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Finding ice/keeping medicine refrigerated in Paris

Posted by on

I'll be spending 5 days in France next month and am wondering how to keep my medication refrigerated. In the US, I carry a thermos which I fill up with ice every 4-6 hours when I am on the road and keep in hotel refrigerators when we settle in somewhere.

I've already contacted the hotel at which we will be probably be staying (a Best Western). They only have refrigerators in their luxury rooms, not the standard ones, but say it will be no problem to keep the medicine in the hotel fridge and that I can have 24 hour access to it (I'm thinking they probably mean through an intermediary at the reception, not directly). Should I trust them? (I mean I trust that they do actually have a refrigerator that they can store the meds in, but should I trust them to actually take it seriously and put them back in right away, not, for example, when they get around to it 3 hours later, say). Or should I look around for some place w/ a refrigerator actually in the room? My husband and I would really like to stay in this hotel since it is the conference hotel (and feel that $186/night for the standard room is already quite enough to spend). Also, I'm not sure how much effort I'd have to put into find another hotel that would be in the same area (6th arrondissment ==> Rue Vaurigard, Blvd. St. Michel, Jardin de Luxembourg area), not too expensive but w/ refrigerators in standard rooms. Is this relatively common? Would it be worth is to look? Or a wild goose chase?

Also, I'm wondering about getting ice for the thermos when we leave Paris so I can carry the meds when we travel on. Could I just assume that a moderate-sized hotel like a Best Western would have ice ... or should I call them back again and make sure? If they don't have it, is there any where else I could find some easily?

Thanks!

Posted by
7435 posts

If your hotel serves breakfast (even a continental one with coffee, juice, and a few pastries), they should have a fridge for storing milk, cream, and juice, so I'd trust there would be room for your medication. As long as there's a 24-hour reception desk, you shouldn't have trouble having access to your meds.

Ice might or might not be as readily available, but hopefully you can check with the hotel now to confirm if that will be the case when you would be staying there.

We've stayed in some hotels in France and elsewhere in Europe where the main purpose of having a mini refrigerator in the room was to stock a mini bar, with small bottles of liquor and other items that they hope you'll use and will be charged a hefty fee for the convenience of having it in the room. The fridge wasn't necessarily intended for guests to store their own food, but we often have fit in cheese, a water bottle to chill, etc. If we had to remove their unopened vodka bottle to make room for our stuff for a couple of days, hopefully the vodka didn't go bad at room temperature ;-)

Posted by
23322 posts

You are not the first person, including locals, that have this type of need. I would trust the hotel. You can always get small quantities ice from restaurants and bars especially if you explain your situation/need.

Posted by
16894 posts

I agree with Cyn and Frank, since the hotel has answered "yes" about access to their fridge. I have kept less important stuff in hotel refrigerators just by asking (but I only attempted it in smaller hotels). You would not expect to find a guest ice machine.

Posted by
10227 posts

You should be confident about the fridge. However, you should let them know when you arrive that you'll need ice when leaving. That is not something the French normally keep around, particularly in March, but since this is a US brand hotel, they are probably used to being asked for ice. Just give them a heads up.

Posted by
44 posts

I'm just going to go ahead and trust them ... and enjoy my vacation.

Thanks for the suggestions.

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