Another Affordable Paris Hotel To Check Out: Hotel Jules

Where: 49-51 rue Lafayette, Paris, Paris, France, 75009

July 5, 2012 at 1:56 PM | by EricRosen | Comment (1)

Paris hotels are notoriously expensive, especially in the summer time, and especially when there�s a Summer Olympics in London. But HotelChatter Special Contributor Eric Rosen recently made a trip to the City of Lights and found a few places to stay that won�t throw the Eurozone into further chaos. Here is one of them.

The last time I saw Paris, her trees were dressed for spring�and although it�s now summer, you can still find great rooms at charming boutique hotels all over the city without taking out a second mortgage on your house�such as the boho-luxe Hotel Jules, a boutique property in Paris�s 9th arrondisement near the Opera Garnier and the city�s grand Belle Epoque department stores like Printemps and, of course, Galerie Lafayette.

Though its location in the calmer 9th arrondisement means you won�t find many of the usual tourist haunts nearby, you do get a sense of a real Parisian neighborhood around these parts, and there are tons of little stores, boutiques and restaurants in every direction (including a fantastic �bistronomic� restaurant with gourmet fare at affordable prices and free WiFi called La Classe, just around the corner), plus it�s just a short metro ride from many of the city�s sights and some of my favorite neighborhoods like the Amelie-glorified Canal St. Martin.

Since it was taken over GLA Hotels (also the folks behind the Hotel Beauchamps) a few years ago, the hotel has undergone a refurbishment with an aesthetic that�s a �deliberate mix of styles spanning the 50�s, 60�s and 70�s� that means a m�lange of sharp geometric patterns, egg-shaped modular furniture, a few accents of bright color and white leather banquettes because, well, who doesn�t have those nowadays? The lobby also has a computer workspace for guests who need to get work done during their stay, though the WiFi is free throughout, so bring your own laptop. Altogether, the hotel has 95 bedrooms and six suites.

I stayed in a junior suite, which is accessible by a separate elevator from the hotel�s main wing. The cozy living room held a loveseat and small breakfast table with two chairs, a retro double-lamp, as well as a minibar enclosed within an old steamer trunk, a zebra-skin rug on the floor and a small wall-mounted flat-screen TV. The separate bedroom had a king-size bed, a work desk and a flat-screen television.

The bathroom was off the bedroom and contained two separate sinks (facing away from one another) with little cubbies for the toiletries, a walk-in shower and a separate soaking tub all tiled in white.

Best of all, rooms start at 191 euros in July and 174 euros a night this summer, meaning a trip to Paris doesn�t have to cost un bras et une jambe (yeah my high school French was rusty).

Full disclosure: Eric Rosen was a guest of the Hotel Jules for one night, but all opinions expressed are entirely his own.

[Photos: Eric Rosen/HotelChatter]

HotelChatter

Select a Destination:

Paris Hotels / Affordable Paris Hotels / HotelChatter Reviews / → All Tags