DH and I are planning an escape (while we leave our young ones with my parents) in February. We%26#39;ll only be staying for two nights, and are overwhelmed by the wealth of hotels on offer in Paris through the various booking sites. There are some excellent offers out there too, especially the top secret ones on lastminute. I just don%26#39;t know where to start. I don%26#39;t want anywhere that looks like a campanile or novotel, something with more charm, be it old world or funky, I don%26#39;t really mind, so long as it%26#39;s well placed to do the little jazz bars of an evening (I%26#39;ll probably be posting to ask about those later!) and stroll around and grab a coffee in the morning. I dont%26#39; even know which areas to target or more omprtantly avoid. The left bank seems appealing, or the marais, but lots of offers are coming up in Champs Elysees area. Is that okay too? ANy tips please people?
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Montmartre has its charm, too.
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We recently stayed at one of lastminute.com%26#39;s Top Secret Hotels and loved it - it was described as something like %26quot;4* theatrical hotel near Montmartre%26quot; and it turned out to be the %26#39;Moulin Rouge%26#39; themed Villa Royale on Place Pigalle:
http://www.villa-royale.com/
We paid £100 a night and had a large and frou-frou suite with a circular jacuzzi bath and a view of Sacré Coeur from the bathroom window - how%26#39;s that for romantic!!!
(our review is at the %26#39;pending post%26#39; stage but should be up soon)
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Left Bank, definitely. Closer to St Germain than to Latin Quarter. Quieter, charming, residential, nice cafes and shops, less touristy. Much more romantic. I have stayed at the Hotel duc de St Simon and really liked it, very small and nice wine cellar.
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IMO the Marais is a more interesting and (somewhat) less touristy area than the LQ/StGdesP area of the left bank. I would avoid the Champs-Élysées as I find it soulless and largely lacking in charm though there certainly are some excellent hotels in the area.
What we are really lacking is some idea of your budget. Could you give us a number, preferably in €uros that would be your maximum per night? Without that information we%26#39;re basically all playing darts with blindfolds on...
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I%26#39;d go with Montmartre. The narrow winding streets are incredibly romantic, with the views and the postcard views of the Place du Tertre and the cosy little restaurants.
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Montmartre%26#39;s our fave too. We%26#39;ve always stayed there longer though and rented an apartment, so can only comment on 2 Montmartre hotels that looked very appealing when we%26#39;d walk by: for a splurge-with-a-view, the Terrass Hotel (look up reviews on this site) and for tucked on a sweet market street and more on a budget, check out the Prima Lepic (also many reviews on this site).
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Our review of that Top Secret Hotel is now up:
tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g187147-d240…
And we fished out our email with it%26#39;s not so %26#39;secret%26#39; description:
%26quot;Theatrical hotel in the 9th arrondisement - 4* - Paris%26quot;
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Brilliant! Thank you all so much for such prompt and informative replies. I don%26#39;t really know about budget - I%26#39;d love to think we could stay in the Ritz or the Crillon, but probably would be better off spending our money on a lovely meal out or something without the guilt that such an expense would involve . . . I would say, it%26#39;d be nice to find somewhere with a King size bed, a lovely bathroom (I%26#39;m a sucker for posh showers and fancy baths) in a great location for about 350/400 euros for the two nights. Obviously if it comes in below that it%26#39;d be great. but we are pretty suggestible if we know something%26#39;s worth paying for.
Thanks Ragoora for the Montmartre secret giveaway! There is some dramatic irony going on here, which I%26#39;ll blast once and for all, the only time my husband and I have been to Paris on our own before (about eight years ago) we stayed there, through laterooms knowing where we were going, it had recently been done up - it%26#39;s great fun, I agree, but I%26#39;d probably rather hit an area other than that; it was lovely and romantic and had we not been before. we%26#39;d be happy to go there in spades, however, to return doesn%26#39;t seem so wise as we know its flaws - it seemed closer to Pigalle than Montmartre, and it would be good not to have to get up and down that hill to reach the main restaurants/galleries/shops of daytime Paris seeing as we%26#39;ll only be there for a couple of days. Admittedly, we did find an excellent jazz bar in the chilly backstreets of Montmartre back then, but it felt a bit isolated up there amidst all the seediness of the main %26#39;strip%26#39;!!
From what%26#39;;s been said, if I;m ruling out (or at least putting on hold) Montmartre, then we need to avoid Champs E and head east . . . Is the Left Bank/StG area or the Marais area %26#39;cooler%26#39; (as in funkier/hipper, not temperature!) of an evening as far as bistros/jazz cafes go? We%26#39;re going in February, so it%26#39;s not the height of tourist trap, I suppose . . . ?
Obviously, like everyone, I do love a bargain, that%26#39;s why the lastminute listing appealed, so I;m glad I now know which one is the only hotel in which we%26#39;ve previously stayed in Paris!
Thanks again - all info gratefully received.
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LOL, how funny! We%26#39;ve been out of the travel loop for some time and have only just discovered all these great %26#39;bargain%26#39; sites with their secret deals and stuff - have you tried priceline.com where you make a bid for the area and star rating of your choice? We%26#39;re off to London this weekend for a night in a 5* in Mayfair for £100 with them...
We sussed out which hotel it was too (it%26#39;s relatively easy to do really as they basically cut and paste from the expedia blurb) and grabbed it for the price as we were looking for somewhere very near to rue des Martyrs and the Michou cabaret and travesti bars but didn%26#39;t want a flea-pit - of course it was practically across the road from everything we wanted to visit!
If you do decide on St Germain we can personally recommend %26#39;L%26#39;Hotel%26#39; for romance and grandeur but it%26#39;s not cheap:
http://www.l-hotel.com/
(it%26#39;s the hotel that, famously, Oscar Wilde died in)
Good Luck in finding your %26#39;romantic in Paris%26#39; dream this time round :-)
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There%26#39;s a bit of a problem with the request for a king size bed. In general I think you will only find those in the most expensive hotels, which are out of your budget range and for the most part in the C-E area, or in the bigger and more modern business hotels that are IMO the antithesis of romantic.
It%26#39;s perhaps a bit subjective but I%26#39;d say the Marais is %26quot;cooler%26quot; than the StGdesP area overall. It has a lot of small boutiques and galleries and plenty of restaurants and cafés, including the 3-rosette l%26#39;Ambroisie on the beautiful Place des Vosges if you%26#39;re in a boat-launching mood.
There are a couple or three good jazz clubs on the rue des Lombards just two steps from the Marais but StGdesP and Montparnasse have their share too. Here%26#39;s a descriptive site about the area that might help you decide one way or the other:
http://www.parismarais.com/
Off the top of my head I don%26#39;t have a specific hotel recommendation that quite ticks all your boxes (especially the king size bed) but if you don%26#39;t find anything likely on your own give us another shout and I%26#39;m sure someone will come up with something brilliant...
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