It’s no secret that Paris is a pretty (pun intended) expensive city for both travellers and residents. You can always save on transportation by buying a subway pass or walking everywhere and save on food by eating like locals, favourite small boulangeries rather than pricey restaurants.
But you still have to sleep somewhere. And trust me, staying in a convenient and clean place makes all the difference in a city like Paris because you feel dirty and tired at the end of the day. You want a nice bed and a good shower at the end of the day, after a few stinky subway rides.
Nantes, where I grew up, is only a two-hour TGV ride from Paris, so I used to go to la capitale quite often. Sometimes, I managed to take a one-day trip by catching the 6 a.m. train to Paris and the midnight train back to Nantes. But I often had to stay overnight in Paris, which invariably meant crashing at someone’s place. See, everybody knows how hard and expensive it can be to find accommodation in Paris, so anyone actually living there is usually happy to offer the couch (or some floor space) to friends visiting.
I have shared a single bed with many of my friends and a few strangers, I have slept on half-broken IKEA couches and even under a desk.
That was back when I was single, bien sûr.
When Feng and I first travelled to Paris together, I was naturally ready to dial “Paris SOS,” aka my network of Parisian friends who live in tiny studio apartments. But Feng did not like the idea of crashing at someone else’s place. I guess Canadians do not face the same housing problem as the French do—there is a lot more space! It’s also cultural as North Americans tend to value personal space more than Europeans.
“We’ll find a hotel,” said Feng. “Isn’t it what we always do when we travel?”
Turned out that Paris hotels are easy to find online. Funny that I had never tried that before.
While I was already imagining us forced to stay in a faraway suburb (not the headline-worthy 93 département, I was mentally begging), we found quite a few options close to the main sights. And they turned out to be affordable.
See, Paris doesn’t have to be that expensive.
We stayed in a hotel close to Barbès that had the biggest bathroom that I have ever seen in Paris—it was the size of your average student room. We stayed in another hotel in the same neighbourhood where we barely had enough room for two people and two backpacks—and this time, the shower simply didn’t work. We almost stayed in a place that had a little bug problem but fortunately ended up being switched to another better hotel and spent the night just a few metres from the Eiffel Tower.
Moral of the story? Yes, you can find cheap hotel rooms in Paris through a few specialized websites. As long as you are willing to be flexible (let’s face it—you won’t find a room with a view of the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, the Champs Élysées and Notre Dame, because contrary to what American movies seem to think, these places are not close to each other’s!) and do some research, there are great deals out there.
Just remember these five tips:
1) Hotel rooms in Paris (and in Europe in general) are much smaller than in North America. If you are over 6’ tall, you may have to take some interesting yoga poses in the shower cabin. Just sayin’.
2) Read the reviews and analyze them. I find that reviews are very helpful to get an idea of the place, but you can’t trust them blindly. For instance, I don’t really care if Mary from Chicago was offended that the hotel owner doesn’t speak fluent English, but I am worried if John from New York mentions bed bugs. Some people like to complain about everything while others raise valid issues—just weed out the complainers and focus on informational reviews.
3) Focus on what matters the most to you. Location in a specific arrondissement? A historic hotel? Fancy amenities? Accessible room? Narrow down the choices based on your needs.
4) Always print out the booking confirmation, especially if you use a third-party website and don’t book directly with the hotel.
5) Skip the hotel breakfast and head to the boulangerie—you will get the same croissant but cheaper.
Happy travels!
Confirmed, the price range is quite huge in Paris. Being 6″4′ tall, I never had a problem with the showers in Paris, maybe I was just lucky.
In addition to your travel tips make sure the hotel staff speaks English or whichever language you understand before you book your trip. It’s not uncommon that people in France either don’t know English or refuse to use it. I’ve had quite some fun at a car rental office at a so called “international” airport in France (not in Paris though) and at some hotels. You think English is the international language that everybody in the world understands? Welcome to France, you are going to learn something.
While most cities look identical to me (it’s crowded, there are traffic jams and some very tall buildings *yawn*), Paris is different. Not that it’s not crowded and the traffic jams in Paris are actually famous ;), but Paris has more to offer, like impressive architecture and the savoir vivre that you just can’t describe. Paris is certainly worth a visit, and if you don’t like your hotel, that’s yet another reason to go outside and enjoy the city.
Wow, you are tall! I know in some hotel rooms, I could barely fit in the shower cabin and I’m 5’7 😆
I agree with you on the language tip. Most French know some English but they are often too shy to speak… but we pretty much all took English at school, at least those aged 50 and younger. It’s a different story for older folks.
Yup, whenever I go to Paris I always crash at my friends’ studio apartments. Almost all French people living in Province know somebody in Paris that will put them up for a night a two.
I almost never pay for breakfasts when I am staying in a hotel in France. You can get the same croissant with coffee from the boulangerie around the corner for half the price.
I do have a point to make about the French speaking English. While it’s true that a lot of the older French people don’t speak English, a lot of the younger people actually speak decent English. They are just very shy about speaking because the French school system doesn’t focus on oral skills during English classes, but on reading and writing.
There are, however, a lot of French people who will respond to you in English when you speak to them in French. This happened to me a lot more during my early years in France and a lot less now. I insist on speaking French with them and sometimes they even get angry with me, telling me that they don’t understand why I won’t speak English with them! Maybe I have these problems because I am surrounded by a lot of highly educated French people? Either way, I speak French in France because as an immigrant I want to learn to speak French to the best of my ability. I always spoke English with immigrants when I was living in Canada or the UK.
I agree with you regarding the language thing. When I first visited France with Feng, I was surprised to see how many French people tried their best to speak English to us, when hearing us speaking English! Even my friends had decent English skills, even though they rarely practice. Of course, I had never realized that going to France as a French 😆
We just came back from a short trip to Luxembourg, Ghent, and Brussels, and yes, sometimes, the hotel can be a labyrinth of smallness. The hotel we stayed in Luxembourg was a spacious business hotel, but it also was so pricey. Our hotel in Ghent on the other hand was cheaper (55 EUR per night) but it was very cramped, and having a huge luggage was a pain given the tall and narrow staircase.
Most of the time, I stay in hostels, but this time, I was traveling with someone and hostels weren’t a viable option.
Yes, hostels are best when your are traveling alone. But even as a couple, it’s doable but it’s often the same price as a cheap hotel so may as well get a private room.
Hi,
I just wanted to let you know the May edition of the Byteful Travel Blog Carnival is out. Your article has been included.
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