Hotel in Paris needed

First its important to state a reasonable budget for your hotel.. per night in euros please.

I have stayed in many decent to very good hotels in paris.. and I usually choose a nice central location where I can walk to many sites .

Also , time of year for visit .

And whats your comfort level from luxury to basic ?

Liz, I learned years ago about Hotel Eugenie from Pat which is in the perfect location near place St Michele for a short visit. The room I shared with a girl friend was small, very comfortable and a lot of fun. The breakfast we had in the room was very nice with lots of choices and the staff were so friendly. I'd stay there again in a heart beat!

If you want to stay in the Marais, try this hotel:
http://www.lestournelles.com/en/

Quiet and was renovated a year ago. Good transportation options, too.
Only you know what you have in mind to see.
You can be at "the sites" in a matter of 15 minutes or so, if taking the Metro.

The Latin Quarter is no longer among the neighborhoods listed in the RS guidebook, but we were lucky enough to learn about Hotel des Grandes Ecoles from an earlier edition. It books up way ahead. How far into the future is your trip?

The surrounding neighborhood (Rue du Cardinal Lemoine, just north of Place Contrescarpe) is really nice, with a number of small restaurants and bistros. It is about 10 min walk to the Pantheon in one direction and to Notre Dame and the Isle St Louis in another direction.

This post illustrates an interesting and often overlooked concept. Everyone's tastes are different, as are their pocketbooks, standards of cleanliness, quaintness quotients, and other factors. I have stayed at a number of hotels in Paris, mostly in the Latin Quarter area and at Rick Steve's favorite area, Rue Cler. The hotel staff can be friendly or surly, and sometimes it is merely the luck of the draw.

I suggest that any hotel search should start with a good guidebook (RS's France or Paris books, or the Lonely Planet series) which will definitely pique your curiosity and your sense of adventure. The Frommer and Fodor guides seem to be less frequently updated, but that could just my impression. The guidebooks really help to crystallize locations and proximity to sights. I am disinterested in the whole Champs-Elysees area, so any hotels in that area would not seem to be practical to me. Conversely, I am fascinated by the melting pot aspect of Paris, so I find that hotels (and apartments) relatively close to neighborhoods in transition provide the best bang for the buck regarding people watching and ambience. Public transportation is so good in Paris that getting from one side of the city to the other really isn't a significant factor in determining my hotel location. It is more a quest for an appropriate neighborhood that drives my lodging search.

Some of the more reliable indicators are the online reviews from travel sites. Trip Advisor is a good source of information, but I really rely upon Google. Once I find a hotel in an area I think I might want to visit, I find it on Google Maps and am directed to reviews of the property, often translated from the French, German, and Chinese visitors who have stayed there. The site descriptions are often revealing, as are the photos posted by staff and even guests. This is a very quick way of getting a lot of different reviews of the same place.

I think that once the OP becomes familiar with the area being traveled in, she will have a better idea of hotels that may suit her tastes. Good luck in your all to brief trip to the grandest city in the world!

We used Etoile Saint Honore (Hotel Champs Elysees). Good location and just a couple blocks off of the Champ Elysees next to a police station and a couple blocks from the Arch. ((hotel-paris-honore.com)) They have an interesting angle. They belong to a collection of small hotels in the Paris area, I think called - Happy culture. If you have a card from the hotel then you can use the rest rooms in any of the other hotels in the group by showing the business card when you walk in. Had a great breakfast and an afternoon tea. We found a number of excellent restaurants in the area.

Note that the Hotel des Grande Ecoles while it has a lovely garden does not have AC and the upstairs rooms can be unbelievably hot on a fairly warm day. We measured our room at near 100F in the afternoon and given the very poor air flow it didn't get comfortable at night although the outside air was pleasant. I would never stay there in the summer and if I did would not accept a room on the top floor. One of the benefits of a hotel in Paris is AC, I'd not book a hotel without it. Even quite modest hotels i.e. in the 100 Euro a night range, mostly have it.

Hi,

Keep in mind that coming from Calais, you arrive at Gare du Nord, then by Metro or taxi to the hotel you choose.

I agree with the previous suggestion of the Les Tournelles hotel in the Marais. The metro is close to the hotel so you have easy, direct routes to the Louvre and to the Arc de Triomphe. Ask at the hotel desk for directions and get proper change too.

But maybe you'll prefer to walk rather than take the metro. The Marais district is just across the bridge from the Notre Dame cathedral and the Sainte Chapelle. The hotel is a 20 minute walk from the Notre Dame.

The Louvre is a 30 minute walk from the Les Tournelles hotel and d'Orsay Museum is just across the river from the Louvre. The d'Orsay museum has the world's best collection of impressionist masterpieces, Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Manet, Gauguin, Cézanne, Degas. You can see them all in two hours.

If you like modern art, then the Pompidou Center & its Modern Art Museum are 15 minutes away from the Les Tournelles.

Maybe you'll want to take a taxi to the Eiffel Tower. I love the tower but only to look at; it is not worth going up.

After dinner stroll on the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe.

We like the Hotel Tiquetonne, on rue Tiguetonne, just two blocks away from the rue Montorgueil, which is one of the greatest market streets in Paris. The hotel is not fancy, but for two days will do fine, and is not too expensive. The staff person at the desk may speak English, but also may not.

I recommend the Hotel Esmeralda.

Built in the 17C - located in the same building as the famous Shakespeare and Company bookstore.

Indeed, is is "quirky" but a lot of fun. Out the door - across the bridge - Notre Dame Cathedral. In my opinion, also reasonably priced.

As to other possible site destinations; it is an "embarrassment of riches" - you cannot go wrong.

Richard

Yes, but the wallpaper will possibly kill you...

To Chexbres

Re: The wallpaper at the Esmeralda.

Thanks; very funny and very true.

I used the word "quirky": your description probably the more accurate.

Think we stayed there 3 nights; all in all we thought it was a good value. Good location, good price.

Richard