40 min
55 min
6 · 8 · 10 · 12 · 13 · RER C
6.9 / km²
24
11
2,318
+38% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Staying in Eiffel Tower & Invalides (7th)
Nobody regrets the daytime here. The Musee d'Orsay, the Rodin museum, the Invalides and the tower itself are all inside the arrondissement, the streets are wide and Haussmannian, and the Champ de Mars is a real park rather than a lawn to photograph.
The evening is the problem. This is the ministries, the National Assembly and the embassies, which means the working population leaves at 19:00 and takes the cafes with it. Rue Cler is close to the only proper food street in the district, and outside it you are choosing between a hotel restaurant and a metro ride. Notre-Dame is nearly forty minutes on foot, so the metro is not optional: line 8 and RER C do most of the work.
You also pay a view premium that buys very little. A room facing the tower costs roughly a third more than the same room in the 5th, and you can see the tower for free from half the city. Book here if the trip is museums and mornings, or if you are travelling with someone who will not walk far. Book the 5th or the 4th if dinner matters.
What works
- The Musee d'Orsay, the Rodin and the Invalides are all walkable from bed
- The Champ de Mars is a genuine park, not a photo stop
- Wide, well-lit Haussmannian streets that are easy to navigate at night
- Metro 6, 8, 10, 12, 13 and RER C all cross the arrondissement
What does not
- Nearly forty minutes on foot to Notre-Dame, so every evening is a metro trip
- Ministries and embassies close at 19:00 and the street life goes with them
- A tower view costs about a third more than the same room in the 5th
- Pickpocket gangs work the tower, its lifts and the queues underneath it
The 7th arrondissement is perhaps the most expensive area to live in Paris.The Eiffel Tower is a well-known hotspot for pickpockets, to the extent that warnings are regularly read over the tannoy system on the observation platforms reminding tourists to keep a hold of their belongings.