WHERE TO STAY IN PARIS FOR TRAVEL AND TOURISM

WHERE TO STAY IN PARIS: FIVE AMAZING AREAS

Paris was one of my first international travel experiences after I graduated from college and left the US for the first time in my life. I took French for years in school, and I was incredibly excited to put it to good use in Paris. I distinctly remember the first time I spoke French to a Parisian (she was the cashier at a gluten free bakery) and she spoke back to me in French, rather than English (which was the norm, at that point). I was elated – I’d finally made it! 

That elation continued for me throughout that first trip to Paris, which was full of walks along the Seine and museum-hopping, and immediately returned when I visited again two years later. 

That second trip was much less about hitting every museum, and much more about getting lost in the winding streets of Paris’ neighborhoods (my friends who I was traveling with still gripe about the fact that we got “lost” so many times in Paris, to which I would say “is getting lost in Paris a bad thing?”).

Fast forward almost a decade, and the ultra-romantic, cosmopolitan city filled with incredible food, art, and architecture has called me back a few more times, including for a weeklong Parisian adventure that gave us plenty of time to immerse ourselves in the city. 

For those in the planning stages, the first question that usually comes to mind is where to stay in Paris. 

Paris is a huge city, which means a couple of things when it comes to planning your trip. You need to dedicate more than a day or two to see Paris (we recommend at least 4 days in Paris), you’ll want to be prepared to utilize Paris’ public transit system, and your decision about where to stay is going to have a relatively big impact on your trip. More so than a smaller city where most things are walkable, which is certainly not the case here.

In this guide to where to stay in Paris, we’re going to cover five excellent areas to stay that would make a good home base for your trip to the City of Lights. We’ll give you our experience with the neighborhood, a list of pros and cons of staying in each area, our favorite discoveries in the area (think coffee shops, bars, and parks), and some cool places to stay. 

Our intention is that, by the end of it all, you’ll have the information you need to choose the perfect place to stay in Paris based on your particular style, budget, and preferences.

Our philosophy when it comes to choosing a place to stay is to first choose the neighborhood, then move on to finding a great hotel, hostel, or apartment in that area. 

The beauty of Paris, like most big cities, is that each neighborhood has a unique personality. The best neighborhood in Paris for you totally depends on what you’re looking for. 

The downside of that fact is that it can be REALLY confusing when it comes time to decide on where to stay. 

With so many great neighborhood options, each with their own quirks and unique charm, which area should you choose? 

It seems impossible to do, but we’ve narrowed down the list of the best places to stay in Paris to just five neighborhoods. 

The reality is that, depending on what you’re looking for, there are other neighborhoods that probably meet your needs. But these are the five that we think are the best for 99% of travelers, and we’ve shown our work, doing our best to explain why we think that. 

For each of the five neighborhoods, we’ve created a structure to help you figure out if it’s the right home base for you. Here’s what we’ll cover: 

An overview of the neighborhood and our experience with it. We’ve personally been to and explored (more than once) all of the areas on this list, so we’ll try to give you a little bit of our perspective on what makes each area special. 

Pros and cons of staying in this area. The things you need to know to make your decision. 

A rating out of 50. This is a new thing we’re trying, and it involves scoring each area on location, bars and restaurants, transit connections, choice of hotels, and value, and assigning a score out of ten for each of those elements. It’s completely subjective, of course, but it’s our best way of organizing this for you!

Highlights of the neighborhood. Coffee shops, restaurants, parks, etc that we enjoyed, and think you probably will too.

A collection of a few places to stay that stood out to us. Sometimes it’ll be because they have rooms with Eiffel Tower views, sometimes it’s that the hotel offers a great value given the location.

Now, we’re well aware that a few of you are currently ready to throw your left shoe at the screen, saying “I don’t have time to read all of that, JUST TELL ME THE BEST PLACE TO STAY!” 

Well, here’s a quick summary of this guide if you’re short on time (though we’d recommend reading the section of the place you end up staying for tips and places to add to your list!). 

If it’s your first time in Paris, our recommendation is that you stay either in the 7th Arrondissement at the feet of the Eiffel Tower, or in Le Marais, the heart of medieval Paris. In the 7th Arrondissement, either splurge on a room with a view of the Eiffel Tower or stay in the more affordable standard rooms at Hôtel Duquesne Eiffel. In Le Marais, stay at the (relatively) affordable Hôtel National Des Arts et Métiers. 

If you’re looking for a cool neighborhood with lots of food and drinks, stay in the 2nd Arrondissement, our new personal favorite after our last trip. It’s also super central, which helps. Stay at the Hoxton, a gorgeous boutique hotel in a fantastic location with a variety of room sizes to choose from, or at these apartments, which is where we stayed for part of our last trip. 

If you’re on a budget and looking for an affordable area, stay in the 9th Arrondissement, which is central and affordable with great nightlife. For what it’s worth, we stayed in the 9th on our last two trips (first at the super affordable Hotel Joyce, then at the excellent Maison Mère), and it was a great home base for exploring the city. Plus, a bunch of our favorite wine bars / coffee shops / restaurants in Paris turned out to be in the 9th (or on the border), which is a major pro for staying here.

If you’re looking for a romantic getaway, you should absolutely stay in Montmartre (the 18th Arr.), where you’ll find cobblestone streets and a former village on a hill above Paris that has since been swallowed up by the ever-expanding city. It has all the charm of a medieval village straight out of a fairy tale, but the location up on the hill is a little further out than some people might prefer (especially if it’s a shorter trip). Stay at Terass (that rooftop bar looks incredible), or the bohemian Hôtel Monsieur Aristide.