Where to Stay in Paris?

(Last update: 30 November 2018) I will try to give you some clues about “where to stay in Paris” and especially in which regions of Paris while trying to exchange with you at the same time my experience on things to pay attention while selecting your hotel. In the text you will find also some good sample hotels that I have chosen to give you an idea about strategic locations that may be convenient for your stay.

I had already visited Paris several times before installing here. I receive so many questions about my personal hotel recommendations that I want to at least list the names of the hotels that I stayed to give you an idea.

If you are the type of person who makes the hotel reservation himself you may either have a look at these hotels and/or check the list of the hotels in the end of the article that are categorised according to some strategic quarters.

I have found out that I had stayed in Hotel d’Espagne in Grands Boulevard during my first visit in Paris when I opened my old boxes of memories for you. That hotel had seemed me fantastic may be as it was my first time in Paris but indeed it was a modest one which was ideally located. I do not remember unfortunately all the hotels that I stayed but once I had stayed in Ibis Paris Berthier which was in Clichy. At that time it had seemed as if it was far from the center but now that I understand that it was really very well located when the price for value is considered.

Another time I had stayed in Ibis Paris Bastille Faubourg St Antoine which was close to Bastille. It was also a nice and modest one. Then once I stayed in Ibis Styles Paris République in Republique area. That was also one of the clean and modest hotels located very well. I also remember a hotel named Hotel Richmond just face to face with Gare du Nord’un but sincerely speaking that hotel was not so good. Last one that I remember is the Hotel du Roule in Neuilly. As it was our last stay in a hotel before installing in Paris I was too happy to find a fault.

That’s why I recommend you not to neglect reading the most recent commends while checking these hotels. If their prices are not convenient for you or they are full you may check others in their surroundings. It is also possible to check the list of well-located sample hotels in the end of the text.

Your choice for the hotel is of course one of the key issues while planning your travel in Paris. All have a different budget and priorities. While it’s really difficult for some to effort 100 euro for some others it may be even nothing. Some look for cozy, trendy areas while some others ask for a quiet and calm location where he can easily access all. But most of us have some common expectations: It should be close to center, it should be clean, it should have a big room, a good breakfast, it should be well decorated in and out and it should be safe. I am answering: There is no place like that 😉

It is of course possible to confront most of them but you can believe that the price of the hotel will make top whenever you want to have all of your expectations at the same time.

Just at this moment I must continue by considering the average level of expectation of a wide range of visitors. In my opinion you have to spare a budget of 120 to 150 euros per night if you want to accommodate in a moderate, safe location with an easy access for transportation. Of course these amounts may increase a lot in some special periods but I advise you to use this average to comfort your mind while making your budget. If you can go up to 150-200 euro level of course it will be easier. But if your budget is below 120 euro per night it is really difficult to find a nice location but you may be lucky, continue to search. If you can find a hotel for less than 120 euro per night in Paris it is definitively cheap. As I said it is difficult for me to foresee what may satisfy you, it may be possible to find a hotel for lower price; do not give up. But, according to my experience it is not well recommended to lower the budget a lot. Decision is still yours.

I personally do all my reservation through booking.com since long. I know that there are many others but it seems easy for me. One more alternative is the airbnb.com which has become very famous recently but again personally I do not count a lot on them as I did in the beginning. Airbnb has come out of the choices for me since a reservation that we had made in Nice during our holidays in South France last summer was cancelled only three days before our arrival by the owner of the apartment and we had learned this by chance while we were travelling somewhere else.

As I said this is totally a personal experience but I am scared since I have learned that the flat owner has the right to cancel the reservation without raising any reason for his cancellation. It is sure not good to learn that your reservation has been cancelled only a few days before your arrival; in that last minute the prices are becoming really so high and you are obliged to find an unlikely solution by following the limited offers. But of course there are many others who are so happy with them, I cannot tell more, decision is yours.

But if your budget is really so limited I advise you a choice which is much cheaper than the hostels, the alternative solutions provided by the websites like couchsurfing.com. As you know you open your house to travellers coming from abroad and in return they host you at their location for free. Whenever you are a world citizen and you make use of your hospitality life is easier.

The first two important criteria while selecting your hotel are its being within the périphérique and its being close to a metro station. Indeed it is not always a must to stay in the périphérique. For example La Défense is out of the périphérique but it is well connected to Paris by metro, RER, bus, train and tram. That’s to say if you are close to a metro station theoretically it will be easy for you access the city center even if you have to change in some stops.

If you are coming to Paris with a tour organisation I hope that your tour organisation does not make you accommodate very far from center or even close to the airport. There is of course always a solution for transportation but then you spend most of your time on route and you do not feel as if you stay in Paris. If you buy it for a really cheap price there is nothing to say, but if you even pay a lot of money for accommodating out of Paris I advise you think once more.

You may consider a half an hour as a logical spent of time to access from somewhere to the other in Paris while it may be more or less in some other cities. By the way, as I live still with the same mindset I had in Istanbul and I consider one hour as a logical time period for in city transportation I feel still so happy when I spend one hour for transportation 🙂

I think that the most beautiful arrondissement’s are the ones in the west part of the city. I would like to see you staying close to Eiffel Tower or Champs-Élysées or Boulevard Saint Germain but the cost of stay increases considerably high in these regions. If you can effort this budget do not hesitate to stay there and profit the life in deep.

The economic hotels that I can advise you are mostly in the Opéra region, close to Lafayette or around Grands Boulevards . As I said previously, my first stay in Paris as a tourist had been in a hotel close to Grands Boulevards and although it was a very simple one it had really satisfied me as it was giving the minimum requirements. I had left with very well memories from that holiday.

There is one more thing that you should keep in mind. In my opinion the stars of the hotels in France, especially in Paris, are so different than elsewhere. When comparing the hotels in Paris with yours you should consider them as one start less. In a low profile hotel in Paris if there is still place to run around the bed after putting your luggage, it means that it is a big room 🙂

The other most preferred areas for accommodation may be considered as Montmartre, Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est. It would be very nice to stay in a pretty hotel on one of the routes climbing to Montmartre but unfortunately although they seem as Montmartre in the map most of the times you may find out that they are not so safe in spite of their good location. Especially going down the north and east part of the hill you may feel yourself unsafe in the night time. But the south and west part of the hill is nice and pleasant.

Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est areas are also cosmopolite and may make you feel a little bit restless in the night time although they are lively areas. As I had mentioned previously once I had stayed in Hotel Richmond just in front of Gare du Nord. It was an ordinary hotel but I had not faced any problem of safety or connection. In addition it was really so practical to take the Thalys train leaving for Amsterdam.

Similarly Gare de Lyon and Nation regions may be also considered as more economic places compared to western part of the city and considered as more safe when compared to the other cheap areas. In resume I can say that the only reason to stay in these eastern regions should be to save money, otherwise they are not so recommendable in my concern.

In fact if you can find a hotel close to a metro station on the metro line 1 or RERA and within the périphérique it may be considered as the most appropriate choice for you. Still there may be several good choices on other metro lines. But if I try to write all the metro lines and stops one by one it may become a never ending article 🙂 I should better only mention a little bit of Marais and Chatelet. These two regions are full of cozy and trendy streets having a lively atmosphere but in return this time you may have difficulty to sleep in the night time, only if you do not prefer to pass the nights outside…

Finally, I can personally recommend the arrondissements 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 16 and 17 that I love most. The arrondissements 5, 12, 13 and 14 may also be partially ok for accommodation but I do not recommend 18 (Except Montmartre) 19 and 20. As I have repeated several times it is a personal choice after all and you may like some areas or regions that I do not personally like.

Let’s now come to the list of sample hotels. First of all I should tell you that these are not the hotels that I have personally practiced. They are only a selection of well-located hotels who had a score higher than 7 among different price ranges. That’s to say you should analyse these hotels and their locations and look for similar ones close to them using the map on their pages if their price or their visitor’s comments do not satisfy you. I can never give a guarantee for them, the thing I try to do is to give you a starting point for your search. If you have had any problem about one of these hotels please kindly inform me to update the list altogether. You may also kindly inform me some other hotels that you have personally tried and loved to help me to enrich the list:

Hotels around the Eiffel Tower:

Hotels around Champs-Elysées:

Hotels around Saint Germain:

Hotels around Opera, Gare St Lazare, Grands Boulevards:

Hotels around Montmartre:

Hotels around Chatelet, Marais, Bastille:

Hotels around La Défense:

Hotels around République:

Hotels around Gare de Lyon:

Hotels around Montparnasse:

Hotels around Gare du Nord, Gare de l’Est:

Luxury Hotels:

and Sleeeping on the Seine River:

Hotel OFF Paris Seine

You may click all of them one by one to take detailed info about them looking at their locations in the map, to learn their price and availability and to reserve your room if you are convinced. If you want to think about another hotel surrounding area you may use the map in the hotel’s page and easily reserve for that one. As I said please do not neglect reading the comments of the visitors who have stayed in these hotels. You may consider some complaints of others as unimportant but at the same time some positive feedbacks of others may be negative criteria for you. Anyhow maybe it’s better not to question a lot and to reserve one of them in order not to postpone your travel more …

And a small request now: If you consider making your reservation over booking.com please kindly do it by clicking the links in this page and or the booking.com banners on this blog. In this way you will make really a big favor for me to support my blog and to ensure its continuity. In fact, this is valid for all your reservations in the entire world not only for Paris. However, I will continue to share whatever I know in my blog anyhow, I thank you for reading up to now either you do it or not.

I would like to host you all in the room shown in the cover picture, but the reality of life is different unfortunately 😉

I wish you a pleasant travel and a pleasant discovery in Paris.

I wish you all somehow come to Paris one day, have a really very nice accommodation and pass a lovely holiday here.

See also: One Week in Paris