The Best Area Where to Stay in Paris On A Budget

There is a saying that you shouldn’t go back to the same place twice, until you’ve seen rest of the world. When it comes to Paris, I can’t seem to follow this saying. Paris is my city that I will never tire of going to from anywhere in the world. And as it turns out, you can also experience all the fun when visiting Paris on a budget.

At first I went to Paris to learn about art, to enjoy architecture and impressive cultural objects. Now it has become my favorite place where to relax and enjoy the city charm.

The best area where to stay in Paris

I planned my last Paris visit with the aim to find accommodation in the heart of the city. I wanted it to be as close as possible to the center not to spend a lot of time in public transport or car.

The goal was to go have dinner in one of my favorite restaurants located in Arrondissement 1 and just walk a short distance back to my hotel afterwards rather than spend an extra hour in Metro tunnels. Plus by living in the centre, you can feel safe walking the streets at any hour of the day. There will always be people around.

A golden finding Hotel Louvre Bons Enfants, Paris

Unfortunately, my wallet still doesn’t allow me to stay at the most fancy center hotels where one night costs around 1000 EUR. So I had to come up with something else much more fit for my budget.

Keeping my goal in mind I started to search for more affordable but at the same time chic hotels in the heart of Paris, which I consider the location of Arrondissement 1. And you know what? I found a great one and will share it with you as well!

The hotel

Hotel Louvre Bons Enfants is a nice three-star hotel, located on the street Rue des Bons Enfants. From the outside the building is no different from the other ones on the street next to it. After entering hotel though we were pleasantly surprised to see a very modern and tasteful interior.

First thing that you notice in the hotel is reception and lobby area. Next to lobby there’s a cosy little dining room. The public area is pretty small but very bright and comfortable, painted in balanced light red shades. Interior consists of notable modern design elements that are alternating with historical motifs decorated silk wallpapers.

We didn’t see any exaggerations with cheap decorations or any old, shabby furniture and stained carpets. You can often see such things in European urban middle-class hotels. But this one luckily has nothing of that.

Another pleasant surprise when entering the hotel was smiling reception staff and a hearty “Hello.” Immediately after check in, reception staff rushed to pick up our suitcases and bring them to the elevator. On the way they managed to offer  us “the hottest city tours” from the leaflets available on the Louvre Bons Enfants billboard. Everything you might need in this hotel is located just at your fingertips.

Location

The location of the hotel is fantastic. I can even name it as one of the best locations around Paris. With this we most certainly had hit the top!

Near the entrance to the hotel are Buren’s columns, a wonderful spot for artistic Instagram photos. Also only about 200 meters away you will find main gate entrance of the Louvre museum. The closest Metro stop Palais Royal Musée du Louvre and the Louvre-Rivoli is right on the corner from the hotel as well. You can reach them from any metro line you are taking.

Only 3 minute walk away you will reach famous Tuileries gardens, coast of the river  Seine, one of the central shopping streets in Paris – Rue de Rivoli and million small restaurants, cafes, bars and everything else you’d want in the heart of Paris.

Other famous sights such as Champs Elysees or Le Center Pompidou are nearby in opposite directions. I can tell you for sure, it’s a wonderful feeling when you live in the middle of everything and can actually walk from one object to another.

Rooms

We found this hotel in Booking.com. If you’d check the hotel pictures there, you can get a pretty decent impression of what to expect. However be aware that rooms are actually smaller in life than they look in pictures. In a twin room for two people at once is pretty difficult to move around.  It is really good that bathroom’s large enough, so you can use that additional space as well while getting ready to go out.

Aside from size issue the room was in perfect order. Interior was very nice and modern. I always love angel figurines in general so off course I enjoyed the angel carvings on wooden night lockers in the room. Our room had a classic French-style balcony with a heavy metal shutters over the balcony door. This created a true Parisian vibe.

Opposite the bed there was a small table with a wall mirror and an electric kettle with tea, coffee, milk and sugar. Very convenient to make your own hot drinks. It was a pleasant surprise that tea and coffee in rooms was stocked up daily.

Another good plus was an electric safe in the room for all your valuables. We didn’t have to carry all the cash with us when going out. It was safely stored back in the room.

Quite big drawback was the fact that there isn’t enough space where to unpack suitcases and hang your clothes. There is a small rack for clothes on the wall but it’s by far not enough if you are there for more than two days and carry at least a medium size luggage. If you’d arrive with large suitcases, there will almost be no place where to keep them.

Bathroom is quite the opposite to the small size of the room. It’s very spacious and well equipped. A bit funny to even say it but the bathroom is almost the same size as the room.It has a large mirror, hair-dryer, hygiene kit by eco cosmetics line and skin moisturizer body lotion.

Usually most three-star hotels have one refillable soap/ shampoo combination, so I always take my own bathroom products, but the Hotel Louvre Bons Enfants had me pleasantly surprised. In particular of the fact that it offers its guests an environmentally friendly sanitary products.

Staff & service

Hotel Louvre Bons Enfants staff left a very pleasant impression. The helpful and smiling people did not refuse their advice at any time. If it was necessary to find a place we could always turn to the reception to get detailed directions.

In addition, service and cleanliness of the room was in perfect quality. Housekeeper visited our room every day to change towels and stack up coffee table and bathroom with missing items.

Food

The hotel offers a typical breakfast buffet, which consists of some light snacks. Guests can choose to enjoy their meal in the dining room or have a delivery to their room.

This time we however choose to have breakfast outside the hotel. In Paris we have always preferred an authentic French style breakfast in a nearby boulangerie. Plus by having breakfast outside the hotel we definitely spent less that we’d had spent if eating in the hotel.