First time in Paris -- staying in 20th arrondissement?
 

My boyfriend and I are staying in Paris for 7 nights from June 18-25 after travelling for 3 weeks in Italy, Nice and Amsterdam. We found a great hotel near Nation Station for 60$ CAD a night (rated 4/5 based on tripadvisor reviews). We are on a tight budget (we are 23 year old students) and couldn't believe it when we found this deal.
I know this location isn't exactly central so I am wondering how convenient it will be to travel to the main tourist destinations in Paris from here. How long can we expect to be spending on the metro everyday, and how much will it cost?
What do you think about staying in this area?

Thanks so much for any advice!!

Hi al,

You can see where you will be located, and the nearest metro stops, at www.maps.google.com.

You can get directions from your hotel to wherever you would like to go at www.ratp.fr

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

Nation has excellent connections for getting into Paris. You can get from there to central Paris, say Hotel de Ville, in under 10 minutes. You've got métro line 1 and RER A which go into central Paris and métro line 2 which goes north to Père Lachaise and the direction of Montmartre. You've also got métro lines 6 and 9. It's a good location and less expensive than central Paris. I often frequent bars in and around that area. If you'd give your exact hotel address I and others might be able to make further suggestions about restaurants and what you'll find in the area.

To learn how to get around Paris by métro/bus/RER use www.ratp.fr. Here is an interactive map of the system:

http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/carteidf.php?lang=uk

Since parts of this website are only in French you can use www.transilien.com or www.vianavigo.com. A good website to learn how to use public transport in Paris is www.parisbytrain.com.

Get yourself a good map of Paris so you can get yourselves oriented. You want something about the scale of 1:12,000. A good map will list all the streets and street names as well as all the museums, gardens, monuments sites and attractions and the location of all métro and RER stations.

The Paris metro is the same cost for any two points within the city, one ticket. So it doesn't cost you any more from the 20th as it would from the 4th, for example. It's one ticket per trip, regardless of trip length -- at least within central Paris, which is the 20 arrondisements, not the suburbs. There are various kinds of passes or tickets that you can buy that make a trip cheaper than if you buy one ticket at a time, you can read all about them on www.ratp.fr For the weekly Navigo Decouverte pass, you have to pay 5 euro for the plastic reloadable electronic card (you need a passport-size photo for that), and it starts on Monday. If you are there from Tuesday, probably would make sense to buy it for that week, anyway. It costs 20 euro for the week (other than the 5 euro card fee) for zones 1-2, which is what you need for Paris proper. Otherwise you can buy a Mobilis daily pass (all transportation for one day, unlimited) for 6.6 euro, or a packet of 10 tickets called a carnet for 13,3 euro. A single ticket costs 1.7 euro if you don't buy that special deal of 10. All of these tickets should be bought for zones 1-2.

I think it doesn't matter where you stay in Paris, as long as your hotel is next to a train or metro station.

What is name of this hotel, that's very very cheap, perhaps ta reviews are plants..

Yes I'd be careful about some TripAdvisor reviews. Most of them are credible. But if a hotel was rated excellent by 50 people who all happen to have joined yesterday, I'd be suspicious. Another red flag is if most reviewers have only one post.

Yes, please post the hotel name. Then we can determine if its stated location is accurate, etc.

Nation is a superb transportation hub and the area is very lively.

We stayed in the 20th on our last trip to Paris in September and fell in love with it - what a great, lively, diverse neighborhood! And you're never far from anything in Par - always a breeze to find the métro or a bus or you can walk.

It is called Alfa hotel Nation. About to book it so if I could get some verification that's it's legitimate that would be great!

If by legitimate you mean is it a real hotel and not a website set up as a scam then yes, it appears legitimate as they have a legal notice on their website and they have 88 reviews on Trip Advisor, the majority of which are good:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...de_France.html

The rooms look very basic in the photos (which would be just fine with me as I'm only ever looking for a clean, comfortable place to sleep) but at the prices they are offering it looks like a great deal. If it were me I'd book there.

BTW, the hotel is in the 11th arrondissement and not the 20th, although the 20th is just a few blocks away. It looks like a really great deal.

Hmm, well its a get what you pay for place, and that is a very cheap hotel so as long as you are good with the most basic accomadations .. a bathroom that looks like an airplane washroom, etc.. then locationwise its seems fine. I would be a tad concerned about the report of bug bites, just check mattress soon as you check in.. if you don't know what to look for then google .. there are many sites with photos etc that show you what to look for.

Okay thanks! I was starting to think it was too good to be true! I know the rooms don't look great, but it has a private bathroom, and I can't pass up $60 a night! Plus, we got the 7th night free so it ended up being $53 CAD a night.
Thanks for clearing up which arrondissement it's in.

Have a great trip. When I was 23, I would have stayed at this hotel at the drop of a hat and probably walked to a lot of places to save money, but now (many years later), I would want more creature comforts.

In my own part of Paris, the hotel rooms cost 25€ and are not as luxurious although they are reputedly clean.

The thought of bed bugs is a real turn off for me.
Several of the reviews mentioned bedbugs, soiled carpets and odors in the room.
I would check further before committing to this hotel

Bed bugs are a real no go for me too, but just check mattress and upholstered headboard etc. Bed bugs can appear at any hotel regardless of price range, so I check all the time anyways.

IF you find any evidence of bugs, don't stay . Don't put your luggage on bed, just leave. If they get into your bags and you bring them home they literally can cost hundreds if not into thousands do get rid of once in your home. They are not the least bit funny. I would stay in a room with fleas before bed bugs( well I would stay in neither but just want to stress how bad bed bugs are to deal with )

People, these are 23 year olds who will have been traveling for some time. They will have had plenty of time to get infested with bedbugs before they get to Paris and could probably get them at a ***** hotel, just more expensively.

The hotel would appear to be the urban equivalent of a Holiday Inn Express -- basic chain lodging with a great price in a non-boring neighborhood.