i was very inspired by beatchick's recount of her trip to paris that i am now considering a last-minute trip to paris the end of the month for myself, for about 3-4 days. any suggestions for where to stay (preferably cheap and cute) and what to do?

What do you consider "cheap"??

If 95 Euro with breakfast is cheap enough, you can try the very centrally located Hotel du Lys**, Rue Serpente, 6th arr. Very quiet street, but still in the middle of the Saint Germain-des-Pres area.
www.hoteldulys.com

Of course, there are cheaper hotels around. Depends on you and also the area you want to stay in.
Can you be a bit more specific, please?

As for what to do, you'll find plenty of suggestions here on this board.
Also, get a copy of the weekly what's on Pariscope for 40 cents. Rund from Wed-Tue.
You'll find more things to do than what you can in only 3-4 days, and above all, all exact opening hours of museums and special art exhibits.
The English Time Out section has good recommendations like restaurants, theaters, movies for English speaking visitors.
Have fun!

hm, i guess rooms for less than 100 euros a night would be cheap enough, especially since i will be traveling alone. thanks for the suggestions, and i will certainly look up more on the chat board

Ursula,

I was interested in the Hotel du Lys for a potential next trip; do you know if they have mini refrigerators in the rooms? (I love to have a place to store some of the perishable goodies I buy as I explore Paris...)

Thanks,

Liz

No mini-fridges (unless they've been recently installed.)

The Hotel du Lys is big on charm, but low on technology. Winding staircase; no elevator. Some balconies, no a/c. The website is actually less than a year old; they relied on phone/fax before that.

Aaaw98, the Grand Hotel Jeanne d'Arc's rooms are cheap. But for even more charm, I love the Hotel Degres de Notre Dame with it's views of Notre Dame. C'est magnifique!! I stayed there 2 years ago and a single was $86/night - not too bad.

Here's my description of it:
HOTEL DEGRES DE NOTRE DAME in the 5th arrondissement (in the historic Latin Quarter) is one of my faves (very quaint), where I stayed March 2001. It is very close to Notre Dame (some rooms have views) and definitely within walking distance of many sights (Musée Louvre, Notre Dame, Ste-Chapelle, riverboats, Shakespeare & Co. plus a great little souvenir shop around the corner at #5 Quai de Montebello ? Maison de Paris).

My room (#48 on the 3rd or 4th floor?) went for 600 ff, $86 per night (includes free breakfast) for 2 twins pushed together (I think it was meant to be a double) in a fairly large room (large for Paris) with a desk and glossy hardwood floors, beamed ceilings, lovely wool oriental rugs, with a perfect little view of Notre Dame thru double-glazed windows curtained by floor-to-ceiling brocade drapes; amenities include TV, hair drier, en-suite bathroom with bath & shower and radiator. It was very, very nice, in a well-situated, centrally located, safe area. My room was very clean and I was impressed by the view from the hotel entrance facing a pedestrianized charming, little square, nothing big, nothing fancy, just a nice little Parisian touch.

If you?re hungry, attached is a couscous-type bar/restaurant that, I understand, stays open all night except for Sunday (which helps if you come back famished from sightseeing and you don?t feel like going out to eat).

Breakfast consisted of fresh-squeezed o.j., nice, hot, strong French "cafe" served in a white ceramic pitcher accompanied by the "lait" in same, extra-flaky croissants, sliced baguette bread, homemade jams & butter. Sweet! Did I mention it was free? I'd get so many carbs & caffeine in my system in the morning that my body would be buzzing for an hour waiting for the opportunity to burn it off through incessant walking.

As the hotel has no website you will need to fax directly to Nichole who is fluent in English; fax # is as follows:
Fax#: (33) 01 40 46 95 34

I found this review on the web before I went to assure that it would be nice:
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/tra...tels041899.htm
This article mentions that you can have breakfast in your room, but as I never asked (I ate downstairs in the little restaurant) I can't confirm that.

I located this hotel in ?Charming Small Hotel Guides (Paris and around)?. This book states that staff carries the bags for you but was told when I went that they didn't have sufficient help to provide that service, so I would suggest asking Nichole when you fax her.

Bonne journee!! @>->---

Wait - except that I did eat there this past trip - the couscous was WUNDERBAR, dahling!!

Just been reading a great article on Paris and the author suggest the Hotel de Relais Medici...haven't looked it up yet but it sounds perfect!

We stayed at Hotel Bonaparte on rue des Bonaparte, in the 6th. The room was 115E and included breakfast, had an elevator, had a balcony [rm. 8 did, at least], and had a mini frig. in the room. Oh, and it also had air conditioning. It also had quite a large bathroom, and a decent size bedroom, with a table and chairs, in case you prefer to have your breakfast in the room. The proprietors were very friendly and accomodating, and spoke excellent English.

Aaw98, did you decide to go to Paris, after all? Just curious.

Probably not since none of you really addressed the "cuteness" factor in the hotels mentioned...groan......!!!

Yeah.

Me? I go for the "quaintness" factor!

We had a shower curtain with a 1001 Dalmations (Disney) shower curtain....is that "Cute?" Hey, the double was 73 euro and the location was exactly what we wanted.