Whenever you travel to the Seine, you want to experience the Paris that you know. Nothing should d the accustomed picture of urban beauty and opulent elegance. The only question that remains is where to stay: Rive Gauche or Rive Droite? In one of the upper middle-class arrondissements or more non-conformist and intellectual? In any case, the hotel should be sophisticated and have exquisite taste. Or should it be styled in a futuristic manner, perhaps even a bit wacky? This guide will assist you in marking a decision on these essential questions. Things only look the same at first glance and sometimes there is seething unrest behind the posh sandstone-colored facades. The wealth of art-historical currents that continue to play their role is so rich and the creative potential that meets in Paris is so diverse that designers like Jacques Garcia are happy to absorb it all. The L’hotel-which he has newly designed and in which Oscar Wilde spent his last days-now appears in an eclectic, somewhat decadent opulence. And the designer Frederic Mechiche succeeded in furnishing the magnificent le Dokhan’s like a neoclassical city palace but completely reinvented himself with the modern Le A. He worked together with the artist Fabric Hybert to design this hotel and turned the entire interior in white and black into an art installation. On the other hand, the fashion designer Christain Lacroix used his concentrated knowledge about the effect of colors and textures, transforming the Hotel du Petit Moulin into a building full of theatrical effects. This firework of creative ideas has set the Paris hotels scene in motion. Above all, it also manifested itself at the large, established hotels. At the coast of millions, the grande dame le Meurice on the Rue de Rivoli was subjected to a cool face life. The venerable Paris is his example to once again prove that it is necessary to change in order to remain the same.