République. Kitchen available. Wi-Fi €5 per 2hr. Breakfast included. Dorms €23. Reception and dining room 24hr. Lockout 10:30am-2pm.
Butte-aux-Cailles and Chinatown
Though perhaps not at the center of it all, the 13ème is home to several inexpensive accommodations in an ethnically diverse and residential area, providing travelers with an opportunity to escape the steep prices and occasional phoniness of Parisian chic.
OOPS!
50 av. des Gobelins
HOSTEL
01 47 07 47 00 www.oops-paris.com
The first boutique hostel in Paris, Oops! has the fashion sense of a teen with an attitude problem. Animal print wallpaper, bold colors and a kaleidescope of patterns generate a fun, young feel. The rooms themselves are less remarkable than the decor, but are average in size and include a bathroom and shower, though no lockers are available. Guests are free to use the rainbow-colored lounge and its free Wi-Fi.
Les Gobelins. Breakfast included. Email to make a reservation. No deposit required if booking made through website. Cancel within 24hr. Dorms €23-€30; private rooms €60-70.
Montparnasse
HOTEL DE BLOIS
5 rue des Plantes
HOTEL
01 45 40 99 48 www.hoteldeblois.com
Conveniently located a 5min. walk from Denfert-Rochereau and within walking distances of several tasty restaurants, Hotel de Blois is situated in a largely residential area of the 14ème on the popular rue des Plantes. Rooms are well-kept and relatively spacious, with full-sized bathrooms and showers. Don’t fret about security—the exceptional hostess is extra vigilant about letting in strangers, given the hotel’s central location. Her visitors show their gratitude in a proudly displayed collection of thank-you notes. There are five floors and no elevator, so the hotel is far from wheelchair-accessible.
Mouton Duvernet, Alésia. Breakfast €12. Wi-Fi available. Reserve at least 1 month ahead. Singles €55-95; doubles €60-98; twin suite 65-80. Extra bed €3-5. Reception 7am-10:30pm.
Passy and Auteuil
Home to many the posh resident, things get expensive in the 16ème, amd accommodations are no exception. Budget hotels and hostels are hard to find and the few options available are a trek from the city’s center. On the upside, the neighborhood’s more reasonable hotels can offer a welcome respite from the sticky dorms of grungy hostels for those who can afford it.
HOTELHOME PARIS 16
36 rue George Sand
HOTEL
010 45 20 61 38 www.hotelhome.fr
As its name would suggest, HotelHome offers a home away from home to the weary traveler. Each of the pre-outfitted apartments comes with a kitchen, dishwasher, bathroom, living room, and delicious potopurri aroma. Thick plush carpets, rich colors, and dark wood make for the kind of luxurious atmostphere one wouldn’t dream of when traveling on a budget. Varying apartment styles can accommodate a range of people.
Jasmin. Breakfast included. Junior suite (1-3 people) €123-260; twin suite €180-345; double suite (1-4 people) €207-385; family suite (1-6 people) €288-580. Discounts for early bookings.
Batignolles
If you’re going to stay this far out from the center of town, there better be something good to keeping you here. The 17ème hosts a number of more luxurious budget accommodations that will give you a soft bed to come home to after a long day of sightseeing, but it’ll be a long Metro ride.
HOTEL CHAMPERRET HELIOPOLIS
13 rue d’Héliopolis
HOTEL
01 47 64 92 56 www.champerret-heliopolis-paris-hotel.com
Bright blue, white, and gold rooms with plush, comfy beds and flatscreen TVs. The hotel combines an intimate bed and breakfast vibe with the the amenities of a modern hotel. Book in advance.
Porte de Champarret. Singles €77; doubles €90, with bath €96; twin €96; triples with bath €120.
Montmartre
Montmartre’s accommodations tend to be a bit pricier, given its position near the top of the list of Paris’s most heavily touristed neighborhoods. That being said, we’ve picked out a few affordable options if you wish to be in the thick of things. Always remember to evaluate the noise level in the neighborhood of your accommodation; while none of these are located in noisy neighborhoods, most locations in the 18ème tend to be a bit rowdy at night.
HOTEL CAULAINCOURT
2 sq. Caulaincourt
HOTEL
01 46 06 46 06 www.caulaincourt.com
A friendly, cheap hotel that caters to a slightly younger crowd. Reception will do everything possible to make your stay enjoyable and happy. There’s a TV in the lobby, and free internet access up to 30min. Rooms are generally clean, with the exception of a few grimy spots in the bathrooms. Keep in mind that there’s a 2am curfew, and 11am-4pm is lockout time; this is not the place to be if you want to party really hard and then sleep in (“faire la grasse matinée” in French; doesn’t that sound better?). The hotel is located at the top of a long staircase, so its rooms afford some fantastic views.
Lamarck-Caulaincourt. Singles €50-60; doubles €63-76; triples €89. Curfew 2am. Lockout 11am-4pm.
HOTEL ANDRÉ GILL
4 rue André Gill
HOTEL
01 42 62 48 48
A cozy family-run budget hotel, André Gill is located on a side street off rue des
Martyrs, in the thick of the touristy section of Montmartre. The hotel’s well-loved cat adds a homey touch, but if you’re allergic you should think about heading somewhere else. The rooms here are clean and the reception is friendly. The location is a bit busy; if you’re a city slicker, you should be able to sleep like a baby, but country bumpkins should search for something a bit farther out if you want to catch some z’s.
Pigalle, Abesses. Computer use €1.50 per 30min. Breakfast €4. Doubles only. Room with sink €60, with bath €89. Reception 24hr.
Buttes Chaumont
Buttes Chaumont isn’t known for its accommodations for a reason. Largely residential and far away from tourist destinations, it’s got hotels that are generally a bit expensive, and impractical for a stay in Paris. La Perdrix Rouge is the great exception.
LA PERDRIX ROUGE
5 rue Lassus
HOTEL
01 42 06 09 53 www.hotel-perdrixrouge-paris.com
Facing a gorgeous church and just steps from the Metro, La Perdrix Rouge offers a slightly pricey, peaceful home base away from the clamor of central Paris. Surrounded by a bank, grocery store, several bakeries, and restaurants, patrons will find the neighborhood tourist-free and generous in terms of the necessities (fresh bread, pharmacies, crêpes, etc.). Thirty clean, red-carpeted rooms come with bath or shower, hair dryer, toilet, telephone, and TV.
Jourdain. Breakfast €7.50. Minibar deposit €20. Singles €79; doubles €85-92; twins €98. Extra bed €12.
Belleville and Père Lachaise
Belleville is pretty far out from most tourist destinations in Paris. Nonetheless, there are some pretty cheap accommodations here. The Auberge de Jeunesse has a fantastic sense of community; if you want to meet people at your hostel, but not be able to afford a taxi home after hitting the bars, the 20ème is the spot for you.
AUBERGE DE JEUNESSE “LE D’ARTAGNAN”
80 rue Vitruve
HOSTEL
01 40 32 34 56 www.fuaj.org
A healthy walk from the Metro and a stone’s throw from the Lachaise Cemetery, this Auberge boasts an unbecoming design, a friendly reception, and a huge community of transient students. Claiming to be France’s largest Youth Hostel, this 440-bed backpacker’s republic fosters a fun and irreverent atmosphere with flashing neon lights, a free in-house cinema, and a game room complete with those car-driving games you used to stuff with quarters as a kid. Rooms are clean and have all the basics down pat. The jovial elevator/social facilitator man will make otherwise ordinary elevator rides fun and social.
Porte de Bagnolet. Breakfast included. Internet and W
i-Fi €2 per hr. Linens included. Towels €2.50. Lockers €2-4 per day. Laundry €3 per wash, €1 per dry. Reserve online. 9-bed dorms €21; 3- to 5-bed dorrns €23.50. Doubles €28. Discounts for International Youth Hostels Association members. Lockout noon-3pm. 4-night max. stay.
SIGHTS
Île de la Cité and Île St-Louis
The ground zero of Paris, these islands have a lot of big hitters. If you’re looking for grand architecture, hundreds of years of history, and mobs of tourists, Île de la Cité is a wonderful place to start. Notre Dame Cathedral is it the center of it all, rising above the lesser-known (i.e., not in a Disney movie) but equally impressive locations like Ste-Chapelle. Even without all the grandeur, the Île’s sheer level of historical significance makes it worth a visit: the birthplace of Paris, the island’s narrow streets offer a glimpse of the city’s humble beginnings. Just across the way, the rue St-Louis-En-L’Île was historically home to some of the most famous Parisians in history. The main thoroughfare—the narrow, cobblestone rue St-Louis-en-l’Île—strings together a collection of clothing boutiques, gourmet food stores, galleries, and ice cream shops, including the famous Berthillon glacerie.
NOTRE DAME
Île de la Cité
CATHEDRAL
01 53 10 07 00
Centuries before it witnessed Quasimodo’s attempted rescue of Esmeralda, Notre Dame was the site of a Roman temple to Jupiter and three different churches. Parisian bishop Maurice de Sully initiated the construction of the cathedral in 1163. De Sully took care to avoid the poor interior design that characterized Notre Dame’s dark and cramped predecessor, and worked to create a more airy structure that would fill with God’s light; in the process, he helped engineer a new architectural style that would later be dubbed Gothic. De Sully died before his ambitious plan was completed, but the cathedral was reworked over several centuries into the composite masterpiece that stands today.
Like the Île de la Cité itself, Notre Dame has hosted a series of pivotal events in Western history. French royalty used the Cathedral for their marital unions, most notably the marriages of François II to Mary Queen of Scots in 1558, and of Henri of Navarre to Marguerite de Valois in 1572. The cathedral was also the setting for Joan of Arc’s trial for heresy in 1455. In a fit of logic, secularists renamed the cathedral The Temple of Reason during the Revolution, and cleverly encased its Gothic arches in Neoclassical plaster moldings. The church was reconsecrated after the Revolution and was the site of Napoleon’s famed coronation in 1804. However, the building soon fell into disrepair, and for two decades it was used to shelter livestock. Donkeys and pigs were cleared away when Victor Hugo, proving that books can change public opinion, wrote his famed novel Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) in 1831, reviving the cathedral’s popularity and inspiring Napoleon III and Haussmann to devote financial attention to its restoration. In 1870 and again in 1940, thousands of Parisians attended masses in the church to pray for deliverance from the invading Germans; God had a thing and couldn’t make it, apparently. On August 26, 1944, Charles de Gaulle braved Nazi fire to visit Notre Dame and give thanks for the imminent liberation of Paris. His funeral mass was held there many years later, as was the mass of his successor, Mitterand. The Cathedral continues to keep up its political prominence, and its place in the public consciousness is demonstrated through its pop culture cameos in movies such as Amélie, Before Sunset, and Charade, as well as the animated films The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Ratatouille.
Exterior: The oldest part of the cathedral is above the Porte de Ste-Anne (on the right), and dates from 1165-1175. The Porte de la Vierge (on the left), which portrays the life of the Virgin Mary, dates from the 13th century. The central Porte du Jugement was almost entirely redone in the 19th century; the figure of Christ dates from 1885. Irreverent revolutionaries wreaked havoc on the facade during the frenzied rioting of the 1790s; not content with decapitating Louis XVI, Parisians attacked the stone statues of the Kings of Judah above the doors, under the mistaken impression that they represented the monarch’s ancestors. The heads were found in the basement of the Banque Française du Commerce in 1977 and were installed in the Musée de Cluny.
Towers: Home to the cathedral’s fictional resident, Quasimodo the Hunchback, the two towers are the cathedral’s most prominent features. Streaked with black soot, they cast an imposing shadow on the Paris skyline for years, but after several years of sandblasting, the blackened exterior has been brightened, once again revealing rose windows and rows of holy saints and hideous gargoyles. It’s a long way to heaven: there’s always a considerable line to make the 422-step climb to the top of the towers, but the view of Paris is worth it (20 visitors let in every 10min.). The narrow staircase leads to a spectacular perch crowded by rows of gargoyles that overlooks the Left Bank’s Latin Quarter and the Right Bank’s Marais. In the South Tower, a tiny door opens onto the 13-ton bell that even Quasimodo couldn’t ring: it requires eight people or one Sumo wrestler to move.
Interior: Notre Dame can seat over 10,000 churchgoers. The arched ceiling is achieved by the spidery flying buttresses that support the vaults of the ceiling from outside, allowing light to fill the cathedral through delicate stained-glass windows. Down the nave is the transept and a view of the rose windows. The 21m north window (to the left when your back is to the entrance) is still composed almost entirely of 13th-century glass. The Virgin is situated at its center, and depicted as the descendant of the Old Testament kings and judges who surround her. While the north window is spectacularly well preserved, the south and west windows have had to undergo modern renovations. The base of the south window shows Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on the shoulders of Old Testament prophets, while the central window depicts Christ surrounded by his 12 apostles. The cathedral’s treasury, south of the choir, contains an assortment of glittering robes, sacramental chalices, and other gilded artifacts from the cathedral’s past. The Crown of Thorns, believed to have been worn by Christ himself, is reverentially presented only on the first Friday of every month at 3pm.
Cité. Cathedral €8, ages 18-25 €6, under 18 free. Towers free. Treasury €3, ages 12-25 €2, ages 5-11 €1. Audio tours €5; includes visit of treasury. Cathedral open daily 7:45am-7pm. Towers open Jan-Mar and Oct-Dec daily 10am-5:30pm; Apr-May and Sept daily 10am-6:30pm; June-Aug M-F 10am-6:30pm, Sa-Su 10am-11pm. Last entry 45min. before close. Tours begin at the booth to the right as you enter. In French M-F 2 and 3pm; call 01 44 54 19 30 for English tours. Mass M-F8, 9am (except July-Aug), noon, 6:15pm; Sa 6:30pm; Su 8:30am, 10am Mass with Gregorian chant, 11:30am international mass with music, 12:45, and 6:30pm. Free recital by a cathedral organists at 4:30pm. Vespers sung Sa-Su 5:45pm. Treasury open M-F 9:30am-6pm, Sa 9:30am-5pm, and Su 1-1:30pm and 6-6:30pm. Last entry 15min. before close.
SAINTE-CHAPELLE
6 bld. du Palais
CHURCH
01 53 40 60 97 www.monuments-nationaux.fr
Everybody needs the occasional diversion to get through a service. For French royalty in the 13th century, it was the color of the church’s walls. When light pours through the floor-to-ceiling stained-glass windows in the Upper Chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, illuminating bright dreamscapes of biblical scenes, the church becomes one of the most stunning and mesmerizing sights in Paris. The 15 panes date from 1136, and depict 1113 religious scenes. They narrate the Bible from Genesis to the Apocalypse, and are designed to be read from bottom to top, left to right; the bottom-to-top organization of the stories is meant to represent and enable the elevation of the soul through knowledge. Sainte-Chapelle is the foremost example of flamboyant Gothic architecture, and a tribute to the craft of medieval stained-glass—at 618 square meters, there’s more of it than stone. The chapel was constructed in 1241 to house King Louis IX’s most precious possession: the Crown of Thorns from Christ’s Passion. Bought along with a section of the Cross by the Emperor of Constantinople in 1239 for the ungodly sum of £135,000 (adjust that puppy for about 800 years of inf
lation), the crown required an equally grand home, though its cost far exceeded that of the chapel. Although the crown itself—minus a few thorns that St-Louis gave away in exchange for political favors—has been moved to Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle is still a sight to behold. Down on the bottom floor, the Lower Chapel has a blue vaulted ceiling dotted with golden fleurs-de-lis, and contains a few “treasures”—platter-sized portraits of saints. This was where mortals served God, while royalty got to get a little closer in the Upper Chapel upstairs.
Cité. Within Palais de la Cité. €8, ages 18-25 €5, EU citizens 18-25 and under 18 free. Twin ticket with Conciergerie €11, ages 18-25 €7.50, under 18 and EU citizens 18-25 free. Open daily Nov-Feb 9am-5pm. Mar-Oct 9:30am-6pm. Last entry 30min. before close. Chapel closed M-F 1-2:15pm. Guided tours in French 11am, 3pm, and 4:40pm; in English 3:30pm.
MEMORIAL DE LA DÉPORTATION
Let's Go Europe 2011: The Student Travel Guide Page 51