PARIS — It should come as no surprise that hotels in one of the most visited cities on earth do not run cheap. Those famous hotels, the ones you see celebrities and Instagram influencers post about with balconies overlooking the Eiffel Tower? They charge more than $1,000 per night for their worst room.
It’s not just a problem for the crème de la crème of properties. Across the board in Paris, prices are high. The average hotel rates in the French capital, as of February, are $346.86, which is up 13.8 percent year over year according to STR, a global hospitality data and analytics company.
“Just generally, hotel prices have gone up in the last couple years,” said Matt Kepnes, author of “How to Travel the World on $75 a Day,” who recently moved to Paris. “It’s much harder globally to find inexpensive properties unless you’re traveling really offseason.”
Paris is no different, with prices fluctuating wildly with demand throughout the year. In my hunt for a reasonable room last month, I found rates for hotels around $150 that could skyrocket to more than $400 come peak season — namely, the sunniest parts of spring, summer and fall.
For better deals, Kepnes recommends turning your search beyond the central core of Paris, looking instead to the city’s outer arrondissements (or neighborhoods).
“Anything in the 2nd is going to be super expensive,” he said. “But if you look at places in the 20th, which is a cool area … the 9th, the 14th, the 15th, the 17th — they’re a little further out, but the rates are cheaper.”
How cheap? Finding a hotel for under $100 per night is a challenge — at least if you want something “hygienic,” said journalist Lindsey Tramuta, who wrote the book “The Eater Guide to Paris.” Even private rooms in some hostels can run for upward of $150.
But there are exceptions.
The one-star chain HotelF1 is considered the cheapest brand in Paris, but its locations are outside of the Boulevard Périphérique — the ring road that circles Paris proper. That might not be a dealbreaker. To the city’s south, there’s HotelF1 Paris Porte de Châtillon (average nightly rates around $75), about a 30-minute walk from the Catacombs of Paris, and just a bit further down the road you’ll hit the famous seafood restaurant Le Duc.
But generally, Tramuta isn’t sure the financial savings of staying beyond the Périphérique are worth the added time on the Métro back into the city center, and recommends looking to less expensive chains instead.
So where does that leave the budget-conscious traveler? I tested properties in three price categories to see what you could get for around $100, $200 and $300. Here’s what I learned.
Hipotel Père Lachaise: $99
Hipotel Père Lachaise is a block from the famous cemetery of the same name in the 11th Arrondissement. Nearby, there are multiple organic markets, cafes and restaurants, including the hot-spot bistro Le Servan. Online the hotel showed rates could run as low as $68 and as high as $161, depending on the season. I booked a standard twin room that fit two people, for $99, including taxes.
When I arrived, the lobby was updated and clean, complete with spa water for visitors and a welcoming staff member to check me in. My room was dormlike in decor but shockingly massive, and had a huge floor-to-ceiling window that opened up onto a quiet street. There was plenty of storage space and a luggage rack, plus a small writing desk. The beds — two twins pushed together, very European — were firm but comfortable, with very basic bedding (see also: bleached-to-death sheets).
Highlights: Firm but comfortable bed(s), clean and spacious. Even the bathroom was gigantic. The shower may have looked like a tiny old capsule in the corner, but the water pressure was strong, and it never ran out of hot water. Also within a short walk to Métro Lines 2, 3 and 9, and walking distance from cool restaurants.
Lowlights: Grey floors, gray walls and gray furniture accented the spartan-ness of the room. The bathroom, while clean, felt beat up, and like many European hotel bathrooms, the shower flooded the entirety of the tile floor. Thin walls meant you could hear your neighbors coming and going in the hallway; light sleepers may want earplugs.
Did we get what we paid for? 100 percent. The hotel was in a lovely stretch of a great neighborhood. You would be hard-pressed to find a larger room at a better price.
Grand Hôtel des Balcons: $170
Bumping up my budget meant one thing: location, location, location. I chose the Grand Hôtel des Balcons because it was a couple bocks from the Luxembourg gardens and a 10-minute walk from Notre-Dame Cathedral. It’s a family-run hotel with 49 rooms, housed in a 19th-century townhouse, which felt very Parisian. My room was $170 per night, but it can teeter into the $300 territory during peak season. For $16 per day, you can add a continental breakfast.
The hotel sits on a quiet street, but it’s just around the corner from nice boutique clothing stores, antique-book shops, small restaurants and the Boulevard Saint-Germain, a major thoroughfare with even more businesses. As the name suggests, my room had a typical Parisian balcony. (Too narrow for table and chairs, but you can enjoy the lovely view.)
Highlights: The hotel was full of charm and really gave you a sense of place; you have the wrought-iron railing and flower boxes on your window, which overlooked the townhouses across the narrow street. You still handed over your brass key to the front desk to store in a cubby when you came and went. While small, the room had lots of storage space, very bright lighting, a clean bathroom with a good shower and a comfortable bed. And it was only a few minutes’ walk from Métro Lines 4 and 10.
Lowlights: If I was paying peak rates, I might be disappointed by some of the small room’s dated features, such as a very loud and annoying bathroom fan and the carpeting. There was a hot-water kettle, but only cheap packets of instant coffee and tea bags.
Did we get what we paid for? A little worn, the Grand Hôtel des Balcons was still lovely and bright, and worthy of its off-peak rate.
Hôtel Pulitzer Paris: $310
In the $300-per-night range, I turned to the Michelin Keywebsite for recommendations and found the Hôtel Pulitzer Paris. Located in the 9th Arrondissement’s Opera District, it’s part of a small collection of boutique properties across Western Europe and promised contemporary design in “unique spaces.” Reviews raved about location and the service, and I liked that it didn’t look too modern — as many other hotels in this mid-luxury price range appeared. I didn’t want to wake up wondering where I was; I wanted to wake up feeling like I was in France.
Check-in was seamless, and I took the elevator to the fifth floor to find my room. ($310 per night, including taxes. In peak season, prices can climb to $400 per night.) It was smaller than I had expected but much more ornate than the previous two hotels. Attention to detail was evident in every corner of the room, between the artwork, the sultry lighting and helpful hooks for hanging clothing.
Highlights: The room was full of luxurious touches, from the expensive-feeling bed to the robes and slippers in the closet. Turndown service included a chocolate on the pillow. The desk was stocked with a Nespresso machine and a glass bottle of complimentary water. A big window overlooked very Parisian rooftops in a quiet courtyard. You’re very much in the action in a vibrant neighborhood and within a short walk from the Grands Boulevards or Le Peletier Métro stations.
Lowlight: The lobby and guest rooms are pumped with the hotel’s signature fragrance. For anyone with a scent sensitivity, this would be a major setback — maybe even a dealbreaker. And while the lighting seemed dark by design, it made me sleepy when I was trying to get some work done during the day; I nearly asked the front desk for an extra lamp.
Did we get what we paid for? The actual build of the hotel’s interior made it feel exponentially more luxurious than the other hotels. Between the fantastic bed, the in-room amenities and the helpful staff, it felt worthy of the price tag.
The takeaway
The most expensive hotel wasn’t my favorite of the three. While the bed, decor and amenities were more luxurious, I slept great at the other two and preferred that they were on quieter streets. Not to mention the less you spend on your hotel, the more you might have for dining out and shopping.
After this experiment — and about a dozen prior trips to the city — I can tell you that Paris isn’t about being in your hotel room, anyway. It’s about walking along the Seine and people-watching from sidewalk cafes. That being said, a dump can ruin your trip. I benefited from spending a few hours scouring hotel booking sites and reading reviews from multiple sources before locking in my reservations. There were many budget hotels that looked promising, until you read that people felt unsafe staying in them or that management wouldn’t fix a clogged toilet for days. So keep your eye out for a deal, but proceed with caution.
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