Hotel Ibis Italie Tolbiac - Paris, France     

Ibis Tolbiac Paris is the typical Ibis chain hotel: very small! Everything is reduced size: hall is as big as a standard hotel room, and rooms are the half size a standard hotel room; anyway, that's normal for the Ibis chain. Crew is very kind and professional. The main Paris attractions are easy reachable as there's an underground station just two minutes of walk away from the hotel, but you need half an hour of underground to get to the Tour Eiffel, and there are other similar Ibis at the same price closer to the city centre. The hotel hasn't a restaurant, but there are some very close to it, so no problems for eating.

My wife and I stayed at Tolbiac in the period from 30/9/05 to 5/10/05. We booked the day before leaving on our world trip and that was due to the difficulty in securing reasonably priced accommodation where I could park our leased car. On booking, I thought the hotel was 3 star but subsequently checking their web-site I found on closer scrutiny that it was indeed 2 star. Contrary to the situation in Australia in even the most modest establishments, there was no fridge or coffee-making facilities. We could not avail ourselves of an iron and ironing board which was a problem because the room was so small and lacking in storage space, we lived out of our suit-cases. The room, as indicated, was tiny to the point of almost being claustrophobic. We did try for alternative accommodation to no avail. The bathroom and shower recess were also small and lacking again in storage facilities. I stress the fact that the room was extremely clean but there was a bad smell from the plumbing in the bathroom and the toilet had to be flushed by holding the button down for a prolonged period. The staff were nice and generally very polite and helpful. Breakast was only 6 Euros but lacking in variety and merely adequate. The hotel had an agreement with a private company in relation to car parking (12 Euros/day) which is close at hand. The facility is very secure but the bays are so narrow it was difficult to access the car. Where the hotel gained some credence was in relation to its proximity to central Paris and other interesting areas in between (Pantheon, Place d'Italie etc.). There was a Metro station at the top of the hill and a bus stop was close at hand. The Metro in Paris is excellent. There was a supermarket almost opposite and a very good laundromat further down Tolbiac on the opposite side of the road. There was a good boulangerie/patisserie on the next corner up the hill with charming staff who speak little English but are helpful. As a vegetarian I had real problems in France generally but we found a little dine in/out in the same block call Couscous Maison. The guys were very helpful and friendly and we had a lot of fun with them and the language issues. The food was very cheap. There is an internet outlet further up the street. This hotel, in retospect, was good value for the money. For the budget traveller it has a lot to recommend it. If I did not have a car and a lot of luggage I may well stay there again. Its strengths were location and cleanliness as indicated above.