Relais Christine, Paris — rue Christine

A five-star in the lanes of Saint-André-des-Arts

The Relais Christine is at 3 rue Christine, a short street in the 6th arrondissement, in the Saint-André-des-Arts block east of rue Dauphine. Atout France, the state body that issues French hotel stars, classified it five stars on 14 February 2022, for 48 rooms. The hotel presents itself as Saint-Germain-des-Prés; the street is in fact on the Latin Quarter border, and Odéon and Saint-Michel Notre-Dame are four minutes’ walk each, Mabillon six.

The hotel opened in 1979, and its interiors were redone by the decorator Laura Gonzalez. The MICHELIN Guide, which gives it one Key, describes a 13th-century abbey converted into a small hotel in a courtyard. Neither that account nor the hotel’s own dating of its spa vaults is backed by a heritage listing at this address, so treat them as the hotel’s and the Guide’s.

Spa, rooms and services

The spa, run with Guerlain, is the main facility: treatment cabins for one or two, a sauna, whirlpool baths and a gym with a treadmill, cross-trainer, rowing machine and weights. The hotel has its own private garage with valet parking, free, and an electric-vehicle charger. Pets are welcome without charge if small, bicycles are lent free, and the Clef Verte label is held for 2026.

Families are catered for through suites of up to four people; some Deluxe suites communicate with a Deluxe Junior Suite. Two Terrace Suites open on to an enclosed garden that, per the hotel, only they and two other rooms share. There is no restaurant. Room service runs round the clock, and in the evening an honesty bar operates in the lounges, but no bar is staffed. The hotel’s site mentions neither air conditioning nor wheelchair access, which the MICHELIN Guide lists; ask before booking if either matters.

Among the neighbours

For a five-star on this side of the river the comparison is with the Hôtel d’Aubusson, also five stars and also with a spa, but with 50 rooms and a bar of its own. The Christine has a private garage with free valet parking; it has no bar served by staff. Four-star houses such as the Hôtel Saint-Paul Rive Gauche or the Hôtel Belloy Saint-Germain sit one star lower and offer neither a spa nor parking. Our guide to the hotels around Odéon sets them side by side.