There is a hostel in Paris that we’d like to recommend to anyone going to the City of Love. St. Christopher’s is a new and fun hostel in the northeastern side of Paris within easy walking distance of two main train stations and two metro (subway) stops. This is one of the safest and cleanest hostels with the largest rooms we’ve ever seen.
In most other dorm-style rooms, you’re bumping elbows with a dozen others and pushing their drying towels off your bunk just to get in bed. The rooms at St. Christopher’s have beds with curtains that close across the front for a darkened afternoon nap or a night of uninterrupted slumber. Each bed also comes equipped with two plugs for battery charging (this is unheard of as most hostels usually have one per room while others require you to use plugs behind the reception desk) and a light for late-night reading or journaling when you don’t want to annoy others.
The bunks also have massive lockers that slide out underneath the beds; while each person gets one, they are large enough to fit three backpacks. Just remember to bring a lock and try not to disturb others when you open and close your locker in extremely early or late hours, as the loud creaking noise they make isn’t going to win you any fans from sleeping roommates.
The hostel also boasts plenty of features outside the room, including an all-you-can-eat (or carry away with you) breakfast consisting of bread, cereal, coffee, tea, and juice. You can also take advantage of a bar with drink specials, internet café, “chill out room”, sauna, and plenty of flat-screens featuring ESPN playing the latest NFL and MLB games.
There are, of course, some downsides to these new, hotel-like hostels. The main downfall is a huge lack of character. We enjoy staying at “mom and pop”-style hostels where you’re basically renting a spare room and you get to see how locals live and become surrounded by the culture, language, smells, and food of the region. We didn’t come in contact with one French person during our three-night stay at St. Christopher’s, which made it hard for the non-native employees to recommend places off the beaten tourist path.
This hostel is a chain with a few others in London, Paris, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Berlin, Bruges, Brighton, Bath and Newquay. If you stay at one of these hostels, you will receive a 10% discount if you book your next hostel through the reception desk. We’ve never visited any of the St. Christopher’s other than the one in Paris so we can’t really recommend them although we assume the setup would be similar.
St. Christopher’s in Paris is an hour walk to the central area of town near Notre Dame and the Louvre, which isn’t a bad free walk if you want to save 1.60 Euro on the metro that gives you a glimpse of Parisian life outside the tourist areas. We recommend walking around all day and taking the metro home in the evening once your legs have packed it in. Enjoy Paris and remember… red wine helps you sleep on trains… and in hostels.
