Hi,
My wife and I will be traveling to Paris for 3 nights during our trip to Europe this summer and we are wanting some suggestions for places to stay. Neither of us have ever been to Paris (or Europe for that matter) so we are kind of lost as to where to look for a good compromise of value and location. Hopefully some of you can give us some suggestions. Basically we are going to try and do the tourist type stuff, Eiffel Tower, etc, etc...so a place convenient to doing this and getting around would be best. We don%26#39;t really need anything too fancy at all and would like to spend between $75-$150 per night if possible, good area, clean, and convenient are most important. If anyone can give us some ideas as to areas that might be good for us or even some particular hotels that would be great. Thanks in advance for your help.
John
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Since it is your first visit, I would stay in the 7th Arrondissement, near the Rue Cler. It%26#39;s no crime to be a tourist and it%26#39;s fun that the Eiffel Tower looms over almost every street in the 7th. The Rue Cler fullfills most first time tourist fantasies; cobblestone streets, cafes, open air market, creperies, etc,etc.
Tripadvisor hotel reviews are very usefull, but if you have never been in Paris, it can be diffiicult to know where the hotels are in relation to the city, . Bite the bullet and buy a guidebook as an adjunct to Tripadvisor. Rick Steves%26#39; books seems more budget minded than most. He lists several hotels in the Rue Cler area. But you should hurry to reserve your rooms. Several months ago, I tried booking rooms for a trip in May and many hotels were already full.
Look up these Rue Cler hotels in Tripadivsor and see if they meet your needs (and budget). Hotel Relais Bosquet. Hotel du Champs de Mars. Hotel les Jardins Eifell. The Hotel de la Tulipe is a favorite of mine, but be aware there is no A/C.
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Check out the Au Trocadero in the trip adviser hotel section, it always has good reviews. We stayed their last year and found it was in a perfect location...1 min to the metro, about 7 mins walk to the Eiffel Tower, and 15-20 min walk to the Arc du Triomph . We had an eiffel tower view, with a comfy bed, although the room was small it had everything, and the bathroom was huge, with marble throughout, tub, shower, lots of hot water, large vanity, toilet and bidet, and lots of towels. There are lots of cafe%26#39;s around,and there is a small grocery store about 5 mins away, where we bought sandwiches, salads, fruit ,cheese, soft drinks and wine etc.
We booked through the Best Western site, as we found it had the best rates.
Jaki
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Your price range is low - 55 to 110 Euros a night for a double but it is doable
My suggestion is a budget hotel with ensuite %26amp; Air Con in the Marais near the Seine at 77 Euros for a small double bed or 83 with a king size bed with shower and WC or 88 Euros with fill bathroom
http://www.le-sevigne.com/ang_accueil.htm
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%26lt;%26lt;Since it is your first visit, I would stay in the 7th Arrondissement, near the Rue Cler.%26gt;%26gt;
I disagree with this recommendation but I recognize the %26quot;comfort factor%26quot; in rue Cler for a %26quot;first time%26quot; visitor. If you%26#39;re sure you have a future visit to Paris in the queue, the rue Cler area is fine and has a lot of what Americans are used to. It%26#39;s called the %26quot;American Ghetto%26quot; here and it%26#39;s debatable how actually Parisian it is. I don%26#39;t think it is and we seldom even go there now. The street is famous with the Stevies for being a fabulous market street but it%26#39;s not. There are real market streets all around Paris that truly are fabulous. I don%26#39;t think, outside of the architecture and the %26quot;looming%26quot; Eiffel tower, that the area around rue Cler has a lot to offer a one-time visitor. The 7th Arrondissement is far from optimal for transportation and it%26#39;s seriously lacking in restaurants, bars, shopping and attractions compared to places like the Marais or anywhere in the 4th Arrondissement, almost anywhere in the 6th, or almost any other district in Paris for that matter.
I don%26#39;t have any specific hotel recommendations because we have little recent experience since we bought an apartment.
Just wanted to address the RickStevesian view of what Paris is.
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After reading many posts to the Forum, I have formed the impression that the Paris experts are not impressed with Rick Steves. Am I correct? Could you clarify why?
Thanks.
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The whole Rick Steves issue on TA has been covered a hundred times so I apologize for being so matter-of-fact about it. Please do a keyword search search on Rick Steves and you%26#39;ll see what I mean. For me, it%26#39;s Rick%26#39;s disneyland approach to representing the city.
I guess he has to do what he has to do to feed his growing travel enterprise but it%26#39;s not a real representation of the Paris we know on a daily basis.
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Steves%26#39; interpretation of Paris for American visitors is at best a distortion. The result is exemplified by the first response to this thread. It is indeed a Disney-esque fantasy to believe that rue Cler is in any sense a typical Paris street. It is anything but. It is also not paved with cobblestones and it is not a street market.
The extent to which Steves either wilfully or simply through his own superficiality (or laziness or ignorance) fails to %26quot;get%26quot; Paris is exemplified in this astonishing distortion of reality: %26quot;The Champs-Elysees is Paris at its most Parisian.%26quot; In truth it would arguably be more correct to say that the Champs-Élysées is Paris at its LEAST Parisian.
In addition much of his historical background is either flat-out wrong or grotesquely over-simplified.
The problem is that when you start off by getting the basics so completely wrong you will end up by not getting very much right. It%26#39;s a bit like trying to understand how the solar system works while still believing that the Earth lies at its center. Accepting Steves%26#39; view of Paris as substantially correct is a bit like accepting Brigadoon as having anything to do with a real village in Scotland or the Ireland of %26quot;The Quiet Man%26quot; as having much more to do with the reality of life in that country.
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Thanks very much for your responses. I appreciate you took the time to do this since apparently this topic has already been much-discussed.
I see your point.
I have found his book to be helpful in getting the logistics about many of the Paris sites. I learned about the Museum Pass through his book, which enabled me to bypass the 200+ person queue at the l%26#39;Orangerie. Without it, I would have missed the beautiful Water Lilies.
But there%26#39;s a big difference between seeing the sites and really %26quot;getting%26quot; Paris.
Point well taken. Thanks.
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Traveler059, I%26#39;m probably the only Local Expert who likes Rick Steves%26#39; books. I find the way he arranges his books makes it easy for a first timer to understand. Whether or not others agree with this and have their own personal favorite guidebooks is all a matter of choice. However, the Paris forum isn%26#39;t the place to discuss one%26#39;s personal dislike of Rick Steves at every opportunity. If you wish to do so I suggest going into the Off Topic Chatter forum.
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Paris 1204: Please help me understand how you%26#39;ve drawn the conclusion that I%26#39;m discussing %26quot;one%26#39;s personal dislike of Rick Steves at every opportunity%26quot;. I like Rick Steves. I quoted him in a different message several days ago and got slammed. Just trying to understand why others who know Paris much better than I do don%26#39;t seem to admire him. Not everyone who reads this forum has the perspective of messages that were sent months ago.
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