# Is Le Marais (4th) a Good Area to Stay in Paris? Map & Verdict

Verdict: Recommended. Book here without thinking about it.

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

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.

Facts: 10 min walk to Notre-Dame; 45 min to the airport; price €€€€; best for first-timers, couples, nightlife, food; lines 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11.

The 4th is the best single answer to where to stay in Paris, and the reason is geometry: Notre-Dame is ten minutes away, the Louvre fifteen, the Bastille ten in the other direction, and the restaurants and bars you will actually eat and drink in are on the same streets as the hotel. No other central district lets you spend three days without using the metro after dark.

It covers the lower Marais, the Ile de la Cite and the Ile Saint-Louis, so a third of what you came to see is inside the boundary. Rue des Rosiers and rue Vieille-du-Temple are the going-out core, the Pompidou is at the western edge, and the Jewish and gay quarters overlap through the middle of it. It is also one of the few parts of Paris where the shops open on a Sunday, which matters more than it sounds on a short trip.

The costs are real. The buildings are 17th century and older, so hotels are small, staircases are narrow, and a lift above the fourth floor is not a given - check before booking with a suitcase. Rooms on rue Vieille-du-Temple and the streets off it hear the bars until about 02:00 at weekends. And the rate matches the 1st without matching the space: a cheap room in the 4th is cheap because it faces a light well.

What works:
- Ten minutes on foot to Notre-Dame, fifteen to the Louvre
- Dinner and bars are on the hotel's own street, so no metro after dark
- Most shops here open on a Sunday, which is rare in Paris
- Metro 1 and 11 at Hotel de Ville, 4 at Cite, 1, 5 and 8 at Bastille

What does not:
- Old buildings mean small rooms and often no lift above the fourth floor
- Rue Vieille-du-Temple and the streets off it are loud until about 02:00
- Rates match the 1st arrondissement without matching the room size
- Rue des Rosiers and the Pompidou forecourt are crowded all day, every day

Hotels in Le Marais (4th): https://www.stay22.com/allez/booking?aid=stayzones&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fdest_id%3D4%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.
- [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.
- [Bastille & Oberkampf (11th)](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-paris/bastille-oberkampf): Recommended. 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.
- [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.
