Paris Hotels - help please
 

Can anyone recommend a decent, mid range price hotel in Paris. We love places with a bit of personality and reasonably close to the action.

We are travelling in August

Also any "Must See's /do's" for paris -other than the obvious Eiffel,Arc D T, Museums etc.

Thanks
Shelly

What exactly would you describe as "mid range" in Euros? I would recommend that you spring for A/C.

Must sees/do's? My favorites have been Sainte Chapelle on a sunny day, Sunday Mass at Notre Dame, the whole of the 6eme, the Marais and Ile Saint Louis. For museums, I like d'Orsay, the Pompidou, Cluny and Rodin. For parks/squares, I really like Luxembourg, Parc Monceau, the Tuileries (great people watching during the weekend), Place des Vosges and Place de Saint Sulpice. I had a great time on a nighttime bike tour that I took with Fat Tire Bike Tours. It ends ends with a boat ride on the Seine, which is a great way to see the Eiffel Tour at night. I also have enjoyed several organized walking tours with Paris Walks and the evening concerts offered in many of the churches for a modest cost. For me, the real fun in Paris isn't going to the big/famous tourist sites, alhtough they provide a stunning backdrop. It's walking through the city and discovering all its charming details. I have the most fun when I just wander.

Have fun.

Do you have a feeling for which arrondisement you want to stay in?

I think it is easier if you pick a couple areas, and look for hotels within them, to avoid trying to scope out all of greater Paris (which becomes overwhelming).

Pick some hotel in the 6th! We have stayed at the Pas des Calais which may fit your requirements. Just steps off the blvd Sainte Germaine where there are famous restaurants, nice shopping, "action". Google it and see what you think. My wife and I have stayed there twice. Very nice "desk" help and nice breakfast.

Thank you for your replies.

Yes quite like the sound of the Sainte Germaine area, we like the ability to get the sights but more so get the real flavour of Paris. Yes we will spring for A/c. I'd like to keep below 150E

Here's some of my Paris hotel recommendations, from cheapest to most expensive.

The Hotel des Arts is located at 8 Rue Coypel in the 13th arrondissement. (Note: there are at least two hotels in Paris with that name.) I've been staying here on and off for 20 years, since I was a student. It's very basic, and it's in a decidedly non-touristy (but safe) neighbourhood south of the Latin Quarter. However, it does have the advantage of being dirt cheap for Paris (around 60 euros a night). It's in a genuine working Parisian neighbourhood with a fabulous bistro (L'Avant Gout) just down the road.

A couple of moderately priced places in the Latin Quarter are the Hotel Familia (http://www.hotel-paris-familia.com), which I've stayed at and recommend highly, and the Hotel Minerve (http://www.hotel-paris-minerve.com), which I haven't (but which is owned by the same family).

I'm don't actually stay that often in either the Latin Quarter (5th arr.) or St. Germain (6th arr.) even though they could certainly be said to be "close to the action" in terms of which neighbourhood to choose. Yes, it's the South Bank of the Seine, with jazz clubs and history and all that, but the downside of being in an area innudated with tourists is the greater propensity of the tired locals to treat you like one. And because virtually no place within the circle road which surrounds Paris is more than 500 metres from a metro station, no matter where you stay, you're never far from the action.

August is not the best of months to be in Paris since most Parisians take their vacations in August and leave the city to avoid the usual heat. That results in a fair number of restaurant closures.

Another neighbourhood with a lot of history but some retained resemblance of character is Montparnasse (14th arr.), although some people find it a bit on the quiet side. Moderately priced places I can recommend there are Hotel Aiglon (http://www.hotel-paris-aiglon.com) and Hotel Lenox Montparnasse (http://www.paris-hotel-lenox.com).

Moving North of the river, near the Louvre, one of the few remotely affordable places I've stayed at is the Hotel Louvre St. Honore (http://www.smallandeleganthotels.com...reStHonore.htm). It's not that elegant, but the location is very convenient -- a five minute walk to the Louvre.

I've spent weeks in Paris and the rest of France over the years and my rule of thumb in booking hotels (and good restaurants) has always been this: If it isn't in the Michelin Red Guide, I tend not to book it unless, for example, I have good word of mouth from another source. Michelin does sometimes miss a good place, but, in my opinion, it hardly ever lists a truly bad place. You can access the information in the Michelin Red Guide online at the www.viamichelin.com website. To confirm whether a place is listed, click on "Michelin Guides", "Hotels", then plug its address into "Location Sought" and then search.

That's probably more than you need, but enjoy.

We enjoyed the Claude Bernard - elevator, A/C, nice breakfast and close to the seine, 2 metro stops, etc.

Hi K,

We always stay at the Hotel Bonaparte, 61 Rue Bonaparte in the 6th. From 124E dbl w/bkfst. Has AC

Tel 33 1 43 26 97 37
FAX 33 1 46 33 57 67
www.hotelbonaparte.fr

For more info, enter "Hotel Bonaparte" in the "search this forum" box.

Photos are at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-l95uyr

((I))

Try looking at www.venere.com

You can click on a map of Paris showing the different arrondissements, put in the dates you want a room, and a list of hotels with prices will pop up. I have not used them but will for this June. When I emailed the hotel directly, they quoted me the highest price room but when I went to Venere.com, I found the hotel still had lower priced rooms available through Venere. Even if you don't book with them, you can get an idea of the price range of the hotels in the location you want.