I would like to know how Americans adapt to the sizesof French beds in hotels. From my research, it seems as though a double is bigger than a twin, but smaller than an American double bed.

Is it possible for two adults to share a French double bed and be comfortable?

Surprisingly enough millions of French people do. As do lots of Europeans who stay in French hotels. Not all Europeans are as small as the French tend to be either.

Really it is only the smaller independent hotels which have typical French beds - most will have a Queen size double or even a king size.Most Double beds are actually two twins put together, making a bed 1m80 wide. Occasionally they are 1m60, very very occasionally only 1m40.
Length can be a problem if you are tall - most are 1m80 long or maybe 2m.

Not for us. After many trips to Paris in a variety of accommodations, the only king sized beds we came across in Paris were in The Madison Hotel on St. Germain and with www.guestapartment.com But I would think that the higher end properties have them.

I have to agree that those small beds are difficult to deal with. We just returned from Ireland where every one of the B&B's we stayed in had queen or king beds---a huge surprise to us.

I just received the measurements from the Hotel Saint Paul Rive Gauche:

Double: 1m40
Twin: 90 cm

Not one person in our family is large or heavy, but my son is 6' tall, my DIL, 5' 7".

I'm not sure even the boys (7 & 9) will be comfortable in the twin size.

the size of a double bed is virtually the same as in the US, just find out what 140 cm is in inches and you will see. It's just the same as the size of a queen, of course, but those sizes are about the same in France, also (queen is 160 cm and king 180 cm), as in the US.

Twin beds aren't always 90 cm in France, they can be between 100-120 often. That size bed is just what that particular hotel uses, that's all. YOu can buy lots of different size single beds in France. That is the common size bought when you want to put two together to make a king.

But if that's the hotel you want, you just have to go with what they use.

Beds do not need to be gigantic if people do not thrash around in them. I am 1m89 (6'2?) and have never slept in a bed in France that seemed to be too small.

It depends on what you are used to at home - beds that are are anything smaller than a kingsize bed are not comfortable for us.
I always find out as best I can what the bedsize is and if in any doubt ask for a twin-bedded room.
I am 5'3" but my husband is 6'4" so has had the uncomfortable experience of his feet hanging over the bottom edge. Luckily most hotel kingsize beds are also 'extra length' beds but double or queen beds are not.

Our apartment bed this past trip was a double and I only survived it because I was too ill to move to the other bed which was a futon. I swore every morning that I was going to sleep in the other bed but when I got home was too exhausted to bother moving stuff off it and finding the bed linnen in the cupboard.

kerouac, would you mind calculating the bed sizes I posted (given to me by the hotel), and let me know the result in feet and inches?

I tried an online calculator, but don't trust my results...garbage in, garbage out.

We've gotten surprised a few times in French hotels, including one hotel where the more expensive suites came with a 140 cm bed and the regular rooms had a 160 cm.

We could make do with a 140, but that gives each of us the same width as in a child's "junior" bed. (check Ikea mattresses for children if you don't believe me)

I did check the Ikea web site, and I also have a pretty good idea of the mattresses they sell from being in the store.

We're talking small beds aren't we?

I was shocked when I walked into the Mercure Place Wilson in Toulouse and found a king size bed in our room. The hotel wasn't luxury, but it was the jr. suite. Still.

A double bed in the US is really small for most people. I don't know any couples that have them - most have king - or queen if in a smaler apartment bedroom.

I would never be comfortble in a double - probably since, although I don't "thrash around", I'm not a corpse and do change positions several times during the night. Also - I can;t sleep if the covers are tucked under the mattress - they have to be loose - so I can wrap them around my feet. And I'm not a giantess - only 5'9".

To find the size in inches, just type in google, "140 cm in inches". It is roughly 55 inches.

Same procedure for 90 cm, which is roughly 35 inches.

I see no reason to think that 7 and 9 year old boys wouldn't be comfortable in a twin bed unless they are sharing one for the two of them. But two adults who are used to a larger bed could easily be uncomfortable in a double. Since the hotel gave the measurement for the double as less than the two twins, it is not a double made from two twins pushed together.

We've all (6 of us) decided to deal with the bed sizes. The room rate is incredible and includes a buffet breakfast in the Saint-Germain. I'm so lucky my family is reasonable!

BTW, my husband has said he never wants to sleep in a king bed with me...we'd be too far away from each other. Imagine that after 47 years of marriage!