This hotel only has two stars, so the official French star-awarding system must not take charm into account. Okay, Hotel Chopin might not be the fanciest hotel when measured against those designer hallucinations pouring out of Philippe Starck’s office, but on a scale of charm and personality, Chopin scores.

I had passed this little hotel several times, as it’s located in one of my favourite Parisian passages, Passage Jouffroy. But I had never stepped inside until last week when, following a sudden impulse, I opened the door and found myself in a lobby which looked like someone’s living room: A green Chesterfield sofa, an old piano, a fireplace and some beautiful watercolours, which turned out to have been painted by the owner’s grandmother in 1903, when she was a professor at the academy of fine arts.

In the middle of all that, the hotel’s receptionist; a lady as charming and surprising as the hotel itself. She called the owner and ordered him to come straight away. ‘Put on your leopard-spotted thong, there is an editor here’ she told her boss. Luckily, Monsieur Bidal, Chopin’s owner for the past 16 years, kept his suit on, but the whole atmosphere was funny and familiar; something quite rare in Paris.

The rooms are small, but cosy, some with a view of Paris’ rooftops and others looking out on the rear of the local town hall.

Hotel Chopin has been a hotel – under various names - since 1846, and if you’re looking for a perfect location on a low budget, it doesn’t get much better than this. Chopin’s most expensive double costs 106€ per night, while their cheapest single goes for only 76€.

Hotel Chopin, 46 passage Jouffroy, 75009 Paris