I agree with booking NOW. I found availability to be severely limited already (for 1st week in Oct).

How about the Hotel du Lys, rue Serpente, in the 6th, just 2 min. away from Blvd. St. Michel, so very near the 5th. Not luxurious but quaint. Good value for the money, IMO. www.hoteldulys.com

You can see candid photos and reviews at Tripadvisor...

(I think your budget is kinda low for all those criteria you've given).

Hotel Mayet
http://www.mayet.com/ (Invalides/St Germain)
130/140 euro, includes complimentary breakfast

Hotel Acte V (Arenes)
http://www.hotel-actev.com/?myref=adw
135-150 euro (not incl breakfast)

Grand Hotel Jeanne d'Arc (Marais)
http://www.hoteljeannedarc.com
89 euro (not incl breakfast)

Good, probably; great, no, given your price range.

Hi slangevar,
My husband and I stayed at Hotel Ferrandi on the Rue du Cherche Midi ([email protected]). You can get a room in your price range. The street is very close to St. Germain de Pres and Montparnasse and had good shopping and restaurants.
I would have to call it quirky but it was clean and we loved the neighborhood. Near Vaneau metro (ask about local cut through!)
Yes, please share how it all works out! TD

I stayed a long time ago at the Hotel de la Bretonnerie in the Marais. A quick glance at the reviews on Trip Advisor seem really good.

I remember the locationas being good and the room we had was timbered. While a bit of a walk (15 mins), the idea of taking morning coffee at Place des Vosges has some allure.

Hotel Familia 11 Rue Des Ecoles, 5th www.hotel-paris-familia.com
or the sister hotel
Hotel Minverve 13 Rue des Ecoles, 5th www.hotel-paris-minverve.com.
both should fit your criteria.

I've stayed at Hotel Langlois, but am not sure it fits your criteria, which I think are too picky for your budget. It has no view, for one thing, and is not upscale, and isn't in the area you want. I really liked it, but I didn't have those criteria.

You want too much for 100 euro a night, expecting some special great hotel for that budget, with views, large rooms, etc. October is the peak hotel rate season, also.

Thank you all so much! Such great ideas.

I do keep hearing a lot about the Familia and Hotel des Grandes Ecoles. If you had to pick between them, which would you choose?

Travelnut, totally agree that my criteria is high for my budget, but I've found the impossible before! Btw, the Hotel Mayet looks very interesting... have you stayed there? We love art, so anything with a bit of stylistic adventure is perfect.

No, even that price is too much for me. But I recalled the style and thought it might appeal to you.

Hotel de Varenne in the 7th (near the Musee Rodin) has internet specials starting at 125 Euros for a standard double with shower.

We stayed here for seven nights during December 2006 and liked it and the location.

((H))

The problem is a) the best places have been overexposed in travel magazines/articles and on travel forums, and b) prices keep going up while the exchange rate keeps going down.

And, you always have a much greater selection farther in advance, especially for busy months. Year before last, I got an amazingly low web special rate at one of the Best Westerns, and last year we stayed at the Hilton Paris for $110/night with Hotwire. Great hotels, spacious rooms, well enough located, and for the rates I didn't care about the rest. But, the Best Western had a lovely rooftop terrace/garden, and our room at the Hilton Paris overlooked a nice garden.

I agree, djkbooks... it feels like the guidebooks (and a lot of forums, for that matter) all push the same hotels, and some of those hotels have become a bit lazy because of it.

Someone in another thread mentioned that they like to find hotels on the tourist info. sites of their destination cities, because they often had smaller, more affordable gems that hadn't made it into the books. I remember finding a great B&B in San Sebastian that way once (one that hadn't yet been reviewed on TripAdvisor).

Fodors should put together a Zagat-type guide of places like that.

MY last tripp I stayed at a hotel in the 16th, far from the tourist crowds, with what look like a mostly business clientele. I found it on Travelocity, and picked it mostly for price. It was a 3 stra hotel and was a nice, comfortable location. I could walk two blocks and have a view of the Eiffel tower. Two blocks in the other direction was 'my' cafe, where I would go every morning for my coffee, croissant, and OJ, read newspaper and plan my day. And the metro stop was 10' from the cafe.

No crowds, local restaurants and shops were frequented by Parisians.

So...maybe,like you said, it is a matter of finding the hotels that are not discovered... perhaps further away from the 4-7th arrs.

You compromise on travel time, but you could get a lower cost gem (not that I would have classifed mine as such, more 'functional')

I would suggest Holiday Inn Saint Germain des Pres - E 120 for double room(no breakfast0-but across the road you have nice and cheap places to have lovely breakfasts. Try the hotel through google.I stayed there 2 years ago, and I am coming back now in July. I found it perfect.

Hotel Clement in the 6th...at 6,rue Clement. I've stayed there for years. One block south of Blvd. St.Germain and a half a block west of rue de Seine...on the Marche St. Germain. Happy Travels!

Hotel Muguet

double room 135 euros
double superior room with view 190 euros

The view is of the Eiffel Tower. I've stayed here twice, getting a regular single room once and a regular double room the second time. Both times, we had a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower through our window. Watching it sparkle at night was magical.

Maybe one of these hotels might appeal to you:

http://tinyurl.com/48cl9z

That is a link to a UK newspaper's compilation of 10 Paris hotels in your price range (calling them budget hotels seems to stretch my definition, though!).

I've been checking into hotels for my own trip in Nov - have you looked at the Grand Hotel des Balcons?

We stayed at the Claude Bernard two years ago and loved it. You'd want to specify a larger double there because i know they have tiny and on up in size. It had a wonderful breakfast and really nice staff when we were there. they also have an internet promotion now which starts at 98 E and up for a double and includes the breakfast, but I would email them to discuss the room size first. I wrote a review on Tripadvisor back in 2006 (I think) with pictures if you want to look for it. My kids' triple room had a distant (very!) view of Sacre Coeur.

I love to try new places when i go to Paris, but keep coming back to this one.

Oops - What I meant to say is that I keep thinking of going back to the Claude Bernard - I've only been there once!