I am planning on vacationing in Paris and might stay in this 2 star hotel:

Hotel Eden

35 rue Jean Baptiste Pigalle
Paris 75009
France


I know that Pigalle is a red light district but I also heard that it's still relatively safe at night with a lot of people and police.

Can someone please let me know more details in regard to this hotel or district?

PS I am from NEw York... Are bad neighborhoods in paris similar to those in New york?

I'm not familiar with that particular hotel or its exact location, but I did live in that quartier when I was a student--a teenage girl from small town middle America--and I survived
(although I did see my first homeless person and my first cockroach).

A few years ago we stayed at the Prima Lepic in the 18th, which is just up the hill from Pigalle. Not only did it seem sheltered from the seediness, but the seediness seemed to have been sanitized a bit.

Still worth keeping your wits about you, though. And yes, I'd say bad neighborhoods in Paris are quite similar to those in New York, although of course there are all kinds of "bad" neighborhoods--you have your "vice" and sex crime neighborhoods, your drug neighborhoods, your plain-old-poverty neighborhoods, some with overcrowded and disgruntled immigrant populations. . . you get the picture.

Thanks elle. So what kind of neighborhood would you categorize Pigalle as? I certainly hope it's not a drug crime or sex crime neighborhood!

Thanks.

Don't know that particular street, but go here

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

and enter the address: 35 rue Jean Baptiste Pigalle, and the town: Paris.

You'll get a page showing your hotel's name and address with the words MAP and PHOTO--click on PHOTO and you'll see a photo of your hotel. Click on the arrows to the right and you can tour the neighborhood. It's a bit confusing at first travelling up and down the streets, but you'll get the hang of it. At least you can see what the area looks like during the day.

Probably most of the crime that would impact the tourist would be of the pickpocket/con man rip-off variety. On the Boulevards, near the Blanche and Pigalle metro stops, there are sex shops and hustlers of all flavors.

Would you stay at a hotel in Times Square? This area isn't nearly as busy, but seediness is similar (strip bars, a few prostitutes, some general low-lifes). Not the worst place to be as far as danger, but I agree with Elle that up the hill a little it gets nicer.

Funny...when we made our flight reservations to Paris, the agent said he had recently been there, and I asked him if there were any places he would recommend to see or stay away from. He said he would stay away from the Pigalle area. I am just repeating what he said...so don't shoot the messenger.

It's like the OLD Times Square (only minus the theaters, which have always been legitimate and brought in normal traffic), not the current one with the sanitized Disney stores, etc. Or like a really sleazy area in Las Vegas. Perhaps it is relatively safe in that if you don't get pickpocketed (and if you are a guy, I would NOT suggest going into a bar for a drink), you probably will not get mugged, but why do you want to stay in such surroundings, anyway?

I can't speak for the exact area of your hotel but I really don't care for the Pigalle area in general. We were just walking in that area last week and every time I am there I just don't care for the shops, etc in the area. Some homeless people and many sex shops, etc. Of course I know that must not be the whole area. Just my opinion. There are many other better places to stay (also in my opinion.)

LIke Elle - many years ago as a poor student travelling I had to stay in Pigalle for a couple of nights. During daylight hours - no problems at all but I would be a little reluctant to wonder around late at night. My roommates and I actually found it rather amusing to watch the "action" at the cafe across the street from us (it was a hang-out for the mecs (pimps) and hookers. When one of my roommates was returning a bit late one night - she was acosted by a "customer" in a case of mistaken identity and 2 of the mecs actually quickly intervened, tore a strip off the "customer" for harassing "une jeune fille" and escorted her safely to the hotel entrance. We were astonished.

mathematician are you a lady or a gentleman? If you are a lady Place Pigalle is not the place to be...In the other hand, if you are a gentleman, then...O la,la....

I lived just up the street from that hotel in a studio for about 3 months 2 years ago. I got to know the prostitues well as i have a dog and would walk her at night . They were all very friendly. Place Pigalle up the street is fine if a bit seedy. That is up hill from where your hotel is. Your hotel is outside of the redlight district. If you go up hill you approach the red light area. If you go down hill you are moving away from it. If you are male and walk along Blvd de Clichy expect to be heckled alot by women trying to get you to see the shows. I found this most tiresome but they left me alone once they recognised me.

The area is safe and you are right on the edge of a nice area and very near Jean Paul Gaultiers home. Down Rue Notre Dame de Lorette is Metro St. George. it comes out on a pretty little square. I perfer this station to Pigalle and it is just as close to your hotel. The station is small and clean and tourist and pick pocket free unlike Pigalle.

From Place Pigalle dont take a right on Blvd de Clichy. It gets bad fast.

If you go up pigalle from your hotel take a left on Rue Chaptal and you will see a restaurant on the left side of the street. It was very good when I lived there. I think it is called Papillotes Gormande but it may have changed names. There are also some good restaurants on Rue Henri Monnier. There is a small square at Rue Monnier and Clauzel that has a good Indian restaurant.

I think you should feel fine in this area. It is very residential and is fairly tourist free with the exception of the drunk tourists on Blvd Clichy looking for a red light thrill. I enjoyed living in the area.

Considering the more desirable areas one could choose from, I don't think this adds up.

MorganB is spot on.
It's hard to pigeonhole areas of Paris because the city is a real melting pot.
I used to live in this area too, about 20 metres from the so-called red-light district, in a nice, quiet, safe street next to a primary school, with attractive old buildings (including Emile Zola's old house) surrounding a leafy green square. The street called Rue Pigalle stretches from the seedy area (which is located around *Place* Pigalle) down to the Eglise de la Trinité. The area around St Georges metro and the lower part of rue Pigalle is totally out of the red light area, and, if anything, is actually pretty gentrified. Number 35 seems to be near the lower part of the street. Within easy walking distance of the Gare St Lazare and the shopping districts around Boulevard Haussman and Opera.

Oops, I meant 200 metres

Our daypack was grabbed while walking around Pigalle, we were looking for the Moulin Rouge...Any way, at the time I was inside a shop. My husband said that he did noticed two French men on a motorbike cruising slowy behind him..not too close. And then all of sudden, they speed up and one guy jumped off the bike and grabbed my husband's pack. Luckily, my husband held onto to it...Any way, one of the men (the other was still sitting on the bike) punched my husband in the face..then (happened so quickl)..About 4 or 5 french men went after the thiefs and chased them off. Please be careful. This was our experience only, maybe we were very unlucky...

mathematician, of all the areas that you can choose to stay on a vacation in Paris, this one shouldn't end up in the top half of the list without a pretty good reason. I have stayed in that neighborhood and as interesting as some areas of Montmartre can be, it's just not that great of a great place to base from, IMHO.

Flyboy:

You said, "...as interesting as some areas of Montmartre can be, it's just not that great of a great place to base from, IMHO."

Now I'm confused. Do you consider Pigale to be Montmarte? I've been considering an apartment in Montmarte and would not want to be in the "red light" district.

It depends what you call "Pigalle". There is a street by that name, a place (where the metro stop by that name is), and some generally refer to an area as "Pigalle" which is usually meant the area right around Pigalle metro stop. Place Pigalle and the metro stop is right on the border of Montmartre. That area right around that stop is not very nice. The "red light" district of that area is mostly in Montmartre as it runs along those broad boulevards and immediate areas. MOntmartre is huge (as are most arrondisements), so you have to say more specifically where the apt. you are considering would be in Montmartre for someone to say if it is in the immediate area of the sex trade.

I think part of Flyboy's comments were logistics and convenience, not just ambience.