SO/ Paris

At SO/ Paris, the first question is not which floor you want but which way you want to look. From the street, it could still pass for government offices. Upstairs, one bedroom has the Eiffel Tower across the Seine, another has a perfectly agreeable view of the courtyard. Both have comfortable beds. Only one is likely to make you linger at the window with your morning coffee. Here the view is a large part of what you pay for.

The building has an unusual past. This patch of the fourth arrondissement was part of Île Louviers, once used for royal entertainments and later to store firewood. The narrow river channel was filled in during the 1840s, leaving dry land where boats once passed. In the 1960s Albert Laprade's vast administrative complex rose here, with a central tower and two lower wings. David Chipperfield Architects and developer Emerige have since turned it into La Félicité, a mixed-use development with homes, offices, shops and even a youth hostel. SO/ Paris opened inside it in 2022.

Fortunately, the lobby makes a persuasive first impression. RDAI introduced mushroom-like columns, luminous marble and warm colours into a structure never meant to seduce anyone. Upstairs, the corridors are darker, the rooms full of daylight. Wood, leather and wide windows do more for them than fashion-world credentials. There are 162 rooms and suites, and they feel like places to spend time rather than merely photograph.

The distinctions are worth studying. A Collection room measures twenty-five square metres and faces the internal garden; a Collection Rooftop is the same size but looks out over Parisian roofs. The twenty-eight-square-metre Iconic Paris Skyline category is the one that promises the Seine, the monuments and the Eiffel Tower. If you need space more than spectacle, a forty-three-square-metre Studio faces the courtyard and has a proper sitting area. The Studio Balcony, also forty-three square metres, has two small balconies over the river. An upgrade may buy a different Paris rather than a larger room.

Then there is Bonnie, high above everything. Run by Paris Society rather than the hotel itself, the restaurant, bar and club occupy the top two floors and attract plenty of people who have no room key. Dinner comes with a panorama over the bridges; the bar draws a dressed-up crowd. On the terrace, Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann's mirrored installation turns the skyline and river upside down. Even familiar Paris looks startling. Reserve your table. Staying downstairs does not make you the only person who wants that view.

That popularity is not an unqualified blessing. The club runs until five in the morning from Wednesday to Saturday, and some guests on the upper bedroom floors have reported hearing music. Nor is this a secluded palace. The hotel shares its building with other occupants, and its best-known restaurant has a public life of its own. You need to enjoy bustle with your luxury.

One old description is particularly misleading. SO/ Paris used to give guests access to a twenty-metre pool at the neighbouring Ô Zenhit sports club. That arrangement has ended. There is now a twenty-four-hour hotel gym, and Maison CODAGE offers treatments and a hammam, with spa access linked to a booked treatment. You should not book expecting a swim. At these prices, it is an omission worth knowing about.

The location is less inconvenient than the unfamiliar address might suggest. Île Saint-Louis, the riverbanks and Bastille are close, with the eastern Marais easy to explore on foot. Downstairs, Paris is quieter and less ceremonious than at Bonnie. Then you can go back up, watch the lights come on along the Seine and decide that an old office tower has acquired a rather extravagant new purpose. The river once ran around this patch of land. Now, from the right room, it seems to run just beneath your feet.