hotels in paris
 

We are visiting Paris for the first time next month, trying to choose between 3 hotels: Des Arts, Christophe and La Sorbonne. We are looking for a hotel in a safe area which is clean,central and not too noisy. Does anyone know of these hotels and which one would be the best choice?

I think St Christophe might be more expensive than the other two; isn't St Andre des Arts a 1* and la Sorbonne a 2**? St Christophe is a 3***.

We stayed at St Christophe in 2002 - it is convenient to the metro, situated between 2 stops. We didn't spend a lot of time in the area, other than walking rue Mouffetard but it did feel safe and is fairly central. The hotel is nice and rooms were as represented on web photos. My only comment would be the plumbing noises - but it's an old building and maybe other hotels have this issue sometimes. The bathroom was newly fitted an sparkling, and the room had a minibar. All in all, not a bad choice. Also, street noise was not noticeable.

We stayed at the Hotel de la Sorbonne between Christmas and NY. The hotel was fine but nothing special, the word that pops into my head is adequate.

It's a block off the main street so it is quiet at night but I felt safe getting to and from (traveling with my husband). The beds were fine, the bathroom very, very small (you could barely stand at the sink with the door closed), the room was small but not unusually so for Paris.

We did have a little problem with the hot water one night, we had to change hotels for a night to the Hotel Cluny next door and then move back, we didn't pay for one of the nights.

I did like the location, within walking distance of the Luxembourg RER stop so we could take the RER straight from CDG without changing and within walking distance of the Cluny Sorbonne stop, the Pantheon and the Cluny Museum.

Have stayed at St Andre des Arts and was not impressed in the least. My room was filthy, the carpets had 100 years worth of grunge ground in and everytime I bent over in the bathroom, the door flew open. And it wasn't due to my weight! LOL

Now, all that said, I have read posts over the years where people just raved about the place, thought it was the most quaint little budget French hotel ever. But let me assure you, if your room is one of the ones on the top floor, there ain't nothing quaint about it. Only one of the light fixtures in the entire room had a lightbulb in it. And that's all such a shame because it is in my very favorite part of Paris, the 6th at Odéon, which is not home to budget hotels.

We stayed at the La Sorbonne in November. It was fine, especially for the price. It's right across the street from the University so there are people around all the time. It's very safe and quiet at night. Beds were fine. The bathroom was small, but we didn't think it was uncomfortably small. They gave us the little soaps and shampoo that one expects and there was a hair dryer. One big plus was a nice-sized closet. We unpacked our clothes and could fit our luggage into the closet too.

The staff speaks English and were very nice. Breakfast is about as cheap as hotel breaksfasts get, although we went out most mornings.

It is an easy walk to three Metro stations, two of which access the RER so you can go directly to and from CDG and also Versailles if you are interested in that. It was an easy walk to Notre Dame, the Cluny Museum and a bit farther to the Louvre and d'Orsay. We walked to Place des Vosges and the Pompidou too, but we like to walk. It's easy enough to take the Metro.

I don't know the other two hotels so can't compare them. La Sorbonne is not a luxury hotel; it's small but clean, comfortable, safe, quiet and centrally located near several Metro stations.

Just from what I've read about the three I'd say Hotel St. Christophe is the best of the lot. I believe there were a couple of people from Fodor's who commented about staying there. They liked it. It doesn't sound as low on the budget scale as the St. Andre des Arts and Sorbonne.

St Christophe has their own website now, but the prices are a good bit higher than I paid or that are listed elsewhere: http://www.charm-hotel-paris.com/index.html

These 2 sites have doubles/twins for 100-127Euro (not incl breakfast):

http://www.bookings.org/saintchristophe.fr.en.html

http://www.parisby.com/saintchristop...es/profile.htm

try the excelsior hotel. it is between the rer stops from cdg st. michele and luxembourg. very easy to get to and very inexpensive. it is clean and in a nice area. www.excelsiorlatin.com

I don't think Welshlady was referring to St-Andre hotel, but Hotel des Arts as she didn't say Andre. That is a cheap hotel up near Montmartre. I don't know anything about it, but I wouldn't recommend that location for a first-timer, it's too inconvenient.

I think either Christophe or Sorbonne would be fine. I stayed at the Sorbonne about 10 years ago and thought it was fine for a budget hotel. It was somewhat noisy but that was due to the location, not the hotel -- this is going to be the case in many Parisian hotels because of the narrow streets, tall buildings, etc -- sound echoes. There were some people around on the street late at night and so that could be a little noisy. IN that regard, it would be noisier than the Christophe because there aren't as many people on the street right around the hotel.

However, I had my window open because it was warmer weather, in April you might want it closed at night, anyway. I only had a small double but it was larger than some other hotels I've been to in Paris, and the TV was on a real piece of furniture (small table or chest) rather than on bars near the corner of the ceiling like a lot of cheap hotels do. I really liked that and thought my room was very charming and pretty (cloth wallpaper, pretty furniture, etc.). Even though I had a small double room, the bathroom was a normal size IMO-- it was larger than some I've had in other hotels and newly renovated with nice new fixtures.

I guess my bottom line is it was a fine 2* hotel, but nothing extraordinary, as someone else said. However, I've never been in a 2* hotel in Paris that I thought extraordinary (and yes, I've been in the Muguet but liked the Sorbonne just as well).

Jay, thank you for the tip about the excelsior, I noticed that the hotel info mentions 'airport shuttle' what does this mean?
1. airport shuttle arranged by hotel?
2. airport shuttle included in hotel price?
3. hotel on airport shuttle run?

I did mean Des Arts, but unless I hear anything to the contary I will continue to look at the Excelsior, Christophe and La Sorbonne - I assume that there are plenty of eating places around all these hotels!

Thank you for all the help so far!!

Oops! Sorry, I forgot there was a Hotel Des Arts in addition to the St Andre des Arts. I will second the Excelsior. One of my faves, especially if you like the Latin Quarter. Rooms are clean and a triple is really roomy. The owner is wonder and extremely helpful. And if you are homesick for your pet, they have a resident cat who is friendly with the guests. Also, I think there are 2 hotels with Excelsior in the name. I am speaking of the one in the 5th arrondisement on rue Cujas, near the St Michel métro.