My husband and I are planning on visiting Paris for 6 days and after looking at various maps are terribly confused about the most central location to stay in to see all of the famous landmarks and museums. Any help that you can provide would be vey much appreciated.

Paris is broken up into 20 arrondissements.

The areas most first timers seem to like are the 4th-6th arrondissements. Another popular, but somewhat quieter area is the 7th (recommended by Rick Steves)

The 5/6th are on the Left Bank (also know as the Latin Quarter and St Germain). The 4th is on the Right Bank aka the Marais, but also includes the two islands in the Seine.

The Metro, bus and train system in Paris are great, so you are never really far from the main sites, but in the 4-6th (and bit less so in the 7th) you are walking distance to sites, near lots of restos and nightlife.

I've also stayed in the 16th, has minimal sites and requires metro every day. But if you wanted a Paris neighbourhood..

A lot of the sites are on the Right Bank, at/near the 1st arrondissements (Louvre, Tuileries, Palais Royal, Champs Elysee...but I've considered this area a bit less interesting at night. A lot of the $$$ hotels are in this area.

Dear Michel,

Thanks for getting back to me with such great information.

Do you know anything about any of these hotels: Le Walt, D'Aubusson, De Vendome, Francois,San Regis, Academie et des artistes? or is there any particular hotel you would recommend?

Hi cooper2,
I have not stayed at any of those, but the d'Aubusson has been recommended here.
I'm afraid my hotels are a bit more modest in $

A few things I can recommend:
- check ranking and reviews of hotels at Tripadvisor
- check the Fodor's guide at this site
- do a search of this forum. There is a huge number of hotel reviews for Paris here

For example I searched on "paris aubusson" ...brought up one trip report from somoene who stayed there

Hi C,

We always stay at the Hotel Bonaparte, 61 Rue Bonaparte in the 6th. From 128E dbl w/bkfst. It is located near 3 metro stops. Has AC and an elevator.

Tel 33 1 43 26 97 37
FAX 33 1 46 33 57 67
[email protected]
www.hotelbonaparte.fr

For more info, enter "Hotel Bonaparte" in the "search this forum" box.

Photos are at http://tinyurl.com/ludgd

Bonaparte is an a great location!

Another two I can recommend...Hotel de Lutece and Hotel des Deux Iles....both on Ile St Louis. Same owners..

www.paris-hotel-lutece.com

I haven't stayed in any of those, but know most of the locations and they are pretty good. AUbusson is very central in St Germain. The H de Vendome is right on place Vendome and I think that's a good choice if you want to stay on the Right Bank (good in terms of location, I know nothing of the hotel).

The Walt is a fairly new, modern-style 4* hotel right near rue Cler in the 7th arrondisement. It's one of the few 4* hotels in that area. That's a convenient location for transportation, and a lot of people like staying around there for the ambience.

There may be dozens of hotels with Francois in the name, I can think of several, so hard to say on that one. There is an expensive one near the Arc (Francois {Premier) which is fairly wellknown. Area is pretty central for sightseeing, but may be best for those who want to do a lot of very expensive shopping in that area.