A hotel this handy for the Eurostar could get away with being mediocre and still be popular.
A hotel this close to some of Paris's most vibrant eating and drinking spots might be tempted to scatter a few laurels and have a lie down.
But happily, 25hours Hotel Terminus Nord is a cracking place to stay, in addition to being almost within arm's reach of Gare Du Nord's high-speed-train-festooned platforms, and warranting a proximity alert for hipster bars and restaurants including Les Arlots, restaurant Billili and La Cave à Michel.
Inside, it's a pleasing, exuberant kaleidoscope of African and Asian-inspired decor with hipster flourishes.
A mere 50 steps from the threshold of Gare Du Nord – the busiest railway station in Europe - one enters a playful 235-room property in a stately 19th-century building in the Belle Époque style that's half hotel, half exotic bazaar – and comfy, too.
MailOnline Travel's Ted Thornhill checks in to 25hours Hotel Terminus Nord (above)
25hours Hotel Terminus Nord is 'almost within arm's reach' of Gare Du Nord (above)
Gare Du Nord (above) is the busiest railway station in Europe and is the Paris terminus for Eurostar services
The hotel entrance is adjacent to the legendary Brasserie Terminus Nord restaurant (which has no connection to the similarly named hotel), with the reception area resembling a traditional Parisian newspaper kiosk that comes complete with a little shop selling an assortment of useful knick-knacks.
The rooms are all on floors one to six.
Our fifth-floor family room – I’m there with my partner and young daughter - comes with a multitude of touches that make it fun, funky and refreshing, from wine boxes that serve as bed supports to classic wooden shipping crates for bedside tables and clusters of cone-shaped headboard lamps, and from vintage rotary light switches to a perky ensuite with pink tiling and an azure-blue sink.
Ted describes 25hours Hotel Terminus Nord as 'a playful 235-room property in a stately 19th-century building in the Belle Époque style that's half hotel, half exotic bazaar'
Restaurant Neni, which has velvet-upholstered pink banquettes and retro lampshades
Neni serves Eastern Mediterranean/Israeli-inspired 'soul food' and 'a decent breakfast spread'
The hotel entrance is adjacent to the legendary Brasserie Terminus Nord restaurant
The bed, meanwhile, is extremely comfortable, worthy of a hotel with a much higher price point.
Plus, there's a balcony with views to the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur to the north-west and, of course, to the Gare Du Nord opposite.
That there's a view of a building across the way is not a surprise. But I'd never really appreciated just what a stunning structure it is.
A 'groovy' coffee station installed in the back end of a vintage Citroen Acadiane
The hotel's 'swanky, speak-easy-style bar', Sape
The reception area 'resembles a traditional Parisian newspaper kiosk that comes complete with a little shop selling an assortment of useful knick-knacks'
Ted's family room, which 'comes with a multitude of touches that make it fun, funky and refreshing, from classic wooden shipping crates for bedside tables to clusters of cone-shaped headboard lamps'
I normally come in and out of Gare du Nord enveloped in a shroud of mild stress, anxious about catching a Eurostar or making it unscathed to a waiting ride on the always-frantic front-of-station road, Place Napoleon III.
But up here from my fifth-floor eerie I have time to appreciate the station's 19th-century architecture.
With its majestic female cornice statues and grand 540ft-tall facade, it really is magnificent.
Back inside, the hotel continues to bewitch.
There's a swanky, speak-easy-style bar called Sape, a groovy coffee station installed in the back end of a vintage Citroen Acadiane, and a restaurant, Neni, which serves (eventually, the service isn't the briskest) Eastern Mediterranean/Israeli-inspired 'soul food' and a decent breakfast spread.
However, perhaps the highlight is the decor - velvet-upholstered pink banquettes and retro lampshades.
The location of the hotel inevitably means many will treat it as a pre-train crash pad and the hotel acknowledges this – for example on our bed is a pillow embroidered with the words 'nearly home'.
But it's so much more than that. Indeed, this is a hotel worthy of serving as the HQ for a city-break stay. A spellbinding sanctuary amid Paris's hubbub.
And a steal at only around £130 ($160) a night.
Ted was hosted by 25hours Hotel Terminus Nord, where rooms cost from around £130 ($160) a night.
Visit www.25hours-hotels.com/en/hotels/paris/terminus-nord.
Rating out of five:
****PROS: Delightfully fun and funky décor. Kudos to the interior design team. Incredibly handy location for Eurostar services and some of Paris’s most vibrant eating and drinking spots. Amazing to wake up with Gare Du Nord's statues peering into your room.
CONS: Location may be a ‘Marmite’ issue for some as the area around Gare Du Nord can be quite feisty. Service in the restaurant on the slow side.
GETTING THERE
The best way of reaching Paris from the UK is via the high-speed Eurostar train service. Standard tickets cost from £39, standard premier from £70 and business premier from £275.
Eurostar operates 17 trains a day from London St Pancras International to Paris Gare Du Nord. The fastest London to Paris journey time is 2hrs 16 minutes, with each train able to carry up to 894 passengers.
Visit www.eurostar.com/uk-en.
Want to arrive at the hotel in style? Then book a Blacklane chauffeur
Blacklane chauffeurs are extremely courteous, drive carefully and will transport you in a luxury car. The drivers, all trained at the Blacklane Chauffeur Academy, will always provide bottled water, Wi-Fi, and a multi-charger cable.
The 'First Class' service allows clients to travel in 'true luxury', with a fleet of vehicles including the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series, Audi A8 or EVs such as the Mercedes-Benz EQS.
Chauffeurs will wait up to one hour to allow for delays, and clients can cancel their ride up to one hour before their booking time.
Visit www.blacklane.com/en.