Marais Hotels

Posted by J.S. (broadway) on 01/13/19 01:22 PM

I will be in Paris in August 2019 Will stay 5 nights or so and will visit most major sights, museums, etc. I want to stay in the Marias neighborhood. I want to be close to bus # 69 stops and to a main metro line. My spouse is limited with the amount of walking he can do thus the reason for wanting to stay close to a metro stop.
I have the Rick Steves Paris book and researched these hotels by reading reviews on TripAdvisor. Reviews aren't the best.
I want your opinions. Has anyone stayed at these hotels and if so, would you recommend. If not, why?
1. Hotel Bastille Speria
2. Hotel de la place de Vosges
3. Hotel Castex
We don't require luxury or fancy. Just clean, with air conditioning and a friendly, helpful staff.
Please respond.

Kind regards;
JS

Posted by JHK

Florida (previously California)

01/13/19 06:56 PM

3990 posts

I have not stayed at any of the three hotels but all are near my apartment and I have been inside all three. I'd eliminate the Hotel de la Place des Vosges because I believe that it does not have air conditioning and I find it dark and maybe even slightly dreary. I am always cold and rarely need AC and even I would not go for a hotel without air conditioning in Paris in August. As between the other two, I like both. Bastille Speria is in a busier spot so while it might be noisier (I do not know because I have not slept there), you have more restaurants, etc. immediately around you and you are a couple of minutes closer to the Bastille Metro station. Ultimately though, the Bastille Spera and the Castex are about 3 minutes away from each other on foot so either would be a good choice, but I would call the Bastille Speria to make sure that the work they were doing on the property in December 2018 will be done by the summer of 2019. If it matters, the Bastille Speria is brighter, cleaner looking hotel than the Hotel Castex, which by the way has what looks like a taxidermied fox on a tall piece of furniture in a public room that scared the heck out of me-- not saying the Hotel Castex is dirty because it was not just that it has more of the patina of age than the Bastille Speria. As I think about it and think about my taste, I realize that I like the Bastille Speria better but anyone who knows me would not be surprised by that because generally, I like clean and modern as opposed to quirky.

Posted by Jean

Idaho, USA

01/13/19 07:09 PM

7810 posts

Hi JS, I haven’t stayed at those hotels, so I can’t give you advice for those.

For Metros, some of the connections to other lines can be a lot of up&down stairs. You might want to check something like this while you’re making plans for what route would be easiest to reach activities:

“Reduced Mobility
For travelers with reduced mobility, but not confined to a wheelchair, certain Metro stations feature long connections requiring a good deal of walking or stair climbing which may be best to avoid. Unfortunately it’s not possible to simply classify stations as mobility friendly or not since different connections to different lines within the same station will require different amounts of walking and stairs. Some connections may require only seconds of walking while others will require ten or more minutes.

Nearly all stations feature escalators, but there are often small sets of stairs which are present throughout the Metro for traversing over or under connecting lines.

One way to get an idea of walking distance when making connections is by using the a Metro Route Planner and observing the walking time provided in the results (when transferring from one line to another within a station). From the time required to walk from one train platform to a connecting one you can estimate the distance and the level of mobility require to make the connection.