paris hotel advice
 

Message: Okay, I now know what to pack for my 3 year old and that it's worth the cost of the train to hop over to brussels for chocolate and the grand place but now I'm terribly confused about where to stay. You have all been so helpful I was hoping I could impose one last time?
A friend recommended the Familia but I just read a bunch of bad reviews and feel like I'm swimming in a sea of Parisian hotels. We are husband and wife in our early 30's travelling with a 3 year old critter from SFO to Paris for a week in late February or early March. We are pretending we can afford to take this trip so inexpensive is as important as location. By inexpensive I mean well under 100 E. We will dine early (out of respect for folks travelling without critters) and probably take a stroll after dinner before heading back to the hotel. We won't need the opera or theatre or nightclubs. I require pastries at all times. A fridge for critter milk would be super. We'd love to be able to walk to as many attractions as possible, gardens, eiffel tower, arcs, a museum or two so we don't have to drag the critter on and off of buses and trains everyday ( a few days will be fine).
Clean is great but I don't mind the odd dustbunny. Shower or tub ensuite please.
I'm thinking we want to be in the 5th, 6th, or 7th but correct me if I'm wrong.

I've read a billion reviews on just as many sites in the last week and am having a hard time choosing based on reviews from people who may or may not be anything like me.
any suggestions would be SO aprreciated.
trish

here's a link to your previous posting on this topic if you'd like to refer to it later

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34537945

ttt

Ira,

Would the Bonaparte fit the bill for this family?

ttt

Brussels is a great place to go, but if $$ is an object, and you're really only going for chocolate, you can find wonderful chocolate in Paris and stay in a little better hotel. I'd suggest www.hoteldulys.com for a great, reasonable triple that includes breakfast. Great location in the 6th and lots of charm; great value for the $4, in my book!

OOps, meant to hit the dollar sign twice with shift key held down, but it came out as $4. The 4 is a typo. Sorry for the confusion.

The Hotel Marignan in the 5th arr. is a good value and might fit your needs. It has a kitchen and laundry room available for guests and is well located in the St-Michel area, convenient to lots of sites and transportation.

There's no elevator, so tell them you've got a child and ask for a lower floor so you don't have to carry her too much.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/hotel-marignan/html/p1_a.htm

Hotel Bonaparte has a very nice large triple with a tiny balcony..Ask for N. 7.
The location is great, the place is clean, comfortable not very fancy..Very family oriented.

The Hotel du Lys does not have an elevator either, but the triple is on the ground floor. Also, the staircase is an ancient winding one (bldg dates from 17th century), and I can imagine a 3 year old loving to climb it for the novelty. No frig either, but I would think the owner *might* let you keep milk or whatever in their frig for your child. I was there in March, and just stuck my bottled water out on the little balcony.

Grandmere,the hotel seems a very nice place to stay..Great locations, good price..Are the rooms large?

They are not large by US standards, but they are as large as/larger than some hotels I've stayed in, in Paris, that have cost significantly more. My 6'2" son and 2 college buddies stayed in the triple a few years ago, and they did not complain about the size.
I've stayed in a single and doubles, and there is "plenty" of walking room; in some lower priced hotels you have to literally jump over your suitcases to get into bed, etc. I don't think you can beat it for the $$ and the location (there is so much w/in walking distance, and you're very close to 2 metro stations, St. MIchel and Odeon), as long as you don't mind not having an elevator. And as a grand-mere, I can still do the stairs! :-)

You mention that the triple room is on the ground floor..It could be noisy..

Hi trish,

You have answers on your other post as well. Click on your name to find your posts.

The Bonaparte would be a good place for you, but it is higher than you have indicated.

Forget Brussels, go to Brugge.

Those people telling Trish to find her other post should <b>read</b> her other post first. ;) On her other post people were telling her to repost with Paris in her title to get better replies. So, she replied to her other post (and obviously, therefore, had seen what people were putting there) that she would indeed repost with Paris in the title. That's what this post is. :)

In addition to other mentioned, I can recommend Hotel Monge in the Latin Quarter.

Kismetchimera, it indeed could be noisy, but the hotel is on a quiet street, and I've never heard any noise in the hotel. My experience has been a quiet clientele; but anything's possible.

The Bonaparte sounds super, pastries and a cat! I just don't know if we can pretend we have that much money for this trip. We'd have to find a flight that was practically free.
Hotel Monge sounds pretty good too, where can I find their rates?

Oh, and why Brugge instead of Brussels?

you are all travel advice rockstars, thanks
trish

thanks elaine. i know you're thinking, &quot;ooh, she's not so bright.&quot; but really i did try hotelmonge.com before i asked you all and my computer told me &quot;no&quot;. i tried 2 more times and it connected. strange.

A two-star hotel should be more than adequate for your needs. The Hotel Bonaparte, from all I've read on this discussion board, is well over your price limit, so I'm not sure why it's been suggested here, when you clearly stated you wanted to spend under 100 Euros.

Your little one may enjoy being near a park in order to run around, so you might want to keep that in mind. Perhaps something near the Eiffel Tower - and the Champs de Mars, where I've frequently seen lots of children playing - would fit the bill.

You're right - there is a &quot;sea&quot; of Paris hotels. We took our chances on our last trip when our first choice was all booked up, choosing a hotel I'd never heard of in the 12th district, and weren't at all displeased.

Trish, be sure to request an upper level room, street side, with a balcony if you go with Hotel Monge. Or at least that is what we had and really liked.

trishiad
I wasn't thinking that at all, sorry if my presenting just the website without comment was too abrupt

no worries elaine, i was giggling at myself.

Beatchick, thanks for that link. but here's what i need to know:
How is it, really, to stay in a hostel? I went camping for the first time in my life about 3 years ago. I was raised by a mother who thought the Holiday Inn was totally slumming it. I would love to be good at budget traveling (i'd better if i want to travel now that mom doesn't foot the bill) but i worry about the shock of just jumping right into a hostel. Will it feel just like a sparse hotel? Or more like I'm staying with my best friends distant great aunt and uncle?

Every hostel is different, and some are much better than others. The reviews for most Paris hostels don't tend to be that great, so be sure to choose carefully. The best site for hostel reviews that I've seen for that is http://www.bugeurope.com .

As to what it's like, for a solo traveler, if you've ever stayed in a room with bunk beds, you will have a pretty good idea of what most hostels are like. You will typically have bathroom facilities like you might have at a swimming pool or a health club.

If you have your own private room at a hostel, then it's basically like a sparse hotel room with no phone. You will often have to make your own bed, and will be given linens when you check in so that you can do that. You may or may not have an ensuite bathroom, depending on the options available.

With many hostels you have access to a kitchen, common area, dining area, TV room, and so on. So conversation with other travelers is very easy. But this depends on the hostel.

One drawback of most, although not all, European hostels is that they do not provide towels. So you either have to look carefully ahead of time to choose hostels that have towels or bring your own.

All this said, I don't know if I'd recommend your first hostel experience occur overseas with a three-year-old.

Dear Trish,

If you are going to Paris on a tight budget then why do you think that &gt;it's worth the cost of the train to hop over to brussels for chocolate&lt;.

It's not as if Paris doesn't have chocolate.

Are you getting a super low fare?

You do NOT need the extra expense of booking a triple room. With a 3 year old, she will be free in the room with a &quot;lit suppl&eacute;mentaire&quot;.

One more question Grandmere..
Does the hotel have a safe in the room?
The price is just right..

You might want a triple room for the space, though. Double rooms can be terribly cramped and some would not even fit a cot.

Yes, Kismetchimera, there is a room safe.

And a hair dryer that has some zip to it, cable tv, and a phone.

Trishiad, I've never stayed in a youth hostel so I think WillTravel explains it best. I was doing research on triples and I noticed people here seeking the same type of info so I just shared my research gleanings. What I eventually decided to do was take the triple at Hotel de Blois. At 70&euro; per night it's not much more than a hostel plus you get your privacy. Across the street, for your convenience, is a laundromat. So important for traveling families! :)

Now, this hotel is not in the center like you had wanted but it's not far. You could take your &quot;critter&quot; via Metro to the center and then just walk around all day from there. I think after around 9am the Metro trains shouldn't be that crowded. I think you'll find Paris easy to manage. And with all the cr&ecirc;peries in this area (Montparnasse/14th arrondissement) I think the critter will be happy with the food choices.

I have an inexpensive restaurant list which will help out with your budget. Just pay attention to the notes which will highlight certain menus. This list is focused on meals of 30&euro; or less per person.

I also have an outdoor cr&ecirc;pe vendors list. They're super inexpensive (about 3&euro; or less), very quick to grab and there are so many types to choose from that it'll be an easy way to your b&eacute;b&eacute; fed and happy until you can get to a restaurant.

Hi Ira, nope I don't have that magical inexpensive fair, wish I did. Folks seemed to think it was money well spent to go over to Brussels for a day and the only way I can come up with that money is to really cut back on lodging costs. Do you think this is the wrong way to go about it? I think WillTravel may be right about not spending my first trip to Paris in a hostel with a three year old.
so I guess the question becomes: sleep somewhere more modest to afford more pastries, day trips, and entrances, or keep it simple and sleep somewhere better? hmmm.
is the cat really friendly?

Hotel de Blois in the 14th (http://www.hoteldeblois.com/index.html) is in a nice neighborhood. There is a square across from the Mairie with a small carousel, about the corner of ave du Maine and rue Mouton Duvernet. There is a Monoprix grocery on the corner of ave du Gen Leclerc and rue Daguerre, and a clothing etc Monoprix around 54 ave du Gen Leclerc (I believe). Rue Daguerre has produce, cheese, wine stores, and there's a McDonalds if you need a 'break' at 7 ave du Gen Leclerc.

I haven't walked much on rue d'Alesia yet but there are supposed to be shops along it. The Metro Line 4 (Alesia, Mouton Duvernet, Denfert Rochereau, etc) is a very central line taking you through St Germain des Pres, the islands, and up to Gare du Nord. The buses are great, too, at least 3 lines.

I haven't stayed at Hotel de Blois but Beatchick is a Paris regular and would know how it compares to other budget choices.

trishiad, I am curious about the bad reviews you read about the Familia. I stayed there with my daughter in March, 2002 and we thought it was fine. If you are considering hostels, I would think the Familia would be at least a step or two more desirable than that. We really liked the area, lots of interesting shops and restaurants of every variety, and a lively student atmosphere.

Trishiad, I can't help but wonder if you will be disappointed with your trip to Brussels if it means sacrificing comfort in Paris for your 6-7 days there. At the risk of sounding as though I'm trying to impose my values on you, I'm suggesting that the money you'd spend on that day trip might bring you more pleasure in Paris on this budget trip. Forgive, if I've overstepped my boundaries! :-)

Travelnut, you sure do know your Montparnasse! I don't know how much of a regular I am but I do know I am Paris-obsessed &amp; budget-obsessed! :)

Grandmere, you can impose your values upon me as long as you impart additional tidbits like &quot;try Mont Blanc at Ang&eacute;lina&quot;! :D