Although I’ve stayed in Paris a lot, I don’t have a Paris hotel.  You know, that tried and tested place that you routinely return to, because you know that it offers good service, good location and good value.  Try as I might in Paris, I just haven’t found my place.  So, I constantly hunt around; eternally searching out somewhere anew.

As a result of this restlessness, I hit upon the Hospitel Hôtel-Dieu.

My criteria?  I was looking for somewhere to stay close to Notre-Dame, and where the Tripadvisor reviews didn’t mention bedbugs.  Not as easy to find as you may think.

Now, despite its name, Hôtel-Dieu is not a hotel.  It is a hospital located on the Île de la Cité.  Records date an original hospital existing on the same site back to the 9^th century, making it the oldest continuously operating hospital in the world.  It did not sound the most promising prospect for somewhere to stay the night but, on the top floor of this massive medical edifice, there is a short corridor of rooms, which can be booked by all-comers.

The room itself was quite spartanly furnished, but perfectly adequate.  Measured by Paris standards, it was reasonably spacious, and good value given its incredible central location.

The view?  Well, there was a view of Notre-Dame, although given the only window in the room was a rather small skylight, it was necessary to stand on the bed and squint sideways in order to enjoy it.

If anything, a better view was to be had within the hospital itself: an upper walkway along a long terrace or arches overlooked a vast and stunning interior courtyard of colonnades and ornamental gardens.

Sounds ideal?  Had I finally discovered my Paris hotel?  I’m still not entirely sure. 

Returning back to my room late at night was a rather unnerving experience.  All was quiet, very quiet.  I passed through lots of large, unlit rooms, redolent with the ghosts of patients past; abandoned operating tables by empty lifts; corners of the huge building, where it was easy to imagine that no one had visited for a century or more.  I am not someone easily suggestible to atmosphere, but staying at the Hôtel-Dieu felt rather like being a participant in an episode of Most Haunted, and I kept expecting to see Yvette Fielding or Derek Acorah lurking in the shadows.

Rarely has the past felt so much part of the present.

© E. C. Glendenny

E. C. Glendenny is a little spooked staying at the Hôtel-Dieu.