Hotel and Time in Paris
 

This is our first time traveling to Paris and we want to stay in a safe, fun, area! We heard either the Minerve or Familia hotels in Latin Quarters were nice, but I also hear this area might not be as centrally located for first timers Europeon travelers?

Does anyone have an opinion of an area and hotel recs? Preferrably a good hotel around the $100/night range.

Also, is there enough to do to fill 6 days in Paris or is this too much?

Dear dory,

Six days is fine for a first time to Paris. You will not run out of things to do.

The Marais (4th), Latin Quarter (5th), St Germain (6th), and Eiffel Tower (7th) are the most popular areas of Paris for visitors. The 5th and 6th are even considered "too touristy".

You will be fine in the fifth, although the 4th or 7th might be easier to find a hotel for about 85E/night.

Have a nice trip.

6 days is plenty
You will LOVE Paris!!
check out the Residence Alhambra hotel cheap, clean , safe and great location rooms are a bit small but its Paris so you should expect that

I have stayed at the Hotel Residence Monge in the Latin Quarter a number of times. I feel it is well located and there are two metros within a block of the hotel. I also think a room for two would be slightly under $100 a night.

Do a search for Hotel Monge on this site and you will find a lot of favorable comments on this hotel.

I feel that this hotel is well located for a persons first time in Paris.

I would also recommend that you call Julie at the Hotel and make your reservations over the phone. The number is: 01 43 46 87 90

I stayed at the Familia with my daughter, who was a first time visitor to Paris, and we thought the location was great. Now that I have stayed in four different neighborhoods, a different one on each trip, I see that they all have their merits. Haven't found a bad one yet.

Dory - you will find that Paris is a small, compact easy to negotiate city. You will probably find yourself walking between areas that in a guide book, look like they may be far apart...you will be pleasantly surprised. That said, you will want to stay in arrondisments 1-7 to be most "central" and maximize walkabililty! We spend 8 days in Paris on our first trip and have been back twice since, once for another week and just last year for 4 days, at the end of about 2 weeks touring around the rest of the country. My technique for finding a hotel is to check about 3-4 guide books and pick an area (for example St Germaine or the Marais) Then I start looking for multiple recommendations across sources for hotels in my price range. Then I go to the internet and visit several Paris Hotels sites, and choose half a dozen that look like they fit my requirements. Then I do a search on this forum for the hotel names, one at a time, so I can discount any that people have dissed, and move to the top of my list those that have "rave" reviews. Once you've got about four "top" choices, contact the hotels to see if they have availability for your dates and what their rates are for that time. Of course, after you've been to Paris once or twice, you may have checked out some places ahead of time for future trips, and you can anticipate those places. Good luck!

Oh my gosh Dory I chuckled - not to worry about six days and keeping busy. With nearly 60 or so days under my belt I keep finding plenty to do an enjoy. It is one of my top two world destinations (Venice holds a place in my heart that no city can challenge)...do not worry...you are likely to almost feel like you can not do everything you want. Live by one motto "There is ALWAYS next time". Example: once I went for a week, got home saw a great deal in the paper and was back for a long weekend two weeks later. ENJOY

The Minerve and Familia are in an excellent location for getting around Paris--close to the metro and within walking distance of many sites.

Six days? Not to worry about what you see and do. For an initial visit, be sure you leave time to let Paris "happen." There is always something unexpected turning up along, and you need time to enjoy it. People who rush like heck from one monument to the next art museum miss being able to stop for the unexpected.

For example, one Sunday morning we set out for the Musee d'Orsay. Our goal was to be there before it opened so we could get in a get out in about 4 to 5 hours.

We decided to walk as far as Blvd Raspail from our hotel to take the Metro. On the way we noticed a farmers' market was in full swing all along that section of the Raspail.

The market was so interesting that we looked around for well over an hour at the items the farmers were selling.

We got the museum, but slightly later than what we had planned.

As for a hotel, the main requirement I have is its nearness to bus stops and a Metro station or two.

(I prefer taking the bus because I can see where I am going. )

Those endless steps and tunnels in the Metro system are not my favotite places to be.

Yes, Paris is compact, but the main attractions are well spread out. If your hotel is very close to one, you invariably will be farther away from another. I selected my hotel on the basis of its proximity to transportation.

You will have a good time.

Like Bob, we much prefer buses as opposed to the Metro. Here is some info and a system map.

http://www.parisby.com/transpor/trans5.htm

You can get a system map at any Metro or RER [suburban trains] station, but as you can see it is of limited value because there are no referencces as to streets.

What I find most helpful in finding bus routes on streets is the Paris Mapguide, available at a modest price from Amazon.

The Famila Hotel is on Rue des Ecoles, and I see that there are three lines on that street [63, 86, 87] and others nearby.

To get the routes of these lines, one could go to the rapt web site and "citee futee." I suggest getting a booklet of bus routes from a bookstore or tourist shop in Paris. I carry around the pocket sized "Le Bus."

My vote is for Hotel du College de France. I went to paris (first time)last summer while doing a study abroad program in London and stayed there. It is a small family owned hotel in the Latin Quarter, on a quiet side street off of St. Germain which has a ton of restaraunts. there is a metro station about 1 block away which was convenient. It was clean (which was most important to me) and very reasonably priced. The owner speaks English and treated us very well. I was incredibly impressed with it, the rooms are small but very charming. I heard about it on this website and heard nothing but good things and decided to take the plunge.... i wasn't disappointed.