St. Christopher's Hostel in Paris 19e-anyone stayed there?

Question

I'm staying there for two weeks in the female dorm. I've heard a lot of great things about this place. Anyone on here have any experience?

Answer 1

Since this is a new place I doubt many people have much experieicne with this place. This chain does have a pretty good reputation.

My observation is that I can't much figure out why you would pay 29 euros a night to stay in  a dorm room on the edge of the city when for 30 euros you could stay at the Hotel Tiquetonne (an old frugal traveller's haunt) in the center of the city in a private room (shared bath).

Answer 2

Hi! You picked a really great place to stay.. I love this place.    It's in my neighborhood (just 5 minutes from my house) so I go there often to hang out in the bar or surf at the internet cafe.  It's also VERY popular place for young french to hang out so you'll meet tons of people very quickly (and they love to practice their english!).  Every night I walk by there it is packed!

It's very close to metro Jaures or Laumiere so you can get anywhere you want pretty quickly (line 2 or line 5).  Metro Jaures on line 2 will take you all the way to Etoile (arc de triomphe, champs elysees) in 20 minutes.

This was just completed a few weeks ago and so everything is very new and clean.  The security there is very good too (large black guys at the doors that are always on duty).  The area there is becoming gentrified so there's still some "undesirable" elements around. But if you don't mind other religions or races you'll really have fun.

It is in a pretty cool area too.  It's right on the Canal Saint Martin which has MK2 theatre, bookstores, cafes, bars (bar ourcq is my fav), restaurants, parks.  You're really VERY close to Villette park (which has 3 museums! - city of music, city of science, and paris conservatory).

The people that work there are very nice and all speak english quite well.  

The hostel shares space with Belushi's bar which is a fun place to hang out and eat/drink, talk to people, etc. http://www.belushis.com/

My fav places in that area are: parc buttes chaumont, MK2 theatre, the Peniche Opera boats!  

You're going to have alot of fun!  I love this part of Paris as it's very lively, very youngish, very hip...  It's also VERY far from all the tourists so you'll be hanging out with mostly young french people.  Go to Bar Ourcq and Belushis!  Go play petanque on the Canal!  See a music show on the Opera boats!  Stroll through Buttes Chaumont park!   one more thing: walk south down the Quai (the side of the canal) through the 19th and 10th arrondissements, you'll see so many cafes, shops, botiques, bars, etc.  and it's very pretty with small narrow bridges, beautiful trees and almost no tourists.  In the 10th walk up the hill to Hospital Saint Louis where the old mont faucon used to be (spooky!).

you're also really close to Rue Belleville and Menilmontant area where there's a ton of very cool coffee places (featured in the new movie "paris"), restaurants, shops... this area is a mix of jewish, arab, and chinese (there's a chinatown there on Rue Belleville that is very fun to go to).

Rillifane is right about tiquetonne but it depends on what you want.  If you want to hang out with other tourists then stay in the center of paris but the 19th is interesting as well but just in a different way.  It's much more ethnic, young, and french.  And it's not that far from the center (you can get to etoile or chatelet in 20 minutes or less via metro or, my fav, RER).