Hotel Breakfast or seek out nearby cafe?

would you be content (would all of you be content) with one small juice (or not), a pastry or croissant, and one cup of coffee each for breakfast at a cafe, or do you want to make the rounds of the buffet - pastry, jams, cheese, meat, possibly eggs, more coffee or teas, whatever the hotel offers? Hard to know what they offer for breakfast because they don't seem to mention it on their website (that says €12 pp) and 12 or 13 pp is pretty cheap.....

It comes down to how needing you are of a big breakfast everyday? If you are a coffee and something small type of person, save your money, get out wander early, then sit for coffee, then off to your plan for the day. To me, that is ideal.

Others really need that big breakfast to feel that their day has started.

If you are looking at eating a fuller breakfast out, I would use Google maps t look for places near your hotel and check their opening times. Since your hotel is a Best Western, they may start breakfast early, other places may not even open until 9:00.

The alternative is to just leave it open, maybe eat at the hotel your first morning, and decide if it is worth it from there.

This is the greatest value of an apartment or apartment/hotel room. Bakeries have wonderful things and it is about a fourth as much as a hotel breakfast to make a lavish breakfast in the apartment. I am staying in an apartment/hotel right now where the buffet breakfast is 20 each. I bought fabulous bakery goods and cappuccinos (real ones not those instant machines or 'cups) the first morning for about 10 Euros for the two of us. And now have stocked the place with milk, ok, cheese, bread, jam and butter and yogurt. For almost nothing.

If you are a big eater and can pound down eggs, cold cuts, and lots of bread and fruit it may be worth it to get the breakfast in the hotel if it is a buffet.

local cafes will also be much cheaper but breakfast is usually bread and butter and jam, coffee, tea or chocolate and fruit juice.

From the pictures on the website it appears to be the typical European buffet, hardboiled eggs, deli meats, cheese, croissants, breads jellies, fruit. Like others have said, if you need a big breakfast to get you to lunch, I would probably pay for it. But, if you can survive on a croissant or two and a beverage, I would save the 26 euros and spend it on a nicer lunch. Besides there is nothing better than a French bakery smell in the morning as you pick up some breakfast.

I took a quick look at your hotel on TripAdvisor to specifically see traveler’s photos of the breakfast (I don’t trust general reviews posted on TripAdvisor). I see hard-boiled eggs, a dish of mixed fruit, croissants & similar and coffee.

In Paris, we like to just stop into a coffee shop near our first activity of the day and have our morning coffee & fresh croissant. We stopped at the restaurant across the street from Sainte-Chapelle, for instance, for breakfast. I stopped into a coffee shop between the metro and Musée Jacquemart-André another day, etc.

Another benefit to not having your hotel breakfast is that you can enjoy the ambiance of eating at outdoor seating. We had a lovely breakfast of fresh orange juice, croissant, yogurt and espresso near the Arc de Triomphe.

I see hard-boiled eggs, a dish of mixed fruit, croissants & similar and coffee.

That would be right up my alley, particularly the bowl of mixed fruit, so I would have no problems with the 13€ hotel breakfast.

If a hotel in Europe offers a breakfast buffet or continental breakfast, we usually take advantage of it. but we don't go "whole hog." Maybe a small breakfast at the hotel, and then a morning cafe stop while we are out walking around maybe a couple hours later.

That price doesn't seem crazy if the spread includes hard-boiled eggs as well as fresh fruit. And if they keep the buffet stocked. I always opt out of hotel breakfasts if I can, because they're usually grossly overpriced, and I have sleep issues which mean I sometimes sleep right through the breakfast period. In France my go-to breakfast is a mini-quiche purchased from a bakery. But my beverage of choice is water, which vastly simplifies matters.

I'd recommend reading a bunch of recent reviews of the hotel on booking.com to be sure people are OK with the breakfast. I know a lot of places cut back on or eliminated breakfast buffets during the height of the pandemic, and some have not restored what they previously offered.

If the breakfast buffet is not included in your room rate, it will then be an option. So you can not get it or you can depending on your wants and needs. You can most likely pay per day as you go.
That said, most breakfast are worth it for the coffee alone. And the timing. If the breakfast starts at 0700 and you are up, there it is. If you are up at 0700 and no hotel breakfast, you will have to go out and probably not find one until at least 0800.
As for coffee, DW and I will most likely drink 3-4 cups each morning. Go cost that at a bakery.

I don't know about that specific hotel, but we usually eat at the hotel, and then use our bathroom before beginning our day.

I have been in a few tourist-class hotels that actually had an aluminum 30-cup coffemaker, like an American church basement used to! But in general, I have been pleased with the quality and fresh-made efforts of most modest sized hotels, especially in Paris. If you hear an espresso machine through the pass-window, for example.

Depending on your neighborhood, it may be worthwhile (.... live like a local) if you can find a stand-up "bar" with heated display cases for (lower-quality, not usually "fine bakery") breakfast savories. That way you'll see some actual locals on the way to their work.

I never use AirBnB anywhere, because it is too harmful to local housing economy, and to unhappy neighbors. Opinion. Besides, who want a stinking Nespresso machine, anyway!

most breakfast are worth it for the coffee alone.

Not true for me, as I don't drink coffee. And my husband is such a coffee snob, he usually isn't going to be happy with hotel coffee.

So this is very much a "your mileage may vary" statement.

If the breakfast buffet has a wide assortment of items, we take advantage of it mostly for convenience. You don’t need to go out and find a cafe, pastry shop, or whatever. You also don’t need to go out if the weather is bad and if you forgot something in you room, you can go get it. The 13€ price is inexpensive if it’s more than a continental breakfast. A couple days ago we paid 21€ each at our hotel in Germany. At our current hotel, breakfast comes with the room cost.

Another reason for getting the hotel breakfast is by filling up before heading out for the day, we don’t need to stop for lunch and interrupt whatever it is we’re doing. As a comparison, a coffee or tea by itself at a shop will cost about 3.5€. Add to that any eggs, meat, cheese, yogurt, etc., at a restaurant and you are near or over 13€. At that price, you wouldn’t get your money’s worth if you just had a single cup of coffee and a pastry.

It’s a personal preference whatever it is you choose.

We usually do the hotel breakfast, mainly for convenience and particularly at that price point. We are early risers and get to the breakfast room shortly after it opens, then back to the room for a while before setting out. We tried going to a local restaurant/bar/bakery instead, but found that if we each had two coffees, a juice and a croissant it seemed like the marginal cost and convenience of the full hotel breakfast was generally worth it to us. If we were later risers, I would probably go with the coffee/croissant option at a local bakery, but lunch seems like a distant dream based on when we usually wake up!

We get the hotel breakfast the first morning and if we like it then we have it every day. Much more convenient than finding somewhere else to eat. And as Tim said, you can then go back to your room before heading out. We always forget something, so breakfast at the hotel (ours have always been really good and well worth the cost) gives us a chance to realize it and get it easily.

As some people said, if a pastry and beverage is all you need stop at a bakery then find a nearby park to enjoy it.

As others have said, definitely a YMMV situation. I've done both. My last trip in March, to a small town south of Paris, the boulangerie next to where I was staying was so good and inexpensive that I turned down the free breakfast offered by the host. You're just not going to get still-warm-from-the-oven pain au chocolat from a hotel breakfast! But, on other trips to other places, the offered breakfast was good and the local options weren't as good, so I did eat at the hotel.

It also helps that I only need un crème to get me going in the morning. If you need more joe, that can add up fast.

I'm pretty obsessive about food on trips and tend to make sure that I can eat nutritiously when I need to and have easy access to food that will provide that. France is no exception.

Remember, "breakfast is your most important meal."
🍊🍌🍇🍓🥐🍞🧀🍳🥚☕️😉

I always do the breakfast buffet so that I can get some good protein to start the day. Eggs, cheese, yogurt, cooked or cold sliced meats are essential to me. Add fruit, bread or croissants, sparkling water and strong French coffee with milk and I'm set for the day. The typical continental breakfast is neither enough nor the right thing for me to eat all by itself. My déjeuner is not petit.

If the timing of the buffet is not quite in sync with my own timing, I'm not above throwing on my clothes from the day before, going down for the buffet, and going back to my room to shower and get ready to go out. I'm also not above taking a piece or two of fruit and something resembling a sandwich back to the room for later. As a solo traveler I have never been questioned about that, nor have I ever seen a large family be questioned about it.

I typically have my major meal at lunch, especially if I've had breakfast early. I try to eat lunch toward the end of the usual French déjeuner between 12:00 and 14:00. Traveling alone, I'm not big on going out to dinner at the normal French starting time of about 19:30 unless I go to a place very close to my hotel.

On most days I visit a market or grocery for water (both sparkling and still) and other items for a dinner in my room, whether I've gotten things from the morning buffet or not. I call what I get from the buffet and what I get from the stores "survival rations." Having the very rare mini-fridge in the room is a major bonus for me, but I don’t require that for my hotel selections.

You'll need to figure out what works best for you.

I am a sucker for a good French breakfast buffet. No one can scramble eggs like the French! Yum. And the viennoiseries - all I can eat! With scrumptious jam...charcuterie...and that salted butter...did I say salted?! This is pure heaven to me. And why is it their machine coffee is heaven-sent? I feel it's a much better value than getting your standard cafe's breakfast.

Though...I will say the French have taken brunch to a new level. It used to mean having a hamburger at 11am - but not it beats an American brunch . Even if they're stingy with their boissons chaudes.

Alexander, 100% agree. A French breakfast is my all time favorite meal.

The coffee is a good point. Many have those awful automatic cup type machines which make bad coffee. my husband is obsessed with coffee and so we usually find a coffee shop with good coffee and breakfast. 13 Euro is not that bad for a hotel spread. The hotel I am in now charges 20. We just laugh and go to the bakery around the corner which also has a great espresso machine.

janet, what are some of your favorite coffee shops in Paris that have a nice breakfast, i’d enjoy going to one… : )

We used to look for a cafe for breakfast as part of our planning but in the last few years we've come to prefer doing the hotel breakfast mainly for reasons of timing.

We're relatively early risers and we want breakfast about 8:00. We don't drink coffee and we want more than a pastry for breakfast. We sometimes struggled to find cafes where we could sit down and be served that were open early enough. Or they were very busy and it took longer than we wanted. If we do the hotel buffet we can set our own pace, eat our fill, and be on our way.

For those of you that want the coffee or tea at a hotel but not the entire breakfast, it doesn’t hurt to ask if you can just pay for that and not the entire meal. My friend and I were able to do that at a hotel in Arles. They charged us €1 each per day for that.

We enjoy trying various pastry shops near our apartment or hotel when we are in French cities, because we only like a large breakfast once in a while. On an upcoming trip we just need to let our hosts know each day if we want breakfast the next morning, so perhaps you can alternate depending on your plan for the day. We drink tea, so I usually just make it with tea bags from home, but occasionally I get it from a cafe.

I am not very picky about my morning coffee. But. I. Need. A. Lot. Of. It. So the hotel breakfast works just fine for me.

Another vote for hotel breakfast. I look forward to planning the day over several cups of coffee. Totally worth it!

When we went to Paris in 2019 we paid for the hotel breakfast and were very glad we did. It was extremely convenient to have a quick breakfast there before heading out. We ate heartily, and it helped fuel all the walking we did. We sometimes took a piece of fruit or a roll with some cheese to eat later. We will be back in Paris in a few weeks, and we'll probably pick up things to eat in our apartment rather than relying on a quick pastry at a cafe.

At a restaurant in Eguisheim now and for 8.5€ you get a hot drink, orange juice and croissant for breakfast.