Places to stay and eat in the 5th arrondisement

I've stayed at two in the 5th: the Hôtel Cujas Panthéon (which is close to the Panthéon, not surprisingly, but also conveniently close to the lovely Jardin du Luxembourg. And the Hôtel Europe St Severin. This one is really close to the Seine and the Notre Dame and also right in middle of a busy tourist area (so a lot of restaurants but very touristy options, mostly). Both are pretty convenient to RER B for direct train access to/from CDG. The St Severin is a little nicer and probably more expensive but in a more convenient area. But I'd stay at either one again.

Please, a budget window in euros. Also, helpful to know the time of year, how many are staying, and for how long. For shorter stays, apartments may not be worth the trouble. There is also the issue of illegality in Pairs for short term apartments.

There are probably a 100+ restaurants in the 5th arrondissement alone. Can you offer any guidance for those wanting to make appropriate and useful suggestions. Knowing type of food, café or restaurant, or even a budget window per person is useful.

Thank you, Andrew H.
Tocard, price range 100 to 150 euros for 2 people for 2 or 3 nights in Mid May, high season. Any experienced advice appreciated!

I actually stayed one night in each of the places I recommended back to back - long story - but I booked them at the last minute, and each place had a great rate of 80 euros/night just on the two consecutive nights in May 2017. They probably will cost much more than 80 euros/night if booked now in advance, though.

We liked the Hotel des Grandes Ecoles a lot, near the upper end of your price range, quiet and peaceful, lots of restaurants nearby (which could be said of most any hotel in the 5th). They start taking reservations for May on January 1 and they fill up fast. It's a couple of blocks uphill from Cardinal Lemoine Metro, but might find a place closer to St-Michel more convenient for transportation.

Safety isn't a worry anywhere in central Paris, you'll find good food in easy walking distance wherever you stay.

For two or three nights, I would not even consider an apartment. Here are several hotel recommendations in the 5th arrondissement which should be within your stated budget (price information may not be available yet for May):

Hôtel Petit Paris

Hôtel Vendôme Saint-Germain

Hôtel Moderne Saint Germain

Hôtel Marignan

Always contact a hotel directly for best pricing or use their website.

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For restaurants, you can walk down rue Mouffetard and find many very inexpensive options if that is your objective. If you like old world charm and atmosphere, try le Coupe Chou, an inexpensive yet acceptable option. Another interesting location is Les Fêtes Galantes at 17 Rue de l'École Polytechnique.

However, one of my favorite restaurants in the 5th is Lilane at 8 rue Gracieuse near Place Monge (closed Sundays and Mondays). Lilane has menus (3 course meals) at 36€ and the wine list is moderately priced with an excellent selection of French wines. You should reserve for any restaurant.

"Always contact a hotel directly for best pricing or use their website."
If this statement is to mean that the best price is always directly from hotels or their websites, I must disagree. One should check the hotel's site and check sites from places like expedia.com, hotels, com, kayak.com etc. On more than one occasion, I have gotten a significantly lower price from hotels.com and expedia.com than I could have gotten from the hotel.

Two hotels in the 5th that might be in your price range in May are Hotel des Arenes and Hotel des Nations Saint Germain, both on Rue Monge. I have not stayed in either but I have stayed in a hotel on the same street and visited and walked through both and they are both good deals and well located. Since visiting I have recommended both and the people who have stayed there have been pleased. As to restaurants, take a look at La Table de Genvieve and Les Papilles.

I am currently in the 6th on edge of 5th at Hotel Dauphine....can highly recommend this hotel...staff are very accommodating and helpful .

If this statement is to mean that the best price is always directly from hotels or their websites, I must disagree. One should check the hotel's site and check sites from places like expedia.com, hotels, com, kayak.com etc.

For which specific hotel(s) in Paris did you find a rate elsewhere, which was lower than what was offered on the hotels own website?

I got a lower price for Green Hotel in the 13th on the Logis de France website than on the hotel website. Prefer booking directly, but sometimes. Don't forget that the cheaper deals on the 3rd party site usually land us in the worst room in the place.

OK Bets. For the Green Hotel in the 13th, I just checked Logis de Franc for 2 people for the night of February 13th and was quoted 149.80€.

On https://www.greenhotels.fr/paris-13/, the hotel´s own website, the price for two people for the same night was 129€.

Many times the hotel´s own website will include breakfast or other incentives not found on 3rd party websites.

For hotels in Paris, you should always call directly or check with the hotel´s own website before booking elsewhere.

I agree with you completely, Tocard.
But you did ask for specific examples, and this was in late August 2017. Frankly, until we checked in, after our overnight flight, I was a tad nervous that the hotel wouldn’t honor or couldn’t find the reservation, since the more layers involved in a reservation, the more possibilities for errors.

Now, gotta go get the cooking going. Bonnes fêtes to you Doris, Tocard, and everyone else.

In the 5th over the years I have stayed at Hotel Famillia, Hotel Minerve, Hotel Diana, and Hotel des Nations Saint Germain. I would stay at any of them again but you will need to check on their rates for May. Some of them offer a discount for early booking or free breakfast for booking on their website directly. Be sure to notice any cancellation policy!
Famillia and Minerve are more traditional in docor, Nations and Diana are more modern.
Hotel des Nations is 2 blocks from Rue Mouffetard, one of my favorite streets in Paris.
For a special meal I can recommend Bouillon Racine in the 6th but close to the 5th border. It's a lovely art deco space in use since the early 1900s with great food. It's a splurge but great food and it was worth it for me.
I also really like Cafe St Regis on Ile St Louis for a more casual meal.
I'm 72 and walk all over Paris alone even at night without fear. But buses and the metro are frequent and easy to use to cross town if you want to spread your wings a bit.
I adore Paris -- have a wonderful visit there!

My husband found a significantly lower rate at hotels.com as compared to the rates available at the hotel's website for Hotel d'Aubusson for a trip to Paris in November 2016. I also found cheaper rates at booking.com for a room at Hotel Monge for a stay in August 2017. I look at the hotel's site and the sites like hotels.com, booking.com, etc. and check to make sure that I am comparing apples to apples. Most of the time the hotel site is cheaper or the same price but that has not always been the case with always being the operative word. As my mother used to say always and never are a very long time and very few things are always or never true.

I will second the recommendation for the Hotel Cujas Pantheon. See my review here: Hotel Cujas Pantheon, Paris. We had good meals at two cafes at the nearby Place de la Sorbonne (Café de L’Ecritoire and Les Patios) and close by in the other direction at Le Soufflot. Café de L’Ecritoire and Le Soufflot are both in Rick's Paris book.

We enjoyed staying at the Hotel des Grandes Ecoles. During our recent stay, we met a guest who had been coming to the hotel every year for the last 40. She said: I’ve travelled all over the world, and this is my favorite spot.

There are many restaurants nearby. We would sometimes get food to go and eat in the courtyard of the hotel.

We loved Cave La Bourgogne on a Saturday night.

I also suggest Bouillon Racine. SharYn from CA and I had a lovely meal there this past October. The creme brûlée was outstanding.

Restaurants in the 5th were very touristy. The exception was around rue Mouffetard, a great food market street. I cannot remember the name of manyrestaurants there, but I had nice crepes at a tiny place La Creperie Gourmet on rue Pot de Fer, a few steps off rue Mouffetard.

Have a great trip.

I also recommend the Hotel Europe St Severin and the Hotel Dauphine. We have stayed in each of these in the past year and found both very nice with great 24 hour front desk staff. We have walked all over central Paris at night and always felt completely safe.

Wow, merci beaucoups, mahalo, and thank you so much to everyone who took time to reply. So much good information!