Hi,

Has anyone stayed in the Montmarte area of Paris, in the Holiday Inn Garden Express?

I have visited the neighborhood, but not stayed there. Is this your first visit? If so, I recommend against staying in that area. Montmarte is pretty far removed from most all of the major sights in Paris. What is the purpose of your visit? If it's tourism, then there are many areas of the city that would be a much better choice.

I love Montmartre; we stayed in the Abbesses area on my husband's first visit to Paris and he has never found a quartier he liked better.

I'm not familiar with this hotel, so I went to tripadvisor.com, which had just a link to a listing--mostly objective, but with some favorable comments-- for this hotel--no user reviews. I gather it's rather new?

Looks like the nearest Metro station is Place de Clichy, which is not my favorite part of Montmartre. It can be a little seedy. You might want to go to www.pagesjaunes.fr and plug in the street address. The site will show you photos of the address and surroundings. You can zoom out to see the other side of the street and nearby intersections.

Agreed that it's not really a choice area to stay. Montmartre is surely worth a visit, just for the view from the Sacre Coeur. But it's pretty overrun with tourists and, to me anyway, lacked genuine Parisian-ness. Plus some of the areas around Montmartre, particularly to the south, are kinda sleazy, and wouldn't be that great to stay in. (Specifically Blvd de Clichy and Blvd Barbes-Rochechouart - an endless parade of peep shows and porn cinemas)

For anyone else who might have feedback, the hotel is located just north of the Montmartre cemetery.
It might be a very 'Parisian' neighborhood in that there are probably not many tourists trampling up there.
Most tourists are exploring around the Basilique, the vineyard, Place du Tertre and down toward Clichy.

Anyway, all those tourists cluttering Montmartre are staying in Paris, too, so it is kind of difficult to choose a hotel that is not around tourists.
How can anyone say that Montmartre is not "Parisian" anyway? Has anyone heard of Toulouse-Lautrec or Picasso? Utrillo or Van Gogh?

There are quite a few Holiday Inn properties, however - why did you choose this particular one?

I disagree that Montmartre lacks genuine Parisian-ness. Rue Lepic, rue des Abbesses, the Lamarck-Caulaincourt have a lot of atmosphere. If you define "Parisian-ness" as grand, however, Montmartre is probably not where you want to be.

We stayed in an apartment in Montmartre February of last year. It was my wife's first trip to Paris, and she loved it. We went downtown during the day, and spent our evenings in Montmartre. I agree that Rue Lepic, rue des Abbesses, and the Lamarck-Caulaincourt areas have a lot of atmosphere.

There are a couple of seedy areas several blocks away -- we knew where they were (Pigalle, etc) and just stayed away. Never had a problem.

I think you will love Montmartre with 3 caveats: avoid Scacre Coeur/Place du Tertre on weekends...it is mobbed. If walking is a problem you need to know that Montmartre is very hilly, and 3rd avoid the fore-mentioned sleaze areas at night.