London & Paris hotel recs please!

[noodleoo]

My H and I are going to London and Paris in October. We booked an open jaw trip and the plan is to spend 3 nights in London, take the train to Paris, and then 5 nights in Paris. We know it is a quick trip, but we wanted to sort of do highlights of each city with the goal of going back someday. My H *loves* trains, so he'll get a kick out of that part.

I'm completely overwhelmed by trying to find hotels in each city. I'm hoping maybe you guys can help! Both cities are so big and there appears to be many options for hotels. We're on a budget though, hoping to spend around $150 per night. Any recs? We just want a central-ish location, hopefully walking distance to some sights & restaurants or fun stuff to do. We don't have much planned so we're open to any advice as we mostly will just explore on foot or by metro/bus, so the location isn't critical.

TIA!

PS. Any other advice is great appreciated!!

[marytini]

Having just planned, and still planning, a trip to both those cities (we leave Labor Day), I know that hotel prices can be spendy. Since we haven't gone yet, I can't speak for our hotels/apt.
If you are looking for deals though, check out travelzoo. www.travelzoo.com/hotels/international/
There are actually a few hotels on there now for London and Paris that fit your requirements. Read reviews on tripadvisor to see other traveler's reviews of the hotels before booking.

As for location, I think as long as you stay in Zone 1 in London, and the single digit arrondissements in Paris you should be close to most attractions. Again, this is from the girl who hasn't actually been there yet, just done hoards of research!

I personally like to peruse the forums on tripadvisor. www.tripadvisor.com/ListForums-g4-Europe.html

[mdgirl]

We stayed at The Cranley the last time we were in London and really liked it. It was very reasonable, in a convenient yet quiet location (Kensington), and the room was large even by US standards.

The last two times we've been to Paris we stayed at the Hotel Relais Bosquet in the Rue Cler neighbornood. Nothing fancy but nice and well priced, you don't need to get the breakfast because there's a fantastic bakery on the corner, it's a couple blocks away from a Metro stop and walking distance to the Champ de Mars.

[alleinesein]

We stayed at the Park City Hotel in South Kensington last time we were in London. I just punched in some random Oct dates are you can get 2 nights for around GBP$400 (we paid GBP $139 a night so its about the same price). Our rate included breakfast for 2. The hotel is within walking distance of the Gloucester Tube station (Piccadilly Line--you can catch it at LHR). There is a Sainsburys next door (grocery store) and the rooms have small dorm fridges. You can walk to the Natural History Museum, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Palace, The V&A Museum.

[sugarplum]

For London, I highly recommend B&Bs. I've stayed in the Belgravia neighborhood and like it. It's a few blocks from the Victoria station so it's pretty convenient but quiet.

For Paris, my husband and I stayed in the Citadines Tour Eiffel Paris hotel. It's in the 15th arrondissement but it's basically across the Champ de Mars from the Rue Cler neighborhood that has great resturants and markets to make picnics from. It's across from a metro station which is really convenient. We were concerned when we first arrived because the train is above ground and was right out our window but the windows were amazing to reduce the sound at night. Our room has a little kitchen so we were able to buy some food for lunch picnics once and keep it in the fridge. This was nice with bottles of water and juice as well.

goo.gl/maps/XXhfO

[raangoli]

We are also going to Paris/London in October so I can't vouch for this hotel first hand, but we booked the Hotel de L'Empereur in Paris. It got pretty good reviews on TripAdvisor and the pictures uploaded by the previous travelers looked good as well.

hotelempereurparis.com/

[noodleoo]

Thanks for all the advice guys! Especially the travel zoo link, we booked the Millennium at Gloucester Rd through that and got an amazing rate (82.50 pounds per night inc breakfast, worked out to $150 after taxes, which is *awesome* for that hotel!).

Still working on Paris, off to check out the Hotel de L'Empereur! Any other recs, please post! I think Paris books out faster than London, all the good hotels people have recommended to me have no availability...

EAT: Sigh, that one is beautiful and such a good location. But about $240 a night. I think we may have to up our budget. The nice hotels around $150 are sold out, the rest seem pretty crappy or in the farther districts.

[travelingjen]

I've been to Paris three times and have always stayed at hotels in the Rue Cler neighborhood. Next time I visit Paris, I plan to stay at an apartment. I would recommend that you check out VRBO.com or Homeaway.com. In my experience, renting apartments tends to be a lot cheaper than staying in a hotel room, plus you will have a lot more room to spread out and potentially a kitchen to use!

[hz80408]

We stayed in this apt in St Germain in April and it worked out really well; although it was ~$170 USD/nt

www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p474294

[shoegal77]

Hi just traveled to Paris last month had a great time we stayed at the Wilson Opera Hotel or WO a small boutique hotel in the opera district, I am pretty sure it falls in your budget. It was close to the gare st. lazare which is a big train station and metro station, we got around via metro very easily. I would suggest you book your tickets to London prior to leaving (eurorail). We had planned to visit London but didn't realize the price jumps dramatically if you buy them at the last minute (pretty dumb of us) but we had a great time in Paris anyway.

[frlcb]

You don't need to stay in Zone 1 in London, you can stay in Zone 2 or 3 and still be close by tube to the attractions. We lived in Zone 4 and it took us 20 minutes to get into the main part of London.

[hz80408]

Jul 31, 2012 7:44:42 GMT -5 frlcb said:

You don't need to stay in Zone 1 in London, you can stay in Zone 2 or 3 and still be close by tube to the attractions. We lived in Zone 4 and it took us 20 minutes to get into the main part of London.

Based on our experiece as tourists in April, I agree with this. We stayed with my sister outside of London (in Reading, 45minutes by train) and would go into London for the day. Everything is completely accessible by the tube. I wouldn't worry about your hotel location so much, just plan on getting an oyster card for tube/bus ride (we found the bus system really easy to navigate and a fun alternative to the tube (plus cheaper than paying for a double-decker tour))

[kelley182]

London - I highly suggest staying close to Paddington Station. The subway is the obvious reason but there are also nice restaurants in the area and you can rent bikes and ride around in Hyde Park. We loved Hyde Park!

Paris - You should definitely stay in the Latin Quarter. We stayed at Hotel de France which was extremely close to the subway. The area itself is amazing though. DH loved Paris on this visit but said that he wasn't impressed with it last time simply because of the area of town that he stayed in (by the Eiffel Tower). There aren't any gypsies in the Latin Quarter and the local restaurants are just amazing.