ile Saint Louis Hotels

Ile St. Louis is my favorite neighborhood to stay in in Paris. Those 4 are the only hotels on the island. They're all great hotels. We've stayed at Hotel de Lutece and loved it.

Well, you could check airbnb.com - they have a few listings on Ile St louis. However I doubt that they'd be any cheaper than the hotels, but you never know.

Susan,

If we lodge on the island, we've narrowed it down to the two which best fit our budget, the Hotel Saint-Louis and the Hotel Lutece. They seem quite close together on rue Saint-Louis, one at 65 and the other at 75. They both, however, seem a bit of a walk from the nearest Metro, which appears to be Pont Marie. Unfortunately, at the moment I'm researching the web on an iPad Mini and having a bit of a hard time dealing with map scale. How about that Metro distance? We're in our 70s and in reasonably good health and in September spent nine or ten days in London lodging in a flat about 3-4 short-medium blocks from the Green Park underground station and that worked well for us.

I know you've recommended Lutece, but would you be willing to compare plusses and minuses with the Saint-Louis?

Of course, I'll be most pleased if others would contribute as well.

And I'll in the meatime check out the flat option.

Hi Jim. We stayed at the Hotel Saint-Louis last September and enjoyed it and the island as a whole. Haven't stayed at Lutece, so can't compare.
The distance to the Pont Marie stop is quite short from either hotel. I think it took about 5 minutes by foot. Another 5 minutes further will get you to the St. Paul stop, and about 10 minutes the other direction from either hotel will get you to St. Michel Notre Dame stop.

Hi Jim, both Hotel de Lutece and Hotel St. Louis en l'Isle are top notch. I would be very happy at either one. I would pick the one with the lower rate. You can read reviews about both at TripAdvisor.com. I agree with Eric about the two Metro stops. It's a flat, easy walk to Pont Marie. The Metro itself can involve a lot of stairs and a lot of walking underground. We like the Metro a lot, but we took buses much more often on our last visit. You can get a bus at the eastern end of Ile St. Louis, or Ile de la Cite where Notre Dame is... or, on the road alongside both sides of the river. Buses are nice, a lot less walking, no stairs, and you can see Paris as you ride along. Sometimes they can be slower though.

We've rented two apartments on ISL, and enjoyed them very much, but I still like hotels better... especially really nice hotels like the two you're considering.

Susan,

I just emailed a couple of questions to Hotel Lutece using its website, but I realized that I might be able to ask you those questions. While Hotel Saint-Louis notes an elevatot on its website, Lutece does not mention an elevator. Because we're in our 70s an elevator would be most welcome and, actually, a necessity. And, does the Lutece provide laundry services or is there a laundry nearby? We don't mind allocating some of our budget to laundry services if that frees up touring time and opportunities, but we also don't greatly mind using a launderette if it's reasonably close to the hotel, even better if it's open in the early evening so we can wash and eat, in that order, after we've returned from the sights.

Jim, yes, Lutece has an elevator. As far as I remember they do have laundry service, but you'll have to check with them to be certain. There is no laundromat or dry cleaners on ISL. There is a laundry service business not too far away called Look Pressing at 14 Rue Lagrange in the 5th.

Jim,
Indeed Hotel Saint-Louis has an elevator, but its stops are between floors. Once exiting the elevator, you will still have to navigate 10 or so fairly steep stair steps either up or down to get to the level where your room is. It does, however, stop at the main level of the basement, which is where their breakfast is served. My 79 year old Mom was with me--she was careful and was able to handle the stairs.

The elevator stopped on the floor where our room was. And it stopped on many other floors where rooms are as we came up or down.

It seems you are looking only on ile St Louis. Have you considered Hotel Hospitel on ile de la Cite'? Central location, next to Notre Dame, close to transit stops, and very affordable for the location.

When we were at Hotel Saint-Louis in September 2013, the elevator we used every day did not stop level with the floors. Even the buttons inside the elevator that you use to choose your floor were marked "2/3" and "3/4", which when we first got in didn't make sense, but when the doors opened between floors, we then understood what they meant. The elevator that we used runs right next to the spiral staircase that connects all the floors. Maybe they have two elevators?

My apologies... I thought we were talking about Hotel de Lutece elevator stopping between floors. As I re-read it, I see Eric said Hotel St. Louis en l'Isle.

If you want to consider an apartment and Ile de la Cite, we can recommend the following apartment on airbnb - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/251574. We stayed there for a week last September and loved it. There is an elevator and the apartment has a washer/dryer as well as a small kitchen. It is a studio (one large room) but we found it very comfortable and the views of the Seine from the windows are incredible. It is about three long blocks from the Cite Metro stop. Having a small kitchen has the advantage of having breakfast in your own space and we enjoyed many cheese, bread, and wine dinners there, watching the world go by on the Seine after a long day of sightseeing.

Bonnie,

Thanks for the tip on the apartment. Although we've enjoyed the benefits of four flats in London over the years, we didn't want this time to deal with the language barrier in everyday greengrocer shopping and possibly needing to seek assistance with the washer/dryer ( the greatest apartment benefit in my book) and other landlord communication which for us was more comfortable in London. We did just reserve with Hotel de Lutece after firming our air travel reservation and travel insurance. Close friends have recommended the Ile St louis highly; if it's not as great as they say, we'll bring them no ice cream.

Bonnie, that apt looks really good. I'm going to bookmark it and consider it in the future. I love Ile de la Cite, but the only drawback for me is that it doesn't have a "village" feel to it like Ile St. Louis does. But the view from the windows is spectacular.
ParisBestLodge.com has an apt with that same view as well, they must both be in the same building or very close by.

Jim, that's great! You're going to love it!

How about an Apartment? How many are you lodging?

We (the 2 of us) stayed in studio #26 which is 160 euro per night? It was located on Rue des Deux on Ile St. Louis. It was on the 7th floor, There is a tiny elevator that goes to the 6th so it is only a short flight of stairs up to the apartment. The interior is more contemporary than "french", but the views are of the Towers of Notre Dame and top of Eiffel Tower.
Staying in an apartment gave us the feeling of being locals as opposed to tourists.
If the cost is an issue, consider this, you have a full kitchen and thus can make some of your meals and eat in instead of eating out for every meal - a considerable cost saving! Some of our most fun was going to the markets and shopping to make lunch or breakfast at "home".

here is the agency that we worked with, HIGHLY recommended!!

http://www.specialapartments.com/prices.html

hunny, that apt looks really nice and I love rue des Deux Iles (my favorite bakery is on that street close to Pont Marie). We've rented two apts on Ile St. Louis and really enjoyed them. We were there for a month so it was less expensive to rent an apt for that length of time. However, it's a very different experience from staying in a hotel, and I still prefer a hotel. Especially Hotel de Lutece.