enjoylife99

Hello,
I would like to know your experience on the above hotel thru go-today.com special.
We thought we are going to do Prague but then right now leaning on Paris ( my 4th trip) for our 20th anniversary - just could not get enough of it.
Please share your experience - we are not really fussy about accom. - as long as it;s clean and in safe neighborhood.
thanks.

yk

enjoylife-

Topping your post.

I looked at go-today briefly. Blanche is in 9e, Tim Hotel Nation in 20e, Comfort Hotel Lamarck in 18e. Those would not be my choice of location as they are far from the Paris center. But maybe you don't mind that as you've been to Paris before. Part of the area around Montmarte can be a bit seedy, but without a Paris map, I cannot tell how far Blanche or Comfort Hotel Lamarck are from that area.

Hope by topping your post, the Paris experts can help you.

Travelnut

There have been many positive comments here about Go-Today as a package tour, so you should be fine using them.

As for the hotel choices, have you seen comments on Tripadvisor.com?

Not such good remarks for Comfort Hotel Lamarck - one person swears the hotel had no pillows for his room, a couple of others indicate rudeness from the staff. The location is not very central if that is important to you (northwest of Sacre Coeur and the cemetery).

Hotel Blanche has no comments on Tripadvisor, but it is rated on www.cybevasion.com with very low marks for "cleanliness, comfort, dimension, noise". It is near Metro Blanche - I can't remember if that is the area full of sex shops, etc or if it is nicer. But the ratings make me think it isn't so nice.

Timhotel Nation has one comment on Tripadvisor, but it's a positive one. The location is more accessible (just the other side of Place de Nation), and Timhotel is a chain with many locations in Paris. There are several metro connections nearby.

These are my impressions only, I have not stayed in any of these hotels (but have visited Paris several times).

thomthumb

I stayed at the Timhotel Nation on my go-today trip. Although it is certainly NOT near the center of the city, it is very near the "Avron" metro stop (about 100 paces from front door). The neighborhood is okay. Many different types of people are abound. Maybe a little sketchy late at night. With go-today, be weary of the "voyages A Paris" transfer service if they're still using them. They never came to pick us up on our way home! But the taxi was easy enough.

thomthumb

If I remember correctly, Blanche is right in the heart of the sex shop section near Clichy Blvd.?

Travelnut

I think I am looking at the package you are looking at right now. If it is the one that lists the Pavillon Villiers Etoile at 6 rue Lebouteux, I can recommend that hotel. It used to be marketed as a Comfort Hotel and we stayed there 2 times in 1999. The rooms are small but you can navigate ok, baths are clean, good breakfast, quiet street. The location, while not everyone's idea of central, is very nice. There is a street market on rue de Levis, and Metro Villiers is about 350-400 meters walk, thru the market street, past a Monoprix and lots of shops. There are restaurants in the area as well, and it feels safe in the evening. It is only a couple of blocks to the very pretty Parc Monceau. This hotel belongs to a new consortium now and their standard rates are out of my price range. It will not be a fancy room, and you might be able to hear a bit from other guests if they are loud enough, but it is better than the choices preceding it on the list for only $50 more per person. Unfortunately, it isn't listed on Tripadvisor, and my review is a few years old now...

college_travelers

Reviews on Tim Hotel Nation:

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

Reviews of Comfort Hotel Lamarck:

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

Use Priceline if you're trying to save money. Check out www.biddingfortravel.com for bidding strategies.

WillTravel

I wouldn't necessarily recommend Priceline for Paris, though, except in a few special circumstances. You run a high risk of getting a hotel in an inconvenient area if you aren't extremely careful, due to how Priceline has designed their zones. There are pretty good budget options available at various sites. Try http://www.hrs.de and http://www.venere.com and http://www.hotelclub.net and http://www.accorhotels.com .

hanl

Blanche Hotel is on rue Blanche, which is in the 9th arrondissement leading up to Place Blanche. The seedy XXX shops and cinemas are located on Place Blanche and Boulevard de Clichy, but not on rue Blanche itself (unless things have changed in the last year or two). The Moulin Rouge is directly on the Place. The 9th arrondissement south of place Blanche is a fairly pleasant residential district (I used to live there and never had any problems). There's a Monoprix on place Blanche and a great daily street market on nearby rue Lepic and rue des Abbesses, as well as some great cafés and little shops. My main gripe about the area, rather than the sex shops along the Boulevard (you learn to ignore them - and I've never felt threatened there due to the number of people and tourists around), is that Place Blanche the surrounding area can be incredibly busy and noisy with traffic, even at 3 am.

hanl

Just noticed my turn of phrase above sounds a bit odd ... not that tourists aren't people

Morganne

Hello Enjoylife!!!
Go to the Tim Hotel Nation...that's a very good hostel...and as Travelnut said it, it is a chain..so you can be sure that it will be clean and safe...!!!I can give you their website..maybe it can be useful of you want to check-in your room: www.h-nation.com...have a good trip for your anniversary!!!

enjoylife99

Thank you all for replying.
I have stayed last year at Tim Hotel Italie for two nights - it was oK, clean and convenient to metro.
I'm not familiar at this particular location;going to book today definitely for Paris with this choice of hotel.
I appreciate your input.
keep traveling!!

Keren

I like that neighbourhood very much. I stayed there for 4 days back in 95 (I was 25 and on my own) and had a good time - just a nice residential area, felt very safe. Visited again last year, intend to explore it this year as well and stay there again in April 2005.