St Lois Iles

I have not been to this hotel but you are right - great location. Looks quite nice

Bathrooms- in general they are smaller than in the US. Showers often have a handheld head - not mounted. Most places have a mount for the handheld so look for that. Sometimes the setup is such that water gets all over the bathroom, this depends on the placing of the mount and the curtain or lack thereof. On your first use don't set your clothes next to the shower just in case. There will be a bidet, use it or not. Flush mechanism is often a button on the top - small button for smaller jobs, bigger for bigger. Otherwise bathrooms are pretty similar. Nothing to worry about.

For me the drawback would be that you are on the main street of Ile St Louis. Visiting Paris in spring 2015 I found Ile St Louis unbearably full of American tourists, to the point I felt I might as well be in St. Louis, Missouri. If you are comfortable with that, so much the better. After all, once you leave the Ile St Louis and see other parts of Paris you will be experiencing the more French & international aspects of the city.

Hi Thanks for your reply. We are very excited to go!!

When we have been in Paris we stay at Hotel De Lutèce which is about a block and a half up the street from the hotel you are looking at. Paris is full of tourist, not just the Ile Saint-Louis. The way to avoid that, to some degree, is to stay away in late June, July and August. Besides early Spring and early Fall are more comfortable and beautiful seasons in Paris. Our next trip back we will return to the same hotel. The location puts you close to the cathedrals and the underground on the Ile de la Cité; and right across the river from my two favorite neighborhoods; St Gervais and Le Marais.

I stayed there in June and it was excellent. The staff was very helpful when my trip got jammed with rail strikes and endless rain. They also have a dog in the lobby, so you'll have that going for you. Across the street is "Our Ancestors the Gauls" which you should try. Their bathrooms are like ours except the toilets are for show. The French live by the code "hold it in and we all win."

Hotel Jeu de Paume has most of the rooms situated in a courtyard removed from the street, behind a heavy glass door. If there's still time, you might want to specify a room off the street.
The bathrooms aren't pictured, but usually will have a bathtub with a glass splash guard and a hand-held or adjustable shower head. Bathtubs are normally high-sided, but nothing you can't handle.
I haven't seen a bidet in a hotel in Paris in ages. This hotel was upgraded and remodeled about 3 years ago, so I doubt there will be a bidet.
There are heated towel racks, and if there's room, 2 sinks. Deluxe toiletries are included.
This is the most expensive of the 4 hotels located on Ile Saint-Louis, and if you have the money to spend, it's worth it. I stayed here in 1998, but have put friends and family here recently. There is a very nice spa and hammam on the premises and the service is professional and friendly.

Great location on the Ile.

As noted above, a tub-shower combination can be awkward as French and British, and as far as I know other Europeans, have not adopted the universal American device known as a shower curtain or shower door, which actually covers the whole length of the tub and thus protects the floor and the rest of the bathroom from spray. For whatever cultural or economic reason I don't know, they prefer little half-doors that run about halfway down the length of the tub, leaving the rest unprotected from spray -- especially when klutzy Americans are showering. I've wondered for years why European tub-showers are set up this way but never had a satisfactory answer.

But the good news is that all you requested was a shower, which means you may get just a stand-up shower which will, thankfully, have a curtain or glass door protecting the rest of the room from your leftover water. Rooms with bath ("bain") usually cost more than rooms with shower ("douche"). Maybe this is because you can lie down and soak in a bain, or maybe it's to cover the cost of mopping up the water escaping from the tub because the Europeans have some kind of aversion to full-length spray barriers.

Sorry to go off at length like this. Maybe Chexbres or Kim or Wo will have an explanation. Or you could ask your hotelier. ;-)

Good choice! Ile St Louis is my absolute favorite neighborhood in Paris. It is only full of tourists for the first half of the main street running through the island (rue St Louis en l'Ile), the other half, side streets and entire rest of the island is very quiet with few or no tourists. Ile St Louis is wonderful, it's like a little village unto itself in the heart of Paris surrounded by the Seine river and jaw-dropping views.

European hotels don't have full-length glass shower shields because they swing in/out for convenience - there wouldn't be room for a full-length shield to swing - and they are much easier to clean.

The alternative would be those "accordion" type doors that slide together to collapse, and always collect mold in the tracks and are very difficult to keep clean.
Shower curtains have to be taken down and washed after every guest - simply not practical.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to take a shower in Europe. If there is a hand-held shower head, you can place it sideways on the faucet while you use soap and shampoo, or hang it on the pole provided. Just don't turn the water on full-blast, and the bathroom floor won't be soaked.
A shower cabinet (douche) is different from a bathtub with shower (bain-douche).
It will be about the size of a small telephone booth, and will usually have a door that swings out. You might have a small shelf for toiletries, but not always.
If you're used to washcloths, these are not normally provided, so bring your own.
Remember that modern plumbing is fairly new to hotels. Hotel rooms were much larger before people started demanding full bathrooms en suite. That's why both the room and bathroom are a lot smaller than you might be used to.

Wo - "swining" refers to hogs, but isn't a real word. Swinging is, though : D
I know you're Belgian and are probably typing fast, so all is forgiven, but I still order you
to eat soggy bacon for one whole week.

I will do my penance and watch J-P Gaultier's lady friend on YouTube!

You two....get a room.

I've stayed at Hotel de Lutèce and their rooms are decent size and the bathroom was large. They also designed the room and bathroom very well with lots of of spaces to put your stuff.

I've also rented an apt on ISL so total time I've stayed on ISL is 6 wks and spend lots of time there when not sleeping there... I saw lots of Parisians going about their daily lives. There's a grammar school on rue St Louis en l'Ile next to the beautiful church there (between the middle and eastern end of street) and every morning, at lunch time and after school there's a large group of moms there to drop off or pick up their kids. Mornings Parisians are out and about getting groceries and doing errands. They're at the church I mentioned. They're at the cafés and restaurants, the pharmacy, etc. They're in the park at the eastern end of ISL. I saw plenty of Parisians on ISL. As I said in my previous post, the first half of the main street is full of tourists from all countries but that's basically it.

Ile St Louis is not the oldest part of Paris, as a previous poster said. Ile de la Cité, the larger island where Nôtre Dame is, is the oldest part of Paris, first inhabited in 52 bc. Ile St Louis was a swamp and not developed and inhabited until the 1600's.

Susan, I think the majority of the apartments on the island are now owned by either non-residents of the island or by those who are disproportionately wealthy. Two reasons why it is generally quiet in the evenings.

James, I agree. Very wealthy for sure, like many other Paris neighborhoods. The island is quiet at night, a bit less so on the western end of the main street in the summer when it stays light til appx 10:30 pm, and not if you're close to Amorino (great gelato) which stays open quite late. For super quiet room don't be on the street side.

But street noise is LIFE!

Thanks, chexbres and wo, for your sincere efforts to explain the weird shower-door situation in Europe. I agree they are undoubtedly easier to keep clean than any alternative I can think of. And yet cloth or plastic curtains, or full-width glass doors, are the norm in most American hotels. Guess it's a tradeoff between cleaning the door and mopping the floor. Or an accommodation to Americans' tendency to run the water full blast, a product of our culture of abundance (and violence?).

Thank you, original poster, for allowing this shower dialogue on your thread! ;-) I hope you have a wonderful time on the Ile and throughout Paris. You will find Susan in her special chair in the Luxembourg Gardens.

Dick....... 😊

Dick - I think it's more about the European tradition of saving water and energy. A lot of war-time habits persist, around here, and the new generation is concerned about saving the planet. Most of us can take a 5-minute shower and emerge perfectly clean, but I'll admit that it takes a little bit of organization and practice.

We (an elderly couple) stayed there in September this year and last year and will go back next year. It is a great hotel. Easy to get to and walk from. Handy for the Marais and St. Germain. We stay in room 004, which opens off the breakfast area on the first floor. No noise. Two queen beds, single sink and separate commode room.