stimpy

I agree. I've stayed many times at the HI Gare de Lyon and love the restaurants in that area. And le Train Bleu is a must for anyone passing through. I often schedule my connecting flights/trains to allow for a good two hour lunch there.

Fredd

Any strong pro or con opinions of Holiday Inn Express Paris - Canal de la Villette?

We've booked two rooms there for a stay with three grandchildren this summer. What with requiring two rooms most places for a 2 1/2 week introduction to Europe, price is a determining factor for us unless there are strong negatives.

BinSabai

re location: not that great, well at least you have like nearly everyhwere in Paris two Metro stations within 300-500 meters walk (line 5 and 7) and a couple of restaurants in the neighborhood

jpdx

Have stayed a bunch of times at the ICs and Indigo, but am now looking at the cheaper HI options. Opera-Grands Boulevards, Gare de Lyon, and Gare de l'Est are under EUR100 for my dates. Which is the best, considering that I value (in this order) modern room of reasonable size (Spire upgrade), and good location for getting around.

stimpy

It depends on where you like to be. I often stay at Gare de l'Est or Gare de Lyon and both hotels have large rooms and suites IF you manage to get upgraded to those. It depends on how busy they are. Both are convenient to public transport, but they are in rather different neighborhoods. I think the Grands Boulevards has almost entirely tiny rooms, even though I like the neighborhood. Note that there is very little that is modern about these hotels.

jpdx

Thank you, this is very helpful! I'm semi boycotting Marriott due to the ludicrously poor promo they gave me this quarter (2000 points for 4 stays, then a further 2000 points per 2 stays), and trying to maximize stays with IHG (where I have crazy generous stacking 2x/4x/Accelerate promos), but it sounds as though I may be better off at the new Courtyard, which is also sub-EUR100 on my dates, rather than any of the HIs.

stimpy

I can only say that I've been upgraded to nice, unique and large rooms and suites at these HI's and others in Paris that are a lot better than any Courtyard. But if I were to judge by the base entry level room, maybe the CY would be better.

jpdx

Thanks! The new Courtyard Paris has some decent reviews, although they offer nowhere near the Plat/Tit/Amb benefits one would find at Asian Courtyards. Having just spent the better part of a month at CP/HIs in Japan --many of which were built in the 1980s and haven't seen a penny of investment since-- I was thrown off by this remark:

Do any of the HI in Paris have reasonably modern rooms with furniture that doesn't immediately provoke a "yuck, I'm not sitting on that" response upon walking in the room, working wifi, etc?

stimpy

Sure, many of the newer or renovated HI's are modern. Perhaps the best is Notre Dame, but that is usually the most expensive. And it's in one of the best neighborhoods. The entry level rooms at Gare de l'Est do have that "yuck" feeling and that is why it is usually the cheapest. And the neighborhood is not appealing to foreign tourists (although I generally like it).

Clichy is an example of a good modern HI that can often be had at a good price, however it is far from the center and you have to walk a ways to get the metro. There are lots of other choices. I've been to all the HI's in Paris except maybe one or two new ones.

Sorry I can't comment on WiFi. I have not used WiFi in Paris since September 21st, 2012. That was the day the iPhone 5 launched with 4G service from Orange and I never looked back!

Fredd

A belated thanks for your comments. We did stay there and found it quite acceptable. The rooms were decent and the employees were friendly and helpful.

The breakfast room was crowded in mid-August, and challenging to find a table for five, but it was navigable. We actually quite liked the quiet little neighborhood and walked over the canal bridge one night to eat at the brewery-style restaurant on the other side of the canal. The price was decent and it was more than adequate for our needs.

jkenn

I'm staying at the Hotel Indigo Paris Opera next week. Are there any good public transportation options to get there, or best to just Uber?

336

To get there from where?

In general Paris has good public transport.

ShopAround

I’ve stayed there many times and was booked there for next week but decided to try the nearby Kimpton instead.

Getting there from the airport is easy via the RoissyBus. Multiple bus and metro lines have stops in the area and many places are easily walkable. That’s one reason I usually stay in that neighborhood, the ease of getting around.

VOSGP

May i know how was your stay at Kimpton? If price or points between the 2 (Kimpton & Indigo) are pretty much the same, which one would you choose? and why, please? Thanks.

ShopAround

I had posted a comparison in the Kimpton thread but I'll elaborate a bit more. They're completely different experiences. The Indigo always upgraded me to very large rooms; Kimpton upgraded me but the room was still around half the size of what I've had at the Indigo. As Kimpton is a newer property, I'd say the room there was nicer.

Kimpton is full service, with plenty of front desk staff, porters, concierge, etc. vs the Indigo, where there was usually just one or two people at the front desk. I never used the fitness center in either hotel but I used the pool at the Kimpton and enjoyed it. First time I ever packed a swimsuit for a Paris trip. I made it to the social hour a few times for a glass of wine - that's a Kimpton thing, of course, which you wouldn't have at the Indigo. I was traveling alone and there weren't many people to be "social" with, but the wine was good and the nibbles (cashews and olives) were the same every evening.

Can't compare the breakfast, since I never had it at the Indigo. It was good at the Kimpton but the buffet was exactly the same every day and could be improved. The hot items were lukewarm, the pastries were the same mass-produced baked goods you find in other hotels and the cheese selection was minimal, which surprised me, since those are foods that you'd expect to be particularly good in Paris.

Indigo was very quiet and I had no noise issues at the Kimpton other than the night when they had a DJ in the restaurant. I had a room facing the inner courtyard and it was loud enough that I couldn't get to sleep until it stopped around midnight.

I almost always spend Christmas week in Paris and was booked at the Indigo again for last year because the Kimpton was a lot more points. But when IHG had a one-day sale, the points for the Kimpton came way down, so I tried it. I'd stay there again if the point redemption was comparable, but if there was a huge disparity, I'd go back to the Indigo.