Grand Hotel Francais

I spent a week in Paris to celebrate our first Wedding Anniversary. Through booking.com, we booked the Grand Hotel Francais because this hotel had a lot of good reviews. And we didn’t disappoint with our choice.
This hotel surpassed our expectations. It’s a great hotel which deserves to a 4 star one. The room was exactly as described on the website http://www.grand-hotel-francais.fr/en/. We stayed at the room 23 which is extremely clean, elegant, comfortable and well equipped.
The service was excellent. All the staffs were nice and especially Zyad is a friendliest hotelier that I have never known before. He gave us many advices on where to go, where to eat, how to get there…
A trip to remember. I’m sure that you will be extremely satisfied if you choose this hotel.

My stay at The Grand Hôtel Français was wonderful (is wonderful because i'm writing this in my room, wifi connected!). I'm living in a few hours with my girlfriend and we spent a very cosy time there. The métro and RER Nation (direct to the airport) is very near and this is pactical to visit the city with her (she didn't know Paris). I love my room at Grand Hôtel Français (nice design, clean and pure colors, soft materials, good TV) but I prefer more the bathroom (smal but well-arranged, with tub and colored lights. That's absolutly fabulous!)
The other thing to mention about Le Grand Hôtel Français is its location. Near Bastille, in "Le Onzième", it's one of the best Parisain district, very authentic and full of good addresses for food and wine. We ate many time Rue Léon Frot and around, where there are some great restaurants.ou can't miss them!
I'm sad my small holidays in Paris "le Onzième" is over. I wish I could live for ever in this small and friendly hotel.

Unique Quality: Le Grand Hôtel Français is a very charming and design hotel, with all the facilities (Wifi, TV, Bathtub, Queensize bed, Breakfast in bed...), very well situated, with the most warm welcome I've never had in France!
Little more, and very practical, the Grand Hotel Francais created a blog where you can find all te good addresses in the district, recommanded by the owner and best clients. That is very helpfull to find goods restaurants or bars, fine shops and more. I've never been disapointed about any adress in their blog.
This is the link: http://grand-hotel-francais-charme-marais-bastille.com/

Directions: Bastille, Nation, Onzième, Paris Rive Droite.

Grand Hotel Francais is perfectly located in the Marais and Bastille district and it is near to the Nation's Metro station, which is a transport hub to most of the interesting touristic areas in Paris.

It is one of those beautiful buildings that you can find in the area with moulded ceilings and balconies at the windows that make up the charm and elegance of Paris.

This attractive building harmoniously combines the intimate and the functionnal beauty and modernity.

The lobby and the bar recently totally renovated to represent the charm and the elegance of the French tradition.

It offers a non-ending list of service such as Wifi, restauration, excursion and satellite table.
My favourite will of course be in the breakfast room, where I am allowed to rediscover the finest of French traditions : pains au chocolat, brioches, croissants and of course, the famous baguette !

No doubt one of the best croissant that I've ever eaten in my whole life (yeah.. if you compared to koln's croissant lol)

Unique Quality: charming, elegant, family business, france free wifi, paris center, strategic, three stars hotel, well located, friendly, antique,

Directions: Located at place de la Nation, one of Paris'major crossroads.
5 minutes away from Bastille, the Marais and the Saint-Paul districts.
(Metro stop-Rue des Boulets or Nation)
Public transport options (buses, metro lines 1,2,6 and 9, RER line A)

I'd chosen this hotel off www.hostels.com on a whim. I just picked it out of a long list of places which seemed reasonably priced.

When I got to the hotel (which is next to Metro des Boulets and Nation) I was impressed. The pictures of the place actually look like the hotel.

I had gotten a private bedroom with ensuite washroom, for 100 Canadian Dollars. The room was clean, had a TV, a small table, and a bathroom with a bath. There is no air conditionning, but I'm not used to having that, so it was not a requirement (even though it was bloody hot while I was there).

I would definetly stay here again (and plan on doing so when I travel to France in summer of 2004).

Unique Quality: Great location in the Marais, quiet. Close to Pere Lachaisse.- for you Jim Morrison fans.

Directions: Metro des Boulets, get onto Boulevard Voltaire, and you should see the hotel on the corner.

Le Grand Hotel Francais is actually petit, but as we prefer small hotels, we have had two lovely stays there.

It's in the 11me arrondissement, near Metro stop Nation. I liked the fact that it was in a neighborhood, rather than in the city center. It was restful to come "home" to a street uncluttered with crowds of noisy tourists.

Our 3rd floor room (4th floor to us Americans) had six-foot double windows that opened onto a side street with a little park.

The GHF was running an August summer special: 80 Euros/night.

Unique Quality: The personal attention we received here was remarkable.

2002: The young man who managed the front desk, M. Ouali (like "Wally" with a French accent), was delightful. He fielded all of our tourist questions, explained the difference between a carnet and a Paris Visite card, and was very encouraging about my pidgin French.

He made return train reservations for us, and when I asked about a church for Sunday Mass, he recommended the 8:00 Mass at Notre Dame. That turned out to be the high point of our Paris visit, and I was so grateful for his guidance.

Mille fois merci, Ouali! We'll be back to see you someday!

Postscript 2004: We did come back! Ouali has been promoted and now manages two hotels in the chain. It was such a pleasure to see him again, and as before, he was so friendly and kind. On this trip we made the acquaintance of Mlle. Blandine, the lovely concierge, and she was always willing to help us, making phone calls for us when our French failed, and mapping out routes to restaurants. We will definitely return.

Directions: Near the Nation metro stop

This is a picture from the website of our hotel:
Well, if you can read French:
Chambre douche, WC, TV, satellite : 85 €
Chambre bain, WC, TV, satellite : 91 €, 100 € et 115 €
Petits déjeuners : 7 €
Taxe de séjour : 0,86 €