Paris : Le Meridien Etoile

We spent a fab long weekend in Paris with our friend Daithi last weekend - great company, great weather, great food and great city.

We stayed at the Le Meridien Etoile, which is nicely located in Porte Maillot, an easy 10 minute walk from the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomph.

The hotel itself has been upgraded significantly since we stayed there in 2006 and the upgrading will continue through to August this year.  There are over 1,000 guest rooms and suites and we had one of the upgraded rooms on the 6th floor.

We found the signage to the room was either confusing or non-existent, though we got there after a few wrong turns.  Our room was lovely with a king bed, and had an opening window out onto a Parisian street view (I love an opening window in a hotel room).  No real complaints, except the brains trust who designed the bathrooms obviously decided that a soap dish or ledge in the shower would compromise their "vision", so everything has to go on the floor - YUCK.

We didn't dine in the hotel, or have breakfast there (it's easier to walk to the Champs Elysee and do some people watching over breakfast), though we did have some drinks in the bar, which were expensive, but typical hotel prices.  The James Joyce pub is about 100 metres down the street and offers much better value for drinks and atmosphere.

The Porte Maillot Metro station is about 150 metres away and the Air France airport bus stops out the front.  You don't need to be flying Air France to use it and the Concierge sells tickets or you can buy them on the bus - it's great.

We'd definitely stay there again.

Le Meridien Etoile

81 Boulevard Gouvion St Cyr

75848 Paris Cedex 17

Phone:- +33 01 40 68 34 34

http://www.lemeridienetoile.com/