I found Hotel Bastille de Launay on www.booking.com and the reviews sounded good, the pictures looked nice, I was familiar with the area and the price was not bad at all, so we, two female travellers, decided to try it out.
Getting to the hotel is easy from Gare du Nord... it is not far from a Metro stop and it is just off the main street that has plenty of restaurants from Cuban and Italian to Thai and French restaurants. The fact that it is not on the main street helps decrease the noise. When we got to the hotel, we were warmly greeted. The lift was broken so the staff took our luggage to our room for us, which wasn't necessary at all, but it was a very appreciated gesture.
The room was exactly like the pictures had shown. It was a very cute room, very tasteful, modern, simple decor. One of the walls was a teal colour. We had a twin room on the front of the building. There was a floor to ceiling window... we thought it was a balcony at first, but it was more of a window with a bit of railing to keep you from falling. While there were no tea/coffee making facilities, there was a nice flat screen t.v. There was wifi available as well.
Breakfast was not included in our price, but it wasn't a huge deal to us. Most of the staff speak English, but there are a few that do not, but we managed to make do with my broken French. The hotel is very quiet, I don't remember hearing much noise from outside of the room, which was such a relief because sometimes staying in large cities, you just hear everything that is going on throughout the night. The beds were very comfortable, the pillows were nice and fluffy and there were two on the bed!
The only thing that was a little bothersome is that one night we decided to have some wine and noticed the hotel sold some downstairs, saving us from having to go back out into the cold and rain to find a store. However, the staff member behind the desk said that it wasn't for sale and told us about a store just down the street where we could get wine. If it isn't for sale, then it shouldn't be displayed.
Overall, our stay was really enjoyable and I would recommend this place. I thought the price was very reasonable given it's location and how nice the hotel was. read more