Paris France
 

I am plannng a trip to Paris in July with my husband and three grown children. We will be there for five days. Where is the best area to book a hotel?

I like to be in the 5th or 6th fairly near the river - and so access to many sights.

But a lot depends on your budget and what sort of lodging you are looking for. You can;t put 4 adults in one room - so are you looking for two rooms or a suite in a hotel? And what sort of budget do you have?

My budget is $11,000. I will need to two rooms! You prefer that to the 1st and 2nd?

Central Paris is quite compact and the Metro provides easy access to almost any tourist draw. Rather than worry too much about the arrondisment, I look for proximity to a Metro station, or, ideally, easy access to two different lines.

I do appreciate your advice! I will look for a location with easy access to the Metro. Does anyone recommend a particular hotel?

<< My budget is $11,000 >>

Your budget is $11,000 for 2 rooms for 5 days? That's $1,000 per room per night. You should have no problems finding a place.

I would stay in the 6th.

Hotel St. Vincent
Hotel Madison
Relais St. Germain
Au Manoir St. Germain

I'd look at apartments. Try Vacation In Paris. We like the 4th, 5th and 6th best for transport and street conveniences!

Many people love apartments, and sometimes they save money. For 5 days, I would stay in a hotel with the convenience of the hotel desk for advice, making reservations, etc.
I imagine we need some clarification if the whole amount of money is for the hotel.

Options include
1) stay in an international hotel no idea of price as I would hate the idea but if you have particularly fussy children it might be an idea
2) stay in a top notch french hotel assume $300 per room night up
3) stay in a normal french hotel assume $170 and down per room per night
4) An appartment wide ranging and the further from the train system the cheaper.

I'd also stay in 5th or 6th but I would go with option (3)

I would also stay in the 6th (and always do). It is very centrally located, has many Metro stops and is charming. We like the Hotel des Sts. Peres on the Rue of the same name. The Madison is very nice. There is a thread on this forum on Paris Left Bank hotels. Look at that.

Can you give us a € value per night that you wish to spend on a hotel? I imagine the 11k figure is for the whole trip?

jamietall,
I am in the midst of planning our first trip to Paris for this summer, too. We are staying at the Hotel Bonaparte on Rue Bonaparte in the 6th. I did a lot of research, contacted a lot of hotels, & decided this was the best for us. The 6th is centrally located, within walking distance to a lot of sites. We are paying $174 per night for a double room with private bath. The hotel has AC & an elevator. Make sure you get a hotel with AC. Hotel Bonaparte is recommended by a lot of people on this forum & also recommended by Fodors guidebook.

You should also check trip advisor. When I was researching hotels, I checked trip advisor & some of the places that sounded perfect on their website got bad to mixed reviews. I believe the Bonaparte got all good reviews from Trip Advisor.

I think you should hurry to book a hotel or find an apartment if your trip is this July. We are going to Paris, also in July, and although we started booking some time ago, a few of our top choices were already gone.

We are staying in the 6th arr because it's convenient and lively.

Geez, with that budget I'd go for the Ritz or George V :)

I want to be adopted by you.

If you have been to London, Paris is about 6 times more compact, so you are never really very far from any of the sights as long as you are inside the city limits.

Frankly, I would not devote a great part of that budget to accommodations, because Paris has hundreds of good reasonably priced hotels. How about something simple like the Britannique in the 1st arrondissement, or even the modern Novotel Les Halles, also in the 1st?

http://www.hotel-britannique.fr/
http://www.novotel.com/fr/hotel-0785...es/index.shtml

hi jamitail,

with grown-up children I'd look at an apartment - far more freedom for you and them to come and go as you like, slob about, eat in, eat out, etc. etc. for people with your budget you might find an agency called Paris Perfect has something suitable, but there are many others.

also consider how you are arriving in Paris - if it's CDG, think about staying near an RER B stop - this can make getting to your hotel or apartment quite easy. you just get on the RER at the airport, get off at the right stop, and walk a few [hundred] meters. Chatelet-les-halles [right bank] and Notre Dame-St. Michel [left bank] are the handiest.

if you want a hotel in the 1st that is very convenient for RER B and metro, the Britannique is lovely, but you need to get booking!

Paris hotel prices seem to have gone up just within the past year or two (not surprising, I know, but I mean noticeably for the ones I check). I don't think $170 and below is that typical now for a "normal" French hotel under the current exchange rate, many 3* hotels have higher rates than that, and even some 2* hotels. That is only around 130 euro and a lot of the 3* hotels I've been checking are around 160 euro or so nowadays, except during a cheaper time period (eg, August, but not always July). Most of the rooms at the 2* Hotel Bonaparte mentioned are more than that, I believe, only the smallest ones are about 130 euro. And it wouldn't be what someone was looking for who wanted to spend $10,000 on hotel costs for 5 days.

$11,000 is for the whole trip! that is including air fare from St Louis!