chessi

I'm getting worried. Why doesn't anyone mention the 15th arrondissement for places to stay. We were recommended to that there were some nice out of the way small inexpensive places to stay there and made resservations at Hotel de L Avre based on that. Is anyone familiar with it?

clairobscur

The 15th isn't unsafe or ugly, or nothing like that. But on the overall (it always depends on the exact location) it's less charming, less convenient, etc.. than the central arrondissements. I suspect it's the reason why few people stay there or recommend it. Nothing to be worried about, though. That said, I don't know your hotel.

StCirq

Most likely people don't mention it because most people don't stay that far from the center of the city. Keep in mind that the arrondissements spiral out from the center of the city, with the 1st arrondissement being (sort of) dead center. The 15th is fairly far out. But though I've never heard of your hotel, the 15th in general isn't a bad place to stay.

Jayelle

I've stayed in the 15th near the Eiffel Tower on two trips. As the previous poster said, there's nothing wrong with the 15th. I just found it to be a little farther away from many of the major tourist areas than the arrondissments that are more commonly recommended on this forum. That's not a problem as long as you are near a metro stop, but it does make it difficult to stop back by your hotel during the day, to drop off purchases or freshen up, before heading back out again. It also tends to be quiet in the evening since much of the area is residential.

The part of the 15th near the Eiffel Tower borders the 7th and puts you closer to the tourist areas. If you are staying farther out in the 15th, you won't really be in walking distance to too many areas of interest, and will have to depend on the metro. For those reasons, I decided to move to the 6th for my upcoming trip.

Fred

People don't stay there because you can't walk out of your hotel and be someplace. The areas you'll be spending most of your time in are more centrally located. Plenty of hotels in the central area in all price ranges.
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Capo

Hi Chessi. I think you basically answered your own question about the 15th not being mentioned much for places to stay when you wrote: "nice out of the way...places to stay".

While "out of the way" is, to some extent, relative, *I* would certainly consider the 15th to be "out of the way" from where I ideally like to be in Paris (the 6th.) The positive side to being "out of the way" of course is that one *tends* to get more value for one's money (aside from, that is, the value of location.)

Good luck!

Alice

Based on what I see, your hotel looks to be very nice, charming style,
and the location is a little out of center, but you may appreciate that
If you like the feeling of returning ‘home’ at night (away from sights,
noise, etc). Two Metro stops are close by, and Eiffel is in walking distance.
There are brasseries and a Monoprix in that area. You’ll be fine.
http://www.cofrase.com/hotel/avre/ p.s. enter your hotel’s address in the
fields in www.mappy.com, change the map to street level, then enlarge it.
That will show you the placement.

Chessi

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I didn't mention that we have a car and parking was a consideration, and they have parking. We are early birds also.

Bob

Lots of luck in driving into Paris. You will need it.

Christina

I just posted some restaurant suggestions to someone else staying in that area, maybe you could find it if you searched (they were staying at Alize Grennelle, you could search on that). It's just a little farther out and not as touristy, but just because it's numbered 15 does not mean it is fifteen layers from the center, in case you were thinking that; there are only about two circles of arrondisements around the center, the closest circle contains numbers 1-8 (approximately, on Right Bank, 2 and 3 are a small slice above 1 and 4); outer circle is numbers 12-15 on Left Bank, and 16-20 on Right Bank (again, 9-11 on Right Bank are in the middle). As there are only two layers on Left, the outer ones are pretty big; close-in 15th arr is no farther from center than about the 9th-10th on Right Bank, but not many people stay there, either. Your hotel is right near La Motte Picquet metro stop which is no much farther from things than a lot of the hotels people frequent in the 7th arr. Now that I checked it, my resto recommendations are a little more into the 15th down av Emile Zola.

Cynthia

We will be staying at the Hotel de l'Avre in May. It came highly recommended by a friend's Mom who lives in England and visits Paris often. She said the area nearby is quite charming. We are staying near the Louvre when we first get to Paris, then will head out to the Loire Valley. We will stay at the Avre for our last few days in Paris. I hope you enjoy your trip!

Donna

The 15th isn't mentioned, I think, because most folks have the idea they need to stay "centrally located, within walking distance of all the attractions", which, of course, is not possible unless you don't mind walking long distances. Your hotel is not far from either of two metro stations. The most significant disadvantage of staying in that neighborhood is that most destinations will require an extra metro transfer.