Any feedback available re Hotel Paris Gambetta?

I don’t know anything about the hotel, but I will say the location leaves something to be desired. Unless you’re getting an exceptionally good rate, I’d take a pass. I stay in the 11th, which is fairly far from the center of the city, but even I wouldn’t stay there.

It’s not far from a metro stop, (Gambetta) but the line that’s it’s on isn’t a very good one, and you’ll always have to change lines to get where you’re going.

Did you check reviews on Booking.com? Only people who have stayed at the property can leave a review on that site. It gets a "good" rating which is middle of the road, but you can peruse the reviews for yourself (sort by newest first so you get current input). You don't have to book using their service, just a good research tool.

And FWIW unless you have a specific reason for staying in that area, there are other offerings that may be much more convenient for sightseeing, etc.

I will say the location leaves something to be desired.

I completely disagree, and for good reason, I lived right across from the hotel for a few years. Avenue du Père Lachaise is very quiet, the neighborhood is super lively, very safe, and full of local shops (especially on Rue des Pyrénées). The subway is just a few steps away, and so is the entrance to the Père Lachaise Cemetery. It's one of the best places I've ever lived in Paris, and that was even before it got gentrified and trendy.

Just a few minutes' walk away is one of Paris's charming villages, "La Campagne à Paris" .

https://maps.app.goo.gl/wV4q1Gb8BoWC3AER6

And if you stroll through the neighborhood, you can discover some hidden side streets with artists' studios and Art Deco houses.

JoLui, if I was to contemplate living in Paris, I'd strongly agree with you. It would be a really great place to live. But my reply was based on the assumption that the OP is visiting.

I'll stand on my initial response that it's not an optimum place for a tourist visit. It's difficult to get to the sites that the OP is naturally going to want to visit. Yes, it's near a Métro, but that line just goes more or less across the Right Bank, necessitating changing lines every time you take it.

HappyToBeHere, Charles never claimed he expected direct access by metro or bus to every single part of Paris, which is impossible anyway. And I'm quite sure he knows that the Hôtel Paris Gambetta isn't actually at the base of the Eiffel Tower.

You said that "the location leaves something to be desired," which is false, whether you live there for several years or only stay for 2 or 3 nights.

Taking Metro Line 3 at Place Gambetta puts you just minutes away from the center of Paris. The line runs straight through major transit hubs like République and Opéra. Getting to the city's main tourist attractions from there is just as efficient, if not more so, than staying in the 7th arrondissement.

Calling it "impractical" is a complete non-issue.

JoLui, we’re allowed to disagree. I meant no disrespect.

We stayed in an apartment near there for a month in 2003 -- during the great heat wave -- It is of course not central but it is on a metro line 3 which gets you into the center to transfer wherever you want to go. There is an enormous shopping center which includes at least one bakery and a big grocery store so convenient for picking up snacks and such and fast food. It is quite near Pere Lachaise which is undoubtedly a place you would want to visit. There are lot of very inexpensive hotels in the area and for someone on a budget a reasonable choice for a Paris visit. We found lots of nice little restaurants and delis and such.

For your purposes and budget (as stated in your other post), this hotel and general location could work out well. I don’t have any direct knowledge of this hotel, but as a frequent Paris hotel researcher I want to add my 2 cents.

My adult daughter attends Paris Fashion Week twice a year and I help her find safe, clean, budget accommodations, sometimes at the last minute. My husband and I travel often to Paris and we’re familiar with the different areas, so I’m her “travel agent” - researching neighborhoods, transportation and budget hotels.

This hotel looked like a future possibility, so I took a close look at the Booking.com, Google and TripAdvisor reviews. The reviews are a bit all over the place, and as you note, most of them are not recent, which gives me some pause. Some people love it (“clean, family run, nice people”), some do not (“small, not clean, shabby furnishings”). I had to dismiss some of the complaints/expectations of the reviewers (“small elevator, simple breakfast”) as petty and inappropriate for a budget hotel. I’m not overly concerned about “shabby,” and a small elevator is of little consequence, if the price is right.

Although the area is out of the center (ok, almost to the edge of the city), the Gambetta metro stop/line 3 is well-connected down the line. From your arrival at Gare du Nord you could take the 5 metro to the Republique stop and transfer to the 3 and get off at Gambetta. That looks like 7 stops total. Not bad. And, a bonus for tourists - there’s a stop for the very useful 69 bus just a 2 minute walk from the hotel. From Gambetta, the 69 bus takes you past the Pere Lachaise cemetery, Place de la Bastille, the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Hotel des Invalides and ends at the Champs de Mars for the Eiffel Tower. I’ve taken this route often and it’s like a budget hop-on-hop-off bus.

If you book this hotel, please come back and let us know what you thought about it.

Thanks very much to everyone for your helpful contributions. I’ve now decided to book this hotel. Very nice to hear how pleasant is the location. As advised, I did seek more widely among sources of reviews and found enough positive 2026 feedback about this hotel to assuage my doubts. I was initially attracted to it because it offered what sounded like an orderly and quiet hotel at a lower price than equivalents elsewhere and it looks at though that’s due simply to distance from central Paris and old-fashioned décor – and the latter doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I was also attracted by the hotel’s location very near Pere Lachaise cemetery and thought that might make an interesting place for early morning walks on a couple of days. The metro station looks handy – as a former Londoner I’m very used to underground rail systems. Thanks very much for the tip about the 69 bus which goes to places which are on my list for visits. If I get my booking, I’ll post about the hotel afterwards, as requested.

OP, glad you found something that will work. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

You've booked, and I think you've done well, because it is a very pleasant location IMO. The neighborhood is lively and very Parisian, with good restaurants, shops, lots of cute streets, art workshops everywhere (you'll have to look for them!). If you're there between 24-27 Sep, you'll have the Portes Ouvertes des Ateliers de Menilmontant in the area: lots of art workshops specially open to the public on those dates.

From Gambetta, the 69 bus takes you past the Pere Lachaise cemetery

To visit the Père Lachaise cemetery, there's no need to take the bus, the north entrance of the cemetery (Porte Gambetta) is just 25 meters from the hotel.

A few minutes from the hotel, you will find the small neighborhood of Charonne, which has a village-like feel with its small houses clustered around the Saint-Germain de Charonne Church:

https://parisjetaime.com/eng/article/walks-in-charonne-a785

The area is full of small bistros, restaurants, and neighborhood cafés.

To discover an unusual spot in this mini-neighborhood of Charonne, at 14 Rue Stendhal you can see a large vacant lot (home to community vegetable gardens / urban farms), which is actually one of the water reservoirs of Paris:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/nHeCtwtJa4yFGwPz9

Thanks for those links re the Charonne area which look very interesting - I've now copied them to take with me.

There are many, many terrific restaurants in the Charonne area as well.

I have no personal knowledge of the hotel, but I like what I've read, and the area looks interesting . When I looked for the hotel on Maps, there was a note to skip the hotel breakfast and go to an "amazing" bakery around the corner.
You might want to try that. ;)
Have a great trip!

A few minutes from the hotel, you will find the small neighborhood of Charonne, which has a village-like feel with its small houses clustered around the Saint-Germain de Charonne Church:

I want to throw my .02 in here:

After three visits to Paris and staying in the Rue Cler area, I decided to branch out this year and try somewhere new. I decided, with the help of a lot of forum members, to stay in the 11th. It was the best decision I've made since first visiting Paris.

I wrote about it here, but to quote myself:

A woman on Rue de Charonne, who looks like she just stepped off the cover of Vogue, brushes past another woman in a full, black burqa. Two Imams discuss vital matters in Arabic as they walk briskly down the narrow sidewalk. Tall, handsome men with skin the color of Ironwood laugh together at a table outside a wine bar. Corner cafes never host a still moment and their customers spill all the way out to the edge of the street. The busy-ness of Parisian life goes on display.

And fashion! Fashion, fashion, all is fashion! A bald man with thick-rimmed glasses sports a daring orange-and-mauve cravat; a woman of a certain age cuts a path down the crowded walkway attired in shiny brown leather pants that the cow itself would admire. Short dresses and sharp pleats; overcoats over undershirts; "look good to feel good" seems to be the motto on these early spring days in the 11th.

Halal Lebanese and a savory Savoyard place on one side of the street face off with a raw bar and cake shop on the other. A laundromat nestles up to a Monoprix. Graffiti and spray-painted tags cover walls, while an indescribably-lewd line drawing scrawled high on a wall overlooks the street below, invisible unless you happen to look up at exactly the right (or wrong) spot.

I think you'll absolutely love where you're staying.

-- Mike Beebe

I really enjoy Mike Beebe’s trip reports because they feel as much like storytelling as traditional trip reports.

That said, be careful not to confuse rue de Charonne in the 11th arrondissement with the Village de Charonne in the 20th. Rue de Charonne got its name simply because it used to be the old path leading to the village of Charonne, which wasn’t part of Paris at the time.

That doesn't change the fact that the 11th is also a nice and diverse neighborhood depending on whether you're in the north or the south of the arrondissement. Back before the creation of the 'arrondissements,' what defined each Paris neighborhood was the "Faubourgs", each with its own distinct vibe and identity. Streets referencing these old faubourgs still exist today (like Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré and Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre).

So, sometimes you shouldn't necessarily rely solely on an arrondissement number to define a Parisian area and its character.