Priceline Hotel: Paris Bidding Zone Help

[wishful]

Hello,

This may be more "Run of the house" than anything but here goes:

We'll be in Paris from Saturday 10/27-Monday 10/29, arriving via Eurostar at 10am and departing at 6am (eep!). Most of our sightseeing will be within the city, visiting churches and attending church concerts that are at night, so access to public transportation is key. Other than Notre Dame and St. Suplice I can't spell or remember the names of the other churches we'll be visiting so I don't know exactly what areas we'll be in, but as long as we can get there from the hotel that should be OK.

Given that the public transportation system is pretty good, should I care what zones I bid in? My main concerns were not spending too much time to get to the hotel to check in/drop off our bags and catching the train back on time. I would like to get off the train, drop off our luggage, do our thing, and still catch the 6am train on Monday (need to be at the Gare du Nord at 5am).

I've been looking at the Ibis hotels around the Gare Du Nord - they have a 30 Euro off special at some locations and are averaging about $85/night USD - but a lot of people say it won't take too much time to get to any other areas of the city once we arrive, so I may as well pay the same or a little more for a nicer hotel in a nicer area.

Suggestions, hints, or should I just start bidding? I know my strategy, know my star preferences, etc.

Thanks!

:)

[thereuare]

Since it's a two nite stay i would first target the area around the Gare du Nord... catching an early flight/train just isn't fun and i would want to travel the least amount as possible. As well, if you need to be at the train station at 5am, what time would you need to leave another part of the city to arrive on time... do the trains run at that hour of the morning? (i was in Paris a few months ago, but had no need to find out what time the trains started in the morning as i wouldn't be up at that hour anyway). I'm sure you could get a taxi if need be.

With the above noted, if prices were too high in that area, i wouldn't have a problem using a nearby zone, but my first choice would be near the train station. Others may disagree, and i may think differently if this was more than a 2 nite stay, but those are my own thoughts.

[WillTravel]

In some cases, I really like staying near train stations if I'm coming and going by train. My reluctance in this case would be that the Gare du Nord area is not the nicest. If you stay at an Ibis, would you be in really easy walking distance of Gare du Nord? Although I'm reasonably fearless about late night/early morning walks, perhaps more than I should be, I would not necessarily want to walk several blocks to Gare du Nord before 5 AM, particularly as it will be so obvious that you are a weighted-down tourist.

I noticed that Ibis Grands Boulevards Opera has a pretty good rate for your date (one night 90 Euros and one night 49 Euros). This is less than a mile from Gare du Nord (about 7 Euros taxi ride) and this is very close to the area where we stayed on our February trip, and we quite enjoyed this area. You could take the metro to/from Gare du Nord (but I'm not sure how much walking it is from the metro part to the train station part), although I'm not sure the metro actually starts running before 5 AM anyway.

In short - if you get a hotel you like that is less than a block from the train station, I'd consider it. Any more than that, and you might as well stay further away (IMO).

[thereuare]

Based upon WillTravel's comments i'll clarify that my thoughts above were 'general' in regards to short trips and early morning departures... i'm not familiar with the area surrounding Gare du Nord, but do recall LOTS of panhandlers with signs telling of their plight and why they needed money (although growing up around NYC i'm used to this).

[wishful]

Thanks for the responses. I've heard some comments about the area not being so "nice", so your info helped clarify that - I'm in LA and used to pretty much everything, so it's probably not the worst area, but it's good to know to keep an eye out for things.

I can't seem to be able to tell what if any public transport runs at 5am, I've checked several websites and I guess there are some bus lines that run all night but I can't tell what hotels they pass by at this point, the Metro seems iffy-ish as well.

Yes, WillTravel, I was also wondering what we'd look like walking around with our luggage, so that was a consideration, but I guess I can't worry too much, I'll check out the Ibis Grands Boulevards. I'll probably make a changeable reservation somewhere now and then then do the SavingsBarn link thing in a few weeks (and pray for a cab).

Now the actual excitement of going is overshadowing the fun of planning, I may not care IF we sleep when we get there much less where :)

Thanks again,

W

[WillTravel]

Use the route planner at http://www.ratp.fr .

With that, you can see that with a starting point of the Ibis Grands Boulevards at 4:45 AM on your date, you will have to take two buses to get to Gare du Nord, with some walking at each connection point. I'm pretty sure you could walk to the station in the time allotted to do this two-bus method.

[Rhine-and-Roses]

I would NOT stay in the area of the Gare du Nord. It is one of the worst areas in the city limits, in my opinion. I lived in Paris for years, was just there two weeks ago and do not think you want to stay there. THere is a whole lot more than just panhandlers- pickpockets in particular are a worry if you are loaded down with luggage. I have been pickpocketed at this station, and was aggressed (and slapped) by a man looking for a handout. It is fine in the daytime, although pickpockets are a problem everywhere you go in Paris, especially if you have luggage. In any event, if you come into the Gare du Nord on the metro, you will come up through the subway into the station, which I find preferable to walking in off the streets at that time. If you take a taxi, you'll be fine, too.

Go to www.ratp.fr and click the British flag at the very top, right side of the screen for English. You can get metro stops and timetables there. There are four lines going into the Gare du Nord, so you could stay in many parts of the city without having to change lines. (Paris metro has very few elevators, although escalators are becoming more and more common.) By the way, the subway offers a Paris Visite card for unlimited travel for one day, and a Mobilis card which offers almost the same deal, but for a few euro less. I buy the Mobilis to save, but if you want to go outside the perimeter to zone two, buy the Paris Visite. (You would probably only do that to go to La Defense.)

We recently stayed at the Marriott Rive Gauche Conference Center and were happy ($101). While it is a good trek from the Gare du Nord, the RATP site shows only 24 minutes. You would, however, have to change lines, which could be a pain with luggage.