CITCONEurope2009Lodging

Lodging and accomodation information for participants to CITCON Paris 2009

Paris has lots of hotels, but they are not known to be budget-friendly. Here a few options that can help.

The conference is occurring at ISEP: [1]

• Campings in Paris: [2]
  • expect a good hour to get from the camping in the Bois de Boulogne to ISEP; also, while the area is well-known to families that want a walk in the woods, it can get quite dodgy at night, though I expect the camping to be just fine (Eric)

• Formule 1, Porte de Châtillon: [3]. At 40-45€, probably the cheapest hotel you can get in the vicinity, a view on the highway included. 10-15 mins to get to metro station Porte d'Orléans, then 15 mins by metro.
  • not the ugliest part of Paris, but not great either; still, for the price, it has a reasonable good location -- Eric

• FIAP Jean Monnet [4] is another cheap option, especially for those willing to share rooms. From 57€ for a single room to 26€ in a room with 6 beds. ~20 mins by public transportation to ISEP.
  • Looks like a youth hostel, though not sure they officially qualify as one. Lots of groups of foreign youngsters there. Very professional -- Eric

• Accor Hotels [5] has an excellent selection of hotels at medium prices in Paris
  • the best might be Ibis Alesia-Montparnasse [6] ~80 € -- you'll need to take the metro to get to ISEP
    • this would probably be my choice -- Eric
  • also, check out the Mercure Montparnasse [7] (~115€) and Mercure Raspail [8] (~100€), the latter is possibly the closest to ISEP you can get, but both are within 10 mins walking distance to ISEP.

• those Marriott-inclined will have to go to the Marriott Rive Gauche [9], very close to FIAP Jean Monnet. Starts at 160€.

• Holiday Inn Gare Montparnasse [10]. ~250€

Getting around

Plan your travels with the Paris public transportation system here: [11]. A good system, but it fails to tell you the price of the tickets (or the travel zones you are crossing).

Velib

A rather excellent bike rental system has been put in place a couple of years ago, called Velib (http://www.en.velib.paris.fr/ -- link only partly in English).

The idea:

• cheap, nominal fee (1€ for one day), then free usage up to 30 mins
  • after 30 mins, the price increases exponentially: 1€ for the following 30 mins, then 2€ for another 30 mins, then 4€
• bikes are available at station, locked into stands a bit like shopping carts
• they can be used 24/7
• there is a *huge* number of those stations in Paris, enough to make it a credible alternative to traditional public transportation

The problems:

• many bikes have been vandalized, so always double-check tires, chains, etc. *before* retrieving the bike
• it requires a bankcard with a chip, which would work for most European cards, and few US ones
• some stations are more popular at particular times, which can make it difficult to find a free slot for your bike (for example, many go to train stations using Velib and leave their bike near it) -- you can end up paying the usage fee
• if you take the day or week pass, you get a pin code that you'll need to use on the terminals to select a bike. This can be slow and not very convenient. Plus, those with yearly subscription have a touchcard that takes only seconds to use and they won't need the terminal. So they can even take the last available bike while you are still fumbling with the terminal.