Lavie Maison : Hot Tub & AC Near Arc de Triomphe

The avenue widens, the Haussmannian façades line up in pale stone, and somewhere up the street the Arc de Triomphe holds its corner of the sky.

Fifteen square metres, used well. Air-conditioning hums quietly, the kitchen is fully kitted out, and the bathroom hides its best trick — a jacuzzi tub, deep enough to actually sink into. Ground floor, private entrance, keys waiting in the box whenever you turn up.

The 17e is residential Paris with its collar up. Rue Poncelet runs its daily marché a few blocks south — oysters, fromagers, a café where the regulars argue over espresso before nine.

For two, on a long weekend, with maybe a small dog in tow. You'll remember the long soak after a day on foot, the lights of the Étoile still glowing somewhere behind you.

Step out and the 17e shows its quieter face — wide Haussmann pavements, a fleuriste setting out buckets of ranunculus on rue de Lévis, the smell of butter from the boulangerie on the corner before the school run begins. The Arc de Triomphe is a ten-minute walk south, but le quartier itself moves at the pace of its residents: dog-walkers, retirees with Le Figaro folded under one arm, the postman on his rounds.

The anchor is the marché de Lévis, a covered street market that runs most mornings between Villiers and rue Legendre. Go before 10h for the rotisserie chickens turning over trays of potatoes — l'équipe at the corner stand wraps them in foil and brown paper, and they're still warm by the time you're back through the door.