Great Apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower and SeinePosted: Thu, May 29 2008Location:
3Rooms:
3.5Service:
2.8Value:
4We ( 40-something couple plus 14 year-old daughter) stayed for 3 nights in early April and had a great stay. It's worth pointing out that this aparthotel has recently been fully refurbished so most of the earlier reviews do not apply. (All building work inside the hotel seems to be finished).
Check-in staff seem to speak most European languages and were very helpful. (Parisiens seem to be getting much more friendly, as long as we attempted to speak French everyone was helpful and polite)
Our one bed apartment (2615) was on the 26th floor on the Montparnasse lift - we had a view of the Eiffel Tower, however there is a very large chimney tower directly in front of the hotel which meant we didn't have a full-on view, however we could still sit and eat and see the Eiffel Tower, it's great at night when it is all lit up for around 10 minutes every hour. We also had a view of the Seine and the Right Bank. The Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur etc can all be seen in the distance. Apartments on the other side of the corridor will not have a view of the Eiffel Tower or most of the other sites.
The apartment was a good size, with new modern furnishings and plently of storage space. The kitchen area is equipped with a ceramic hob, microwave, dishwasher and fridge. There weren't loads of utensils but enough to get by. There was also an iron and ironing board and hoover.
Bathroom had a sink and bath with a shower over - very boutique hotel style and clean and new. There is a separate loo with wash hand basin.
Bedroom had a very comfortable bed - I think the mattress was a latex one - french square pillows.
The Sofa Bed in the living area seemed to be comfortable enough.
Our only dislike was the temperature in the apartment - it was pretty hot and the air-con was quite noisy.
The area, Beaugrenelle, is undergoing a lot of redevelopment although we could not hear any noise in the apartment. The area felt very safe - it just seemed the sort of area that ordinary parisiens lived in. There is little Haussmann type architecture around. There is a Monoprix supermarket 2 minutes from the hotel which stocks nearly everything you would need - it has a bakery section for pain and croissants in the morning.
We found the easiest way to travel was to get the number 42 bus from the Rue Saint Charles at the Place St Charles (2 mins from the hotel), it goes past the Effiel Tower, across the Pont de l'Alma, up Ave Montaigne (designer shops) and onto the Champs Elysees where we would get off at Champs Elysees Clemenceau and swap to the Number One line on the metro. Buses are really good - they tell you what the next stop is going to be so you can keep track of where you are. Bus stops also tell you how many minutes to the next bus. A Mobilis ticket 5euros60 lets you travel anywhere in Zones 1 and 2 on the metro, RER or bus. In the morning we would walk up to Bir Haikeim metro (5 mins) to buy our Mobilis tickets. Coming back on the bus it's a slightly longer walk as it's a one-way system and you get off at Rue de Lourmel (the stop is called Rue de Theatre). It's also worth noting that the RER Line C station Champ de Mars Tour Eiffel connects with Bir Haikem metro. We travelled from Beauvais Airport by coach to Porte Maillot and took the RER C line to Champ de Mars Tour Eiffel . This was okay but we did have to negotiate quite a lot of stairs, going back we took the 42 bus to the Champs Elysees Clemenceau and then the No 1 line metro to Port Maillot - this involved a lot less stairs although the No 1 line is usually pretty crowded.
The hotel has a luggage room with left luggage lockers - very reasonable (50cents) and we got 3 cases in one locker. The only thing was that we handed in our key card when we checked out, but we then had to get one from reception to enable us to get back into the luggage room to collect our cases.
Another good point was the free internet access in reception - 3 terminals. There is a laundry room with 3 washers and 3 dryers and there is a pool although we never saw it so we can't comment on it.
Overall, as long as you don't mind not being in the thick of things, we would not hesitate to recommend the Adagio Tour Eiffel.