diane michlig

Calling all Paris experts....My daughter is learning to rough it, after being spoiled on trips with Mom who likes to stay at places of great character(ie. sometimes expensive) Allison & girl friend need a good but cheap hotel in Paris. Hostel has outside shower and toilet!! I think she can do better for about the same money... Hoping for the 5,6 7, 8 arrondisements... <BR>Can any Paris experts help??? Need advice quick!

Diane

Try www.hotelboulevard.com <BR> <BR>I had good luck with them. It doesn't hurt that the dollar is so strong right now.

xx

The book Cheap Sleeps in Paris by Sandra Gustafson has a section on hostels. There are at least three well known hostels in Paris--my son stayed in one that was close to Notre Dame (don't know the name of it) and loved it Try your library for the book.

Hans

In April my family and I stayed at Hotel Printemps in the 15th. I think the address was 31 Rue du Commerce. My wife's college age niece had stayed there before. <BR> <BR>It was a bare bones hotel. Not all the rooms had private baths. It was clean. The staff was courteous. Breakfast was included. <BR> <BR>It was a 15-20 minute walk from the eiffel tower and only about a block to a Metro station. <BR> <BR>I am not one for wasting alot of money on fancy hotels so it was OK for our needs. <BR> <BR>Email me if you want address, phone number etc. <BR> <BR>Hans

xxxx

Diane: I don't want to be a jerk, but how is your daughter going to learn anything (or at least stop being "spoiled") if you, not her, are doing her planning? Someone more wise than me said here once that if they are old enough to travel on their own, they are old enough to plan the trip. <BR>

Al Godon

He xx. It is hard to become an unparent, particularly if you are a control freak. I had a father like that. I wanted to go to West Berlin when I was in Europe pre "one Germany days". He harshly told me not to go. He could see Vopos crawling out of every hole. I went anyhow and never told him about it. I think he got the idea several years later when he finally saw my pictures.

BEfree

This thread got me started on a tangent: I find it ironic that the current generation of young adults is criticized for not being independent or are otherwise slackers. Although I don't agree with that label, I would note that the two people I work with who have 20+ age children talk to them everyday at work, telling them what they should wear, eat, etc. If those young adults lack direction and motivation itis because they have never had to make their own decisions; their parents insist on continuing to make them. Just a thought. I'm not trying to criticize diane; just playing off of the tangent. <BR>

Al Godon

To continue the independence thread. <BR>I took a job nearly 1,000 miles away from home and did not go home for well over a year just to get away from parental control. Even so, the rascals would come to see me and their main contribution was a total disruption in my daily schedule -- like I had a job to go to. It is very nice to have parents for support, but it is another thing to have them underfoot trying to tell you how to run your business. Like this has a lot to do with budget hotels in Paris. <BR> <BR>But, to get back to the subject, I went to Paris the first time not knowing what I was doing. I sort of blew that visit. <BR>Oh I went to the Louvre and many other famous places, but there was a lot I did not know to see. (And getting sick did not help any.) <BR>But now that I am able to return as an adult, I have made very sure I had a full schedule. So my Paris trips have been very satisfying to me personally. Had I not learned from that first screw up, I doubt if my current visits would have been so packed with highlights. <BR>As it is, I would happily go back to Paris. <BR>

justine

I think the woman just wants a suggestion for a cheap hotel in Paris --not a lecture on parenting. At any rate, in Montparnesse is the Ouest Hotel at 27 rue de Gergovie which runs about 120-230F a night (01-45-42-64-99) and also check out the Hotel des Jeunes which runs 3 hostels in the Marais section (www.mije.com) or 01-42-74-23-45.

dougd

Try Hotel St. Andres des Arts. I'm not too sure on the spelling. Located on the street of the same name. We stayed there about 4 years ago -very central location, right in the 6th, clean, but very old and a little tacky,with lots of charm - about $75 a night.

Ann

I recently stayed at the Grand Hotel Leveque in September. We had a decent double room with bath for 420FF. <BR>http://www.hotel-leveque.com/

Christina

If your daughter is going on this trip, she should have a guidebook geared towards young people (ie, Lets Go, Rough Guides have lots of very cheap accommodations also, etc) which will give many options. First, if you literally mean outside of the hotel for the shower, I believe there is one very notorious hostel full of drunken, rowdy partygoers in Paris with some showers in a courtyard (Three Ducks, I think). That is NOT the only hostel in Paris and not the best and people who go there have their reasons and choose it for its reputation; if she is deliberating choosing that hostel and wants to stay there (and it is described that way in guidebooks), you may have a real problem as she may want that environment (it does sound like she's picked it out and you don't like it). Unlike the Three Ducks, there are many hostels in Paris of decent quality (ie, Young and Happy, MIJE, the main IYHA one, etc). The URL www.paris.org/accueil/foyers lists most of them, as well as the main international youth hostel org site www.fuaj.fr which has decent hostels in Paris; there are also internet travel sites geared towards young people and backpackers with forums and info on this type of thing (eg, www.hostels.com, www.eurotrip.com, www.thebackpacker.net, www.cheaphostel.com, etc.). Parisian hostels are not as cheap as some other countries, but they are still only about US$15-20 a night per person, so it's very unlikely (impossible IMO) she will get a hotel for about the same money in any place, but espec in the 8th arr. which is extremely expensive, and the 6th isn't very cheap, either. I think one of the best guides with good descriptions and a good listing of cheap Parisian hotels is www.timeout.com, but even very cheap hotels will probably run about twice the cost of a hostel (ie, more like $75 a night for a double). The cheapest Parisian hotels (that you would want to stay in) will probably be about 400-475F for a double; you start getting a lot more choice between 475-550F. Some of the cheapest hotels that I can call decent in relatively okay areas which I recommend to people looking for rock bottom lodging are: Castex Hotel (4th arr), Hotel Port Royal (5th arr), Delhy's (6th arr), Hotel du Globe (6th arr), Hotel du Vert Galant (13th arr), Grand Hotel Jeanne-d'Arc (4th arr), Hotel Henri IV (4th), and the Grand Leveque (7th), Ideal Hotel (15th) and Hotel Daguerre (14th). These are prob. 475F or less for a small double. You probably should really specify what price you are talking about as it is very difficult to find a decent hotel less than 450F for a double, but there is a lot more choice a little higher up, as I said. For best value for the money, you should probably consider the 11th and 13th thru 15th arr.

e

Why not give your daughter & pal the hotelboulevard website which is very good==they have a recommendations section with a backpackers sect., budget etc & the timeout.com/paris site (they list accomod. by $ levels & have a good rep.) Then suggest they do a search on fodors. <BR>She & her friend will undoubtedly find something thats ok---she will also have some back up options in case the lodging is a let-down! I am the mom of a 12 yo who is used to traveling in semi-style. <BR>Can relate to your interest in her travel issues. Let us know how it worked out!

Vanessa

Definitely Hotel Telemaque. It is in the 14th arrondisement. You can find ALOT of comments about it on Hotel Telemaque. It's in a wonderful neighborhood. Check out this website made by someone who stayed there: http://suhsd.k12.ca.us/mvm/ruedaguerre/ruedaguerre.html. <BR> This website really depicts it well. I have some info about it also on my website: www.geocities.com/vrangel1. <BR>Hope this helps.

diane michlig

THANK YOU JUSTINE... Yes I just wanted a cheap hotel room! I can only wonder how many are parents that have ever had a young adult far away. Actually Allison went originally to Ireland and planned to work for a few months in a pub for the experience of culture and couldn't find a place to live! Jobs yes, apartment no. <BR>Being adventurous they decided to go to Paris on the spur of the moment. She was there with me for a graduation present and stayed in the Relais Christine one of the most charming places in Paris... So staying in the hostel was a big switch. She is very resourceful but internet cafes are expensive (for research) and many bookstores there are in French( Iknow this for a fact) She is running low on money because she originally planned on working... We don't have a problem with control... we are a close family and just wanted to give her a hand finding an alternative. She is or WAS( I don't know after she reads all this!) a big fan of the fodors forum as we used it a lot for our trip. And she went with 5 books on Ireland. Like I said Paris was spur of the moment... So thanks for all of you who replied about the cheap hotels...

vanessa

Oops, I meant you can find a lot of comments about Hotel Telemaque on hotelboulevard.com. <BR>It was late, I was tired...

ttt

Topping for Josh. If you can weed thru some of the junk on this thread, there are some recommendations for good budget hotels.

Beth

http://www.alpinekleinfamily.homestead.com/hotels.html<BR><BR>The above is a bit from a family's trip to Paris; they stayed at the Printemps and had some nice things to say about it.