"Paris is always a good idea," they say. But so is visiting the rest of France! Let us introduce you to a hotel that helps you start your journey refreshed & inspired.

While some of us long to rest in Paris and never leave her, others of us dream about the rest of this magnificent country. The train system in France makes discovering beaches, mountains, vineyards, countrysides, and petite villages easy and stressless.

Each train station heads off in different directions. And if your plans take you either East (perhaps Strasbourg for the Christmas markets?) or North to Normandy, this hotel is a perfect place for your overnight stay.

Tucked between the two train stations, Gare de l'Est and Gare du Nord, Hotel Deux Gares (translation - Hotel Two Train Stations), eliminates the hassle of taxis and Paris traffic jams. Wake up refreshed, have a lovely little breakfast, and head out the door to your French adventure!

Adrien Gloaguen, founder of the Touriste group, and his childhood friend Antoine Raccat discovered a railway station hotel – a completely abandoned bourgeois structure in a narrow alley of Paris' 10th arrondissement. "The building housed a number of tiny rooms with adjoining walls and flowery wallpaper marked by the passage of previous travelers," recounts Adrien Gloaguen. Instantly, an entire filmography from the '60s and '70s sprang into his mind – along with a name: Luke Edward Hall, a young British artist who lives and embodies a sense of vibrant aestheticism. The team was complete.

Walking into the hotel, you are immediately met with the inspired colors, cheery wallpapers, and fabrics that Luke Edward Hall claims as an "anti-modern" interior. In the vast reception area, shining emerald green walls, a black and white chevron marble floor, gilt furniture, giant mirrors, Warhol, Hockney, and Cocteau exhibition posters. Whimsical and playful, the hotel's bright colors immediately make you feel comfortable and well-received.

The same creative freedom carries over to the upper floors. In each of the forty guest rooms, full of natural light, Hall mismatches geometrical rugs à la David Hicks with splashes of pale pink or tangerine, headboards boasting broad stripes, classic tulip tables, and fringed chairs in yellow velvet.