themasons

My fiance and I will be in Paris from Sept. 24-30 and we want to find something that is in a great neighborhood (hopefully not too touristy, but within walking distance to a site or two, a nice market, and some restaurants). We would like to keep our budget under 100 euros, and we are looking for something that has a little charm. I understand the rooms will be small, but something clean with a nice bit of character in a nice neighborhood would be perfect. I have been reading good things about Hotel de Champs du Mars, but I was unable to figure out on their website how to book a room or contact them about availability. I appreciate all suggestions!

canterbury

Hi themasons

A nice website that I used was:

http://www.france-hotel-guide.com/

Easy to use and you can check availability online. I booked a room for the kids in the "Hotel du College de France" in the 5th. 8-min walk to Notre Dame. A double was 99 euro.

c.

Travelnut

re: Hotel du Champ de Mars
There is an email link on their website:

[email protected]

ira

Hi the,

Have you looked up the hotel at www.tripadvisor.com?

If you decide to stay there. Here are some restaurants that have gotten good reviews:

Violon d'Ingres, 135 rue St-Dominique 01-45-55-15-05, Fax 01-45-55-48-42 PF lunch – 70E Metro Ecole Militaire

Le Florimond 19 Ave de la Matte-Picquet 01 45 554 038 Go to Metro Ecole Militaire About 2 blks NE 30E pp

Le Petit Troquet 28 r Exposition 01 47 05 80 39 Metro Ecole Militaire Off Rue de Grenelle

themasons

Unfortunately, I received an email from the Hotel de Champs du Mars (I finally found the little email icon with their email address) saying that they are booked Any other suggestions?

tod

Start looking on Venere.com Also look at Hotel Saintonge, 16 rue Saitonge.
Looks romantic but is 15 euros over your budget. What about hotels in Montmatre like the Hotel Terrass with it's wonderful view over Paris?

tod

themasons - just for fun went to the Venere.com website and see Hotel La Terasse is offering a double @ E50.
That leaves another 50euros for a slap up meal?

themasons

tod, I wasn't able to find that when I searched the venere.com site. Could you send me a link to where you found it possibly?

DeborahAnn

themasons, another vote for Hotel College de France, we are booked there from Sept 26-30 already, a standard double room will be 97 euros. We have stayed there in the past and find the location excellent, the staff so helpful and the rooms small but comfortable. It has the added plus of the restaurant Le Pre Verre right across the street. Everyone has their favorite neighborhood and this one is ours Deborah

Travelnut

Careful....

Hotel de la Terrasse - 67, rue Letort, Paris 75018
http://en.venere.com/hotels_paris/18..._terrasse.html

Hotel Terrasse - 12 rue Joseph de Maistre, Paris 75018
http://www.terrass-hotel.com/

themasons

Thank you for the recommendation, Deborah, we will look into that hotel. Hey, we might even bump into each other! Are you just doing a short Paris trip, or are you visiting other areas of France?

DeborahAnn

themasons, I thought we could end up hotel mates with similar travel dates. My husband and I will be in Paris after spending a couple of weeks in Normandy and Brittany.

As much as I like staying in different places, different hotels, I know I can always count on the Hotel College de France for a warm welcome. You would be near the Cluny Museum, in a neighborhood with plenty of nightlife, Mouffetard open air street market which is one of Paris' oldest is a short walk away, a walk in different directions from the hotel brings you to Luxenbourg Gardens and Jardin des Plantes both of which should be beautiful that time of the year.

Hope I don't come across as too scary positive, I honestly just enjoy this neighborhood. Have you been to Paris before? Deborah

themasons

Neither of us have been to Paris, or Europe at all actually, and we are very excited The neighborhood that hotel is in sounds very nice, hopefully they still have availability

DeborahAnn

themasons, here is the website I made my reservation through, you should be able to get a quick response as to their availability http://www.hotel-collegedefrance.com/

Do a search here on Fodors for whatever comes to mind about Paris and then post any questions you might have.

Have fun doing the research,

SEE YOU IN PARIS Deborah

themasons

Doborah, I have sent an availability request to the hotel, and hopefully they'll have availability (I was a bit crushed when I got my hopes up for the Chams du Mars and then they were booked). Have you requested a standard or superior room?

DeborahAnn

themasons, I chose a standard room to keep our expenses in check but if you can afford it of course I would say go for the larger room but that might not keep you within your budget. I would never encourage someone to spend beyond their budget unless I was talking to myself Hope there is a room available for you, Deborah

themasons

Yes, the superior room is out of our budget unfortunately. So you have stayed in the standard rooms before? Do they vary in size a lot (have you stayed in more than one, and were they all nice?)? Thanks for all of your help so far!

DeborahAnn

I think I have stayed in 3 or 4 of the rooms at different times. It is a 2* hotel so the rooms are not large by any stretch of the imagination but the bathrooms were so clean I would call them spotless. For a view I would try to get on as high a floor as possible. The rooms make good use of the space, they have a fresh appearance, not worn looking, never had a problem with water pressure or noise which is why we keep coming back.

If you read through some of the posts about Paris you will find many have a preference to a particular arrondissement, mine is for the 5th surrounding this hotel.

Have you gotten your airfare yet? I usually reserve the places I want to stay before I get my airfare, how about you? Deborah

jules4je7

We stayed at both the Hotel Champ de Mars and The Grand Hotel Leveque -- which is just around the corner from the Champ de Mars in terms of location. It's in the same price range, the rooms had a little better space and the whole hotel had a very recent renovation (in September 2005) so it was very nice. Plus they offered breakfast. The price is right too -- we paid $87E.

http://www.hotel-leveque.com/

Happy travels,

Jules

themasons

Jules, thank you for that recommendation, however they're completely booked during our stay It looks like a very nice hotel though!

Deborah, my fiance insisted on us finding a reasonable hotel before we book our flights so that we wouldn't be stuck without a room, and now that we are confident that we can find one (although a bit bummed that many have been booked), I sent the check in for our flights, which we got quite reasonably I think, considering we're coming from the west coast. I am anxiously awaiting my reply from the Hotel College de France though!