pfatalbert

Hello Fellow Fodors Fans,

My wife and I will be staying in Paris for a couple days during the first week of October. We plan on taking a train from Germany to Paris (into the main train station I assume) on Monday Oct 2. We are flying out Thursday Oct 5 out of Paris-CDG.

Mostly, like everyone else, we want to see the Eiffel Tower, the Arc d'Triumph, and spend most of one day at the Louvre. If we get those covered, we will be happy.

Does anyone have any hotel advice near those locations? I am looking to spend about 100 Dollars- 100 Euro's per night (Mon, Tue, Wed nights). I don't need anything hip/cool, luxurious, or super-roomy. I just want a good location with clean, quaint rooms - preferably with a shower/toilet in the room.

If anyone has any suggestions of good hotels that hopefully meet my desires, please post them here. Also, if you could say if they're easy to get to - via local train / bus / taxi. I'm not sure how close the main train station is vs. where the Eiffel Tower-area location is.

Many thanks in advance!
-Tom

Neopolitan

No offense, and your question is valid, but I'd strongly suggest before you go much further you head to a book store and buy a map of Paris (or look at one in any guidebook). You'll want one when in Paris anyway and places like Barnes and Noble see nice laminated ones called "Streetwise Paris". There is no "main" train station, but I believe most trains from Germany come into either Nord or Lyon stations. Neither is remotely near the things you mention, but then none of the things you mention are all that close together either. Suggestions from other posters aren't going to make much sense to you unless you can look at a map to know what or where they're talking about.

flsd

I'm guessing most trains from the major German cities go into the Paris-Est or Paris-Nord train station, neither of which is exactly near the sites most visitors to Paris want to see. (You didn't mention where in Germany you're boarding the train, so I checked schedules from MUC and FRA). However, the Paris metro system makes just about every sight easily accessible and, if you stayed near the train station, you'd already be very close to a metro station as well. A website like parishotels.com lets you type in the name of the train station you want to be near and price range you're looking for (or hotel rating, probably two stars - occasionally three - for your price range), and you can take it from there.

Personally, I'd get off the train at Gare du Nord or Gare de l'Est and take the metro to a hotel in another part of town, like the 5th, 6th, 7th or 14th arrondisement. For example, using the same website (which I've never used, by the way, and am not endorsing - merely using as a guide), if you insert "Les Invalides - Tour Eiffel - Parc des Expositions" as the location you desire and two stars as the level of hotel you need, then a list of seven hotels show up, and you can click on their names to find out more.

This is just a starting point - hope it helps a bit.

francophile03

Honestly for sure you won't get any hotel that's hip, cool, luxurious and super roomy for just $100 in Paris! If you just want to be near the tower I suggest the Hotel de France Invalides. Take the metro to the Louvre.

http://www.parishotels.com/Hotel_de_...s_star_en.html

francophile03

I'm pretty sure the train station that you'll arrive at is the Gare de l'Est.

TimS

The Marais district is centrally located and its architecture most closely resembles medieval Paris. My Lonely Planet Paris guidebook gives a strong recommendation for the Hotel Sevigne on rue Malher just off of rue de Rivoli (a major street) and within a block of the St-Paul metro station which is on line 1. It's a short metro ride (with one transfer) from either Gare du Nord or Gare de l'Est and it's in your price range. Check it out at www.le-sevigne.com. While I haven't stayed in the hotel, I've stayed in a hostel two blocks away and can tell you that this is a delightful neighborhood.

Visit www.ratp.fr to download and print a Metro/RER map for central Paris and to use the Journey Planner to get the best route by Metro, RER, or bus between any stations or major sights. The site is viewable in English.

TimS

One more thing. Go to www.viamichelin.com and enter 2 rue Malher, Paris, and France in the fields under the Maps heading and you'll get a map showing the exact lcoation of the hotel.

RogerM

Hi Tom, On our trip in May we stayed at the Hotel Jeanne d'Arc which is located a block off the Rue Rivoli (about 2 blocks from the St. Paul metro stop) and nicely situated in the Marais which is the "old" part of Paris. The hotel is about one block from the Carnavalet museum and Place des Vosges and about mid-way between the Bastille and the Hotel de Ville - an excellent location. It's a real nice 2-star and we paid 95 euros for a large(!) room with two double beds and a decent bathroom. There are 2 hotels with this name in Paris so make sure you get the one in the Marais. It's a well known place so try for a reservation asap.

The metro will get you around Paris quickly and cheaply and proximity to a metro stop makes best use of your time. Spend a few minutes studying the metro maps and ask for help if you need as it'll pay off in time saved which you really need to consider for a short sightseeing trip.

Along with the places you mentioned I would strongly recommend the Musee d'Orsay even if I had to take a few hours away from the Louvre. The Eiffel can take a half day if you're not careful with your timing. We found that getting in the ticket line a full 45 minutes before it opened worked out best as the actual time-on-tower is only worth about an hour. One of the nice things about Paris is that there's just too much to see in one visit and so you'll have a nice incentive for the future.

pfatalbert

Wow, thank you all for the quick, and very helpful, suggestions! Thank you for taking the time to answer my post. I appreciate it!

TimS

The URL for the correct Hotel Jeanne d'Arc is www.hoteljeannedarc.com. My Lonely Planet guidebook likes it, too, and affirms RogerM's recommendation to book early because it's a well-known hotel.

As am example of how centrally located the two hotels in question are, you could walk from either one of them to the Cathedrale de Notre Dame in less than 20 minutes.