hi. i have a chance to stay in a budget hotel in the 17th arr. (hotel frantour) or in the 8th (hotel philip elysses). i'm on a really tight budget and frantour is less expensive and therefore, more appealing. however, it is further away from the sights. but i wouldn't want to be miserable on my first trip to paris because i was so far away from the activity of downtown paris. what would you do? does anyone out there know anything about either hotel? help!

don't worry, the Paris Metro is very efficient and can take you anywhere within a few minutes! Just get a Paris Visite card and you can ride as often as you like for 5 days! All the trains interconnect so you can transfer from one to another. Get a route map and get aquainted first! (Psst, Paris has no real downtown)

don't worry, the Paris Metro is very efficient and can take you anywhere within a few minutes! Just get a Paris Visite card and you can ride as often as you like for 5 days! All the trains interconnect so you can transfer from one to another. Get a route map and get aquainted first! (Psst, Paris has no real downtown)

Frankly, I wouldn't recommend the Frantour which is located in a rather drab and uninteresting neighborhood. For a first visit to Paris, I would dream of a better base. Moreover, even though the metro system is efficient, this line is always packed, plus it is, at this station, only a half line, since only every other train stops there (the line divides into 2 branches). Finally, the Frantour, as you may know, is owned by SNCF, the French railways company : it's a huge building, lots of group, nothing appealing...

My husband and I stayed at the Frantour three years ago. It was cheap, we were on a budget and didn't know any better. However, I would not recommend it. We had no problem with the transportation and didn't really feel we were out of the way. It's just that the hotel was very impersonal, overrun with tour groups, and had very bad food (we chose to eat breakfast there a few times). The neighborhood is uninteresting and drab, as the previous poster said. All in all, the hotel was very unappealing. <BR>

In francs what price is the Fantour asking for a double room? Perhaps there are better places for you.

Message: I'll begin my comment by saying that I have only been to Paris once. My husband and I just went in Sept. for 6 days. So, I'm no expert. <BR> <BR>However, from what I experienced, I believe you would be better off in the 8th. We stayed in the 5th in the Latin Quarter. We were next to a main Metro stop which I thought proved to be very helpful. As someone said above (Vincent?) the Metro gets packed and sometimes you don't always get on rightaway. Also, you may have one or more transfers to get to the location you are going to. This could turn what sounds like a few minute trip into 30 min. If you have to do this many times during your stay you'll lose valuable hours underground. And believe me, every minute counts. <BR> <BR>As far as a downtown Paris is concerned, I know they measure all the distances in France from Notre Dame. I believe they call this Kilometer Zero. It is certainly not a traditional downtown, but we stayed about 1/2 mile from Notre Dame and found it very easy to get around. <BR> <BR>Happy Traveling!