There is something about Paris in August.

The city empties out just enough to feel like you have caught it off guard. The streets are quieter, the tables easier to come by and the heat that has been collecting in the pavement all day lingers well into the evening. Everything moves a little slower. Even Paris, a city that rarely seems interested in taking its time, appears to surrender to the season.

It is romantic in its own slightly strange way.

Right in the middle of Pigalle, Hôtel Massé feels particularly well suited to this version of the city. A safe haven of sorts, tucked away from the noise without removing you from it entirely. You can spend the day walking until the heat gets the better of you, retreat upstairs for a few hours, then emerge again when Paris begins to wake back up.

Created by siblings Corto and Eole Peyron, Massé feels personal in a way hotels often try very hard to manufacture. Much of what fills the space has either been sourced second hand or made especially for it, and there is an ease to the interiors that makes the hotel feel lived in rather than overly designed.

More home base than hotel, perhaps.

Now, it has a neighbour.

Just next door at 30 Rue Victor Massé, Corto and Eole have opened Trente in a former Pigalle loft. Conceived around the Peyron family motto, “make a friend a day,” it was imagined as a meeting place for the people staying upstairs, those living around the corner and everyone else who happens to find themselves somewhere in between. 

Trente carries the same sensibility as Massé, but loosens its collar a little. There is a beautiful green marble frontage, an old wooden bar, red floors, black leather sofas and tables that look like they have been there far longer than they actually have. Family photographs cover the walls, including images from the expeditions of Corto and Eole’s father, Stéphane Peyron. In the bathroom, 1,500 miniature Ricard bottles form a slightly more eccentric family reference.

It is elegant without being precious about it.

The same can be said for what lands on the table. The menu was created by childhood friends Corto and Cyril together with Félix, beginning with a question we wish more bars would ask themselves: what do we actually want to eat in a bar?

The answer is a changing selection of plates made for sharing, with the Brioche Trente as a permanent fixture. Good things to pick at, pass around and order another round over. The wine list, curated by neighbourhood sommelier Gabrielle, keeps things concise and natural, while the cocktails move from a Trente Sour with gin, sake and yuzu to the mezcal and jasmine Philippine’s and the aptly named Massé Express.

Then there is the music. Vinyl moves between jazz, ambient, house, downtempo and electro through speakers handcrafted specifically for the room. Upstairs, underneath a large glass roof overlooking the surrounding Haussmann buildings, the former artist studio used during Massé’s renovation continues to make space for creative work.

All of which makes Trente feel less like a hotel bar and more like the kind of place you would hope to discover around the corner from wherever you happened to be staying.

Luckily, in this case, it is literally downstairs.

For now, Paris is still moving at its summer pace. Soon enough everyone will return, the calendars will fill up again and the city will resume being the city we know it to be.

Consider this the calm before the storm, and a good reason to plan your next Paris visit accordingly.