golfer50

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.

rex

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

Viajero2

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!!

jules4je7

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

Christina

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.

golfer50

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.

chocaholic

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!

Travelnut

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.

golfer50

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.

Travelnut

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.

golfer50

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.

Julienas

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.

Christina

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.

Laidback

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.

basingstoke

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]

jules4je7

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

Travelnut

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.

lucielou

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

golfer50

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.

francophile03

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.