Hotel du Pantheon - Paris, France     

Hotel du Pantheon is a perfectly nice hotel, with very pretty rooms, and mostly polite staff. Our room had a minibar with prices that weren't exorbitant, a sparking clean bathroom and a view of the Pantheon. The latter is less a draw than you might think, as the Pantheon is one of the stodgiest, least elegant buildings of Paris. On the Saturday night of our stay, there were crowds of students gathered in the Place du Pantheon, laughing and shouting and riding motorbikes until 5am. At other times, the immediate vicinity was chockful of tourists and completely devoid of the cafes, shops, and oddities that make Paris neighborhoods so compelling, but at least the nights were quiet. Behind the Place du Pantheon, there's more of a Parisian neighborhood atmosphere, geared largely to the university students of the area. For first-time or infrequent visitors to Paris, this pleasant hotel could be a good choice, although the lack of a close Metro stop would be a moderate liability to those who don't like to walk.

Overall, the Hotel du Pantheon met our expectations. It wasn't the most amazing place we've ever stayed, but we never expected it to be. The atmosphere is very French Country, and very quaint! The service was, for the most part, friendly! (Although there was one night attendant who just simply needed a personality). And, everyone did a great job of forgiving my terrible french and speaking english to the best of their ability, which was good! Room: We had a room overlooking the Pantheon. We requested a room with a balcony, but didn't get one. No big deal, as we knew it wasn't a guarantee. The room was bigger than we expected, probably influenced by the fact that we arrived in Paris from London, known for their small hotel rooms. The one down point of the room was the closet, or lack thereof. There really wasn't a proper closet. There also were no drawers to store our clothes, which was also a disappointment. Other than that, however, the room was fine.