This hotel in Paris is not to be confused with
the Hôtel du Nord, which is about five minutes' walk away and attracts cinema buffs. This one is a small, ivy-covered frontage in the 10th arrondissement near the Place de la République, identifiable by the stand-full of red bicycles on the street outside. Inside is a dim and cosy reception area, filled with eclectic tat and unlikely reading matter, a theme repeated in the wooden-beamed dim and cosy rooms. Only a few of the posters and novels are bicycle-related. The bathroom was modern and clean, the mattress firm and comfortable, the bed creaky and the pillows exiguous. We didn't try the breakfast because we were there for a wedding in my tandem-stoker's family and had to eat out; but it looked decent value when compared with local cafes.
The bicycles are available free to residents; they are fairly basic single-speed "shoppers" with racks front and rear, wide soft saddles, and the continental back-pedalling hub brake at the rear. They were fairly well maintained and the hotel staff were happy to adjust them for you: mine needed the handlebar bolt tightening before it was safe to ride, however. It was quite adequate for meandering around town or the climb up to Montmartre. It would have got tedious for a longer excursion to Versailles, say. A bungee cord to let one make use of the racks would have been useful. At weekends the streets nearby around the Canal St Martin are closed to motor traffic so there are places to go for those not confident in traffic keeping right; be prepared if you venture into town to find the one-way system utterly baffling.
The hotel is cheaply priced for its location within walking distance of the Eurostar terminal and the centre of town, and I'd certainly stay there again. But perhaps the bicycles are not a great attraction when the Vélib scheme provides better machines, easily accessed and ubiquitous. On a sunny bank holiday weekend in May the scheme seemed to be working wonderfully: the riders were everywhere, but we never passed a rack without a couple of bikes ready and waiting.
