Paris- Is it better to stay near the Louvre or Le Marais?

You will probably get answers supporting both locations, but I prefer Le Marais as it has more of a neighborhood feel. I think if I were going to stay near the Louvre, I would go across the river to the St. Germain area - 6th arrondissement. Both areas have lots of cafes and bakeries, and with Paris' great public transportation, are close to all the sights.

Panda Eater: Carolyn brings up a good point--if you want to stay near the Louvre, then the 6th Arr. is the best area. Paris has lots of restaurants and bakeries across the city--you can't go wrong. Plus, the metro can conveniently get you anywhere in Paris in a reasonable time.

Then staying near 127 rue Saint Honore, Paris or Rue Du Jour is not a good idea?

I know my friend recommended me to stay near the Louvre because it is central. But I am thinking if we visit the Louvre that is just going to take half a day or so at the Museum. My whole stay does not need to be based near the Louvre museum :).

I will check on your suggestion.

I was thinking of staying near here but i do not know where to store my luggage as I read the storage near by this place has been known to steal stuff :(

https://www.airbnb.com/z/q/166495571?eluid=4&euid=67bbcc24-c296-fdc8-1f63-6b1c77a5c433

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4917167
And this place is very close to the Louvre and fancy shops but I am not sure if that will provide the same neighborhood feel as Le Marais I keep hearing about

I know the Marais is trendy, and the Louvre is fancy, but have you considered the Left Bank? My favourite hotel area is near Rick's recommended Rue Cler district. Its a market street with a great cafe, and 5 minutes walk to both the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides. I stayed at the Hotel du Champ de Mars and loved it, but there are plenty of others nearby.

Stay on the Ile St. Louis. Paris is full of restaurants and bakeries, you will not starve wherever you are.

Check out Rick's guidebook for his hotel suggestions in different parts of town.

I agree with the above poster that Rue Cler is my favorite area in Paris, it really doesn't matter to much as long as your near a Metro stop, it is very easy to get around in Paris.

Based on our last 4 visits to Paris, if staying for a week or more, get an apartment near the Louvre, but in the 2nd Arrondissement - perfect location.

For a shorter visit, we've always used the Hotel Familia www.hotel-paris-familia.com in the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank - still pretty close to the Louvre and other sights.

Ile St Louis (4th arrondissement), as phred mentioned, is my all-time favorite neighborhood, but the Marais (4th), Latin Quarter (5th) and St. Germain (6th) are at the top of my list.

As Carolyn said, the Marais has a more fun ambiance, cozier, lots more affordable shops, lots of cafés, etc. The Louvre area is not "bad", it is one of many central areas, but it has a colder, not cozy feel to me. That said, I would have no problem staying in the Louvre area myself.

Get a good map of central Paris which shows the arrondissements and neighborhoods and you will see what areas are central. The closer to the river and the two islands, the more central you are. The 1st to the 6th arrondissement are the most central and easy to walk to lots of places a tourist will want to go.

Rue Cler is in the 7th, not central imo, but it is close to the Eiffel Tower. If you want to be around lots of Americans, it's a good area.

The Louvre is just a rather boring area to stay. I would definitely pick some other destination. Being in the Latin Quarter is our favorite spot...between the Pantheon, Sorbonne and Notre Dame.

All of these suggestions are good. However, if you have a good lead on a nice place for a good price on Rue Saint-Honore, I've rented an apartment right on that street. It was nice, safe, and central for walking:)

All the areas suggested, in fact the 1st through 19th arrondissements, are very safe.

I thought about the 6th Arr area but looking at all the places we plan to visit it seems like we will spend more time North of the River. So it seemed silly to keep traveling from 6th Arr to get to our sights.

I find the Louvre area less interesting -- lots of overpriced tourist shops and lots of business district. The Marais is basically a tourist boutique area now but it is more of a neighborhood with amenities like bakeries, restaurants, and such. I don't get the charm of Rue Cler -- stayed there once and found it rather inconvenient for the rest of our travels around Paris. It is one of many market streets in Paris. In a first trip I'd stay in the 4th, 5th or 6th near the river; for later trips stay further out.

Would staying near Saint Eustache Church be a good idea since it is pretty close to Le Marais but not to far from the Louvre?

St Eustache church is very impressive and located near the Les Halles area, and is pretty central. However this is a lively area with lots of shops, cafes and the giant Les Halles shopping mall. Right now this mall is undergoing extensive remodeling and I think it is not the best area to be in right now. If this is your first time in Paris, I would get a copy of the Rick Steves Paris guidebook. He describes several areas of Paris with maps and where his recommended hotels are located. His recommendations are always solid in my experience. As others have said, arrondisments 1-6 are the most central and desirable and also the most expensive, though you can find reasonable places too. Rick likes the 7th too, and it is fine, a bit more out of the way, but it has a more residential feel, and you are close to the Eiffel Tower, Invalids, Army and Rodin museums and a lot of cafes too -- I've always enjoyed it.
The area on the right bank near the Louvre is more commercial and not the best place to stay. As several have recommended you should go directly across the river into the 5th or 6th. But if you want to stay in the right bank for convenience -- choose the Marais!

Thank you for letting me know that the shopping mall is being remodeled that would be loud probably.

I thought the area near the church looked nice in the Google street view.

For Le marais are there certain areas to avoid or are more favorable?

In my estimation all of the Marais is good!

The Les Halles mall is incredibly ugly and as others have noted the park above it is under construction now. It is also an area where groups of aimless young people hang around and thus not always entirely pleasant for tourists. It is safe but not all that attractive at the moment. There are some interesting kitchen supply stores in the area very much worth a visit if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Is there much to do near Place Vendôme and place du Marché St Honoré? Or is it mostly a shopping area (at least when I checked Google street view).

For Le Marais district is anyone familiar with Rue Saint-Martin at the corner with rue Notre Dame de Nazareth?

Thank you :)

Is there much to do near Place Vendôme and place du Marché St Honoré? Or is it mostly a shopping area (at least when I checked Google street view).

For Le Marais district is anyone familiar with Rue Saint-Martin at the corner with rue Notre Dame de Nazareth?

Thank you :)

Yes, the Place Vendome/rue St-Honore area is mostly a high-class shopping area without many other attractions.

hi all! I think my Saint Honore place fell through because they were not able to store my luggage after all before my train left in the afternoon or evening of our last day in Paris :( and raised the price. I was looking into Le Marais and found 3 places of interest. Let me know if anyone has stayed near this area as Le Marais is really unfamiliar to me I spent a lot of my time researching to stay near the Louvre originally.

I just thought it would be easier to link the places below because their have a map located near the bottom of the airbnb link :D that shows you where I would stay.

I will also check St Germaine area since I heard it is very very nice as well but it is on the south part of the river so at first I thought it would be inconvenient because we will always going to the right bank for sightseeing but Ken pointed out for me the distance is minimal :).

I was looking between here
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/967340

specifically located at rue Saint-Martin at the corner with rue Notre Dame de Nazareth.
(Will let me store my luggage till our train to Colmar in the evening)

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7363843
Rue Notre Dame de Nazareth 75003 Paris

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/10988666
street is rue des petits carreaux
Unsure if they will store as it depends on whether there are guest after us. I have heard Sentier and Reaumur is a very nice area in Le Marais because it is not as old regarding the last property.

If in case we need to store out luggage do you know any places you can do that. I have heard of storage lockers but read reviews saying people had their stuff stolen and that is not really something I want to have on my honeymoon :(.

Don't ignore the possibility of staying on Ile St Louis. It is as centrally located as one can get, and with the Metro one can go anywhere with no trouble at all. Depending on the time of year and vacancies the prices can be competitive with other areas. Check out Hotel des Deux-Iles and Hotel de Lutece (they have the same owners) and see what you think. You can also check out Hotel Saint-Louis that is one the same street. Nothing like staying right in the heart of Paris on your honeymoon.

using google street view I am seeing the Le Marais areas around Rue St Martin and it seems a bit dirty? Is there an area I should be avoiding?

I stayed in the Marais neighborhood and I loved it. I would stay there again in a heartbeat. My advice if you want to stay in Marais is to get a place as close to the river as possible which makes it easy to walk to many sights on the islands and in the 5th & 6th, also get near a metro stop so it's easy to get to the other sights like the ET, Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, etc..

I did walk around a bit in the area you are looking at and it wasn't bad but not sure I would have stayed there.

Is anyone familiar with the hotel de vile area which I believe is classified as Le marais as well?

Nearby the river and not too far from the louvre :)

The Hotel de Ville is near the Louvre, the Marais and the Seine. It is a central commercial district of Paris. I have walked the area many times. If you get a good map of Paris that shows landmarks on it you will see how close everything is. Staying anywhere in this area is good, though staying across the river in the 5th or 6th arrondissments is not far away.

Actually the place I stayed at in Paris was on Rue du Temple just a few short blocks up from Hotel de Ville and it was a perfect location for getting around. I walked to the iles (Notre Dame,etc) and the left bank neighborhoods and also walked down to the Louvre, a bit of a hike but if the weather's nice it's a wonderful walk along the river, I did it several times. It's a pretty busy shopping area with tons of bakeries, cafes, shops, but I enjoyed that - always lots of people around even very late into the evening and the Hotel de Ville metro is on the main line (#1) so can get anywhere from there.

Paris is very walkable, as well as an easy metro system that will get you anywhere. The closer to river the more accessible, but even a bit away is still easy.

I know this is your first Europe trip, so just a little warning. Many places appear more dirty - lots of graffiti that we are not use to seeing- and just very large cities that we not be use to either. It can be alittle shocking at first but graffiti over there is different from in the states. It doesn't mean you are in a bad neighborhood, they just seem to accept it and I don't think they even paint over it. We found Paris to be clean and very friendly, contrary to what you hear from a lot of American tourists (of course, none of us on this board!)

Susan, you made me laugh at a memory from Paris. I was walking around Montmartre and saw a 'graffiti' painter - in the middle of the day, with a ladder, and sawhorses around to keep people back. I had to laugh thinking about the differences, over here they do it in the dead of night and worry about getting caught; there it's practically sanctioned.

I love Paris and walk around there with my head in a dreamlike state but, I must admit, it can be a bit dirty and smelly at and around some of the metro stations especially. And even though they have cleaned up their act somewhat (re: dog doodoo), you still need to glance down now and then to avoid stepping in 'it'. The central areas of the city are still safe even when appearing sketchy. Just go with it, enjoy it, concentrate on the beauty of it.

Lol! I think that's exactly it when I google street view places I see graffiti and I'm thinking is that safe?

And then I read some Airbnbs have prostitutes outside their apartment and I'm like "honeymoon +romantic" ????

Lol!!

I see a lot of apartments available on Rue Notre dame de Nazareth just next to the Blvd st Martin. Like quite 5 nicely renovated ones available on Airbnb (uncommon as the good ones are always gone) and I think people know something I don't because I am wondering why there is so much availability there.

For anyone who has stayed or visited St Germain I noticed a lot of the sights to see besides the Lux garden and famous cafes are north of the river. Am i understanding right?

There are sights all over the place. But, don't let it bother you if you are not staying right next to a famous sight. The transport is easy. Just group what you want to see on any given day and go to that area. See the sights in that area and then do the same each day.

For instance: We planned to see the Rue Mouffetard Market on our way walking to the the Notre Dame, St Chapelle, Conciergerie, - walk over the bridge to Ile St. Loius, walk in to the Marais area, had dinner. After that we took the Bato Bus to the Eiffel Tower for our prebooked ticket.

The beauty of Paris is everywhere! And, Paris is fairly walkable. You can't go too wrong.

We stayed in the 5th very near the Pantheon. Why did we stay in the 5th? Because all my travel friends told me too! And, we loved it!

Just to update you helpful people :)

I booked in Le Marais on Rue Vieille Du Temple a cute place in a historical building that has been newly renovated ^__^
$887 for our 5 nights.

Thanks for all your input!!! So happy that part is done with!!!

We have stayed just past that church using vacationinparis.com. It is a French community and has a more interesting street than Rue Cler. It is called Rue Montorgueil. It I just above Les Halles. However, you will usually use Etienne Marcel metro stop and avoid that area if you want. It is a 20 minute walk to either the Louvre or Le Marais. But use the metro as much as possible. Your feet will thank you. If you visit museums, you are standing on marble all day and then to walk a lot, is a bit much, IMO.

after all this, I just need to say, the hotel is NOT the most important part of your trip. It shouldn't be necessary to sweat it that much. You're hardly going to be there with all the sightseeing and walking about. As long as it's good enough, you're good enough.

Amen, Phred. Sometimes good enough is good enough.