Just got back from Paris and stayed in the Gare de l'Est area, and loved it! The quartier was fascinating, and since it is a fairly important metro station several lines went thru so access was great. I did not want to be in a tourist ghetto, and the kids, especially my 15 year old son and nephew were fascinated (as much as self absorbed teens can be...) by the area. My older son spent the whole time in the apartment on the balcony. The two younger ones would have been happy anywhere. We (the adults) loved seeing all the different parts of the quartier, and our landlord (we rented for a week) echoed that. He said that he loved the quartier because there is a little of everything - bourjeois, working class, all sorts of ethnic. I always felt safe: I walked up to the Gare de l'Est one night quite late to fix our train tickets for the next leg of the trip and there were so many people around I was not concerned.

You will spend enough time in the 5th or the 6th - why not see something else?

BTW - the Gare de l'Est is right next to the Gare du Nord.
And our two favorite restaurants, Aux Zingots and Chez Casimir are in the area. Aux Zingots was less than a block from the apartment and WONDERFUL - old style bistro setting. We did not order from the "tripaille" section of the menu, the really different cuts of meat (brain, sweetbreads etc, not brave enough), but the ripaille, which was more what we are used to. Friendly, cheerful service.

That is the hotel we stayed in--New Hotel Gare du Nord. It is quite functional.

All hail Kerouac! You're right on. Thanks for saying what I've been thinking for years. It's about time. I'm tired of hearing that there are only 2-3 neighborhoods for people to stay in Paris.

And brenhur, please, stay where you like. Do what makes sense to you. You'll be just fine.

If you are really worried about transport but don't want to stay right next to the train station, as Kerouac says, just scope out the bus lines and metro lines, and try to find a hotel near one of those lines. For example, we were just on the 56 bus yesterday and it passes by Gare de L'Est and Gare du Nord, so anywhere on that line would be easy in terms of getting back to the airport. And there are many metro/bus lines that stop at Gare du Nord area -- you can view the bus lines here: http://www.ratp.fr/

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

<<The arguments that Prolepsis gives in the favor of the 10th arrondissement are exactly my reasons NOT to stay there. I would not travel to Paris for "aroma of Little India" or for " divine Pakistani restaurants " or Turkish restaurants.>>

I must confess that this statement irked me. It makes it appear as though Valtor believes that Paris is a white occidental experience and that all cultural mixity is to be avoided, lest the Paris experience be perverted. Paris has always been one of the great melting pots of the world, and it is one of the things that makes Paris so unique. To ignore the new elements that are now entering French culture is an insult to France.

WOW!!!! Thank you all so much for your replies. I will divulge all of the information and make a decision. As far as my budget is concerned, i meant to say that our budget is approx 100euros per room.

In relation to me not wanting to do to much travelling, I meant while i was in Paris. We arrive in Paris from London by train and will be staying for 2 days. We are then getting the train up to Amsterdam, so i was thinking that Nord might be the place to stay.

I will keep reading and researching. Once again thank you so much. Fodors was the main reason my trip was an unbelievable experience in 1999. It has been sensational for me.

OK - since as I suspected you meant not too much traveling while IN Paris, Nord isn't that great a location. From there you would have to travel a ways to get anywhere. Somewhere near the river would be much closer to a lot more of the sites. In the 4th, 5th, 6th or maybe the 7th. In any of these areas you will be walking distance to MANY of the famous landmarks of Paris. You probably wouldn't even have to take more than 1 or 2 metro rides.

Those people who are saying that it is an "ugly" area (and I must count myself among those who would have never said that the area is beautiful) will soon be giving incorrect information. I was at Gare du Nord last night getting rid of a rental car, and I saw the progress that has been made repaving the square in front of the station -- they have been working on this for months. Well, it is still a mess at the moment, but I would say that within one month, it's going to start looking like something -- and it appears that it is going to be pretty spectacular. As the Gare du Nord building itself has always been the most magnificent train station in Paris (at least since the Gare d'Orsay closed and reopened as something else in recent years), the area in front of the station will finally do justice to the architecture.

I do not know why Prolepsis took my message as an insult. I only expressed my opinion, as everybody is free to do.

Personally, I visit France to see the French art and architecture, French gardens and parks, castles and nature. In any case, I do not go to Paris for Asian neighborhood. That does not mean that I am not interested in Asian culture or that I consider the European people superior.
I visited a lot of Asian countries, included India, and I enjoyed each moment in these trips. However, I do not consider that Asian quarters in Paris have something to do with the beautiful Asian countries.

It is the right of every tourist to like or not any country, town or part of it, and this should not be interpreted as an insult for other.

My recommendation was for a person having limited time in Paris, and I think that he should be as close as possible to all beautiful sights that Paris can offer.

I stayed about 10 minutes from Nord a few days ago, for 5 nights (close to Metro Anvers, just south of Montmartre), and it was fine, but not particularly close to the touristy stuff (except Sacre Couer), though the Metro is quite good, and fairly cheap. The red light district is right around there (in Pigalle), and you probably don't want to stay there (I didn't have any feeling it was unsafe, just unsavory), though by no means all of the area is bad; where I was was just a fairly typical, rather ethnically mixed but quiet, neighborhood. You either have to worry about transport to sightsee in Paris (if you're near Nord) or to get to and from the station (if you base yourself closer to the main sights), it's kind of up to you when you want to low-stress ease of transit.