Paris hotels
 

I am planning a trip to Paris for my wife and me and my three children, ages 8, 10 and 12, during Spring break in April. I would appreciate any advice on the following hotels: Hotel de l'Avre, Timhotel Jardins Des Plantes, Hotel Sevres-Azur, Lenox Montparnesse, and Hotel de la Tulipe. Hotel de la Tulipe looks great, but the others are more reasonably priced. I would like a quiet hotel, close to a metro stop, and in a good location for sightseeing in a short time period. Any advice would be appreciated. Merci.

Bringing your message back up "to the top" (for better visibility)...

Every January and February (key times for starting to think about travel abroad for the spring, sumemr and fall), there is a big influx of new registants to this forum - - and "traffic" really zooms up. It can take less than an hour for an unanswered question to fall "off the front page" (first 50 questions).

Weclome to the forum.

Best wishes,

Rex

I will like to share with you a website that people find very helpful:

http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/rc.cgi?lang=en

If you type in the address of the business/locale, this site will provide with pictures of the building and of the up/down street. Kinda of neat web tool to get a feel for the neighborhood. Have a great time in Paris with the family. Wonderful time of the year to be there!! :-D

I can't help with the hotels, but I strongly recommend getting ahold of a Paris map and looking at where your hotels are in line with what you want to see. I can't tell from the names if they are in the 1-7th Arrondisements, but I would recommend staying in close -- particularly with a family where a commute could become a big pain, just shuffling three kids on/off buses & subways. 5 people -- even if 3 of them are kids -- in a cab could get spendy as well.

Also, naming what's "reasonably priced" for you in terms of cost per night will help us help you more.

Happy travels.

Jules

I can't offer you personal experiences, but know where all of them are, except I'm not sure exactly where the Tulipe is -- I know it's in the 7th, but not sure where.

The Avre, Lenox, and Sevres-Azur are all very conveniently located to metro stops and in good locations. The Lenox and Sevres are more in the Montparnasse area, the Avre in the 15th near La Motte Picquet metro stop. I wouldn't book the Timhotel myself, I don't like that location, although I know some people do and you could be one of them. It's in a university area near Jussieu metro stop. I've never heard anything that great about it, I know it used to be another hotel well-regarded for that area, and then Timhotel bought it out and jacked the rates up a lot. I don't care for their style (cheap Timhotels) and think they are overpriced. I can't think of any advantage it would have over the others and I think that location isn't as convenient.

I'd choose one of the others, but wouldn't know which would be quiet or not. With kids, I suppose you might like the Avre which isn't too far from Champ de Mars park, but it's not right next door or anything. Actually, I think that little side street near bd de Grenelle may not be that enticing a location (that's a pretty big street with an overhead metro). Of course, all of these are in Paris, so it's not rural and are all pretty decent locations.

Thank for the information. I appreciate your assistance. One other hotel I'm considering is the Grand Leveque on rue cler. Most of the comments about the hotel are positive, and the street looks very interesting. The price is also quite reasonable, about 200 euros for two rooms. It's coming down to Hotel de l'Avre and the Grand Leveque. My only concern about the Grand Leveque is that it might be too loud at all hours of the night, but that might make it even more interesting an experience. I'm asking for help because my wife usually plans these trips, and does a great job, but this time I'm on my own because it's a surprise birthday trip for her. Any thoughts??

The pagejaunes website was extremely helpful, thanks.

Hôtel de France Invalides
102, boulevard de La-Tour-Maubourg 75007 Paris FRANCESubway: Ecole Militaire
Tel: +33 1 47 05 40 49 - Fax: +33 1 45 56 96 78

I stayed here last winter. And it was nice and clean. Small to North American standard. But its Paris. 2 star!

I haven't stayed in Leveque but I have walked around the area, and I don't think rue Cler is active at night (at all!). I think most 'noise' complaints stem from the market opening early in the morning or from the trash collectors, also early morning.

I was able to book two adjoining rooms at Hotel de France, thanks to the recommendation of Chocoholic. This seems to be a good location. Does anyone else have any knowledge of this hotel? Thanks for the help, everyone.

There have been posts about Hotel de France-Invalides in the past, espec. from 'StCirq' who has gone there over several years of travel. You should be able to walk to either metro: Ecole Militaire or metro: Latour-Maubourg quite easily. The backside of the Champ de Mars is about 7 minutes' walk; Musee Rodin is about 10-15 minutes' walk, d'Orsay 20-30 minutes walk.

In 2001, we stayed at Hotel Turenne on ave de la Tourville, and there was a bank/ATM and a laundromat on the same corner. One block further (toward Ecole Militaire) there was a friendly 'alimentaire' (ie. convenience store).

If you do a bit of a forum search, you can find all kinds of threads on places to eat in the 7th.

One more question on Hotel de France. I just read the comments from others, including StCirq. It looks ideal, with one exception. They don't have any rooms designated as nonsmoking. I understand that most hotels allow smoking, but my wife and daughter have asthma, and if the room smells of smoke, it could be a problem. Any thoughts about whether the rooms smelled of smoke? Thank you.

I think unless someone has stayed in every room, that can't be answered for the whole hotel.

I would convey my concern to the hotel, and ask them if any rooms are confirmed as non-smoking or at least as non-smelly.
Get it confirmed in writing, and bring the email with you should you need to insist on a change of room when you get there.

That's a great location, good choice.

I would agree that one particular person's stay in one room isn't going to tell you a whole lot about what you might get. A lot of hotels have nonsmoking rooms now, or at least ones that are relatively that way. They usually clean and air them pretty well between stays, anyway, (perhaps using one of those air cleaner machines), but I don't know about that particular hotel's standards. I would think you will do okay if you tell them your request and reason.

If non-smoking rooms are a real concern I would email the hotel that you have reserved and explain the situation. There is a Hotel Tulipe on rue Malar in the 7th. Hotel Muguet in the 7th is totally non smoking and near good transportation. It may be more than you want to spend, but you could take a look at www.paris-hotel-muguet.com. Have a nice trip.

The Hotel du Danube at 58 Rue Jacob on the left bank is my idea of what a romantic Paris boutique hotel should look/be like. In other words, I love the place. Rue Jacob is a quaint street that is important in American history - Franklin, Adams and others signed the Second Treaty of Paris between the USA and England that ended the American revolutionin the building next door to the hotel. The street is in a fantastic area that is also a good jumping off point for sightseeing. Last I checked the Hotel was about 165 euro night. Their email address is:[email protected]

I just stayed at the Grand Hotel Leveque in September -- it is very quiet in that neighborhood at night, and it's a very nice hotel -- especially for the price. The bathroom was comfortably sized (for Europe) and the room had good space and was nicely decorated. And you can't beat the location. We loved it.

Have a great time!

Jules

I don't smoke and would hate a room that smelled like smoke, but I can honestly say I have never encountered a room that smelled in the 10 years of Europe travel we have under our belt. Hopefully, that is the rule for most rather than an exception.

Golfer
I have stayed in Hotel De France, and really loved it, its small, but very clean and quiet,the staff are lovely and very helpfull and friendly, the area is perfect if you dont like noise at night. I'm a non smoker and understand how you feel about a room smelling of smoke, I didnt have any problems with a smell of smoke. I cant say a bad word about this hotel. Its pretty quiet around the general area of the hotel at night, so if you are looking for really lively nightlife you may find it a bit quiet,my 18yr old daughter thought it was a bit "dead" !!! but I was delighted with the peace as we walked the legs off ourselves during the day, and it was nice to know we could come back to our hotel after a nice dinner, have a shower and get into a lovely comfy bed safe in the knowledge that we wouldnt have any bother with street noise. We will be returning to this hotel in late August with our 15yr old son he has never been to Paris before so I am looking forward to showing him the great historical sites of the area . If you need any more info, let me know.
Lucie

Thank you, everyone. I'm getting ready to break the surprise to my wife, and based on everyone's suggestions, I'm now deciding between Hotel de l'Avre, Grand Leveque and Hotel de France. My choice, given location and price, and everyone's positive feedback, would be Hotel de France. Hotel de l'Avre has the advantages of being very close to some good metro stops, and has all nonsmoking rooms, but is not as centrally located as the other two hotels. I'm probably going to present all three to my wife and let her make the choice, since it is her birthday. Thanks again for all your help. This was my first experience with this website and I am enjoying it.

Well, my thoughts about the Hotel du Danube would not be that of a romantic boutique hotel. I'm sure it had to do with my bad experience of staying in an unattractive 2 room apartment combined with the staff's icy attitude towards us.

Golfer
Just incase you werent aware, Hotel De France is only about 5mins walk from the nearest Metro L'ecole Militaire. Good luck with everything, I hope you wife is thrilled with her surprise, I will be doing the same thing for my husband in March, its so exciting surprising people.
Lucie

The differing experience of francophile03 at the Hotel du Danube points out that any recommendation is personnal. My experience at the Hotel was certainly different (I stayed there twice) but then I did not stay in or see the 2 room suite. I found the staff on duty during my stays to be helpful and friendly. My rooms were lovely as was the public space.

Hi golfer50,

To add me 2 euros worth...I stayed at the Timhotel Jardin des Plantes, in December couple years back. Yes, the hotel is definitely basic, and that was OK with me, since I was not planning on spending much time there. Area is not touristy at all, so you get a different view of the city. Safe neighbourhood, studetns during day. There is of course a patisserie right across the street, some brasseries, and within a couple of blocks I found some very nice restaurants (used Michelin Red Guide)...as well as a nice selection along that area of Seine. I visited the roman arena (Lutece) a block away (good place for picnic), metro was 2 blocks away (junction of 2 lines), Seine one block away, Ile St Louis (one of my favorite places) 10 minutes away, Notre Dame nearby, etc...
Mike

My experience with Hotel du Danube's reception staff may have been just one of the few times the staff were not friendly. Yes, I have read many comments about 'friendly, warm staff' at this hotel. I regret having not experiencing that personally. Was it just that I were there on two off days? I don't know. But I found that others have experienced the same on different occasions if you read comments at Trip Advisor.

Does anyone know anything about the Hotel Marignan, rue de Sommerard? It's about a 5 minute walk from Notre Dame, and is one of the few hotels that have a room for all of us, but I've seen some negative reviews in some internet sites.

I stayed at the Hotel d'ALbe at the edge of the Latin Quarter and in the middle of everything. We walked to everything from here and my daughter loved the busy streets around us. Close to several Metro stops and very quiet with the windows shut. 1 Rue de la Harpe.

I thought you had decided on the Hotel de France or Avre, and now what's up with the Marignan? I stayed in a hotel virtually right next door to it once -- and I've read a lot about it. It's a very low-level joint, I don't think it's exactly the same category of hotel as the others. I mean, I think it is only a 1* hotel and geared to backpackers and people like that. I've read they have a lot of unusual "rules", probably due to their clientele. I think it's sort of like a hostel -- for example, when I walked by it, I could see crowds of people around the windows, and some of them were sort of hanging out of them--maybe yelling at others or something. I guess it was sort of social for those kind of people who stay there, maybe like a hostel.


What do you mean, they are the only hotel with room for you?

If you are satisfied with a very basic place, then maybe it might suit you, though. The location is fairly convenient, although I wouldn't regard it as preferable to the others. I don't care for that part of Paris very well myself, but lots of other people do. I prefer being near a metro stop with several lines running through it (that is near Maubert), and I didn't find as many good cafes or restaurants in the immediately area of the hotel as I usually do.

Thanks, Christina. What I meant was there are very few places that can fit 5 people in one suite. I'm still inclined to go with the 3 hotels I mentioned previously (Hotel de France, Hotel de L'Avre or Grand Leveque), but I needed to hear something from someone about Marignan. Your advice is very helpful. Thank you.

Thanks to everyone who recommended Hotel de France. We just returned from Paris, and stayed there for 6 nights. We were thrilled with the hotel. The location was perfect, and the staff was extremely friendly. We had two adjoining rooms, and had a nice view of Napolean's Tomb and the Eiffel Tower. The breakfast was well worth the cost.

Some will be 'sad';) that you have such a good review of Hotel de France. Glad you had a nice experience in Paris.