Hello there,
I will be travelling to paris near in the future and I was wondering if someone can recomend me a good hotel near of the Rue Clear. I read some options on the Rick Steves's France 2012 book. I just wondering if there is something else. Thank you

Rick Steves is OK to follow, but only sometimes.

à chacun son goût.

I prefer the 6th arrondissement myself.

Try this to find hotels.
http://www.venere.com/france/paris/

You can narrow this down by location, price, # of stars. Check out the reviews. Always look at the hotel's website to see if you can beat the price.

"<i>I read some options on the Rick Steves's France 2012 book</i>"

If it is in RS's book it will 1) be booked full, and 2) totally full of Americans.

The Rue Cler area is OK -- but did you choose because of Rick Steves?

Rastaguytoday, Thanks for the info, I will take a look .That's exactly what I was looking for.

Janisj,
Yes, RS's book is the travelling guide book that I was planning to follow. In fact, since I dont have any experience at Europe I am following his advices.

Try looking in this forum for lots of advice on Paris.

We aren't so glib, but there's a lot of knowledge there.

Do search the forums > paris.

Also, RS is truly for the neophyte, try getting a Fodor's, Frommer's or Lonely Planet guide for alternate opininons.

Franky, I've see RS' Rue Cler reruns enough to vomit.

The most memorable place he recommended in Madrid had formica tables with paper placemats on top. There was a TV blaring, hanging from the wall a la Motel 6. That's when my friend and I decided not to follow his guidance blindly.

Rick Steves has lots of good advice, but he only focuses on certain areas of Paris. The area around the rue Cler is called the 7th arrondissement. About the only two things in proximity are the Eiffel Tower and Invalides.

We have stayed in several areas/arrondissements, and for us the 7th was one of the least convenient to all the other things we were looking for. We found that we needed to take the Metro under the Seine, then connect with the lines that run along to the Louvre, Notre Dame, etc.

You might consider a different area for your first trip - the 3rd, 4th, 5th arron. - and visit the 7th one day. Pick up some food on rue Cler and have a picnic or something.

If you want some pertinent advice, list what you want to see and do - museums, gardens, whatever - and your budget and you'll get lots of help.

Whatever you decide, Paris is a magical city and you'll have a wonderful time if you take your time and enjoy it.

I have no opinion on rue Cler itself other than I do not consider the location to be very convenient unless one is obsessed with the Eiffel Tower (are you going to visit it every day?).

Rick Steves is fine for many parts of Europe (He is awful for the UK IMO) - but a big problem is that places he mentions then become "musts" for his mostly American readers.

Take the rue Cler for example - It used to be a nice little market street. Not the best market/street in Paris but a decent one.

But since RS 'discovered' it it is now on the agenda for every "Europe thru the Backdoor" reader or anyone who watches his PBS shows. The whole character of teh street has changed,the rents have gone up, the mix of merchants is different, and 1/2 the visitors are carrying a RS book under their arm.

It is not the best or most convenient part of Paris in which to stay. It is in the 7th which while in the 'center' is less in the center and farther from many sites than the 1st/4h/5th/6th. It is a mostly quiet (boring) area.

All this is to say, following RS may not be what you want to do . . .

The worst travel book I've ever bought was RS Paris. He omits so much of Paris and only focuses on a few areas that he likes. Please get a comprehensive guide to Paris to read along with your RS book. You may only want to do what Rick does but you should be aware that there are other very interesting things to do in Paris.

I'm not a big Rick Steves fan, but his guidebook for some parts of Switzerland wasn't bad for the train advice and things to do in a city.

His hotels are not bad choices around rue Cler, and to be honest, that whole area is full of Americans, anyway, so it won't be that different in any of the nearby hotels, most likely. You aren't going to hob-nob much with the people staying in a hotel, anyway.

What's your idea of good, there is a variety. Mid-range I think there is the Hotel de la Bourdonnais, Muguet,Relais Bosquet, Derby Eiffel and Motte Picquet. Top end are the Cadran, Wally and Duquesne Eiffel. Lower end are maybe the Empereur, Hotel de France Invalides, Champ de Mars, and Grand Levecque. I'm probably forgetting a couple.

I like Rick Steves! I think he has such great practial information about the logistics of getting around and I also tend to think how he ranks what sights to see is usually spot on unless you have some more specific interests and priorites. I don't usually like his restaurants, usually looking for something more upscale - hotels, maybe. I have stayed numerous times at Hotel Muguet.

I like the Rue Cler and the 7th - and it is not only tourists - I love to sit in the cafes and watch the French go about their lives on this pedestrian street. The well dressed shopping women, children going to school, nannies with babies or dogs. Also it is easy to walk from there to the park near the Eiffel tower for a pleasant stroll or job. Yes, you will see other tourists with their Rick Steve's books but most of Paris, at least anywhere near the main sights, will be full of tourists.

What was the OP's question before the flaming of Rick Steves got underway? Yes, hotels, both www.venere.com or Tripadvisor would be other good sources of hotel recs. Enjoy your trip!

What do you people call the lower end? In my own neighborhood you can get a large double room (okay not elegant) but with a bathroom and cable TV for 55 euros. Being a skinflint, that is the kind of price I would like to pay if I had to pay for a hotel in Paris, particularly since I know that even though I am near the edge of Paris, my metro line 12 gets me to a place like Concorde in about 15 minutes.

I also forgot to compliment rastaguy for his correct use of "à chacun son goût" which is usually incorrectly transcribed on this site.

I discovered the rue Cler about the time Rick Steves was born and still tend to stay in that area when I'm in Paris, though I hardly ever venture onto the rue Cler itself, which is little more than a parade of Americans with the RS books and backpacks and stickers eating at the horrid places Rick tells them to. I like the neighborhood, though. I usually stay at the Hôtel de France or the Hôtel Duquesne. The Hôtel Muguet, Hôtel Tourville, and Hôtel du Champ de Mars are also in that neighborhood.

Tow other options(without all the tourists):

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...stcards10.html

sermormo: We stayed 2x on the Champs du Mars hotel right off Rue Cler (per RS). It's been a long while so I can't vouch for it today, but we liked it and the location. We've since stayed in the 1st and the 5th arr. They are more central but each Arr. has its own appeal.

RS is excellent and perhaps indespensible for the first time trip. Read other guides to get a different perspective, but no other guide combines the sites and logistics quite as well as RS. Yes he's opinionated and yes maybe a bit simplistic, but on your first trip you need some filters. I feel I have a reasonably good understanding of Paris, but if I were going next month I'd be dusting off his Paris guide, though it wouldn't be the only guide I'd consult.

My recommendation would be to ignore those who disparage rue Cler and Rick Steves.

If you do visit, please report as to whether you observe "a parade of Americans with RS books and backpacks".

I can think of only two "eating" places in the neighborhood I would described as "horrid", and there are far more in other neighborhoods.

It is just not true that any hotel in his guide book (and he does list most of them) will be necessarily be impossible to book or full of Americans.

And, rue Cler has not changed much at all in the more than fifteen years we've visited the area.

It's definitely true that there's much appeal to the neighborhood besides rue Cler.

All your comments just confirm me why I am following a trip guide book and not the RS's book.

I know, it could be posible that RS' book is not the best book out there and maybe it does not contains all good stuff from Europa(good stuff that you already know by experience) but for a person who never been there, the book provide you the right place start. It is up to person who bought the book to decide if he or she follows it or read it a complemnted it.

Thanks for your hotel recomendations, I will start to take a look all of them.

But since RS 'discovered' it it is now on the agenda for every "Europe thru the Backdoor" reader or anyone who watches his PBS shows. The whole character of teh street has changed,the rents have gone up, the mix of merchants is different, and 1/2 the visitors are carrying a RS book under their arm.>

not the Rue Cler I just visited - hardly a Rick Steves book carrier in site - we often here these hyped stories of how Steves crowd has 'ruined' such and such but IMO it is just a lot of smoke - Rue Cler is much like it was since I have been visiting it before Rick Steves put it on the map for Yanks. Pay no attention to such IMO 'Rick Steves' has ruined the street - IME of visiting it about yearly it just ain't so!

My daughter and I stayed at Hotel Muguet not that long ago. It is very near Rue Cler and is probably one of those recommended by Rick Steves. The hotel was fine and the clientele international, not all American. However, I have to say, I didn't think that there was anything that special about Rue Cler. It was convenient to have a street with a variety of shops and restaurants nearby, but if I had traversed Paris just to be there, I would have been disappointed. My young daughter, however, was taken by the Chinese take out joint on Rue Cler. We ended up eating there more than I care to say!

Hi serm,

Paris has so many places to stay and things to see, that no one person (or guide book) can provide the wealth of intimate knowledge that you get from a travel board, such as this one.

What is your budget?

What are you interested in seeing?

How many of you will be traveling?