Where to stay in Paris – 4 PERFECT locations for first time visitors

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Are you planning a trip to France and want to know where to stay in Paris?

Choosing where to stay in Paris is a really important step in maximising the quality of your stay, particularly if you only have a couple of days in the city.

The centre of Paris is not necessarily huge but it can take a long time to get from one area of the city to the next. Therefore, it is important to strategically position yourself close enough to all of the action – particularly if you are visiting Paris for the first time.

In our breakdown of where to stay in Paris for first time visitors – we will provide you with the best locations for nightlife; shopping & ease of access; best for families and the best location for scenery.

In each area, we will cover suitable hotels in Paris for every budget to ensure you have a range of options depending on your needs. There are over 1000 hotels in Paris so you will have a wide range of options from boutique hotels to 5* luxury hotels in the city.

How to get around in Paris

Public Transport

If you are planning to spend at least one week in the city the Paris City Pass – “Navigo Decouverte” allows you to travel throughout zones 1-5 using public transport for around €30 per week. This can be purchased at the majority of metro or train stations.

You can also get a Navigo day pass covering zones 1-3 for €11.60 per day.

Alternatively, the Paris Visite package allows access to all transport networks: metro, tram, bus, RER and train (SNCF Transilien).  This package, valid for 1, 2, 3 or 5 consecutive days, allows unlimited travel in Paris (zones 1 to 3) or Paris and the Île-de-France region (all zones, with access to airports including Orlyval, Disneyland Paris and Château de Versailles). The visite pass also provides discounted prices for numerous attractions around the city.

Duration	Adult	Child (4-11)
1 Day	€13.95 (Zone 1-3) €29.25 (1-5)	€6.95 (Zone 1-3) €14.60 (1-5)
2 Days	€22.65 (Zone 1-3) €44.45 (1-5)	€11.30 (Zone 1-3) €22.20 (1-5)
3 Days	€30.90 (Zone 1-3) €62.30 (1-5)	€15.45 (Zone 1-3) €31.15 (1-5)
5 Days	€44.45 (Zone 1-3) €76.25 (1-5)	€22.20 (Zone 1-3) €38 (1-5)

This can be purchased in any station or else online at https://parisjetaime.com/eng/tickets

Taxi

The main apps used for taxi services around the city are Bolt or FreeNow – it is beneficial to download each of these apps if you need to grab a taxi but we would suggest using public transport wherever possible.

Hop On/Hop Off Tour

If it is your first time visiting the city, one of the best ways to get a feel for the city and to see all of the major sites is to take the hop/hop off bus tours. This allows you the flexibility to pick and choose where and when you want to go somewhere, without having to worry about how to get there. You can continue to use our guide to plan out your time and use the bus to move between each of the recommended locations.

How many days do you need in Paris?

Ideally, you should spend 4 days in Paris to allow sufficient time to explore the sites and potentially take a day trip. You will need a minimum of 2 days in Paris to see the major sites but will have to prioritize some places over others within that time.

The key things to maximising your time in Paris is to have a clear plan. Paris is a very big city and it is spread out, the major sights are not very close together so you need to focus on one area at a time.

If you do have 3-4 days in Paris and would like to take a day trip, we would highly recommend this Palace of Versailles Tour which will take you into the world of French royalty. The tour includes skip the line access and a guided tour of this incredible palace, really worth adding to a longer Paris itinerary.

Alternatively, we would also suggest taking a trip to Disneyland Paris if you have time available, particularly if you are visiting Paris with kids..

Map of Paris with key locations

Best things to do in Paris for first time visitors

There are a number of things we would recommend doing on your first trip to Paris but let’s start with something you shouldn’t do. The biggest mistake we see people make when they visit a city like Paris is to try to do too much at once.

If you want to make the most of your stay, divide the city into key areas and spend a full day in each area and do an activity in each. For example, rather than trying to run from the Louvre to Montmartre to the Eiffel Tower in a day focus only on the Eiffel Tower.

Spend the morning getting breakfast at Place du Trocadero, have a picnic at Champ des Mars in the afternoon and enjoy a cruise along the River Seine in the evening. That way, you won’t feel rushed and you’ll get it to enjoy from different perspectives throughout the day.

Similarly, with Montmartre, have a coffee at Noir in the morning, watch the street artists along the Place du Tertre in the afternoon and go see a show at the Moulin Rouge in the evening. In our experience, that is the best way to enjoy a city, create a mini city within it each day and explore that area fully.

Best Areas to stay in Paris

Paris is broken up into 20 arrondissements (neighbourhoods) each with advantages and disadvantages for a stay in the city. Rather than taking you through all 20, we have picked out our top 4 based on the type of trip you are taking.

Generally speaking, if it is your first time in Paris, we would recommend choosing a hotel in one of the lower numbered arrondissements as these will be closest to the major attractions.

With that in mind, most of our focus here will be on those central neighbourhoods but we are also going to include two others that are a bit further out of the centre.

Those will be arrondissement 18 of Butte Montmartre for anyone who wants more of a village style feel to their city while still being in the city and the 14th Arrondissement de l’Observatoire, which is a good option for anyone visiting on a budget, particularly if you are flying into Orly rather than CDG.

Le Marais (4th Arrondissement – Central)

This is the area we typically recommend staying in for anyone planning a trip to Paris for the first time to ensure you are at the heart of the action in Paris.

In this area you will find the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral, Place des Vosges, which is a beautiful place to sit with a coffee.

Depending on your budget there are 3 hotels in Le Marais that we would recommend booking. For a luxury 5* stay, we would suggest Hotel Dupond-Smith or SO/Paris Hotel, both of which are just steps away from the main attractions in Paris.

For a luxurious stay at a slightly less eye watering price we would recommend Boudoir des Muses, which comes with an indoor swimming pool and very stylish interior.

The two key disadvantages of staying in Le Marais are that it is more expensive than other neighbourhoods in Paris and it also tends to be one of its most crowded due to its proximity to so many attractions.

With that in mind, if you aren’t keen on being at the centre of the action, or the pace of life in a major city, we would suggest staying at one of the two other areas we recommend later in the post.

Montmarte (18th Arrondissement – Culture)

Next up is our favourite neighbourhood in Paris, Montmartre. Montmartre is renowned for being the home to the cities artists and when you go here it feels like you are stepping into a different world entirely.

For that reason, we would highly recommend booking a hotel in Montmartre if you want a slower pace to your stay, beautiful views from above the city and to capture the romance of the city.

Montmartre is lined with cobbled streets, music on every corner and a sense of charm that isn’t found as much across the other neighbourhoods in our view.

Our top hotel pick in Montmartre is Maison Souquet for a luxury stay, which has an indoor swimming pool, spa and wellness facilities and a stunning design perfect for a memorable stay.

We also love Hotel des Arts Montmartre which has an on site gym and a breakfast menu that guests always love.

In this area you will find some of Paris’ best attractions, including the Sacre-Couer and the sinking house of Montmartre. Le Maison Rose and Moulin Rouge are also nearby and if you want a place for a beautiful photo, head to the bottom of Rue L’abreuvoir where you will get stunning views of the cobbled streets lining the path to the Sacre-Coeur.

The obvious drawback to Montmartre is that it is a little bit removed from the rest of the city and is one of the areas of Paris that scammers tend to target most so we would advise you to avoid anyone offering you a bracelet or to find the missing item under cups etc.

Palais Bourbon (7th Arrondissement – The Eiffel Tower)

Last but not least, for some people, a trip to Paris is all about one thing and one thing only – the Eiffel Tower. If you have dreamed of visiting Paris to see the Eiffel Tower from every angle than this is where to stay in Paris.

If that’s you, you’re in luck, because we have done that too so we know exactly where you should go to get the best views:

• L’Howea
• Rue L’Universite
• Avenue Camoens
• Pont d’Lena
• Pont d’Alma
• Galeries Lafayette Hausmann Rooftop
• Arc de Triomphe rooftop
• Avenue Buenos Ayres
• Place du Trocadero
• No. 06 Metro

Once you have walked every corner of the region to get the perfect shot of the tower, there are plenty of other things to enjoy here as well such as museums including Musee D’Orsay and public parks like Champ des Mars.

In Palais Bourbon we would recommend staying at Le Narcisse Blanc for a luxury stay near the Eiffel Tower. This hotel has an indoor swimming pool, sauna and fitness centre and is just a 15 minute walk from the iconic landmark.

For a more budget friendly option we would recommend Hotel Thomieux but we use the term ‘budget’ loosely as easy access to the Eiffel Tower comes at a heavy premium.

Arrondissement de l’Observatoire (14th Arrondissement – Paris on a budget)

If you are looking for somewhere to stay in Paris on a budget we would recommend the 14th arrondissement, which is outside the city centre but can connect you to it quite quickly.

We would mainly recommend staying in this area if you are only in Paris for 1-2 days and are flying in to Orly airport specifically, as this area will provide you with fairly quick access to both the airport and the city centre.

In particular, we would recommend staying at Novotel Suites Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, both because it is a really well designed hotel and more importantly, because there is a metro station right on the doorstep.

The metro there can take you to the Eiffel Tower in under 30 minutes. By comparison, getting there from Notre Dame in Le Marais takes around 20 minutes.

Alternatively, we could also recommend Hotel Max as an affordable option, which gets great guest reviews as well.

There are also some cool things to do around this area – one highlight in particular are the Paris catacombs, which takes you 243 steps below the surface of the city to explore the history of the site dating back to the 1800’s when the cities cemeteries were found to be linked to health problems in the city and their contents subsequently transferred to this site.

Where not to stay in Paris

As with any big city, every area will have some good and bad elements so none of the areas we have recommended will come without some degree of crime etc.

That being said, two places we would recommend avoiding are around the major train stations, specifically Gare du Nord in the 10th arrondissement which has a higher rate of pickpocketing and the Saint Denis area of the 18th arrondissement which again is known to have a higher crime rate.