Paris Hotel Tips by XenoHumph

Hotel Henri IV: Cheap, funky, ideal location (Paris, France) Hotel Henri IV Review

You get what you pay for (i.e. not much in terms of comfort). The towels had so many holes, it was hard to dry yourself...assuming you could take a shower...the shower head holes were plugged by carbonates (took me half an hour to unplug each hole with a pin)...the sink was plugged too (got fixed with Drano as soon as I complained), and the beds were not very comfortable, and, yes, I almost forgot, the closet fell on me when I tried to open it!!. Anyway, it is clear, you go to this hotel because it is cheap and well located, period. Make sure you spend most of your Paris trip away from your room!
The breakfasts were nice (baguette, butter, jam, coffee, tea or chocolate), sometimes entertained by the talkative owner, around a big round table on the first floor.

Unique Qualities: 21 rooms, 4 with shower and toilet
Rooms 60-90 euros
Rates include breakfast
Credit Cards Not Accepted

Very popular, make sure you make reservations several months in advance!

Address: 25 Place Dauphine, 75001 Paris, France

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Place Dauphine on Ile de la Cité (1st Arrondissement). Narrow building near the tip of the square, Southern side.
Métro: Pont-Neuf, Cité

Phone: 01-43-54-44-53

Price: US$40-80

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://henri4hotel.fr/accueil.html

Hotel Cluny Sorbonne: Excellent value & location in 5th district Hotel Cluny Sorbonne Review

This hotel is an excellent value. It is well located in the 5th district (Latin quarter), yet on a relatively quiet street along the Sorbonne. The staff is really nice and will do anything to help. The rooms are very clean, but very small and some paint on the wall is coming off. The elevator is also very tiny. It is a 2 star hotel after all! Some rooms have a lovely view on the roofs of Sorbonne and the Panthéon, but these are slightly noisy at night (occasional traffic, car or motorbike noise, plus a bar a block away with people voices on the terrace reflecting on the house's walls). The alternative is to get a room on the quiet inner courtyard, but no view then. There is no air conditioning so if it is warm weather, you will need to open your window. They have free wifi.

I also liked that it was close (3 minute walk) to the Luxembourg RER B station, which is the direct train line to the airport. Like at all hotels in Paris, breakfast is not included in the price (2011: 98 euros for 2 people in a double room) and costs, if I remember right, 8 euros.

I highly recommend this little hotel!

Unique Qualities: Great location, practical to take the train to the airport (RER B to Charles de Gaulle-Roissy airport).

Some rooms with a lovely view (Sorbonne, Le Panthéon)

Address: 8, rue Victor Cousin, Paris, Ile-de-France, 75005, France

Comparison: about average

Directions: Right next to Sorbonne University in the 5th district, between Rue Soufflot and Place de la Sorbonne, between Blvd St Michell & Rue St Jacques
Metro Cluny la Sorbonne (ligne 10)
Suburb Train RER Luxembourg (lignes B) or Saint -Michel (Lignes B & C)

Other Contact: cluny@club-internet.fr

Phone: 33 1 43 54 66 66

Price: US$80-120

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.hotel-cluny.fr/

Ibis Paris Roissy Charles De Gaulle Hotel: Practical hotel at the CDG airport Ibis Paris Roissy Charles De Gaulle Hotel Review

A little expensive for what you get (a single room for 105 euros), but you pay for the location: at Terminal 3, along the CDGval line, the little airport metro. It is the cheapest hotel near the airport for which you do not need to take a shuttle. It is very practical if you have a plane to take early in the morning.
The rooms are clean, modern, quiet (no plane noises, well insulated for sound). I had a no-smoking room, and I never smelled any cigarette smoke in the whole hotel, it was great. The staff is nice and helpful. They offer free wi-fii (ask for it when you check in), i.e. if you bring your own computer, you can browse the internet for free.
Avoid at all cost the restaurant downstairs Sud & Cie, the food is bad and expensive.

Unique Qualities: Practical to get to the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport terminals very quickly.

Address: Roissypole BP 11122 95701 - Roissy Cedex FRANCE

Comparison: about average

Directions: At terminal 3 at the Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport. Along the CDGval, T3 stop. Walking distance.
From Paris, take the suburb metro RER B to the CDG airport (30 mn), then take the CDGVAL to T3.

Phone: (+33)1/49191919

Price: US$120-180

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/hotel-1404-ibis-charles-de-gaulle-aeroport-terminal/index.shtml

Hotel du Moulin: Simple hotel in Montmartre, Paris, France Du Moulin Hotel Review

This hotel is a good deal for discovering the Montmartre district. The rooms are extremely small (I could not even open my carry-on luggage, except on the bed). It is clean but no huge fuss on appearance. Most walls appeared to need one more coat of paint, looked like only the primer had been put on. The shower could use some scrubbing for all the black between the wall tiles. The originality is the inner court-yard which must be most appreciated in the summer. The owners are Korean, very nice and helpful. Free internet access is provided in their lobby computers. The break-fast room is dreary looking and we went out for ours.

This hotel is located close to the métro Abbesses. The latter is one of the deepest metro stations in Paris, but it has an elevator. You can never escape having to go through stairs, however, so beware if you have big suitcases!

Unique Qualities: The hotel is nicely located near the lively Rue des Abbesses. It is within walking distance of Place du Tertre, Moulin-Rouge, and the Sacré-Coeur. It has an original plant-filled inner court-yard with some of their rooms opening on it.

Address: 3, rue Aristide Bruant - 75018 PARIS, France

Comparison: about average

Directions: Montmartre. Metro Abbesses (ligne 12).

Other Contact: Fax: 01 46 06 42 66

Phone: 01 42 64 33 33

Price: US$120-180

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.cofrase.com/hotel/dumoulin/frameuk.htm

Grand Hotel des Balcons: Lovely, great value and location, 6th Grand Hotel des Balcons Review

This hotel is excellent for its price (we paid 100 euros for a queen-size bed room) and perfectly located near Jardins du Luxembourg, Théatre de l'Odéon, and not far from Blvd St Germain. The decoration is pleasant, it is very clean and the staff is really nice. They do not have air conditioning, but provided a fan during the summer heat. The street, Casimir Delavigne, is quiet so a room on street side is no problem. Also, there was albsolutely no cigarette smoke smell anywhere in the hotel, a blessing in Paris! We loved it

Unique Qualities: Excellent value for the location and quality of the rooms.
Close to RER B station which is the direct train line to Charles de Gaulle airport.

Address: 3, rue Casimir Delavigne, 75006 Paris, France

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: 6th district, close to Jardins du luxembourg, Senate and Théatre de l'Odéon.
Metro: RER Luxembourg or métro Odéon

Other Contact: email : hotelbalcons@aol.com

Phone: 01 46 34 78 50

Price: US$80-120

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.balcons.com

Hotel Delambre: Montparnasse hotel, 14, Paris, France Hotel Delambre Review

This hotel would have been great, perfect even and reasonably priced, if it weren't for the cigarette smoke pervading the corridors and thus the rooms. The rooms were very clean, small like always in Paris but very confortable. The lobby is pretty and there is an elavator. I assume that the guy at the front desk was a chain smoker, the night guy seemed to smoke too, so everything smelled of it. We thought that opening the window on the lovely courtyard would help, but there must have been people smoking there too. I was sad because I looked forward discovering this hotel, highly recommanded by VT member Davequ, and staying in a district I have never stayed at before. But both my husband and I get allergies exacerbated by smoke, and cold cigarette smoke is very unpleasant.

Unique Qualities: If you do not mind cigarette smoke, go for it!
Priced at 85 euros for their cheapest rooms, i.e. reasonable for Paris, it is located in the Montparnasse district. It is a minute walk away from the lively rue de la Gaieté which is full of restaurants and theaters. It is a nice safe area. The metro bring you anywhere in Paris from there.

Address: 35, rue Delambre, 75014 Paris,France

Comparison: about average

Directions: In the 14th district at Montparnasse, near the animated rue de la Gaieté. Métro Edgard-Quinet. About 10-15 mn walk to RER station Denfert-Rochereau which is on the line to the airport Roissy-Charles de Gaulle

Other Contact: Fax: 33(0)1 45 38 91 76

Phone: 33(0)1 43 20 66 31

Price: US$80-120

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.delambre-paris-hotel.com/index.html

Hotel de l'Esperance: Charming hotel near Mouffetard, 5th, Paris, France Hotel de l'Esperance Review

Very nice little hotel, very clean and quiet. The owner, originally from ex-Yougolavia, is matron-like but really nice.
Well located near rue Mouffetard which is narrow and very typical of the old Paris. There is a fun market taking place there on Sunday mornings. Lots of students around during school year as lots of schools and colleges are located in this district, Quartier Latin.

Unique Qualities: Call for reservations. You might also be able to reserve this hotel through the internet hotel reservation companies.
Breakfast is not included in the price and costs 6 euros.

Address: 15, rue Pascal, 75005 Paris, France

Comparison: about average

Directions: Quartier Latin (5th Arrondissement) at the bottom (Southern end) of Rue Mouffetard, near the church St Médard.
Métro: Censier-Daubenton

Phone: 01 47 07 10 99

Price: US$80-120

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.hoteldelesperance.fr/

Hotel du Mont-Blanc: Good price and great location (5th, Paris, France) Hotel du Mont Blanc Review

This simple and clean 2 star hotel has a great location. The rooms have no pretention, quite bare, but very clean. The bathroom looked like it had been recently redone. The only downside of this hotel is that non of its rooms are non-smoking, so there might be a remnant of the smell (which was really not bad in our room). Ask for a room on the backside as rue de la Huchette is a busy and noisy pedestrian street with restaurants catering for the tourists.

Unique Qualities: Excellent location in the latin district, next to the river Seine, close to Notre-Dame, and right next to a metro (RER, the suburb train) with a direct line to Charles de Gaulle (Roissy) airport in 1/2 an hour.

Address: 28 rue de la Huchette, 75005 Paris, France

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Bottom of Boulevard St Michel (E of it), a block from the river Seine. Metro and RER St Michel.

Other Contact: Fax: 33(0)1 46 34 14 56

Phone: 33(0)1 43 54 22 29

Price: US$40-80

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.france-hotel-guide.com/h75005montblanc.htm

Hotel Américain: Nice Hotel République/Marais, Paris 3rd Arr France Hotel Americain Review

Nice quiet clean hotel, reasonably priced. Nice alternative to Hotel de L'Esperance (see my other tips above) if the later is full. It is not a hotel one wants absolutely go to, it is rather impersonel and spartan, but it is reasonably well located. Anyway, when you go to Paris, it is not to stay in your hotel room!
Located at Place de la R?publique, walking distance of the wonderful district of Marais (Place des Vosges, museum Picasso, museum Carnavalet, old jewish quarter, gay district) and Canal St Martin.

Unique Qualities: Rates 2003
Single room: 125 €uro
Double room: 140 €uro
Twin: 170 €uro
Breakfast: included
Taxes included

Discount rates available through web companies.

Address: 72, rue Charlot 75003 Paris, France

Comparison: about average

Directions: Paris, 3rd Arrondissement, near Place de la République, Northern part of the Marais district.
Métro: République, Filles du Calvaire

Other Contact: Fax: 33 1 48 87 48 03

Phone: 01 48 87 58 92

Price: US$120-180

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.pariserve.tm.fr/hotel/americain/english.htm