Hello,

I am planning a trip to Paris for 5 nights in the middle of October and need some suggestions about finding a hotel. My budget is around $200 (Canadian) per night, maximum. I am a single female, traveling alone, so am looking for somewhere that I feel safe. It needs to be close to a Metro station, shops and restaurants. If it has a free breakfast and Wifi, even better. It would also be good if it was close to a grocery store, as I would like to pick up drinks, fruit etc.

If anyone has any suggestion about neighborhoods to avoid, look into and hotels, that would be great.

Thank you!

Hotel College de France in the 5th.

It is right off of Blvd. St. Germain.

The Maubert-Mutualite Metro stop is a short walk away.

The famed Pre Verre restaurant right across the street.

From this location, you can easily walk to Notre Dame or the Luxembourg Gardens, St. Sulpice.

Tschuss,
Thin

Do not delay, September and October are high season for hotels in Paris. Your budget is reasonable (about 150€), expectations of a free breakfast is not, métro stations are never far from any address within any of the 20 arrondissements, and restaurants are always close.

At this late date, I might recommend two differing strategies:

(1) using hotel search engines such as http://en.venere.com/ or http://www.parisby.com/

or

(2) contacting hotels which are not typically connected with any on line booking entity, such as: http://www.hotel-marignan.com/ or http://www.hoteldulys.com/ or http://www.tellthetruthtravel.com/

Good luck!

Try Le Familia or La Minerve On rue des Ecoles, a lot less than 200 dollars breakfast is a small amout extra but wifi is free. There in a patassserie across the st 2 metros nearby and lots of buses too Walking distance to seine and lots a cafes & bistros nearby. Close to rue Monge

Le Tourville in the 7th - nice area and right on budget.

I recommend HOtel Bonaparte, on Rue Bonaparte in the 6th, about a 5 minute walk from Luxembourg Gardens. I think our rate was about $172. Breakfast is not included; but it's extra. We ate at different cafes every morning. This is a great location, with lots of cafes, restaurants, shops, metro, etc. nearby & very safe. We walked everywhere.

We stayed at Hotel College de France last October and it meets all your requirements.
I'd go back in a heartbeat.

http://www.hotel-collegedefrance.com/en/

Altho breakfast is extra, the WiFi is free and strong, even on the 5th floor.
Have a wonderful visit!

We will be staying overnight at the Hotel Louvre Rivoli (7, rue Jean Lantier) after arriving at CDG and before taking the train to Arles the next morning. We haven't stayed there, but it is highly recommended by a seasoned-traveler friend who did stay there for a few days last Spring. Our room for next May is 117 Euros, currently about 150 US$. For just an overnight stopping place, we were not concerned about WiFi or breakfast.

Here are three that I stayed at last October :

1. Hotel Novotel Vaugirard Montparnasse (15th)
Great hotel with a beautiful rooftop terrace and bar with views of the Eiffel tower which is about a 20 minute walk away. Has an enormous buffet breakfast (all the french pastries and hot breakfast foods you could want) included in some rates. I stayed here for a week. Vaugirard Metro about 50 feet from the hotel entrance.
http://www.novotel.com/gb/hotel-1978...se/index.shtml

2. Best Western Bretagne Montparnasse (14th)
I stayed here just for 1 night as it was within walking distance to Montparnasse station where I needed to catch an early morning train . It is a small hotel, but very adequate. The rooms are small but quite plush and newly renovated with very modern tasteful decor. The beds and bathroom are wonderful. Best Western is not a chain known for anything extraordinary in N.America, but in Europe, they are amazingly well appointed. The elevator has room for either 1 person or 1 suitcase ! Breakfast was supposedly included but I checked-out to catch my train before the dining room opened for service.
http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Revi...de_France.html

3. Ibis Paris Tour Eiffel Cambronne. (15th)
The Ibis Hotel chain as well as the Accor hotel chain are part of the group which also includes the Novotel chain. I think Novotel is the top tier of hotels and these are further down the chain. They are still very nice and affordable and this one is in a great location. Very busy and very 'French' and closer still (12 min walk) to the Eiffel tower. They frequently have specials and I bagged this room for 90 euros (so way less than CAD 200) and it was extremely good value. It's a large hotel catering to business and conference crowd and so always busy. I stayed here 4 nights. Cambronne Metro is literally just to the left of the hotel entrance.

All these hotels are a short distance from the core. Are you familiar with Toronto ? Well Paris is about 5 times the size of Toronto, but if you imagine the Paris core to be, say, King and Bay, these hotel would be in the Yonge and Eglington/Lawrence area, and just a quick metro ride to the core (Arron 1- 5)

..sorry, don't know what happened there... I hadn't finished my post..

Here's the link to the 3rd hotel : http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-...me/index.shtml

I'd recommend any of these, but stayed at 1 and 3 the longest. All had grocery stores (Carrefour, monoprix), fruit sellers, bakeries (lots) and restaurants and cafes in abundance all around the hotels (I used them all to buy stuff I saw and liked to consume in the room) and had no problem whatsoever getting to wherever I needed by metro in about 15 or 20 minutes, if not less. I jogged several times to the Eiffel Tower and never felt unsafe doing that from hotels 1 and 3.

Good luck.

We have also stayed at the Best Western Bretagne Montparnasse. It it only about 2 blocks from the Pernety metro station, so very easy to get around from there. There is a good boulangerie about a block away, as well as a small grocery store.

We have stayed twice at Hotel Sainte Beuve in the 6th, and I've often thought I would be very comfortable staying here if I was traveling alone. Reception is excellent, the hotel is small and safe, it's location is on a small street across from a pharmacy. It is a regular neighborhood very near Luxembourg Gardens. Within one block is a small grocery store, a wonderful bakery and a number of restaurants including Le Timbre, Charivari, La Rotonde and others. The bus stop is less than a block away and the metro is perhaps 2 short blocks, very close. Rooms/beds/ private bath very comfortable.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ank-thread.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ank-thread.cfm

Jump to the bottom of the thread and then scroll up to Dec 31,2010. In that section, I have categorized the recommended hotels, by district, and have provided websites.

Happy Travels!

Last Oct. as a single I stayed at http://www.saintpierre-hotel.com/ in the Latin Quarter. 2 Monoprix' at the corner,
2 blocks from RER B Notre Dame-Saint Michel stop, 2 metros
nearby: Odeon & Cluny-la-Sorbonne plus the bus at the corner
and walking distance to Luxembourg Gardens....very reasonable rates.

As a single female traveller I have stayed a few times at Hotel de L'Empereur on Blvd Latour-Maubourg, opposite Les Invalides in the 7th...five minutes walk from Invalides Metro, surrounded by restaurants and great food market on rue Cler. Also, just off rue Cler, I stayed 3 nights last October in Hotel Champs du Mars - slightly cheaper but smaller rooms. But ideal also for a single female traveller. Both would be in your budget for room only, but plenty of great breakfast options outside your doorstep! That area is also safe to stroll back from dinner at night and really central for walking to many major Paris attractions.

Correction! Hotel de L'empereur is technically on rue Chevert, just two steps off the corner of Blvd Latour-Maubourg, but your views from the hotel windows are over the boulevard and across to the dome of Invalides.

Wow, this is a great number of responses! Thanks a lot for the advice everyone. If you have any more suggestions, please keep them coming.

Have stayed at http://www.eurobookings.com/paris-ho...FUjrKgodUHsAhw

Walking distance to great shops, ,part of Accor group mentioned previously, great amenities.
Had some great breakfasts around the corner at:
http://www.groupeleduff.com/en/names...nch-snack.html