good security, with the key card needed to access the elevators, whiskinging us up the 30 floors in no time.
The four-star Pullman Paris Montparnasse is the Pullman’s new flagship hotel with superb facilities for leisure, business and work. It has 957 bedrooms which range from Classic to Executive Deluxe, doubles to family rooms. From September, apartments with kitchenettes will be available to book. There are also three floors for events and meetings with a range of spaces to hire, from meeting rooms that open onto a terrace and green space to an enormous ballroom that could accommodate a band or small orchestra. There are two restaurants – an Italian restaurant, Fi’lia, and Umami Burger. There is also the unbeatable experience at the rooftop Skybar. For those who wish to work out, there is a fully equipped fitness centre.
We ate dinner at the California burger restaurant called Umami Burger, housed in the same space where breakfast is served. There are enough seats for 300 people but it is cleverly designed, separated into sections divided by curtains and beech and white painted wood, so it feels more intimate. The hotel has a large number of American visitors so a burger bar is a good idea.
The menu had an interesting array of burgers and being mostly pescatarian, I was pleased to find the K-Town Tuna option – Gochujang marinated diced tuna, spicy Korean slaw, pickles, and classic sauce. My husband tucked into the Rossini cheeseburger which was a burger with bells on – smashed beef patty, foie gras, cheese sauce, pickles, crispy onions, and truffle aioli. That is a burger with French style. We ordered one side of thin fries and one of sweet potato fries seasoned with an in-house New Orleans style spice and a classic sauce. In search of something green, we ordered a Go Greens Salad – mixed greens, cucumber, cilantro, sesame seeds, ‘yuzu’ vinaigrette. The salad was tasty, fresh and healthy, the fries were crispy, and the burgers were very generously sized. I liked the luxurious texture of the foie gras, my tuna burger was well cooked. The classic sauce was delicious. The food was simply served on silver trays and the sides looked lovely in the most attractive, deep, brushed chrome bowls. There was plenty on the menu to please kids too, with favourites being bacon mac ‘n cheese and the umami tenders (fried chicken strips).
Portions were so large that there was really no need for dessert, but we wanted to explore all areas of the menu. We were recommended to try the cheesecake and I certainly could not pass over the option of a peanut butter pie. The baked cheesecake was topped with strawberries and raspberries and a berry coulis. This was a good New York cheesecake with a fine biscuit base and well-textured filling. American visitors will feel right at home. As they will with the peanut butter pie with its biscuit base, layers of chocolate and peanut butter, cream and chocolate chunks. If after all this full-fat food I had thrown caution to the winds, I might have tried the salted peanut butter caramel shake. Add Baileys if you dare. I hadn’t expected to take a trip across the pond in a Parisian hotel, but Umami Burger offers just this opportunity and does it very well.
After this large meal, we staggered upstairs – in fairness the lift whisked us up – to the Skybar, a rooftop bar on the 32nd floor. The bar has an indoor section with a lovely bar, but on a hot night, all the outdoor tables were occupied in time to watch the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower. On certain nights there is a DJ but on this Sunday evening, there was a lovely soundtrack of old favourites like Nora Jones and Amy Winehouse. The manager came to discuss our drinks preferences – the signature cocktails are very creative and there is also a long menu of champagnes, wines and spirits. She understood our needs immediately and brought us each a cocktail that we thoroughly enjoyed. There is also a tapas menu for those who want to eat, including squid ink rice crisps, duck gyoza, veal tataki and mochi for dessert.
I sipped on my Berry Surprise while my husband enjoyed his Levitation. The cocktails were utterly delicious and very pretty too. I love a champagne cocktail and mine had a brush stroke of crushed popping candy and cranberry powder on the outside of the glass, a very artistic touch and appropriate for Montparnasse, home to so many of France’s famous artists in the early 20th century.
We watched the sun blazing down into its bed for the night, creating a red ball on the horizon. The Eiffel Tower waited patiently for darkness before beginning its own light show. At 10 pm it lit up and began to twinkle. Could there be a more quintessential Parisian experience? No matter how many times one has witnessed this sight, it is just the loveliest moment and implausibly romantic, especially at 115m above street level.
After all this excitement a restful night was had and by morning we were raring to go. The breakfast buffet was extensive. There were several sections each of which on its own would have sufficed for my breakfast. Baskets brimmed with mini viennoiseries – pain au chocolat, croissants, chaussons aux pommes, and chocolate pastries. Umpteen breads and brioche. Only the best butter – a type I bought at a specialist creamery. There was a small section of gluten-free breads. There was a granola bar with compotes and every nut and seed topping you could imagine along with a range of yoghurts and milks. There were carafes of orange, grapefruit or carrot juice along with platters of fresh fruit. Then I spotted the cheeseboard which had a ripe round of Brie de Meaux, a Comté and a Bleu d’Auvergne. Alongside was the charcuterie section – at least six types of cured meats, saucisson, and cornichons.
I know that the French do not eat cheese and charcuterie for breakfast but I for one could not resist. Neither could I mount any opposition to roast vegetables for my breakfast as the selection on the buffet was simply too tempting. Roasted carrots, new potatoes with garlic, roasted aubergine halves slick with olive oil – vegetarians are so well catered for in the hot food section as well as in Le Potager, a section devoted to fresh vegetables. Eggs were on order, soft or hard boiled and a breakfast chef was making omelettes. There were also large platters filled with scrambled eggs, chipolatas, sausage and onions. In case anyone had space for a bit of dessert there was a dish of clafoutis or a stack of pancakes. This is the buffet that kept on giving and needless to say we did not eat lunch.
Checking out of the hotel – our bag was kept for us until we returned in the afternoon – we set off to explore Montparnasse. This is a fascinating area and despite having visited Paris on countless trips I have never properly explored it. The epicentre of artistic endeavour, it was packed with émigrés, writers and artists who made Montparnasse their home. Simone de Beauvoir lived in an apartment in the area, hundreds of artists had their studios, and Hemingway and a host of American writers hung out in the bars. The theatres and jazz clubs were legendary and some are still open today. The Montparnasse cemetery may not be as famous as Père Lachaise, but we spent an hour or so paying homage at the grave of de Beauvoir and Sartre, Dreyfus, Brancusi and Maupassant. There are so many well-known writers, artists, politicians and the like buried here that you could spend all day. We exited the cemetery and popped over Boulevard Raspail to the Cartier Foundation for contemporary art, an expansive glass-enclosed space, designed by Jean Nouvel, where we saw an exhibition by Sally Gabori who began painting at the age of 80. This is the sort of surprise that makes Montparnasse such an interesting part of Paris.
Pullman Paris Montparnasse is in the centre of the action, convenient for transport, for the widest range of restaurants and famous haunts like La Coupole, and in the centre of a cultural hub. While the best view of Paris might be from the 30th floor, there is plenty to be seen down at street level.
Pullman Paris Montparnasse, 19 Rue du Commandant René Mouchotte, 75014 Paris
Looking for something different – we also recommend Le Pavillon des Lettres in the 8ieme
Montparnasse is great! As you say there’s lots of cultural history and it’s less touristy than Montmartre. I stayed in same hotel ten years ago when they first took it over and apart from the stunning reception is was stuck in the 1970s although we were paying low rate via a secret stays deal at the time. I’m glad to hear the refurb is done and would love to stay there again although switching lifts halfway was bit of a pain for those upper floors. I recall we were 27th floor.