I've been reading all the posts and have found all the advice to be great but I am now overwhelmed!

We are a family of 4 - 2 adults with 2 kids ages 11 and 13. We are embarking on our first trip to Europe - London and Paris. We have just decided to do this in the last few days and are headed to London on July 10/04.

We have booked the Travel Inn County Hall in London. But for Paris, I do not know what to book. I am looking at Hotel Residence Monge or Hotel du Palais Bourbon. I've read about these hotels in previous posts, but I guess I need to hear it again.

In the Monge, I was offered two rooms for 85E each, while the Palais offered me 130E for one room with four beds(plus a breakfast).Both have air conditioning (which is a must for me).

I am open to any suggestions about the above two or even others because I am just confused right now. In addition, I've even looked at the Holiday Inn Republique and they offer a AAA rate for 159.5E for a room for all 4 of us, but they're more out of the way.

I would like to be within walking distance of Notre Dame and some stores/markets where we can buy fruit, baked goods, etc.

Price is important because we are from Canada (with the low valued Cdn dollar)and since there are 4 of us)...well, dining out gets expensive.

Please help - it seems that the more I read, the more undecided I become.

Thanks,
Anna

I've read that the Hotel du Palais Bourbon has good-sized rooms so maybe that should be a deciding factor.

Anna - I understand how you feel - the more you read, the more confused you become. Here is my two cents on the subject, having travelled there with my son when he was 13.

Firstly you say you want to be in walking distance of Notre Dame and at the same time near markets to buy food. I don't think Place Monge is near Notre Dame. It would however, be near markets. Secondly I am not familiar with Hotel du Palais Bourbon. Can you give an address for it?

A room with A/C and 4 beds for 130€ is a steal. And thank goodness you are insistent upon A/C. You will not regret it.

But I can assure you, this is going to be the trip of a lifetime, especially for your kids. I have taken my son to England and France and when he went on a trip to NYC recently, he said, "Mom, it just can't compare to Paris and London". Please be sure you do Madame Tussaud's in London, especially the backstage tour where you meet some of the artists and see them working on the figures. The kids will love it and I think you will too!

Some people advise to get 2 rooms because then you also get 2 bathrooms.
I stayed at St Christophe by Place Monge, which is about a block or less from Residence Monge. These hotels are between 2 metro lines - the Jussieu stop is 3 stops from Sorbonne, an easy walk from there to Notre Dame. We did walk DOWN rue Monge, UP rue Mouffetard (market) and continued on up to Pantheon, Sorbonne, and Notre Dame. If you walk directly from Place Monge toward Notre Dame, it should be about 3/4 mile.

I don't think there is very much in the way of markets by the du Palais Bourbon, but I've seen this one mentioned often regarding stays involving family rooms. You should read the comments on TripAdvisor.com and France.com because there is discussion about lack of restaurants, comfort of the beds, etc. but also many favorable remarks.

Try the excelsior hotel in the 5th. www.excelsiorlatin.com
it is east to get to from the rer, close to many great restaurants and walking distance to N.D. Email with any questions.

anna, we really enjoyed our stay at Hotel Residence Monge last summer. The hotel was very clean and modern, yet had a bit of that Parisian charm, as well. Julie, the hostess was very accomodating and helpful, too.

We had a room with two French doors opening onto a small balcony overlooking Rue Monge and enjoyed having the doors open to enjoy the goings on of the street below. Perhaps you could request two rooms with balconies, as well.

...and can anyone say that in any area there aren't cafes, bistros, restaurants, markets? They're all over the place...!! That is part of what makes Paris so splendidly "alive"!

Can't comment on the Palais Bourbon, but I've stayed at the Monge and was pleased.

You can definitely walk to Notre Dame, as well as lots of other sights from there. We walked over to the Pompidou Center one day and then walked down to the Musee D'Orsay on another.

There are some excellent boulangeries on rue Monge, including Maison Kayser, and three outdoor markets that are quite convenient--rue Mouffetard, Place Monge, and Place Maubert.

Hi Anna, my wife & I are going to Paris on Aug 10, 2004. Did you stay at this Hotel Monge & were you satisfied, we are doing like you & are in information overload <G>, would like to hear from you if possible.
Frank Currie

Frank, the original poster is not traveling until July...

Hi anna,

130E for a quad with bkfst and AC is quite good.

You can locate your hotel at www.multimap.com by inserting the address.

If you go to http://www.voila.fr/PagesJaunes/
you can see your street and take a walk around the neighborhood.

It will also help you search for cafes, etc on the streets in your vicinity.

You are about 2 blks from the Varenne Metro stop.

If you go to http://www.ratp.fr/index_eng.htm
you will get directions for how to get anywhere from your metro stop.

You are about 4km walk from ND, but you are right near the Musee Rodin and close to the d'Orsay.

Frank, we stayed at Hotel Monge for one night last July and were very pleased. You can find exact details at the very end of my Italy trip report. Just do a text search for "Statia Trip Report" to bring it up.

try the excelsior in the 5th. www.excelsiorlatin.com we stayed at christmas and it has an elevator the rooms were serviceable etc. i don't know about a.c. though.

If you like the type of hotel that is Travel Inn for London you might like the similar French hotels of Mercures, Novotel (think Holiday Inn but French) or Ibis (think Red Roof Inn but French). The French hotel company of which both are subsidiaries is Accor (www.accor.com, a quick look shows that the Mercure Sorbonne or Mercure Austerlitz locations would be comparable to the location of Travel Inn County Hall in London). Enjoy your trip!

There's another recent post asking the same question:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34507501

Also do a search above for 'paris and quad'.

Jay - I am a big fan of the Excelsior in the 5th but they definately do not have a/c. Their rooms are a good size, and they do have triples but not sure about quads.

I still say, 130€ for a quad with a/c is a great deal. I do like the fact though of with two rooms you get 2 bathrooms.

OOOPS, there's that advertisement again!

We stayed as a family of three (two adults and one young adult) at the Hotel du Palais Bourbon. It was clean and the room was huge. The young man and woman on the desk in the day were great, but the older man and woman that were there on evenings and weekends were awful and had no tolerance for my poor French skills.

There are loads of groceries and food shops right on the this street and in the immediate area. Breakfast at the hotel was typical of Paris hotels: nice bread and croissants, butter, jam, coffee, tea or chocolate. I thought the quality was good.

Walking to Notre Dame is certainly doable but it isn't close. However, loads of things that are of interest to kids are quite nearby, and the Metro stops are handy.

All in all, I would recommend the Hotel du Palais Bourbon for a family.

Debbie

Thanks to everyone. I sent my VISA number by email to Palais Bourbon and did not hear back from them for a few days. When I contacted them, they told me that they had not received my email. So I tried again and did not hear back. This time, I started looking at Hotel Chomel and Residence Monge again, even la Bourdonnais. Finally, today I got my confirmation back from Bourbon. So that's where we'll be going.

I'll write back about our hotel when we get back.

Once again - thanks to all.

Next, I'll be searching about Versaille and the Paris and London hop-on and off buses.

So, talk to you all later.

Anna

Debbie,

When did you go to Paris?

Did you do your own planning or did the hotel staff help?

Did you do the hop-on and off bus? Did you buy a metro pass for a few days? Did you buy a museum pass?

Anna