Paris Hotels and Accommodation

Paris, the City of Lights! Generations of artistes in every medium and genre have made their way to Paris, from the painters of the 19th century to the writers and musicians of the early 20th century. Today, Paris hotels still welcome thousands of visitors each year who come to bask in the city's indefinable allure.
When preparing for a trip to Paris, there are two ways to select among Paris Hotels: location and price. Either way can provide sufficient criteria to match eager visitors with a Paris hotel that will suit their needs perfectly. Most 3 to 5 star hotels in Paris are of admirable quality, with a few exceptions of course.

For instance, if a visit to Paris is the culmination of a lifetime dream, then no doubt the visitors desire to experience famed Parisian luxury. The choice then would be among Paris' exquisite 4- and 5-star hotels. For top-of-the-line luxury, five-star hotels would include venues such as Hotel Raphael, Hotel Sofitel Le Faubourg, Trianon Palace, Hotel de Vendôme, Hospes Lancaster Hotel, or the Hotel Ambassador.

There are a wealth of four-star hotels in Paris that would delight guests with their amenities and services. Among these Paris hotels are Le Lavoisier, Hôtel Meliá Royal Alma, Hotel Amarante Pierre Arc de Triomphe, Hotel Chateaubriand, Hôtel Waldorf Madeleine, Hôtel Château Frontenac(a nice Paris hotel), Royal Saint-Honoré and the Hotel Montfleuri, to name only a few among dozens.

Those who are visiting Paris on a budget need not despair of finding suitable accommodations. Among the affordable hotels available in the three-star and two-star ranges are many of the familiar American chains such as Best Western and Comfort hotels, along with extreme budget-priced one-star accommodations, bed and breakfast inns, apartments and guest houses.

Visitors who desire to be close to certain of Paris' impressive sights can find a wide range of accommodations in any part of the city. For instance, near the Louvre and Les Halles in Arondissement 1, there are 95 four- and five-star hotels, with another 106 three-star Paris hotels as well. Tourists who desire to be close to the magnificent Cathedral of Notre Damemay choose from among 95 mid-priced hotels in this area. Around the fabled Arondissement 8 and the Champs Elysees, near the Fauborg Saint-Honore, there are nearly 115 mid-priced hotels eager to welcome visitors to Paris!

Truly, with so many fabulous sights to see in Paris, it's possible to find a hotel within a reasonable travel distance to many of them. Tour guides and knowledgeable visitors encourage stops at:

• Cathedral de Notre-Dame, one of Gothic architecture's most stunning achievements, begun in 1163 and finished around 1345, large enough inside to hold 6,000 worshippers to marvel at its spectacular rose windows.
• Eiffel Tower built for the 1889 World's Fair to mark the centenary of the French Revolution and named for its designer, Gustave Eiffel. At 320m (1050ft) high it was the world's tallest structure until 1930.
• Avenue des Champs-Élysées, once a popular boulevard for aristocrats taking the air, the Champs-Élysées has lost some of her luster to cinemas, car showrooms and fast-food establishments, but it's still good for walks in the evening.
  
• Cimetière du Père Lachaise, one of the world's most-visited cemeteries, is the final resting place of writers such as Molière, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust, Balzac and Gertrude Stein; the composer Chopin; artists Delacroix, Seurat and Modigliani; actors Sarah Bernhardt, Simone Signoret and Yves Montand; singers Édith Piaf and the Doors' front man Jim Morrison; and dancer Isadora Duncan.
  
• Arc-de-Triomphe, perhaps Napoleon's most well-known landmark, sits where 12 Paris avenues converge in a star shape.
• French National Library (Bibliotheque Nationale Francais), is the institution charged with preserving everything published in France, making it the repository of national memory in whatever medium.
• Invalides, formally the Hôtel des Invalides, was founded by Louis XIV for wounded servicemen and now includes several museums and the tomb of Napoléon.
• Sacré Coeur, a 19th century Byzantine-style basilica, sits in the heart of a village of poets, painters and sculptors and offers a panoramic view of the capital covering a 50-mile radius.