Need advice - which Left Bank hotel?
 

I am looking for advice to help me decide among:
Hotel l'Academie
Hotel des Grandes Ecoles
Hotel College de France
Hotel d'Orsay
Hotel Jardin de l'Odeon
Can any of you travelers out there give me some feedback from firsthand experience?

Here's an alternate idea: the Hotel Saint Louis on the Ile Saint Louis adjacent to the left bank. I stayed there on my honeymoon after staying in the noisy left bank and found it to be a charming and quiet respite on this narrow island that feels like a neighborhood. Every evening we walked past Notre Dame across the bridge to our hotel. The St. Michelle Metro stop is ten minutes on foot tops. Check out the link at http://hotels.parishotels.com/hotel-...69&lang=en

I totally disagree with Cheeky Monkey. I stayed at the Hotel Saint Louis, found our room to be shabby, small and questionable as to cleanliness. It is on a very busy touristy street which does not correspond to the charm of residential Ile St. Louis. I much prefer staying on the left bank and my favorite is Hotel des Grandes Ecoles where I have stayed three times and had lovely accomodation for a reasonable price. It surrounds a quiet courtyard. I do understand that the main building does not have as nice rooms as the other two buildings. Another option is Hotel Residence Monge which does not have the charm of des Grandes Ecoles, but it's small rooms are spotless and ours looked over the Arena de Lutece.

The only hotel on your list that I've stayed at is the College de France. I liked it very much, and thought it was a good value. The rooms are small but adequate, and the bathrooms are clean and modern. There's an elevator that goes to all floors except the top (I think it's the 6th) floor. It's well located, in the Latin Quarter but on a quiet side street so you don't get a lot of street noise. The staff is friendly and helpful, and they speak English (at least, better than I speak French).

Just got back from Paris on New Year's Eve. Stayed at Hotel Prince di Conti. Cute hotel near Seine on left bank, walking distance to Louvre and Musee d'Orsay. Rooms were small but clean. Very quiet. Great staff at reception - tell Percy that Cathy said hi. We bought wine and cheese every night and went to the parlor downstairs for a pre-dinner happy hour. Rate was about $210 a night. Good Italian restaurant - go right out of the hotel, take first left, go down two blocks and take a left next to the ATMs - same street as Internet Cafe. On left is small Italian restaurant with wood-fired pizzas and good pasta. Very friendly wait staff. Email Michael at www.webscapades - mblenz@webscapades - he made our reservations. Ciao!

My opinion on Hotel Saint Louis goes with Cheeky Monkey's. We stayed there last August. Noise was not a problem maybe because we had a top floor room, charming with a tiny balcony and bathroom surprisingly large. The place seemed clean and the hotel staff was quite helpful, we found. Maybe we were just lucky... The location was also really charming and my friend who had been to Paris so many times but never stayed in L'ile really appreciated my choice of location and the hotel. I had read some comments on this hotel some good, some not so good (against reception staff) but things turned out fine for us. Just we did not take the breakfast there. The basement breakfast room did not look good enough for the price. We went out and had cafe-au-lait and croissants at a nearby cafe.

Ita didn't mention when he/she stayed at Hotel Saint Louis. It is possible that the hotel was renovated after Ita stayed there.

I stayed at the Hotel St. Louis two years ago. Maybe we got a bad room, but I stand by what I said. Our room was not noisy but there is nothing charming about the busy crowded tourist street

Virginia, Four of us stayed at the College de France this last June, I am partial to the Left Bank so I think the location is great. Close to metro, walk to the Cluny, the Seine, Notre Dame and its a safe neighborhood at night. Our friends had a double on the top floor, #61 or 62, which was larger than our double on the 5th floor. We had a perfect stay and would certainly go back. Have a great time, you'll love the area. Deborah