PARIS, France: Hotel du Champs de Mars

By Carl Dombek

We chose the Hotel du Champ de Mars is Paris’s Rue Cler area for our three-night stay in The City of Lights.

The hotel is a typical European tourist-class hotel, which is to say “cozy.” Unlike American hotels – even European branches of American-based hotels – this hotel has a very modest entrance that one could easily walk past if you didn’t know what to look for.

Hotel exterior

Entering the small lobby, we were greeted warmly by the gentleman at the front desk and checked in efficiently before being shown to our rooms. The attendant put my wife, our luggage and me into the tiny elevator (“Maximum load: 3 persons”), then said he’d take the stairs and meet us on the third floor.

Once there, he helped us with our luggage and showed us our room, which had a view of the Rue du Champ de Mars. My wife and I had a double room while our daughter and grandson had a room with two twin beds which they reached by crossing the cutest indoor courtyard. 

Guest Room No. 4; photo credit Jennie Blu Photography

Although small, rooms are equipped with a desk, in-room safe, high-end bath amenities, fluffy towels and a hair dryer. Beverages, iron and board, and outlet adapters are all available upon request. While the hotel and its facilities – including lobby, aforementioned lift, and guest rooms – were on the smaller side, we were not disappointed. This IS Paris, after all. 

Double guest room

While the hotel offers breakfast for a fee, the area around the hotel has numerous bistros, brasseries, and boulangeries offering everything from grab-and-go to sit-down service, so we never ate at the same place twice. The area, in the 7th Arrondissement, is fairly residential and also offers small grocery stores including Aldi, and laundromats so travelers can freshen up their wardrobe on the road rather than overpack.

Service was very good. Before we arrived, we asked the hotel to arrange for a taxi to greet us at the Gare du Nord as we got off the Eurostar, then bring us directly to the hotel rather than struggling with our luggage and trying to figure out the Metro. In our estimation, it was well worth the €80 fare.

Housekeeping had our rooms made up promptly each morning, and staff always greeted us with, “Bonjour!” and an offer of any assistance we might have needed.

One facet of the hotel’s operation that North American travelers will find a bit unusual is that guests are required to leave their room key with the front desk when leaving the hotel, even if only for a few hours. However, the front desk is staffed 24/7, and anything truly valuable can be stashed in the in-room safe before leaving.

The hotel is a 12-minute walk to the Eiffel Tower and another couple of minutes to the Seine if a river cruise is on your agenda. It’s also about 15 minutes to Les Invalides and Napoleon’s Tomb. Les Invalides is a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and an old soldiers' retirement home, the building's original purpose. The building housing Napoleon’s Tomb and the tombs of other notable French figures is also located on site. 

Napoleon's Tomb

Other attractions including the Louvre, Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie are best reached by Metro, taxi or hop on-hop off bus. 

The Louvre, as seen from the hop on-hop off bus

Upon departure, we were presented with the cutest little key rings with the name of the hotel replicated on a Parisian street sign.

We found the rates very reasonable, the location convenient, and the service excellent. Unless you’re dying for a hotel in the heart of the action, we think you’ll find the Hotel du Champs de Mars and the surrounding Rue Cler area quite comfortable and charming.

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Photos by Carl Dombek unless otherwise noted
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