Paris Hotel Help

Hi everyone. We will be in Paris for the first time in early November for a pre-cruise and need help to point us in the right direction for choosing a hotel.

We will be taking the Air France shuttle bus and from what I have read will end in either Gare Montparnasse or Place de l'Etoile. We arrive at CDG and leave from ORY. Older historic 2 or 3 star hotels are more our style, of course we want it to be clean and safe.

Are we right in our research so far? Thanks to our CC family for your help. If it's against CC rules to name certain hotels, just letting us know if we are correct in choosing either of these areas.

__________________

Hi everyone. We will be in Paris for the first time in early November for a pre-cruise and need help to point us in the right direction for choosing a hotel.

 

We will be taking the Air France shuttle bus and from what I have read will end in either Gare Montparnasse or Place de l'Etoile. We arrive at CDG and leave from ORY. Older historic 2 or 3 star hotels are more our style, of course we want it to be clean and safe.

 

Are we right in our research so far? Thanks to our CC family for your help. If it's against CC rules to name certain hotels, just letting us know if we are correct in choosing either of these areas.

__________________

You can name hotel names on CC..I have written a lot re Paris,but the hotels I like are on the Right Bank and I think you want to Left Bank hotels.Check out Venere.com as they give the area as well as price and blurb on hotels.When you arrive by bus just take a cab if needed to your hotel. I have done it many times.Have great stay in Paris.

L'Etoile aka the Arc de Triomphe is on the right bank. Montparnasse is on the Left Bank.

And venere is a great hotel website.

I can recommend The Princess Caroline. I've stayed there three times now and have been very happy with them. It's a three star hotel with lots of local Parisienne charm. It's near Etoile and is convenient to the metro and Champs Elylsees.

http://www.hotelprincessecaroline.fr/uk/index.php

Is it imperative that you take the Air France bus? Montparnasse is the business district, it felt more like Manhattan than Paris to me. There are so many small, boutique hotels on the left bank on small streets. Do some more research. We stayed at the Hotel Verneuil, on a very small street, but within walking distance to d'Orsay, Louvre, Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter. There are many similiar to this type in Paris. Rick Steves makes some good recommendations for what you are looking for.

We have stayed at both the Hoetl Champs du Mar and Hotel Beaugency in the Rue Cler area---both were fine --easy walk to Eifel Tower area

Paul

I highly recommend the Hotel Duquense. Its about two blocks from Rue Cler and there is an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower from Room 55.

Oh my gosh, we will definately take a look at the hotels you all have suggested. Again, thank you sooooooooo much! Jan

We think that starting out with the idea of selecting a hotel is a very difficult way to deal with a Paris trip. Many frequent visitors will tell you that the first step is to determine which arondissement (neighborhood) you would prefer to stay, and then look at the hotels in that particular area (and possibly the border areas of the next arrondissements). For example, DW and I prefer to stay in the "5th" or "6th" on the Left Bank. So we limit our hotel search to only those in that part of the city. Paris has so many hotels in all sizes and price ranges. You can use some hotel search engines such as Venere.com which actually will help you by showing maps.

As to a first time visit, we suggest you get a decent guide book like Rick Steves and read about the city and its various neighborhoods. Each has their pros and cons. For us, we like the laid back Left Bank and try to book a hotel that is within a relatively short walk to the Metro.

Hank

Thank you Hank. Your advice is greatly appreciated. Jan

jkspring,

you asked me on the longer thread, but this one is more to the point. Since I'm not sure what your price point, etc might be, the best I can do is give you a couple of tools to find a spot.

First, look at the HOHO map. The Etoile/arc de Triomphe is stop #7:

http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/paris/custompage.aspx?id=paris_tour_map

http://www.bigbustours.com/UploadedFiles/Paris_2013_201305174300.pdf

Then look at Venere:

http://www.venere.com/france/paris/

Scroll down the left side of the page and click on "Arc de Triomphe" under "City areas" and click any hotel category you want. Also click the "Map" view at the top of the listings and work your way from there.

Good luck.

Marazul, you are wonderful - thank you for your help - we truly appreciate it! Jim and Jan

Any suggestions on a 4* hotel for next August? Would the prices come down for that time of year since the Parisians are on vacation?

Any suggestions on a 4* hotel for next August? Would the prices come down for that time of year since the Parisians are on vacation?

The prices will not come down. Parisians don't need hotels. Hordes of tourists do.

Check the Hotel Castille, a 5* at 4* prices in the 1st arrondisement.

The prices will not come down. Parisians don't need hotels. Hordes of tourists do.

 

Check the Hotel Castille, a 5* at 4* prices in the 1st arrondisement.

When I posted my first reply I just took it for granted you wanted the Left Bank(have no idea where it came from either),but if you are checking out all areas then I agree with marazul the 1st Arr is a great area.I generally always stay here and have stayed at a few hotels here,but mainly the Hotel Scribe which I love and is now a Best Western I think.If you have not done so check out Venera.com and go to this area and you will find loads of hotels and info. You have been given some great advice on this board for your trip...so enjoy and have a great trip.

BTW - if you check the Castille's website, it gives you prices for your entire stay. Rates are about 250-350 euros/night. We booked late last year for this August and got a deal for less.

But check venere.com, that is the best site for booking in Europe.

Just got back from a long weekend in Paris. I have been 4 times before but this time stayed near the Lourve and can definately say it was the best area of paris I have stayed in. We were in the Hotel Lumen which is a typical Parisian Boutique hotel. Easy walking distance to the Lourve, Tuileries gardens where we pic nicked in the evenings, and the Champs Elysees. Lots of great cafes in the area and we hired the city bikes which was great fun.:)

What exactly is a "Parisian Boutique Hotel"??

We are taking a French Rivercruise next July and planning on arriving 2 days early for a day trip to see friends in Belgium. Our tour is booked at the LeMeridien-Etoile.

Trying to figure out if it would be more cost-effective to just stay at the LeMeridien or at another hotel for the 2 pre-days. Everything looks verrry expensive!

Any suggestions?

Hi

When I say Parisian Boutique, I mean that this is not a chain of hotels. Its small and friendly (the rooms are quite small) but with lots of care and attention taken to the details. Nice toiletries, chocolates on your pillows. Fantastic bed, bathrobes, umbrellas, shoe cleaning kits etc. Really nice buffet breakfast (quite alot of Americans were staying here.)

I found Paris very expensive too. The beer prices were horrendous! Near this hotel there was a good supermarket, a beautiful delicatessen selling wonderful sandwiches, cakes and coffees to take away or eat in, so we loved joining in with the locals by pic niking in the gardens by the Lourve with a bottle of wine!

Really good location to walk to all the main attractions!

Thank you, this was very helpful!

By chance, does anyone know of a really good B&B in Paris?

Thank you, this was very helpful!

 

By chance, does anyone know of a really good B&B in Paris?

AS mentioned above check out Venere.com I do believe they list some.I do not know of one offhand.

We stayed at the Hotel Vernueil which is a converted mansion and they serve a lovely breakfast. The location is wonderful. Check them out on TA.