Sometimes when you’re looking for a hotel in a big city, the thing you want to do is find a hotel near a landmark you’re familiar with. In a city like Paris, which is full of familiar landmarks, that doesn’t necessarily narrow it down much. But if you’re into shopping, visiting Paris during the finish of the Tour de France or the Bastille Day parades, or just want to be a short walk from one of the grandest boulevards in the world, then a Paris hotel near the Champs-Elysees is what you’re after.

Now, when I was compiling this list of hotels I was trying to keep them in the budget category - which for Paris is already a challenge, and when you’re talking about the area around the Champs-Elysees it becomes even more difficult. You won’t find bargain 2-star hotels a few blocks off the Champs-Elysees - and if you do, the “bargain” will be that it’s only $250 a night instead of $350+ like many of the area hotels are. This is a really expensive part of the city to stay in, so keep that in mind.

Still, here are a few hotels that won’t totally kill a reasonable travel budget and that aren’t too far from the Champs-Elysees. Serious budget travelers will likely need to find a cheaper bed elsewhere, but if you have a few friends you’re traveling with it may be worth looking into sharing a triple-sized room in one of these hotels (if this location is really important to you). If you’ve scored some cheap flights to Paris and have some extra travel budget to spend, that’s one thing - but if you’re really scrimping, you might want to look elsewhere.

The map below has the hotels near the Champs-Elysees marked with blue icons. Strangely, at the default zoom level for this map the name of the Champs-Elysees doesn’t seem to show up - but it’s that big street coming out from the sunburst of streets and pointing at roughly 4 o’clock. To get more information about each hotel, you can click on the icon or you can scroll down to read a brief description. There’s also a link to each hotel in the write-ups underneath the map.

Hotels in Paris Near the Champs-Elysees

Paris Hotels Near the Champs-Elysees

Bridgestreet Champs Elysees
Anyone who’s staying in Paris for more than a few days would be smart to look at renting an apartment for their stay, and if you’re hoping to stay near the Champs-Elysees that’s no exception. The Bridgestreet Champs Elysees is a building full of furnished apartments ideal if you’re traveling in a group or with a family. These apartments are 100 meters from the Champs-Elysees, and they come in several different sizes - from studios to multi-room apartments - all of which have air conditioning, fully equipped kitchen, and free WiFi.

Because this is an apartment building and not a hotel, there isn’t a reception desk - you’ll need to arrange to meet someone at the building to pick up your key, and you can’t rely on a concierge to help you with anything. It’s a great solution for a more self-reliant traveler, and it’s a great deal - especially for its location.

>> Book Bridgestreet Champs Elysees Hotel in Paris

Mercure Paris Champs Elysees
Most of the hotels on this list are on the north side of the Champs-Elysees, so the Mercure Paris Champs Elysees hotel is the notable exception. It’s the closest hotel to the Arc de Triomphe, and yet it’s also in a business district of the city. This means that while it’s close to things tourists love to see in Paris, it might offer a respite from the crush of people around the Champs-Elysees - especially if you opt to walk the other way and explore the neighborhood a bit more.

The Mercure Paris Champs Elysees hotel has 46 rooms, WiFi throughout the hotel (for a fee), and an internal courtyard garden that most of the rooms overlook.

>> Book Mercure Paris Champs Elysees in Paris

Adagio Aparthotel Paris Haussmann Champs-Elysees
The Adagio Aparthotel Paris Haussmann Champs-Elysees is another apartment rental option near the Champs-Elysees, but this one - as the name “aparthotel” indicates - is something of a hybrid between a totally hands-off apartment rental and a full-service hotel. The 53 furnished apartments range in size from studios to multi-room apartments suitable for four people, and they all have air conditioning and kitchenettes.

But there’s also a breakfast room in the building where you can get a bite to eat each morning, a cleaning service that comes through once a week to change sheets and towels, and a front desk that’s staffed 24 hours a day. WiFi is available in all public areas for free.

>> Book Adagio Paris Haussmann Champs-Elysees Aparthotel in Paris

Hotel Beauchamps
If you think staying in a stylish part of Paris calls for a stylish hotel, then you’ll want to look at the Hotel Beauchamps. The hotel is decorated in a comfortable contemporary style, both in the public areas and the rooms, and all 89 rooms have air conditioning and a flat-screen TV. And if all of that shopping has you worn out by day’s end, you’ll be glad to know that the hotel even offers in-room massages - for a fee, of course.

The Hotel Beauchamps has an arrangement with a nearby pool facility if you’d like to go swimming, there’s an on-site restaurant, and all of this is a few steps from the Champs-Elysees.

>> Book Hotel Beauchamps in Paris

Pavillon Montaigne
The Pavillon Montaigne is a smaller family-run hotel about 200 meters from the Champs-Elysees, close to one end of the Tuileries garden. There are only 18 rooms in the hotel, and it occupies a former private home. Each room has air conditioning and free WiFi.

One perk that the Pavillon Montaigne has that you won’t find at other hotels is an owner who is (as the hotel’s site says) an “expert in early Christianity, Gnosticism and Grail hunts” - which means in addition to running the hotel he also leads tours of Paris sights mentioned in Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” novel.

>> Book Pavillon Montaigne hotel in Paris

photo by markhillary

I don’t consider myself the kind of person who really loves shopping when I’m at home. I don’t mind a day spent browsing a few favorite stores with a gal pal, and I do have an internal victory dance that happens every time I find something particularly wonderful (especially if it’s on sale, and especially if it’s jeans that fit), but I’m not someone who gets so much enjoyment out of the act of shopping that I think about it as a vacation activity. And yet I always end up doing a little shopping, wherever I am.

Of course, in some places it’s easier to think about shopping as a vacation must-do item - and such is the case in Paris. Shopping in Paris isn’t just for tourists, either, it’s a local pastime. With its reputation for being one of the fashion capitals of the world, Paris is rightly known for its many boutiques and upscale department stores. You could drop a pretty penny euro outfitting yourself in the latest styles, only to have them outdated by the end of your two-week trip. Even if you found a great deal on flights to Paris and you’re staying in one of the many cheap hotels Paris offers, however, forking over the asking price on those designer outfits usually isn’t an option. You might be saving money on airfare, but not that much!

And even if fashion isn’t your thing, it can be hard to resist all the tacky Eiffel Tower souvnirs you see in every touristy shop - they’re amusing for their kitsch factor alone.

But Paris offers more than just high fashion and Eiffel Tower snow globes to would-be shoppers. As mentioned, the Parisians love to shop, too, and they certainly aren’t all wearing haute couture and Eiffel Tower-embroidered berets. For a taste of what it’s like to shop like a Parisian, you have to find out where the Parisians shop.

I’ll admit that the words “flea market” never conjured up much of a positive image for me until I went to a flea market in Paris. The flea markets I was used to were crammed with what I considered to be junk - but somehow the tables of Paris’ flea markets looked like they were covered with treasures. And since the flea markets in Paris aren’t right in the city center, the shoppers you’re competing with to score one treasure or another are more likely to be locals than other tourists.

Nevermind that the exact same object you’re coveting at that flea market in Paris is something you’d probably scoff at if you were at a flea market back home - you’re buying it in Paris, so it counts as a souvenir. Souvenirs are different.

Is a piece of clothing more your style when it comes to souvenirs? Then there’s no better reminder of a trip than something you can wear over and over again that will give you the opportunity to repeatedly say off-handedly, “Oh, this? I got it in Paris.” Yes, that’s a thrill that never gets old - and it’s not reserved for wealthy travelers, either. Sure, Parisians may all look like they’re sporting the latest Armani or Hermes duds, but not all of them are. The rest know where the cheap clothes shops in Paris are - which is where you’ll want to go if you’re a fashionista on a budget.

But the truth is that even if you’re just looking to pick up a couple small things to remember your visit to the French capital, there are souvenirs in Paris that go beyond the stereotypes. A swing through bargain department store Monoprix could yield some sexy French lingerie, easy-to-pack dish towels or cloth napkins, and pretty French beauty products - and that’s just one store!

A souvenir just has to remind you of the place where you bought it - which means it doesn’t need to have the word Paris written on it for you to know you bought it in Paris, right? And it doesn’t need to be purchased in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in order to be authentic - which is a good thing, since souvenirs that are for sale within eyesight of any of Paris’ major tourist attractions are almost without question completely overpriced.

The bottom line is that whether you’re a shopper or not, every time you look at that French children’s book you bought from the booth overlooking the Seine you’ll remember your trip to Paris. Nevermind that you can’t read French and you don’t have kids. Every time you pull that waxy tablecloth you found at the Paris flea market out of the closet and flap it open over your patio table, you’ll remember your trip to Paris. Nevermind that the fabric isn’t emblazoned with an image of the Eiffel Tower and that no one will know where you bought it. You know. Every time you pull on that peacoat you dug through a pile of discounted clothing to find in that weird Paris shop, you’ll remember your trip to Paris. Nevermind that the label clearly says Armoni instead of Armani.

You remember the smell of the rows of old books in the bouquinistes booths, the chatter of book sellers and book buyers mixing with the sounds of a busy city surrounding you. You remember the look of the Paris flea market, table after table of oddities and Parisians rifling through them. You remember the sound of that discount clothing store, all those people digging their way through bins and racks to find the hidden gems.

And that, in the end, is what a souvenir is all about.

photo by dalbera