I%26#39;m looking to book a reservation at a hotel in March, but do not know what area would be best. I have never been to Paris. I want to stay where public transportation is near by, so I can visit the sights. I also want to be in a safe area.
Please advise what area would be best.
Thank you.
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Public transportation is everywhere. Everywhere is safe. What kind of voyager are you? High end? Budget? Young? Old? Early riser? Night owl?
Paris has completely different areas for different people.
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The answer to your question is definitely middle--between budget and high end, between old and young, etc. I am middle between very early or night owl.
Please recommend an area to stay in Paris that is easily accessible to everything.
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The sights are all over Paris. I don%26#39;t feel there is a perfect location. I believe some districts are better than others.
While the perimeter may be cheaper, you will have to travel more by taxi, metro, etc.
The right bank tends to be closed moreso than the left on Sunday.
The left bank has the Eiffel Tower, Invalides and D%26#39;Orsay Museum. Right bank has the Opera House, Arc Du Triomphe, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Champs D%26#39;Elysees, Sacre Coeur, Madelaine, etc.
I think districts 1, 2, 8, 5, 6 and 7 are ideal?
I stayed in the part of 8 that was close to 1 and 9. We were able to walk to the Louvre, Champs D%26#39;Elysees, Galleries Lafayette and eventually the Eiffel Tower.
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Thank you for your assistance. I now have some guidance as to which areas to stay.
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This map will give you an idea of where each of the arrondissements is located in relation to the various sites. http://tinyurl.com/d2ywqy
(Ignore the fact that this website is for bed and breakfast places - just use the map as a guide to what%26#39;s located where.)
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If you go to Google Maps and search for %26quot;paris 5th hotels%26quot;, the red dots that show on the map represent hotels in the general area of the 5th arrondissement. This is a good convenient area. Click on a dot to get the hotel details and traveller reviews. You will also see the M for metro stations and be able to check out the streets using %26quot;Streetview%26quot; (move the little yellow figure onto the map).
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As mentioned earlier, all districts (1-7) are close to sights, etc. The sights are spread throughout central Paris so in many ways it depends on what kind of neighborhood you like. For example, when you visit NYC, would you prefer Upper East side, 5th Avenue, Chelsea or .... ?
Our preference is Le Marais because it has a nice balance of established, gentrified areas and emerging areas. The 6eme is well-established all around and for some might be too far gentrified, for others it is perfect. So it depends a lot on what you enjoy. If you give some examples of other major cities you have visited and the neighborhoods you enjoyed it is easier and we won%26#39;t have the debates we%26#39;ve had 100%26#39;s of times about the %26quot;best%26quot; arrondissement.
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webstir4 -
kerouac%26#39;s response to you was exactly to the point. You are never more than a five minute walk from a métro station anywhere in Paris, and there is no area of the city that I would consider unsafe and I%26#39;ve been in most of them at all hours of the day or night.
It is perfectly reasonable to try to find out what it is you want from the trip you are taking and what kind of person you are. There is a huge variety of places one can stay. What one likes, what one wants to do, what age one is, what kind of lifestyle one enjoys are really much more important than the %26quot;Please recommend an area to stay in Paris that is easily accessible to everything%26quot; statement. There is NO one area that fits that demand.
And as a case in point, I do not know how often %26quot;The_Esplanade%26quot; has visited Paris. I have visited literally dozens of times over more years than I care to reveal. I would not choose to stay in ANY of the arrondissements he recommends and have not for many years. Furthermore I would be unlikely to recommend most of those areas to any but a few first time visitors — though I am fully aware that the majority of American tourists do tend to stay in the 5th and 6th (and to a lesser extent 7th and 8th) arrondissements. Doesn%26#39;t make it right any more than the fact that more Americans drink Maxwell House (or Folgers or whatever...) than any other coffee makes it good coffee...
Your question really doesn%26#39;t have an answer in the way that you phrase it — and you would likely find yourself in a location much better suited to you personally if you said %26quot;I am a such-and-such kind of person and I am looking for a hotel of this type in XX budget range. I%26#39;d like to be in an area that has x, y and z. Otherwise you just get the one-size-fits-all answer, which is by definition not right for everybody since there is no such animal.
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My motto for first-time visitors is to stay as close as possible to Ile de la Cite (where Notre Dame is situated). I consider that to be the most central location, and it%26#39;s walking distance to many of the main attractions. (However, keep in mind that there are sights, such as the Eiffel Tower and Sacre Coeur, that are not in that vicinity, thus they require use of the metro, which is a very convenient form of transportation.) Several arrondissements (1st, 4th, 5th, 6th) would fit that description, but you have to keep in mind that an arrondissement is a broad neighborhood, so there are streets that are more central (i.e.closer to Ile de la Cite) and those that are less central.
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It%26#39;s not my intent to hijack this thread but I%26#39;m in the (very) early planning stages of a 2 week trip to Paris and Elzevir%26#39;s comparison%26#39;s to NYC neighbourhoods is exactly what I%26#39;ve been wishing for.
We like to stay in the Upper Westside in New York- less intense business and more of a %26quot;real%26quot; neighbourhood feel.( Love my Zabar%26#39;s breakfast) I%26#39;ve been looking at an apartment in the 11th. Is this an appropriate venue for us -a pair of middle-aged enthusiastic eaters?
Thanks, K
And apologies to webstir4 for the interruption.
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