Accomodation in Paris

Part of the reason why reviewers might say a place is not central is that there is no one hotel that is central to all of the main sights in Paris. Many people prefer to stay in the 4th, 5th or 6th arrondissement which can be within walking distance of Notre Dame, the Louvre, Ile Saint Louis, etc. Take a look at the Hotel Abbatial Saint Germain, Hotel Agora Saint Germain, and Hotel Excelsior Latin . I have heard good things Hotel Louis 2 but I have not stayed there yet. All of these hotels are within a 20 minute walk to the Louvre and Notre Dame and are in great areas and should be within your budget in October.

We stayed in the 17th arrondissement for a week in March, in a little apartment in a very Parisian neighborhood. Not exactly central, but lots of character and a terrific bargain at €650 for a week! That savings helped pay for the outlandishly priced restaurants. We functioned similarly: spent a typical day in more-or-less one area then returned for a rest and clean up, maybe a late afternoon outing as well before dinner. We were a 5-7 minute walk from a Metro and close to a major bus line.

I would not worry so much about "central" as it is easy to hop the Metro or a bus and be all the way across Paris in 20 minutes.

That said, with your budget and the favorable exchange rate, you should be able to find a nice place on Ile de la Cité. Check http://www.VRBO.com or http://www.escalea.com/en/ for cute apartments. For a week you might find, as we do, that is a nice option for your travel $$.

Paris is arranged in arrondissiments (districts) numbered from 1 to 20. To be centrally located, look in arrondissiments 1 through 6, and close to the river. These are also considered to be the best locations for first time visitors. The last digit of the Paris postal code is the arrondissiment - 75001, 75002, etc. I've had good luck using booking.com. You can search by arrondissiment. I can reccommend Hotel Henri IV Rive Gauche. It is in the Latin Quarter, 2 blocks from Notre Dame, in the 5th arr. I think it may be within your budget. Good luck.

I think maybe the "Our price range is $200..." and the "...I would like a spacious room..." are mutually exclusive. In "Central Paris" you're basically paying per square meter, and the price goes up from there based on amenities. If you are staying for a week, look for an apartment that might fit that price range.

If you are looking for a well-located hotel where you can walk to a lot of attractions and restaurants with the metro nearby in the $200 range, you'll love Hotel Empereur. www.hotelempereurparis.com Rooms are spacious and beautiful.

Thank you all for your responses! It was very nice to wake up and find these posts. I spent a little time looking at the hotels mentioned and there are several that seem to fit the bill. I have not looked into an apartment yet but will take a look this afternoon.

Sam, I was being sarcastic when I said a spacious room for $200/night. But one never knows and some rooms may be larger (even though not large by US standards) than others.

Teri Lynn, have you personally stayed at the Hotel Empereur? And if so did you sign up or have breakfast there?
JHT, have you personally stayed at the Hotel Abbatial Saint Germain? And if so did you sign up or have breakfast there?

The Empereur and Abbatial both offer breakfast and I was just wondering if for (13.50 a person or thereabouts) the price it was better to do breakfast in the hotel or just venture out on our own in the mornings? I think the Empereur lets you add breakfast for the week in your booking (though there is not a discount in price) and the Abbatial includes breakfast if you stay 5 nights or longer.

Again, thank you everyone for your help! This is one of the reasons I love this site!

We're staying at the Empereur next month and am not taking the hotel breakfast for 13.50 euros per person, that's almost $30 for breakfast. Rick recommends going down the street to a bakery or cafe and getting breakfast for half or less of the above amount.

See this topic for more on this subject:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france-reviews/good-hotels-near-rue-cler

I don't sign up hotel breakfasts when in Paris. We either grab something from a bakery or go to a cafe or a Paul for half the price or we head to Breakfast in America when we are aching for American style breakfast.

Edit: Forgot to answer the rest of your question. Yes, for 2 nights in the summer of 2013.

We have used this studio for the past 9 or 10 years. It is in the 9th. 25 minute walk to the Louvre, 18 minute bus ride. Bus stop 2 minutes from the door. Metro- Anvers- is a 6-8 minute walk. From there, you can go anywhere in Paris.

Studio is nice, clean and in good condition. It is in the basement of a Chalet. It has a stove, coffee machine, great hot water, nice shower, large (for France refrigerator), queen size bed with lifting headboard, TV, phone (you can call 120 countries for free), dishes, glasses, cutlery, etc. and wifi. It is way cheaper than 100 Euro per night. I will not guess on the exact price. It is the owners job to tell you.

Nadine Giblin
Studio 30 sqm Paris 9e near Montmartre
E-mail : locationparis9@cogib.fr
Website : http://locationparis9.canalblog.com

I only got the hotel breakfast once in France and it wasnt worth it. For just a few euros, you can have a croissant or pain au chocolat and a hot cocoa or cafe from one of the hundreds of cafes and bakeries in Paris. Save your food money for dinner, thats where its at. :)

I really enjoyed the st germain neighborhood where I stayed in the Hotel Saint Paul Rive Gauche. The rooms were small but wonderfully decorated, bed super comfy, and the staff was very helpful and friendly. About a 10-15 min walk to notre dame.

Thank you each and every one of you for the information. We are looking at several of the mentioned hotels and are even looking into renting an apartment. I am going to be doing some research over the next couple of days and nailing things down. Regarding the breakfast issue, the main reason I asked was because I had read several comments from people saying something to the effect "if you think the hotels are expensive for breakfast just wait till you go to a café." I guess it depends on what you want to eat and how hungry you are. I do not see any reason to pre book the breakfast and will just play it by ear. Thank you again for the tips!

By centrally located I think most folks are referring to the 5th, 6th or 7th arrondissemonts but that is just my guess. Central Paris is very walkable so I would suggest looking at the guide book to see what you are most interested in seeing and choose an area that makes sense to stay. The problem with TripAdvisor is that you are kind of looking at one place at a time. If you go to a site like Booking.com. and you can generally refine your search by cost and area. When you look at the first location you can click on the map tab and the map will not only show the place you are looking at but also the other hotels in the area and you can get a sense of what there is. Their ratings can only be submitted by people who have booked through them so they are pretty reliable. We usually look for 7.5 or higher. On the subject of ratings, go with the majority. There will always be someone who will find a place terrible. We travel in your budget range, forget spacious.

I have stayed at Hotel Europe Saint Severin, http://www.hoteleuropesaintseverin.com, great location. Saint-Michel Metro/RER stop is only a two minute walk away. Notre Dame, Shakespeare & Co., & St. Chapelle around the corner. Restaurants and Bakeries all around. They charge 12 Euros for breakfast/buffet, I only ate there my first morning then was always hitting the bakery/La Boulangerie de Papa around the corner for Croissants and bottle orange juice or a Cafe near where I was visiting that morning.
Another hotel people have mentioned is the Hotel Le Regent, http://www.hotelleregent.com, opposite direction than Europe St. Severin. The Saint-Michel stop is linked to Metro-4, RER-B & RER-C, so this was a plus for me.
Enjoy your trip.

Just back from London/Paris. I was pleased with the value and location of VRBO.com #3516598 which is 2-bedroom in the Latin Quarter (5th) near Notre-Dame, Sorbonne, Cluny Museum and St. Michel metro station.