jenaug2006

In Paris.Any thoughts on this hotel, specifically on the size of rooms? are they unreasonably small? thank you!

Travelnut

I imagine the hotel can provide you with the room dimensions...
From scanning the Tripadvisor reviews, my guess is the standard rooms are very small and the superior rooms have more space. (probably a safe assumption anyway).

francophile03

More often than not the higher the room category, the larger the rooms. It may not always be this way, but typically standard rooms hold not much more than the bed and the room measures between 10-12 sq. meters.

Flaze

We stayed in this hotel in october. the room was very very nice, but not too large. Luxorious it was. The staff was anyhting from pleasant to downright rude and obnoxious- and to one staff's confession- the rude and obnoxious staff person had insulted a number of guests recently- including us. It was in a very un-tourist friendly part of town, no cafes or bakeries nearby, alot of traffic out the widow, nothing of interest nearby without a big walk. Metro was quite a distance away. As nice as the room was, we left after one night. We would never go back to this hotel or to this neighborhood. Look for something in a better place - like the Marais, or further in. We actually went back to the 17th where we had a room earlier and loved the locale. Hotels were less expensive, great shopping, wonderful neighborhoods, within walking distance of many Paris highlights, and and a half block from the metro. What more could you ask for?

francophile03

Hi again, I don't know about the Grands Hommes as I haven't stayed there. But I did walk into the lobby and asked for a brochure; I stayed a few blocks away on rue de l'Abbe de l'Eppee. The receptionist was not rude just fyi.

As to the location, it's actually one of the best locations. The hotel is located in the heart of the Latin Qtr. just across from the Pantheon and a few blocks from rue Mouffetard street market. There are tons of cafes and restaurants. I had dinner at La Chantairelle which is located just behind the Pantheon and on another night at Le Coupe Chou around the corner from rue des Ecoles.

Ironically when I stayed in the 17th district I didn't find the same quality of cafes and restos. in that area. In fact, last January I had an attrocious meal at a cafe nearby L'Etoile. I didn't care for the 17th actually as it didn't feel 'charming' as the Latin Quarter does.

tuckerdc

francophile: I'm with you on that location. The previous poster's comments surprised me - I had to wonder if one of us was thinking of the wrong hotel. No experience staying there, but I liked the look/location well enough when we were in the area one day to stop in and request a brochure.

I'm always puzzled by the constant reference to the smallness of French hotel rooms....our experience isn't vast, but we have stayed in three different Paris hotels, never paying more than $125, I don't think. While I guess, when you stop to think about it, they don't typically compare to even middle market hotels in the US, we've never considered ourselves unduly 'cramped' and felt the size/style of the room was a part of the whole foreign travel experience.
(We did once stay in a Chicago hotel (converted from a downtown office building) that you could easily have compared to a Tupperware pie wedge storage piece. It was that small and that oddly shaped.)

francophile03

Hi tuckerdc, I once stayed in a standard room in Paris. Apparently I wasn't used to the smallness of these rooms and felt claustrophobic after a day. I understand that east coast hotel rooms can be as small as their Paris counterparts. I guess these hotels were converted from old buildings which is what occurs in Paris too.

mjs

I am with Franco- with this one. I too think the location is decent and checked with my Hunter Rivage Paris hotel book to confirm. Might be 10 to 15 minute walk to the Metro. Have walked by it as it is right next to the Pantheon. Have not stayed there as we stay in an apartment while in Paris so I cannot comment on the hotel itself. Room size like most European rooms may be small if you compare it to the average North American hotel room outside of cities in the northeast but all I can tell you is that the Rivage book states that rooms ending in 4 are small.

kappa

> It was in a very un-tourist friendly part of town, no cafes or bakeries nearby, alot of traffic out the widow, nothing of interest nearby without a big walk. Metro was quite a distance away.

I have to question myself too. Is Flaze talking about the same hotel at Place du Panthéon or is there a mistake???

ira

Hi all,

www.mappy.com says it is 0.6 km from the Grand Hommes to the nearest Metro stop (Cardinal Lemoine)and 0.7 km to Maubert-Mutualite.

Some folks could consider that to be a bit of a trek.

jenaug2006

thanks for your comments! am especially happy that the location isn't terrible. we love to walk, but we don't want to be in the middle of nowhere.

francophile03

Honestly you won't be in the middle of nowhere. The hotel is a few blocks from crazy Blvd. St. Michel.

Christina

It's a great location, I like it a lot. I can't imagine why anyone would say there are no cafes nearby, and nothing of interest within walking distance (Luxembourg gardens is down the street). I don't know about bakeries, specifically -- there is a famous pastry shop at the corner of Soufflot and rue de Medicis (Dallyou). There are those chain bakeries on bd St Michel, which can be fine for a pain au chocolat, etc.

It is true it's not exactly super close to a metro stop, per se -- the closest stop is the RER (at Luxembourg). The Cluny metro stop isn't too far away.

I find many European hotel rooms to be very small, including Paris. They are definitely a lot smaller than typical hotel rooms, even cheaper ones, in the US. The only exception I've found is some older hotels in New York which can have very small rooms, also. I go nuts in a room barely bigger than the bed after a few days, especially if there is no view at all (or view of a wall, etc.). I am pretty picky now and just ask hotels their size, and book accordingly -- if I'm going to be there a while. I learned that if you don't ask, many hotels will have very small rooms. I don't consider a very small, minuscule room to be part of a charming European travel experience.

francophile03

True, if you can afford to stay in a higher category room instead of a standard, do so. Being stuck in a claustrophobic room is not a charming experience to me too. I stayed just two nights in one of the Verneuil's standard room. I had what they call a 'courtyard' view. It was actually of the apartment building next door but I didn't like being a voyeur and there was nothing else to see. Therefore, I had to settle for sitting on the bed watching the little TV in my room. I was glad to leave after two nights and could not imagine how two people could share that room.

Flaze

Well- that was my experience. We've been to Paris 4 times, so we weren't novices. We found the area to be very busy-and if you can find nearby cafes and bakeries we must be blind. We circled several blocks in the immediate area and found not too much. The Latin quarter, especially the old, quaint, part is indeed very charming. The location of this hotel is not, at least in my opinion. And the metro stop is indeed a far distance. There are very many other desirable locations in Paris that far exceed this one, don't settle unless you have to. But- if you do, the room, while small, is very, very nice.

francophile03

Gee, I found at least two boulangeries nearby my hotel. And one of them was a block going down from the Pantheon. What about rue Mouffetard? That street has quite a few restos. and I know there is a bakery across from the St. Medard church which is at the beginning of the street.

There are several metro stops nearby too!

Since you said it, I do indeed think that you were either blind or in another neighborhood.

Travelnut

OK, I'm a little bored so I went to PagesJaunes...
I'll agree that the middle of the 5th has some gaps in metro coverage, that is, there are areas where the coverage is not as dense as in other areas. You can see this by looking at the metro map - there's a big empty rectangle with the corners at Cluny/Denfert/Gobelins/Jussieu...

But that's all relative, if you're used to having a stop with 100-300 meters, then 600-700 meters seems "far". (800 meters = 1/2 mile).

As far as cafés go, there might not have been much in the way of "inviting" establishments...
Perraudin is about 300 meters away
there's a British pub (Bombardier) and an Italian restaurant (Terranova)
and there's Le Pantheon about 2 blocks south, which is a typical corner cafe.

My guess is there isn't much within the immediate block or so where you'd want to go have breakfast. There are quite a few 'ethnic'sounding names on the list in the "proximity" search...

We have stayed in the 17th as well, within 400 meters of Villiers stop, by 2 Monoprix stores, a market street, wine store, cheese store, bakeries, and cafes within a 2-3 block radius (rue Lebouteau)...
We now stay down by Denfert Rochereau and have 4 corner cafés within 400 meters, a Monoprix, at least 3 bakeries, a market street, several small restaurants that get good comments on French sites, not to mention several 'name brand' stores and 3 cinemas; our metro is about 70 meters from the hotel door and 2 bus routes pass by that metro.

So I think I can understand Flaze's perspective.

kdcwood

We stayed at this hotel for four nights over New Year's 2004/2005. This was my fifth trip to Paris. I really liked the hotel and the location and would stay here again. It is true that it is not surrounded by little cafes and shops and not right at a metro stop, but we didn't think the walk to any of these things was far at all. I really liked the location right across from the Pantheon; we had an upper floor room with a view of the Pantheon.

See my review of the hotel here: http://www.slowtrav.com/france/hotel...es&s=5th%20arr