Polina

It came to these two hotels. Which one is the a better choice for a first time in Paris. <BR>Thank you in a advance.

btilke

I can't speak for the Saint Thomas d'Aquin, but I have stayed at Le Bourdonnais and enjoyed it very much. However, you MUST keep a few things in mind: 1. reserve a street view room; it's a quiet neighborhood, street noise won't be a problem, and the non-street no-view rooms in the back can be dark, noisy and stuffy. 2. Ask for a room with a view of the Eiffel Tower (we had room 303, which does). Get confirmations IN WRITING of both those things as well as the manager's name. Don't take a verbal assurance. The rooms are comfortable, but need some updating--it's a rather drab color scheme. Getting an Eiffel Tower view room makes up for a lot, though, as does having a "real" closet that can handle all your clothes, etc. <BR>Btilke

Fred

I don't have anything on the d'Aquin but here are comments on la Bourdonnais:<BR>Hotel la Bourdonnais-<BR>Very nice, very clean and inexpensive <BR>staff is wonderful, the hotel is great<BR>liked it very much<BR>The rooms are not huge, but comfortable.<BR>a very pleasant hotel. <BR>hotel is very quaint and clean. <BR>it's a gem <BR>For more Paris information e-mail me- [email protected]<BR>

carol

The hotel St. Thomas d'Aquin is a clean, simple hotel on a lovely street in a terrific location. The street is a quietly very chic shopping street with elegant boutiques lining both sides. The street is just off the Rue Jacob and close to Blvd. St. Germain, a few blocks away from the D'Orsay museum and in the midst of the Carre Rive Gauche--the high-end antiques area of the Left Bank. Although I haven't stayed there, I've often thought of doing so. If you do a search on this site, I think I remember several postings on it.

Christina

I stayed at the St-Thomas D'Acquin maybe 8-10 years ago, so my opinions may not pertain any more but here they are. Pluses: it's a fairly good location about 4 blocks or so to St-Germain metro stop; the management was very nice and even sent me postcards for Christmas for several years afterwards; the breakfast room was lovely as is the lobby, and the breakfast was great with very good brewed American coffee, rooms are pretty cheap and certainly clean. Minuses: my room was a single and not very nice; it had low-end modern basic furniture, no charm, reminded me of Motel 6;bathroom was rather small, about like an airplane (one of those prefab fiberglass things); they had the TV up on a metal stand in the corner of the ceiling, which is my personal bellwether for a bad hotel with bad taste and little class, although I know that it is peculiar to me, but I won't stay in hotels with that feature--I don't know why cheap French hotels do this, but it was rather far away from the bed (room very small and no chair) and I could barely see the TV, plus I had to lay down almost to view it due to the angle, I could not sit up in bed against a pillow, for example. It was rather noisy, also, as it is smack dab against an apartment building and if you need to keep windows open to get fresh air, you are practically living with those folks (at least in the room I had). I would not stay there again due to the decor and cheapness; I have heard comments from other people, on this board fairly recently I think, that are similar to mine re the style and decor. I don't know anything about the style of the Bourdonnais.