Driving and Parking in Paris
 

I will be driving my family from Munich to Paris and back. The guide books do not recommend driving or parking in Paris. Does anyone know of a moderately priced Hotel inside the city that is easy to drive to and has reasonable parking nearby? Or, should we park on the outskirts by a Metro station and if so does anyone have a recommendation for a hotel there? Thanks!

There are threads on this. Search Paris garages.

I've never driven in Paris so can't advise exactly which is easiest to drive to -- I think those on major streets radiating from the peripherique seem fairly easy. There is a large public garage at place Joffre at the end of Champ de Mars park near the Eiffel Tower and a lot of budget hotels near it. That's probably not the easiest to drive to.

It would be fairly simply to get off the peripherique at Porte d'Orleans and drive up ave Gen. LeClerc to place Denfert Rochereau and then up bd Raspail, and there is a public garage around the corner of bds Raspail and Montparnasse (to the east). There are a lot of moderately priced good hotels around that corner, also -- Hotel Raspail, Hotel Royal, Hotel Novanox, Hotel Villa des Artistes, etc. The Hotel Residence Montparnasse isn't very far away from that corner and they often have good specials running, also:

http://www.residence-montparnasse.com/

the hotel lux picpus has their own parking garage as well as a large municiple one just down the street. it is more than moderately priced, in fact, it's a steal. its only (potential) drawback is that it is in an outer area of paris. but with a metro not thirty yards from the front door, i've never found this a problem.

also, since this is basically a residential neighborhood, the possibilities for curb parking are abundant. i've never needed either their garage or the other.

i really can't recommend this hotel and the surrounding neighborhood highly enough. while i'd stop short at charming, it's where real parisians live and shop and eat. the bars, cafes and restaurants are as authentic as it gets as are the plethora of shops of every variety.

actually, there may be one other liability: being residential most of the late night stuff is absent. but you're only a couple of stops away from that action.

oh, in my gush rush, i forgot to mention that this is the only place i ever stay in paris for all of the above reasons plus the 60e price.

Hi subcon,

I can see why you are gushing.

Does it have AC?

It won't compete with that kind of value, but if you want central (200 yds from l'Etoile), check out Hotel Royal Elysees. And a huge underground car park 200 yds from there.

Best wishes,

Rex

Not sue how the finances work out, but ou do not need a car in while in Paris. hertz has an easy location for drop ff / pick up in the parking garage at the Carousel du louvre. It's just off the Rivoli. You simply drive into the carousel garage (there are no Hertz signs on the Rivoloi) drop your car and be done with it. That then gives you many opions in the central city.

We don't usually have a car in Paris, but when we do, we stay at the Hotel le Clement in the 6th. You can park underneath the Marché St. Germain across the street and the hotel will give you a discount for the parking. We like the Clement because it is in the center of things and we can leave the car and take the Metro or walk wherever we want.

Most Paris maps list the city parking facilities with a letter P in a blue circle. Check a few hotels and look for the nearest P. That will give you a pretty good choice.

Have a good trip.

ira...

i'm not sure. we normally do paris in the wintertime. altho in thinking about it i don't recall a unit or thermostat.

Thanks to everyone for some great advice. I will check out the recommended hotels. Unfortunately, I have to keep the car for this trip, otherwise I would have gladly not taken it. Merci beaucoup!

We just got back from a Paris/Chartres/Senlis mini-trip and drove down from Brussels. In Paris, we stayed at the Softel Le Parc on 55 Avenue Raymond Poincare in the 16th. Getting there was fairly straightforward from the Porte Maillot exit of the peripherique. The hotel was absolutely wonderful and parking was a breeze--we asked at the front desk where to find a public garage nearby and they said, hand over the keys--they parked the car for us (and brought it back to us when we checked out) for the same rate the nearest public garage would have charged (which was full, FYI). What a relief!!
Also, for those who think the 16th is quiet and dull, the area around the Place Victor Hugo is now positively buzzing with some hip bars/cafes packed with BCBGs. And Friday night, we simply walked five minutes from the hotel to the Trocadero to watch the Eiffel Tower fizz and sparkle before shutting down from the night.
The Sofitel Hotel le Parc normally goes for up to $500 a night, but they have been running some excellent internet specials. Our double room, with taxes and breakfast included, was 175 euros, quite a good price for a very good hotel.