La Defense vs 7th
 

Hope you Paris lovers can help me.

We have a friend of a friend's apartment in Puteaux, just outside the city, that we can rent for $100/night. Getting into Paris requires a one-minute trolley ride to the La Defense metro, then the metro ride (line one) into town. Friends who have stayed there said the apt was nice, large by Paris standards, and best of all quiet. But my heart wants to be IN the city (I'm thinking the 7th, partly to be closer to a one-day conference I'm attending). I realize we probably need to pay around $200 for either a hotel or apartment (we are a party of three, including our 7 year old son). Being able to get a decent night's sleep is more important to us than it used to be, which is why part of me figures I may as well stick with Puteaux. But, we're also staying in a big, old house on acres of land in Champigny (20 mins outside Paris) the first four days of this trip, so...I dunno. Should we spring for an in-city hotel/apt and hope we get some sleep, or should we save the $, enjoy a quiet night, and deal with the longer ride to town? Thx!

Gotta stay in the city!

In my opinion, you will already have the lovely countryside experience. Stay in the city, it is exciting and fun. My favorite neighborhoods are the 1st and 2nd but I think the 7th is fine too.

I vote for the city! Have a great trip.

Hi skateboardmom,

My advice is to stay in town. I stayed in the Defense area and didn't like it. There's not much to do at night since it's primarily a work area and it took about an hour to get to the Notre Dame area via metro. Taxi took even longer because of traffic.

You can find lots of rooms in Paris (assume you want a triple) that are quiet and much less than $200 per night. Hotel Muguet is one I can personally recommend in the 7th. It's modern (i.e., updated bathrooms and rooms), has air conditioning, elevator, near the Eiffel Tower, and lots of restaurants/cafes nearby. A triple is 130E. The web site is:
http://www.france-hotel-guide.com/h75007muguet.htm

adrienne

It's a no-brainer. Stay in the city.

Hi, we just returned from Europe last week and while in Paris stayed at Hotel du Rond Point de Longchamp. It is in the 16th but only about a 3-5 minute walk to the Trocadero metro stop which is right across the street from the Trocadero where everyone goes to view the Eiffel Tower. It was in a very nice area, safe and quiet, with fairly expensive private residences opposite but with shops and restaurants etc very close by. We stayed there with our 2 older children and were all quite happy with it. We booked it through a travel agency that specializes in France and in September the rooms were $109.00 U.S. (incl. breakfast) if you paid in American dollars. If you paid by credit card it was $109.00 Euro. We are Canadian but we took enough American cash to pay the hotel and had no problem. (better exchange rate!)When you walked out the front door the Eiffel Tower was straight ahead of you. The web site is www.rd-pt-longchamp.fr. Our bathroom looked like the one pictured but our room was smaller (although still a good size with a dresser, armoire, space to walk around and a place to put luggage). Our children had a room on the top floor and it was a bit smaller with a smaller bathroom, so I would recommend a lower floor (ours was on the 4th). Just take a travel iron with you if you think you would need one because they did not have any there to borrow!

skateboardmom,
Stay in the city. Stay at the Hotel Muguet in the 7th. Great hotel for about $100/nite. They have triples that are quite nice. In fact, in our last stay they gave us a triple that would be perfect for your family.
You will be close to the Eiffel tower and close to "most of the want to see places in Paris."
Their website is:
http://www.france-hotel-guide.com/h75007muguet.htm

Another vote for in the city. If you are thinking about the 7th Arr. I can recommend the Relais Bosquet Hotel. Their website is very informative and when we stayed there 2 yrs ago it was very nice. Room we had was dead quiet at night and we faced the street too! (Great view of about 3/4 of the Eiffel Tower as well). Nice touch was electric window blinds that came down and covered the windows shutting out all light at night to insure a good sleep. We had a superior room (slightly larger then average) and it was very nice (modern bathroom w/separate w.c., large closet, in room safe, iron & ironing board, etc. This past April we stayed at the Holiday Inn Republique which I also highly recommend but it's not in the 7th Arr. !! It also was extremely quiet for sleeping as we had a courtyard view room (large courtyard). It was a great hotel ... it's a historical bldg. and looks like a chateau (but I know, it's not in the 7th :-) !!

P.S.
This is a quiet hotel!

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions. All the hotels look lovely--but they're booked! Sigh. Any other ideas? Thanks for the help.

skateboardmom

I think it probably depends on your overall budget as to spending an extra $50-100 per night. I would want to stay in the city, for sure. That is a nice suburban area but there is no such thing as a one-minute trolley ride from anywhere to a metro stop, so don't believe that. I know where the tram stop (assume that's what is meant) is at Puteaux and you can't get to the La Defense metro stop in one minute. Obviously, if that were true, you'd just walk, right? I find that sometimes people exaggerate a lot about how long it takes to get places.

I think it well could be quieter than a small hotel room in the city, however. That's just how it goes.

I hope you get some good wine out there, Saumur Champigny is one of my favorites and it's virtually impossible to find in the US, even though a cheap bottle in a French supermarket is only about 5-10 euro and pretty good.

In April, we had a triple room at the Hotel du Quai Voltaire for 150E per night; there were three twin beds, a round table with three chairs, a desk, a luggage rack, an upholstered chair, bath and a small entryway where the shelves and clothing rack was. This room is on the front of the hotel which overlooks the Seine across from the Louvre. Personally, I like leaving the windows open and hearing the street noise, but with the windows closed, the noise is pretty muffled. After walking all day, I had no problem sleeping. It is about two blocks to a choice of Metro stops (one Right Bank, one Left Bank).

I don't know your travel dates but you could try reserving at the Hotel de France-Invalides (I personally have not stayed there but others have favorably commented on it here).
They have a triple room for 100. It is across from Napoleon's Tomb/Invalides.
102, boulevard de La-Tour-Maubourg 75007 Paris FRANCE
Subway: Ecole Militaire
Tel: +33 1 47 05 40 49 - Fax: +33 1 45 56 96 78
Look it up on www.parishotels.com