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Each area has its own advantages. Many hotels within walking distance of the big sights – particularly around the Louvre and the Champs- Elysées – are expensive, but there are popular, mid-priced options on rue Saint- Dominique, squeezed between the Eiffel Tower and the Invalides. If you want to be able to step outside your hotel into bustling streets teeming with shops, cafés and restaurants, then plump for the Marais or St Germain. There are corners of romantic Paris on Île St. Louis and in Montmartre. Bastille and Oberkampf are well suited to clubbers and late-night drinkers, and rue de Malte in the 11th arrondissement has a good choice of affordable hotels that don’t require a long walk or taxi ride back. In recent years a rash of designer-chic hotels has sprung up, the ultimate in luxury and conceptual style. Leading the way are the Costes brothers, who have no less than three quite different, new-look hotels. The emphasis on sleek, streamlined, unfussy design has filtered down the ranks to some reasonably priced hotels too.
At the budget end, there are clean, decent hotels dotted about town. In this category particularly, it is important to book ahead, as the good places fill up fast. There are a handful of hostels in the city centre, around the Marais and the Bastille.
For the growing number of B&Bs, consult the website http://www.paris-touristoffice.com and search under Hébergement chez l’habitant to find about a dozen companies that offer B&Bs in and around Paris. Prices start at €40 per person, for a minimum stay of two nights.
France Apartments (97 Champs Elysées, 75008, T 01 56 89 31 00, F 01 56 89 31 01, http://www.rentapart.com) rent fully equipped flats for as little as a week.
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