mirmme

I am travelling to Paris SOLO in mid June. Trying to decide on hotels very overwhelming! I think I have it narrowed down to two and would like opinions.
Apollon Montparnasse
91 rue de l'Ouest in the 14th. this one is my fav. but don't want to be stick in suburbia with nothing to do.
and the
Hotel De L'exposition Tour Eiffel
42 Bis Rue Du Theatre in the upper 15th.(the tower is less than a km away).

I am new to solo travel but am feeling very brave(divorce will do that to you). I have never been to Europe. Any advice would be great.
Thanks

jt7dreamz

if i remember correctly montparnasse is a 15-20 min metro ride from the lourve. certainly not the closest but not the furest either. i thought montparnasse was beautiful btw have fun! theres a great restaurant in paris... bistrot cote de mer on the southern bank... hrmmm i have to thnk of the st name but you can google it. its my fave in the world.

jdraper

I love Montparnasse and it is a large metro stop so nothing is too far away. I could be wrong but I am assuming that the hotel will cost less there than near Tour Eiffel as well. A lot of wonderful local bistros and cafes in the area. We stayed in that area the last time we were in Paris and loved it.

Michael

Type the address in the Google search function and specify that you want the map. That will show you where the address is located in Paris. You are within the city, and if anything, it is the complexity of the Montparnasse métro station that might at first be forbidding.

mirmme

thanks the hotel in Montparnasse really does look lovely and with great reviews! it's just a huge leap of faith to travel all that way and what if it stinks?Price difference is only about 10-15E so would hate to make decision on what would amount to peanuts in the overall cost of this trip.
First spontaneous thing I have done in my life!
I think my biggest expense will be in getting from Airport(CDG)to montparnasse.
I would like to book service or shuttle for arrival will decide about way back after 10 days of manoeuvering city.

Michael

When returning to the airport at the end of your sojourn, you can take the métro from Montparnasse to Denfert-Rochereau and connect with the RER B which goes directly to the airport.

jt7dreamz

and the cathedral in montparnasse is amazing. i still have a small cross i bought there 7 yrs ago. loved it.

StCirq

Montparnasse is NOT suburbia. It's well within the Paris city limits and is a great, vibrant neighborhood. The hotel looks great, and I'm sure you'll be just fine there.

BTW, what cathedral is in the Montparnasse neighborhood? That's a new one for me!

Michael

<i>the cathedral in montparnasse is amazing</i>

???

Paris has only one cathedral, which is Notre-Dame.

AnselmAdorne

&quot;I am new to solo travel but am feeling very brave (divorce will do that to you). I have never been to Europe. Any advice would be great.&quot;

mirmme, Paris can seem a bit intimidating the first time around, but it sounds like you have lots of courage. You'll find Paris enchanting and rewarding.

Ask all your questions here, and I'm sure everyone will help you out.

Anselm

shellio

The hotel in the 14th is about a block from Pernety metro station on line 13. This is 2 stops from Montparnasse metro station, which is huge and difficult to navigate but does have the advantage of connecting 3 other metro lines in addition to 13 ( lines 4, 6, and 12). You'll be able to get nearly everywhere by metro relatively easily, and if you're a walker much of the left bank is accessible within 20 minutes or so.

The other hotel is less convenient (Charles Michel station on metro line 10 or Dupleix on line 6 seem to be the closest to that address, but both are several blocks away) and the area would not be my choice for a first stay in Paris.

I've stayed in that part of the 15th both alone and with someone else and both times I found it inconvenient to reach by public transport and found myself taking taxis late in the evening, which, added to the cost of staying in a less expensive area, sort of obviated the reason to stay there.

crefloors

Stayed in Montparnasse last Nov. on blvd. Raspail. I really liked that neighborhood, had not trouble getting anywhere in Paris and the only time I left out of Montparnasse station was getting to Versailles. There were metro stops everywhere. I loved the neighborhood feel.

Robespierre

I lived on Rue du Texel XIV when I was an undergraduate. The room was a stone's throw from the Ga&icirc;t&eacute; M&eacute;tro (7 minutes from Invalides), and there were dozens of little shops and businesses on my block.

The thing I like best about Montparnasse is the &quot;village&quot; feel to it - not at all like an urban neighborhood.

OReilly

I love Montparnasse and have stayed there many times (Hotel L'Aiglon, Hotel Raspail, both recommended). I prefer the 14th to other areas on the left bank - better value for money and still within a short walk to the Seine. As others have said, great restuarants, local ambiance, good transportation links.

I can't comment on your hotels or their location in the 14th, but check them out on Tripadvisor.com:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...de_France.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...de_France.html

BTW: here are the websites for the L'Aiglon and Raspail:

http://www.france-hotel-guide.com/h75014aiglon.htm

http://www.france-hotel-guide.com/h75014raspail.htm

Regards Ger

kerouac

When using the Montparnasse metro station, there is just one main thing to keep in mind. Lines 6 &amp; 13 are right next to each other and lines 4 &amp; 12 are right next to each other, so transfers concerning those groupings are super easy. It is transfers between the two different zones that involves the endless moving walkway (including a high speed lane which has been reduced in speed from 12km/h to 9 km/h because too many people were falling down. However, it remains the only high speed moving walkway in the world.).

tod

mirmme - Solo travel is the greatest and you will see many people dining on their own.
I get the notion you are spending no less than 10 days in Paris. I always move to another hotel after 4-5 days and it is not the upheavel you may think. The benefit is that you experience a whole new vibe! I like to move around from the busy Blvd.Saint Germain in the 6th to the quieter more sedate 7th near the Eiffel Tower and have stayed in the 5th, 8th, 10th, 16th as well.

Have a great time and get hooked on Paris!

mirmme

I am feeling better about the &quot;hood&quot;.
I like the idea of village like.
pardon my ignorance but I have never been to Europe and in my experience in the US and Canada(where I am from) once you move a bit from the core you are in suburbia and it is hard to get around and one would need a car. NO WAY am I brave enough to drive in France!!!! Baby steps.
I will print suggestions about giant train station to take with.
thanks again I have acouple of other questions but will start new thread.

Christina

I don't think you understand the distances here. Central Paris isn't really that huge (about 4-5 miles total across either way), and to be suburbia, you'd have to be outside the city limits (or certainly on the edges). Montparnasse is only about 1.25 miles from the Seine or maybe 2 km, it's about in the middle of the entire &quot;Left Bank&quot; side of the city, not on the edges.

That place you picked called Tour Eiffel is really more in what I'd call suburbia than the one labelled Montparnasse. The 15th arr. just is kind of bland and more newly developed than other parts of Paris, even Montparnasse. Just because they call it something, doesn't mean it is (re tthe name) -- anyway, the Eiffel Tower isn't that central in Paris, either. Rue du Theatre isn't too terribly far away from the boundary of the 7th, but it's not a very attractive street IMO. But it isn't any closer-in than the other one, that's my main thought on that.

The Other hotel on rue de l'Ouest is a little farther out from where I stay and consider the heart of Montparnasse, though. It's really more the Plaisance neighborhood IMO, not Montparnasse, although I think it is listed as being closest to Pernety metro. Well, now that I see where it really is, I guess I'd say both those hotels might be about the same general distance from things--it's probably closer to 2 miles from the Seine. But you aren't far out in suburbia, in any case, and that's a nice neighborhood.

kerouac

I have a friend who lives at Pernety, and it is an excellent neighborhood for cheap restaurants of good quality. Not too many tourists to drive up the costs.

jsmith

The nearest Metro to the Apollon is Pernety. You can take it to Varenne for the Rodin Museum and Invalides, to Clemenceau/Champs Elysees for connections to Line 1 (CDG Etoile, Louvre) or continue to Basilique St. Denis.

The AirFrance bus from CDG to Montparnasse is convenient and inexpensive, particularly for a single traveler. Definitely walkable for a healthy person. My wife walks with a cane and does about the same distance with a rolling suitcase from the stop to our lodgings.

Rue Raymond Losserand (Pernety Metro) is parallel to Rue de L'Ouest and has a goodly number of shops (bakeries, supermarket, hardware store, stuffed animal shop, laundromat, hairdressers, banks and ATMs). There is a Galeries Lafayette under the Montparnasse Tower on Av Du Maine.

Directly opposite the Pernety Metro entrance is a small Italian restaurant wirh 6/8 tables for an inexpensive meal or pizza. There any many other restaurants in the area and your hotel should be able to direct you to them. One of the best concentrations of restaurants for crepes is on Rue Odessa and Rue du Montparnasse (not Blvd).

Be sure to visit Cimetiere du Montparnasse. It is not as famous as Montmartre but you can get a free map at guardshack at the main entrance on Rue Froidevaux.

You should have no difficulty if you speak only English but you will be one of the few with English as a first language.

Hope this has helped.