My husband and I are leaving for Italy next week and found out that it is possible to layover in Paris (arriving at 8:55) and connect to Venice the next morning. I have spent all my time researching Italy and now it seems we will need a place to stay 1 night in Paris! What area (arondissment) is recommended? Ideally, we are looking for cheap, 1* hotels or hostels, but clean in a convenient location. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

A "convenient location" in Paris would mean
Latin Quarter (5th)
St Germaine (6th)
Marais (4th)
or Eiffel Tower (7th)

I don't know any 1*'s. I would think you could find something in those areas for around $100, but you don't have much time for researching and Sept. is high-season.

Here's a Feb., 03 thread which discussed "hotels
for around $75 a night"~~
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34399349

good luck on that at the last minute in high season -- I think the 1* hotels I see most often recommended and praised are Hotel Port Royal, Hotel Tiquetonne and Hotel Telemacque. Maybe Hotel Henri IV on the center island -- at least for location. I think Tiquetonne and Henri IV are most convenient location.

try www.eurocheapo.com for some 1* hotel ideas and www.hostels.com for hostel suggestions.

If you can access Sandra Gustafson's Cheap Sleeps in Paris (she has others on London and Italy)you will find several. We have stayed at the St. Andre des Artes (6th arrondisement) inexpensive and eclectic, but a great location - 5-6 blocks from Notre Dame?San Michel. There are others in the same area. Good Luck.

My favorite place for a layover hotel is the Ibis chain - there are locations all over town, including the airport. Basic but clean, modern and comfortable, the breakfast is quite nice, and rates are low. Online at www.hotelibis.com

Hi,

If you have a night in Paris, spend it in the city.

Try Hotel Bonaparte, Hotel Monge, Hotel du Lys, all of which will appear if you do a text search here.

We recently spent one night at Hotel Residence Monge for 95 euro per night. It's in the Latin Quarter near Notre Dame, and can easily be found online by doing a search. I made reservations online and Julie (the manager) emailed me back right away so that I could fax her our credit card details.

Once we arrived, we took the RER into the city, checked in, had an early dinner, spent some time strolling and seeing a few sights, then headed back to CDG early the next day.

The properties listed on eurocheapo.com may be a good list to work from. That still doesn't answer the question of what area. My only experiences with Paris (5 trips - - three on business, and two others staying outside the city) were probably less relevant than what others have told you here.

I was also intersted to see that on eurocheapo.com their "search engine" takes you directly to www.venere.com which keeps making giant strides in signing up properties in countries other than Italy. They now list 395 properties in Paris (still less than half perhaps), but the number has increased dramatically in the past year or so, I think.

You can sort on price, but they do it in their own odd way - - still first sorted by "stars" and then by price (least expensive first). So don't jump automatically to "1-star", which falls at the bottom of the MOST expensive two-stars. There are a number of 2-stars (at the top of the 2-star listings) which are as cheap or cheaper than the 1-stars) - - and even a few 3-stars as low as 120-150 euro per night (half of these are fairly "far out", geographically).

Best wishes,

Rex

You could try "laterooms.com". I can recomment "Hotel St. Andre Des Arts" in the Latin Quarter (St. Michel Metro)...which is really easy to get to and from the airport...A double with a grande bath, and wood-beamed rooms was 70E's

Thanks to all for your advice. I recognize a lot of your names from the Italy boards! I was considering a hostel but after reading a lot of reviews last night I have pretty much decided against it- I think we're getting a little too old for that scene and we have any early flight the next day! I will check the suggestions listed above.

http://parishotels.com/

Allows you to search for availability by date, so you will not waste time on hotels that are already fully booked. Allows you to narrow your search by number of stars or areas. Sends your request to the hotel, which will then e-mail you directly - usually within 24 hours.