Paris hotel near Gare du Nord?
 

Hi, we have a weekend in Paris planned - catching the Eurostar from London on a Friday night and back again on Sunday.

So, questions -

1. We arrive late on Friday night with a small wheelie bag each. On the Sunday we'll have to store our bags in the morning at the hotel and go back and collect them before we get the train home. Do others think it makes sense to stay near the train station?

We've stayed before in the Marais which we really liked but it might mean a bit of backtracking on the weekend.

2. Is the area near Gare du Nord seedy / unsafe / awful in any way?

3. Can anyone recommend a hotel? The ones on Trip Advisor listed near Gare du Nord are actually about 2.5km away which is too far to walk at such a late hour.

I did find the Hotel de l'Europe http://www.europe-paris-hotel.com/ does anyone know anything about the area where it is located?

Thanks for any help.
Kay

I wouldn't try too hard to stay close to the GdN. The RER B (suburban train) line runs through the station, and as long as your hotel is in the V or VI district and fairly near a rail station (such as Luxembourg or St Michel-Notre Dame), you can get to the Eurostar in a few minutes. Here's the layout:

http://www.ratp.info/orienter/f_plan...eur&fm=pdf

The Gare du Nord area has improved tremendously since they totally redid the large square in front of the station. I have never considered it seedy, other than the fact that every large train station in the world is home to some homeless people.

Anyway, Gare du Nord is a good transportation hub for both buses and metro and it is also very pleasant to walk 'down' into the city from there or 'up' to Montmartre.

This ends my intervention on the subject. Now, all of the traditional Fodorites will immediately tell you not to stay there: sleazy, not central, not pretty, their own favorite place is so much better. You'd think that some of them were getting a commission to get people to stay in the 6th or 7th arrondissements.

Errr... what do you want to pay for a hotel. Rates go from 40 to 300 euros in the area. If money were no object, I would probably go for the Mercure Terminus Nord directly across from the station and containing my personal favorite restaurant of the Flo chain (not a sleazy chain, by the way).

Thanks for the tips. We want to pay about 100 euro a night for a double, maybe a bit more. Last time in Paris we stayed at the Hotel Sevigne which was (I think) about 70 euro, no breakfast, and it was fine, small but OK for us. As long as the bed is firm and the shower works! Oh, it does have to be clean too :-)

Kay

FWIW, my parents (65 & 73) stayed at a hotel near G du Nord just last week!

I haven't gotten the full story from them, but it's definitely an okay area with lots of cheap and decent food options around. The proximity to both train stations was a huge plus to them as they used the train stations a lot.

They stayed at Quality Hotel Gare du Nord, and I found them a price of 95 euros/night including breakfast.

We stayed at the hotel across from the Gare with a tour group years ago, and it is a sort of interesting area, and has improved greatly. We always go back over there to eat mussels at one of the cafes that face the gare--cheap, and good.
I think there is a TimHotel there. We stayed at the Hotel Gare du Nord, but it has changed names. They are mostly 2* hotels, but used by tour groups because the street is wide there, and tour buses can load and unload. That particular hotel had quite a nice restaurant.

By the way, I hear a lot of Americans with limited French pronouncing <i>gare</i> to rhyme with &quot;air.&quot;

To the French ear, this sounds close to <i>guerre,</i> their word for &quot;war.&quot;

The correct pronunciation rhymes with &quot;car&quot; (with a Gallic roll of the <i>r</i>).

A small wheelie bag each is not much. I don't think that you need to stay near Gare du Nord, you can be there from almost anywhere in Paris in one half hour by metro. I think that you should choose the area that you most love to stay in. There are many hotels within your budget, here are a few:

http://www.eldoradohotel.fr (17th Arrondissment) Metro: Place de Clichhy.
http:www.hotelchopin.fr (9th Arr.) Metro Richelieu-Drouot...to be found in the historic Passage Jouffroy.
www.hotel-paris-utrillo.com (18th Arr.) Metro: Abbesses
www.hotelnesleparis.com (6th Arr.) Metro: odeon
...and many more...

If you are a film person, you may want to stay at Hotel du Nord, www.hoteldunord.org (10th Arr.), Metro: Republique or J. Bonserrat. (double-79Euro) It was the location of a very famous film of the 30's, directed by Marcel Carne, title, Hotel du Nord.... You can have meals or coffee on their terrace and look at the canal. It is only a 30 minute walk from the Seine and Notre Dame.

I was intrigued by the area around Gare du Nord. I didn't find it seedy or unsafe. Not at all! and I am female, travelling alone. I was fascinated by Passage Brady and rue Faubourg Saint Denis and, not far away, the Canal Saint Martin. When I return to Paris I will explore the Arrondissments 10-20 much more closely (except the 14th and 16th). I will also rent my studio in this area.

These areas are rich and textured in a different way from the most famous central area. If you decide to stay very close to the train station you are only one half hour walk from the 'central' area, less by Metro.

While it's not the area I would choose for an extended stay, I have stayed there for a night or two and it was fine. There are several two star hotels in the area with rates under &euro;100. I spent a night at the New Hotel GdN at 40 rue de Saint Quentin, literally across the street, on an overnight stay and found it basic but perfectly fine and incredibly covenient.

The old Hotel du Nord is not a hotel these days, it is a club/restaurant, correct?

Yes, and it is also interesting to know that the building is actually modern and only a copy of the original. Even more interesting, the movie H&ocirc;tel du Nord was not even filmed there but at the Boulogne film studios, where a copy of the H&ocirc;tel du Nord was built on the set.

Thanks for all the hotel ideas, I will check them out. It sounds like the area around Gare du Nord would be fine for such a short stay and probably more convenient for us.

Any other hotel suggestions in the area very welcome!

Kay

I like the Albert 1er which is pretty much opposite the station. It's now part of the Best Western chain. I was suprised that it has hard core porn on the telly in the evenings (by Canal + (usually referred to as Anal+)

It's a nice small hotel with good rooms and is of a good standard.

I also quite like the Apollo, again opposite the station. This is a much cheaper hotel but perfectly adequate and clean. No porn though.

The Apollo proudly proclaims that it is a 100% non-smoking hotel.

I think they all are now.

We stayed at the Hotel Kuntz (between Nord and Est stations but closer to Est) a few years ago. Very quiet considering the location, good location. Old place but clean, good mgmt; it's in your budget and rates 4 of 5 stars based on 37 user reviews on Google.

http://www.hotelkuntz.com/

The Campanille Hotel...at Louis Blanc metro stop on rue Lafayette. A close friend of mine stays there regularly.

I was just a half a block up the street from the hotel ,in the spring, as a best French friend of mine just inherited an apartment on the same street as the hotel.So we walked past it as it's about a half a block away from his apartment.

I liked the neighborhood and will be staying with him this coming spring instead of renting an apartment in the 6th where I've stayed for 30 years.
The hotel is a short walk to the St.Martin canal area which is a nice stroll and there's also a park nearby. He took me on a stroll through the whole area.
It's an easy walk from Gare du Nord to the Campanille Hotel. Have fun. Happy Travels!

Fantastic stuff - I'll check out all the hotel suggestions and see which one looks best for us.

Nice to know about the porn, CW :-)

Kay

Canal Plus is the main movie channel in France, similar to HBO. Even the Formule 1 ultra budget hotels have Canal Plus now. For those interested, the monthly porno movie is shown six times a month after midnight. The first time is just after midnight the first Saturday of the month, if I recall correctly.

However, a lot of the major cable channels like RTL9 or TMC show soft core movies after 22:30 a few times a week. And for those excited (or offended) by just about anything, there is a chance of seeing full frontal nudity on all of the channels any time in the evening after the 8 o'clock news. Female breasts can be seen even in commercials -- otherwise people would not know how to put on a bra or take a relaxing shower.

I'm also looking to spend one night in a hotel close to Gare du Nord and the Apollo looks perfect... except when I enter my date (in May 2009)in the booking field on the website,I get a window telling me it either has no rooms available or my stay is too short. Is it possible they're not booking this far in advance or will they really not book for only one night?