We're taking a family of 4 (2 boys 14 & 11) to Paris in October and doing most of the trip on hotel points and frequent flier miles.
Has anyone stayed at the Holiday Inn Paris Versailles Bougival and if so, how did you get downtown? We were told there's a train station 3 KM away, but it's a 30 Euro cab ride to and from. We were considering renting a car and driving to the station or one closer to the city. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Almost any other Holiday Inn in Paris would work better. Versailles Bougival is nowheresville.
let's see 30 Euro for the cab and another 30 or so for 4 people to take the train from Versailles to Paris every day and back plus wasting huge amounts of time commuting. Your kids are both adults for the purpose of commuting and ticket prices. And of course you pay an additional 3 Euro for the 4th person in the cab which may or may not have been factored into the cab estimate you were given. If you are going to Paris, stay in Paris. Your time is so valuable on a trip like this that squandering time and energy turns that free room into less of a bargain. There are cheap hotels just inside the peripherique at the ends of metro lines which still involve a bit of a commute but not the expense and time of being outside the city.
Thanks for the replies. We're on an extremely tight budget, but certainly realize that time is very valuable as well.
Basically it came down to five nights at Versailles Bougival vs. one downtown with our points because we'd have to get two rooms. We still may stay there for a night and drive to Versailles the next day.
Did you try Porte de Clichy, or Auteuil, or the Holiday Inn Express at Bassin de la Vilette or Place d'Italie?
These are all walking distance of Metro stations.
We looked at other hotels in the city but the problem is rooms in the city are at least 30K points per night and only sleep two so we'd need two rooms per night. For comparison's sake, it would 15K points per night at Holiday Inn Versailles and at least 60K points downtown. We'll have about 140K points to work with. Looks like our best option may be a combination of points and cash. Again, thanks for the input!
Thanks, all.
I absolutely agree about the Holiday Inn Express on the Basin de Villette. The website is http://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/gb/en/paris/parlv/hoteldetail I stayed there earlier in the year and was really really happy. Breakfast - a good one - is included, rooms are large, they take good care of Rewards Club members, especially high status ones, and there are great views of the canal. Very close to 2 Métro lines, and the number 54 bus - very close to Gare du Nord, in the 19th arr.
I know it is 30,000 points a night but at least very convenient and that breakfast doesn't need buying. If you don't use points the good rack rate is quite low and advance specials are always available and pretty cheap for Paris. They have rooms for 2 and a sofabed for one but not for 2.
Wish I had a better answer. I think that the one you have got now may be a false economy. There's a reason it is so cheap.
