Accommodation - Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam - with a toddler

[LadyC]

The gentleman and i are heading to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam in November with our little man who will be 20 months old. The plan is a week in Paris, two nights in Brussels and four nights in Amsterdam. I was thinking of hiring an apartment for Paris and hotels for the other two cities but open to any suggestions of accommodation recommendations. No real affiliations with hotel programs but will have Hilton Honours gold through Prestige card. Staying somewhere nice is more important than program affiliation (unless anyone has good suggestions for getting status to assist). Considering how ugly the exchange rate is compared to when i went last, the maximum budget is about $500 a day. Any tips/recommendations would be much appreciated.

 

[amaroo]

We've done the Paris apartment for a 7 day stay, great apartment near Rue Cler - excellent location.

TBH - we wouldn't do it again unless we were staying 3+ weeks. Housekeeping is very underrated!

 

[LadyC]

We've done the Paris apartment for a 7 day stay, great apartment near Rue Cler - excellent location.

TBH - we wouldn't do it again unless we were staying 3+ weeks. Housekeeping is very underrated!

Understand! I think for us a hotel may be the better option, more from the room service perspective when the little man is out of sorts.

 

[amaroo]

Understand! I think for us a hotel may be the better option, more from the room service perspective when the little man is out of sorts.

Apartments are wonderful however, things like lugging your bags up flights of stairs because the lift is no bigger than a postage stamp kinda takes the shine off the experience. Having to make your own bed is a bummer ... as is using the same towel more than once

Good call on room service.

 

[Alanslegal]

Staying a week or less in any one place I prefer to stay in a hotel rather than an apartment, unless I am travelling in a group of four or more where we can rent out a 2/3/4 bedroom apartment and enjoy time together.

 

[RB]

There is a big long running thread on Trip Advisor re using priceline in Amsterdam. This is a general link that has a fair bit of discussion Amsterdam: Web Hotel Bargains in Amsterdam - TripAdvisor Also when we visited in 2011 we stayed at the Moevenpick, a good hotel that we scored as a secret hotel on easytobook.com

 

[ecst]

G'day Lady C,

I'm no expert for Paris hotels and have went for ibis in my more recent few bookings, however there are two places I could suggest:

a) Courtyard Paris Arcueil Hotel is worth considering (I was there when they first opened so rates were really good). There is a big shopping centre right opposite it so you can easily get food (up to 7pm?), diapers, milk, etc. There is a McDonalds & McCafe in it too. The only catch is that it will be tricky getting there the first time from the Arcueil train station, but if you have a printed map/Google maps you should be easily able to navigate the 5-7 min trip on foot from the station. It can be tiring going back to Zone 2 at the end of each day so that's something to keep in mind) Hotels in Arcueil near Porte de Versailles, Paris | Courtyard Paris Arcueil


b) We are making another trip in Sept with our 3 year old son. This time around we've decided to try Residhome Val D'Europe, which is in Montevrain/Serris (1 train stop away from Disneyland - kid taken care of!). It is also opposite the La Vallee Shopping centre (SWMBO taken care of too) and easy to get food around. We have only 3 pax but I used RatesToGo.com to book the 4persons-Apartment for AUD107/night - with kitchen/cooking facilities. (The Hotels.com page for this is pretty impressive)

The best part of this is, is that you will be 1 stop away from the Paris Disneyland TGV stop assuming you are taking the high-speed trains to move around Europe. Either case, it definitely beats having to go through Paree Gare du Nord TGV and lugging the stroller/baggages across connecting stations/stops. Also easy to get to CDG Airport via ~10 min TGV (runs frequently). Photos of the Residhome Val d'Europe Residence in MONTEVRAIN

Hope this was useful

 

[LadyC]

There is a big long running thread on Trip Advisor re using priceline in Amsterdam. This is a general link that has a fair bit of discussion Amsterdam: Web Hotel Bargains in Amsterdam - TripAdvisor Also when we visited in 2011 we stayed at the Moevenpick, a good hotel that we scored as a secret hotel on easytobook.com

Very interesting - Thanks for this. Will definitely do a bit of reading on it.