New Floating Hotel Lets You Experience Paris Like Never Before

There’s a hotel for pretty much every taste—from ones made of ice, to ones in bubbles, to one without walls. Now, a new destination in Paris is taking lodging off land entirely. It’s a hotel that sits on the waters of the Seine river.  

As Condé Nast Traveler reports, OFF Paris Seine is France’s first floating hotel (though many others exist around the world) and is part of a wider effort to reconnect the city with the waterway. The hotel opened in June, features 58 rooms, and is moored near the Gare d’Austerlitz. There’s a pool, summer terrace, and a cocktail and tapas bar (which is open to non-residents), and design elements that utilize the environment, like 8800 suspended metal squares, which move with the boat.

OFF Paris Seine is the work of Gérard Ronzatti of Seine Design, as well as design team Maurizio Galante and Tal Lancman. "There’s been a gap—not enough of a connection—between the Seine and Parisian life,” Lancman told Condé Nast Traveler. “In our design, we celebrate this new city experience that hasn’t existed in Paris until now.”

The Paris-Plages urban beach project has brought Parisians to the water since 2007, and in 2013, the riverside promenade Berges de Seine became a permanent fixture. Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who’s also been an advocate for making the city more bike and pedestrian friendly, has also vowed to make the Seine open for swimming by 2024.

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