My wife and I are going to Paris for 3 days in early September and I’m looking for some advice on where to stay. We are relatively young and like to walk but we don’t care for bars and night clubs. We are there to explore Paris, so we want to be close to all the main sights and have some good restaurants nearby.

Hi Cesar9- You're in luck because another poster, Guenmai recently started a thread inviting everyone to recommend a Paris left bank hotel that they particularly liked. If you search that poster's name, you'll find the thread and there are LOTS of recommendations.

Cezar9: The thread that stricky is referring to I started in 2008, but it's still going strong. My Left Bank thread is linked to my Right Bank thread and vice versa. Below is my thread.

Paris Hotels Left Bank Thread

Happy Travels!

thank you stricky and Guenmai. This thread looks very helpful but I was hoping to narrow down to a couple of arrondissements first before I start looking at hotels. Hopefully I will post there after my stay.

Cezar: Starting at post #171-Dec 2010, I have categorized all of the recommended hotels above that post by district to make it easier for reading. Then, another poster more recently did the same. But, that post you will need to jump to the bottom of my hotel thread and scroll up to find it as I don't remember where it is. So, after you have decided on a district then if you need to look at the recommended hotels, then you have extra information on my thread to do such. And by the way, there's no one place to stay in Paris to be close to all of the sites. So, after you have done some independent research on districts of interest to you, then it will be easier to select a hotel.

Happy Travels!

cezar - Paris is not that big a city, and as long as you stay somewhere with easy access to a Metro you should be fine. There are interesting, non-bar/club sights throughout the city so we could perhaps help you narrow down if you tell us what things you do like to do/see. Museums? restaurants? Shopping? Music? History? Architecture? etc.

There is no busier hotel month in Paris than September. Wherever you decide to stay, I would make a reservation as soon as possible.

September is our favorite month to visit Paris.

My advice is to stay as close to The Seine as possible.

Left Bank....St. Germain, Latin Quarter, Ile St. Louis, or near Notre Dame. Very easy to walk around, lots of pedestrian streets, close to lots of places you’ll want to see. Walking along The Seine may be touristy but it’s still magical, especially at night. Definitely do a boat ride, our favorite is Vedettes at the Pont Nuef, on the 1/2 hr. at dusk or night & you will get to the Eiffel as it sparkles on the hour.

Get a good guide book and read trip reports here to maximize your 3 day time. Our first visit was 3 days and we have since been back 12 more times.

There are more restaurants than you can imagine. Check out some of the restaurant threads here.

We like beautiful architecture, history, galleries, and museums. Shopping and music would not be main factors in selecting a location. Also, we wouldn't mind eating while exploring the city, but it will be good to have some good food options in the area for breakfast and dinner. We would prefer walking over using the metro or bus, so walkability is important.

For fit adventurous people who enjoy walking I think the usual advice of staying in a central arrondissement near the river is overrated. I'd recommend the opposite so you see more of the city on your walks and can enjoy the metro system for farther explorations.

One of the best days I had in Paris of many over the years was the last day of one visit when I'd planned to do some gift shopping. I was staying near Sacre Coeur, not miles away but not close to the shops I'd planned to include near the river and there was a surprise transit strike. I walked all the way down hill then shopped my way back up and along the route found all kinds of things in shops I'd never have found if I'd taken the metro. So staying off the beaten path has its rewards, on a 1st trip or for more experienced visitors. Unless you're just not into off-the-beaten path, no criticism if that's the case.

BUT....with only 3 days I’d maximize my time and stay near The Seine where you can walk to
many of the sites. Our first stay was around Montparnasse. While we loved the area we found ourselves always heading to The Seine
Just sayin’

Given your interests and 3 day time frame, I agree with TPAYT about staying close in. The 7th arrondissement would be a safe bet for you all.

You might consider taking a look at. The Paris Museum Pass website to map out the museums and monuments that are of the most interest to you. Once you map them out, it might help you choose an arrondissement to stay in.

if your top interests are Musee Rodin, D’Orsay and the Eiffel Tower, you would choose the 6th or 7th arrondissement. Or if you have to choose between a few things to see, you may ise location as a way to pare things down. Central Paris is somewhat compact so that helps.

paris is a great walking city but alao has wonderful public transportation. With only 3 days, you mau want to consider using the Metro some to save time so that you can see more.

Enjoy your trip.

Your desires point to being in tourist central, actually. Because you say you want to walk to everything. And you talk about liking museums, etc., basically the same stuff everyone likes, but I'm not clear on what that has to do with your hotel UNLESS you also mean you must be able to walk to these museums.

If that is true, then I do agree you should probably stay in the Marais, the island, St Germain or Latin Qtr. Even then I am not sure you understand there is no way in the world you can walk to everything, Paris isn't some teensy town. Unless you want to walk 3 miles to something. Maybe you do. Just walking from Notre Dame to the Musee d'Orsay, for example, is over a mile (or over 2 km). the Arc is over 5 km from there, probably bout the same as the Eiffel Tower. But from the island or the Marais or other side of the river, you can walk to the stuff in the center islands, the Louvre, Hotel de Ville, and a few other attractions as well as the oldest neighborhoods in Paris.

In sum, if you want to narrow your search tools, use arrondisements 4-6, maybe 7 if the part close to St Germain.

I would stay in the 5th or 6th (maybe 7th maybe 1st).

Do you have a map to understand how the arrondisements work? It's like a snail with the smaller numbers in the center.

I will repeat what I wrote years ago, and it was considered valid enough to actually be published in the Fodor's guide to Paris:

If you stay in the outer arrondissements, you will save a lot of money and see much more of the city. Healthy people can walk just about anywhere in Paris, and the journey is just as interesting as the destination. If you have to take the metro from an outlying area, it will only add 10-20 minutes to the trip. In the outlying areas, you will avoid just about all of the pickpockets and scams and save 20-30% on restaurants and accommodations. The "problems" are almost completely in the tourist ghettos (arrondissements 1-7).

If you really want to be close to what you consider to be the major sights, you will pay a lot more and miss quite a bit of the most interesting features of the city. It's your choice.

Thanks for that Kerouac. It seems to me that newer visitors to Paris are most often convinced by other posters whose comfort zone is the cluster of near-the-river locations, from which they don't deviate, to just do what they do. It's not unlike other travel recommendations made by those who've experienced only 1 of the possible choices and because they liked it say it's the best. It may be but, failing other experiences, it could just as well not be. I hope the OP at least considers the larger experience.

A lot of newcomers here don't know that the majority of posters here are somewhat elderly and sometimes disabled. That of course makes them want to stay in the most "convenient" area (or at least they think so). Nothing wrong with that if you have tons of money, but younger people will still be missing out. Nevertheless, I have a British friend who is somewhat disabled if only because he is 86 years old. But he stays in the 19th arrondissement and wouldn't dream of staying anywhere else because he is totally in love with the Buttes Chaumont and the Bassin de la Villette, two places which are rarely mentioned here as desirable sights. And yet he also goes all over Paris on the metro (complaining about being tired later, but hey, he is 86 years old!). He has already been to Paris 2 times this year and is planning his next trip already.

I would be really sad if people who say they are young and "like to walk" would stay in a place where they would walk the least.

I'm not elderly or disabled. And I walked PLENTY staying in the 5th/Latin Quarter.

That is precious, as the Church Lady would say. What did you see in the outer arrondissements?