# Staying in Bastille & Oberkampf (11th), Paris: Map & Verdict

Verdict: Recommended. Book here without thinking about it.

Interactive map: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/bastille-oberkampf
Every Paris district: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris.md

Where Paris eats and drinks rather than where it poses. The densest arrondissement in Europe, a third cheaper than the Marais, and there is almost nothing to look at.

Facts: 33 min walk to Notre-Dame; 50 min to the airport; price €€; best for food, nightlife, solo travellers, longer stays, budget; lines 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 11.

The 11th was factories and workers' housing, and nobody ever built it a monument. That is the whole trade: there is nothing here on a sightseeing list, and consequently the room rates are about a third under the Marais twenty minutes' walk away, and the restaurants are priced for people who live here.

What it does have is the highest concentration of places to eat and drink in the city, in two clusters - rue de Lappe and rue de la Roquette off the Bastille, and rue Oberkampf and rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud in the north. Republique and Bastille are both on the boundary, so metro 1, 5, 8, 9 and 11 are all a short walk, and the district is dense enough that everything inside it is walkable.

Book here on a second visit, or on a first visit if you would rather eat well than tick off the Louvre in the first 48 hours. Book a courtyard-facing room: at 41,000 residents per square kilometre this is the most crowded urban district in Europe, and the bar streets do not go quiet before 02:00 at weekends.

What works:
- The best density of restaurants and bars in Paris, at local prices
- Rates run about a third under the Marais, a twenty-minute walk away
- Republique and Bastille put metro 1, 5, 8, 9 and 11 on the boundary
- Big enough hotel stock that something is available on short notice

What does not:
- Nothing here is on a first-time sightseeing list, so sightseeing is a commute
- Thirty-three minutes on foot to Notre-Dame
- Rue Oberkampf and rue de Lappe are loud until 02:00 from Thursday on
- Europe's densest district, so cheap rooms face light wells, not streets

Hotels in Bastille & Oberkampf (11th): https://www.stay22.com/allez/booking?aid=stayzones&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fdest_id%3D11%26dest_type%3Ddistrict%26group_adults%3D2%26no_rooms%3D1

## Other districts in Paris

- [Louvre & Les Halles (1st)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/louvre-les-halles): Recommended. The Louvre, the Tuileries and the busiest interchange in France, in one arrondissement. You pay for the address in rate and in crowds, and you never need a metro before dinner.
- [Sentier & Grands Boulevards (2nd)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/sentier-grands-boulevards): Recommended. The smallest arrondissement and the best-value central one: covered passages, the Montorgueil food street, and rates under the 1st across the boundary.
- [Upper Marais (3rd)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/upper-marais): Recommended. The Marais without the queue. Same 17th-century streets as the 4th, the Picasso museum, and evenings that stay quiet enough to sleep through.
- [Le Marais (4th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/le-marais): Recommended. Medieval streets, the Pompidou, both islands in the Seine, and more bars per block than anywhere else in central Paris. Ten minutes on foot from Notre-Dame, priced accordingly.
- [Latin Quarter (5th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/latin-quarter): Recommended. The Left Bank answer: the Pantheon, the Sorbonne, the Jardin des Plantes and the cheapest central rooms on this side of the river. Fifteen minutes on foot from Notre-Dame.
- [Saint-Germain (6th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/saint-germain): Recommended. The Jardin du Luxembourg, the galleries, and the most expensive mid-range rooms in Paris. If the budget takes it, nothing else in the city is this easy to stay in.
- [Eiffel Tower & Invalides (7th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/eiffel-tower-invalides): Mixed. The Eiffel Tower, the Musee d'Orsay, the Invalides and most of the French government. Grand, expensive, and short of anywhere to eat once the ministries close.
- [Champs-Elysees (8th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/champs-elysees): Mixed. Luxury hotels, the Arc de Triomphe and the executive branch of the French government. A business district that empties at the weekend, and there is no cheap room in it.
- [Opera & Pigalle (9th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/opera-pigalle): Recommended. The department stores, the Opera Garnier and South Pigalle. The best mid-range value that is still a walk from the centre, with a red-light strip along its northern edge.
- [Gare du Nord & Canal (10th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/gare-du-nord-canal-saint-martin): Mixed. Two districts under one number. The canal Saint-Martin end is one of the best evenings in Paris; the two-station end is where cheap rooms are cheap for a reason.
- [Gare de Lyon & Bercy (12th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/gare-de-lyon-bercy): Mixed. Gare de Lyon, Bercy and half of the Bois de Vincennes. Cheap, well connected and almost entirely residential - the hotels are all at the western end.
- [Place d’Italie & Chinatown (13th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/place-ditalie-chinatown): Mixed. Europe's biggest Chinatown, the national library and 1970s tower blocks. The cheapest safe rooms in Paris, forty minutes on foot from the centre.
- [Montparnasse & Denfert (14th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/montparnasse-denfert): Mixed. The catacombs, the old Montparnasse cafes and the Orly bus. Residential, fairly priced and short of reasons to leave the hotel except to catch something.
- [Vaugirard & Grenelle (15th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/vaugirard-grenelle): Avoid. The largest arrondissement, safe and quiet and residential, whose hotels advertise an Eiffel Tower that most of them are forty minutes from. An hour on foot to Notre-Dame.
- [Trocadero & Passy (16th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/trocadero-passy): Avoid. The best view of the Eiffel Tower and the least reason to sleep near it. Wealthy, residential, and shut by ten - you pay central rates to be nowhere central.
- [Batignolles & Ternes (17th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/batignolles-ternes): Mixed. Three districts under one number: Ternes is an extension of the 8th, Batignolles is a village with a market, and the Epinettes end is closer to the 18th. No sights at all.
- [Montmartre (18th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/montmartre): Mixed. The hill is one of the best things in Paris and the arrondissement is not the hill. Half the room rate of the Marais, fifty-five minutes on foot from Notre-Dame.
- [La Villette & Buttes-Chaumont (19th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/la-villette-buttes-chaumont): Avoid. Parks, canals, the science museum and the cheapest chain rooms inside the ring road. An hour on foot from the centre, and on the city's own least-safe list after dark.
- [Belleville & Pere-Lachaise (20th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/belleville-pere-lachaise): Mixed. Pere-Lachaise, Belleville's kitchens and the cheapest good food in the city. Fifty minutes on foot from anything on the postcard, and thin on hotels.
