Paris Hotels - Urgent Help needed !!
 

hi,

i'll be in Paris soon for a holiday but have yet to book
my hotel room... have found the following to be within
my budget, but need urgent advice from fellow travellers
who have been there before to help me decide which
hotel to stay :
i would like to stay near the metro/shops/resturants as
i don't speak any French & hence want to avoid getting lost.
the hotels i found (via my local travel agents) are -

1) Acacias St Germain
2) Bristol Republique
3) Dauphine St Germain (abit expensive for me)
4) De Weha Hotel
5) Des Nations Hotel

Wld appreciate if anyone can alos tell me which hotels
are conveniently located to the touristy places as I am
trying to save money by walking around (if possible) .
Many thanks !!!!

Went back to Fodor's home page and created a Miniguide for Paris and looked through all hotels he reccomends from highest to lowest price and none of the ones you have listed are in there. The guide says Regent's Gardens is near the Arc de Triomphe and very special, with garden view.Also found "parisdiscount.com" website through Alta Vista Search Engine. Their E-mail is [email protected]. Don't forget to use the currency converter in this website. Its great!

3 of us were in Paris the first week of June. We stayed at the Folstone Hotel. It is listed as a Best Western. We got a triple room.
For 4 nights, it cost us $565, which included a phone call back to the states & 1 morning of breakfast at the hotel for the 3 of us.
The room itself cost us about $135 per night for the triple. It was on a quiet street near La Madeleine & L'Opera areas, 2 blocks
from La Madeleine metro stop. It was comfortable & the staff was very helpful & spoke English. If you are going to take the metro,
either by purchasing a carnet of tickets or a pass, & use the metro to get to the area which you are going to site-see, then you
can stay just about anywhere that is convenient to a metro stop & it opens up a whole rage of hotel possibilities based on price,
amenities, location etc. I would stay at the Folkstone again.

The 6th Arrondisement would be my choise. Anywhere around St. Germain will be a great location. Walking in Paris is a delight. In St. Germain you will be right across the Seine from the Louvre, Notre Dame. You will be right in the prime Cafe area and the Musee D'Orsay, the Eiffel Tower is just blocks away. Even in the priciest hotels rooms are small, so, go for the neighbourhood.

Funny how travel agents never seem to be able to find a place for under $150. A couple of years ago we stayed at Hotel d'Albe, 1, rue de la Harpe, 75005 Paris, Tel. 46-34-09-70, Fax 40-46-85-70, and liked it very much. As Martina said, all Paris rooms are small unless you are paying a small fortune. But, you are not spending much time in your room. This hotel is right at the foot of the bridge which leads to Notre Dame, is in the middle of many inexpensive Greek restaurants among others (feel free to split an order which will more than fill both of you), is about half a block from Metro stop St. Michel, and I am sure it will cost you less than $100. I think it was about $85 when we were there a couple of years ago. The management is very nice, helpful, and speak English just about as well as any of us. In fact, most anywhere you go in the way of hotels, restaurants, and any tourist attractions, they will speak English because that's their business and English has fast become the universal language. The d'Albe attracts a very nice clientele, is clean and comfortable. It's within walking distance of many things, and Paris is a walking city. The Metro is cheap and fast, when you do need to go to a different area. Try to get a bus map and learn how to use it. It takes the same tickets as the Metro, but you get to see so much more between points. Buy a "carnet" of tickets. Either 5 or 10 for a discounted price. Wherever you stay, the hotel desk will give you a city map and detailed instructions on how to get wherever you want to go. The d'Albe is in the 5th arrondissement. I agree with Martina that staying on the left bank is most economical, in that you will have a bigger choice of restaurants in an economical range, as well as the hotels being cheaper. We have stayed on both sides and I would go back to d'Albe in a minute. Feel free to e-mail me if you want any more info, such as our favorite places to visit. HAVE FUN -- you can't miss!

hi to all,
thanks for all the recommendations... i need to check
with any folks out there who have stayed near the ODEON
subway before tell me if it has cheap eats & supermarkets around ?
thanks a zillion....