Hotel Review in Paris: The Duquesne Eiffel Hotel

On our last visit to Paris we wanted an inexpensive hotel with at least 3 stars to its credit in the 7^th Arrondessment, my favorite neighborhood, which I consider to be the best location in Paris since it's just chock filled with wonderful little restaurants, market streets and lovely, elegant apartment buildings....but best of all, are the many attractions and famous places to see and visit..

The Duquesne Eiffel Hotel was the perfect hotel for all we wanted, even more so...

When I made my reservation I called the hotel to make sure we were able to get a view of the Eiffel Tower...I had read that only one side of the hotel faces that famous icon and I wanted to make sure we would be on that side of the hotel...The person I spoke to told me it would cost a little more but when I said I expected that she told me not to worry, we would be happy with our room.

And so we were...even the name of our room was special...each door had a brass plaque with something Parisian written on it...ours said..Eiffel Tower! I kid you not...:)

The room itself was pleasant enough, with cheery bright colors on the walls, contrasting bedding with Provencal blue and yellow fabric and matching decorative trim on the top of the walls by the ceiling... the bed, two twins put together, was comfortable with side tables and lamps which you could actually read by.. (usually European hotels have very dim lights I have found). There was an armoire, desk chair, and small safe...on the same side of the room was a small closet which had a toilet...the bathroom only had the marble tiled sink and shower/bath combination...so, when you wanted privacy you got it in that separate closet/toilet room..In the bathroom there was a hair dryer and they supplied nice little French shampoos, lotions and soaps and good sized towels...the only thing that was lacking was hook or two to put our bags that held our toiletries.

Best of all was our view!...this was a corner room with floor to ceiling French doors that opened to the sight of La Tour Eiffel in all its glory...I could even see it from the bed!!

The rooms are air-conditioned and heated in the fall and winter...during our visit in November it was quite cold in Paris but our room was as cozy as can be, especially nice after a long day outside sightseeing.

Also in the room was a direst dial phone, a mini bar and that safe I mentioned...I think one of the most important things to have in a room is a safe...we always like to put our Passports away, airline tickets, credit cards and even extra cash or travelers checks so you don't have to worry about carrying them around while day-tripping.

The hotel has a nice little dining room where they serve a continental breakfast buffet...even though I like to go out to little neighborhood places for my meals or snacks I do enjoy having my morning coffee before hitting the streets...they will also deliver breakfast or just a pot of coffee to your room when you awake if you like...I didn't discover that until we were there a few days, but that turned out to be a nice bonus.

As I mentioned The Duquesne Eiffel is located near many top Parisian attractions... it is right across the street from the Ecole Militare which will lead you in one direction via the Champ de Mars to the Eiffel Tower, this is certainly a beautiful walk through that lovely park where soldiers used to parade...In another direction you will find the golden dome of Invalidies, where Napoleon has lain all these years in his famous opulent tomb...the war museum is on that property as well. Just a few blocks away is the Rodin Museum, one of my favorite museums and a bit further away, but still walkable, is the famous Musee Orsay.

If you like Markets, some of the best market streets are just a few blocks away, located in the famous neighborhood called Avenue du Rue Cler...everything you can imagine food wise is for sale on these little streets.

One more advantage to this hotel is all the available transportation nearby, with the metro station just a block away and a taxi stand, a rarity in Paris.

This is a small hotel with only 40 rooms so it's important to make your reservations early if you want a particular type of room like we did...I did find the staff helpful and courteous and we had no problem getting directions and information from anyone who worked there...they even reserved our room when we left for two days so we could have the Eiffel Tower room upon our return to Paris after our little sojourn to the Champagne region.

But, best of all, the prices in this hotel weren't too out of control...I checked their website to see what was going on now price wise and found that you can still get one of the pricier rooms with a view for about $200 a night...that's pretty good for Paris in this day and age..so without any hesitation I recommend the Duquesne Eiffel for anyone looking for a charming little hotel in a great neighborhood, without breaking the bank...

The hotel is located at:

23 , avenue Duquesne-75007
Tel.:(33) 1 47 05 41 86,- Fax: (33) 1 45 55 54 76 or, you can e-mail them at Hotel@DuquesneEiffel.com