Paris La Defense hotels

Having only been out to La Defense once in six or more visits to Paris, I can't say that it feels convenient. The direct metro to the Louvre takes at least 20 minutes, and you're going to/from Metro Zone 3, which costs slightly more. There has been more than one occasion that I stayed out late in Paris and chose a taxi back to my hotel, and appreciated that affordable option, which was under 10 euros in the city center.

It would be alot of commuting.. even in evenings you would want to be in other areas as the area around La Defence is business orientated and it closes down in evening.. no cute cafes close by etc.. many describe the area as souless.

I think you would do better to post your hotel budget in euros and get some other suggestions. There are other areas that would be more interesting and hotels that are still reasonably priced.

many describe the area as souless.

I've been to La Defense many, many times. I can absolutely concur with this assessment. It's a modern business and office park.

You'll need to ask yourself if the extra time and expense commuting back and forth is worth the money saved in hotel costs. I realize most people have limited travel budgets, but your time is also very limited while traveling.

One major lesson I have learned in all my travels is that staying in a cheaper hotel in a bad location is not worth it. I like stepping outside my door with the city I came to see and experience right there all around me. But so does almost everyone else so it comes at a price.

As far as specific hotels there, most will be business class hotels and modern. You won't likely go wrong with any of them.

We stayed at the Novotel hotel in La Defense last year. My husband chose the hotel for the V-E Day and Assumption Day holidays. Since the business people weren't there, the prices were cheaper. We had a lovely corner room that overlooked the Seine and we could see the top part of the Eiffel Tower.

Yes, it took longer to get to places by metro but the price was right. When I say "longer", it was maybe 20-30 minutes to get to the central part of the city. We also knew we would have seats on the metro when we started and eventually would get a seat as we returned. We were able to explore the La Defense area a bit so it wasn't too bad.

It wasn't the easiest hotel to find with a car. In fact, I almost had a stroke (not really) as I was trying to give driving directions to my husband and he was ignoring them. However, eventually we were able to find the correct turn.

We did find a nice self-service laundromat just across the river from the hotel. Since there were also a number of tour groups using the hotel, we met several nice people. A couple that sticks in my mind were from Germany and ran a tour bus company for people with special needs. It was fascinating to talk to them about the tours they provided.

I actually like staying in La Defense. Granted, when I stayed there I wasn't doing much sight seeing. I stayed at the Pullman and the Sofitel, which are super close to the two metro stops there. Both hotels were lovely, but I am a fan of the Accor chain. I know there are a few Ibis locations nearby if your budget is less, but Accor usually has some good sales for that are. The area is actually very cool at light with La Grande Arche light up. There's something really impressive about being there and seeing L'Arc de Triomphe from afar.

It's quite close to the Champs-Elysees, so restaurants are not far (granted, I have yet to find a GOOD restaurant in the Les 4 temps mall or around the area, so les Champs-Elysees is a nice place to get dinner. There are some nicely priced restaurants on the Champs-Elysees, such as the chains Chez Clement and Leon de Bruxelles.

We took advantage of a Marriott employee discount and stayed in the Renaissance Paris La Defense for a short trip. It was a perfectly fine hotel and fairly convenient to central Paris via the Metro. I thought it was actually quite interesting to see a different area of Paris. That said, if we could have found a hotel closer to central Paris, I probably would have preferred that over La Defense.