Paris district to stay in December

[Pinkrose444]

We are travelling to Paris (4 of us) in December over Christmas. I’m trying to decide which district is the best to stay, ideally easily accessible near the popular tourist attractions e.g Eiffel Tower, Louvre etc but also reasonably priced. Any recommendations on district and accommodation would be appreciated.

Ideal budget per night?. I would have a look at hotels in either the 7th or 8th arrondissements. Sometimes chains like the Hilton or Novotel for instance do special offers.

I would actually give the Louvre a miss unless you buy tickets in advance. Would instead visit the Musee D'Orsay.

TBH the Eiffel Tower is best looked at from a distance say at the Jardins du Trocedero. You cannot walk underneath it any longer as it is surrounded by a walled in security fence. You can also wait a long time in the security line to be admitted. The grassy area surrounding it can also be mobbed by scammers and other thieves looking to steal mobile phones. Same with Montmartre; that is also now spoilt by scammers and other low lifes.

Ideally about £1000 for the 5 nights. Not bothered if it’s a hotel or apartment, just somewhere easily accessible to main tourist attractions.

Any opportunity to increase the budget per night?. £200 a night for the 4 of you is a stretch in any city, let alone Paris.
You’re not going to get much in a nice area for that amount of money for five nights at Christmas time.

Many apartments are also small and do not have lifts.

I would have a look at the likes of Skyscanner as they offer Paris hotels , you may well
find something suitable there. All is not lost.

We really like Le Marais. It's not quite as near to the tourist sites, but Paris is quite small and walking around is part of the joy of it, and the Metro is easy. It's a very pretty area and the beautiful Musee Carnavalet is well worth a visit (sort of like the Museum of London, but for Paris, obvs!)

For Christmas you probably want something smarter maybe, but the Ibis we stayed in was very nice, near a market and sweet local bars and resaurants. We usually head for the Left Bank, but were really pleased to be somewhere different. That said one year we found a funny, very old fashioned (read slightly grotty) hotel opposite the Louvre, literally on the Left Bank and that did make things very easy. It was Hotel du Quai-Voltaire, I think it has been refurbished recently, but maybe worth a look.