Lavie Maison - Marais, 5 bedrooms

Push open the door and the ground floor opens flat in front of you — 93 square metres, no stairs, a courtyard just beyond the glass.

Five bedrooms fan off a single living room with a proper kitchen at its center. Two jacuzzis, air conditioning throughout, a smart lock that lets you arrive whenever the train gets in.

You're a two-minute walk from the Centre Pompidou, and closer still to the cafés along rue Rambuteau — order a coffee standing at the zinc, then wander toward Place des Vosges.

Twelve people can actually sleep here, which makes it a rare thing in central Paris: a place for the whole family, or three couples on a long weekend, without anyone drawing the short straw on the sofa.

Step out onto rue des Francs-Bourgeois and the pavement is already busy by 9h — gallerists rolling up shutters, a Vélib' being wrestled from its dock, someone carrying a flat white from Boot Café down the block. The Hôtel de Soubise sits at the end of the street, all pale stone and quiet courtyards, and the mansard rooflines tilt toward Place des Vosges two minutes east.

Le marché des Enfants Rouges, five minutes north on rue de Bretagne, is where l'équipe sends most guests on Sunday morning. It's the oldest covered market in Paris, tight as a corridor, and the move is a Moroccan tagine from Le Traiteur Marocain eaten standing up at the counter — then a pastry from the Italian stall for the walk home.