Photograph by: Sunday Times

Q We are hoping to take our grandson to London and then by Eurostar to Paris in April. We wish to stay in a hotel near Gare du Nord and/or Gare de l’Est as we only have two nights in Paris. He is 14 years old and would love to visit Eurodisney thus being close to the two stations would save euros and time. Could you please recommend a hotel that would be suitable for the three of us, sharing in a family room, that is not too expensive. — Margaret Graff

A It’s not easy to find an affordable hotel in Paris, especially one close to a major metro or train station. Your best bet is to check websites like www.parishotels.com, which allow you to search for a hotel by its proximitylocation to the main train stations or areas.

For example, the website pointed me to the two-star Le New Hôtel Gare du Nord, which has a fabulous location directly opposite Gare du Nord station. It has rooms from 75 euros (about R790) a night, but an air-conditioned room for three people costs from 99 euros per night. Breakfast is an additional 7.50 euros. Check out the hotel at or a description of the hotel and photographs, see www.newhotelparis.com. For accommodation close to Gare de l’Est, you can try the two-star Kuntz Paris Hotel, which I found on the www.easytobook.com website. Located 100 metres from the station, a triple room will cost around 100 euros per night. To see photographs of the hotel and its rooms, go to the www.hotelkunst.com website.

For comparison purposes, I checked to see how much it would cost to stay at the Disney resort. One night for a triple room with breakfast at Disney’s Hotel Cheyenne costs 386 euros. While that seems expensive, the room comes with three entry tickets for both Disney parks valid for two days. These tickets cost 111 euros each, so the accommodation segment is really only costing 53 euros. A second night would cost you an additional 77 euros. That averages out at 65 euros for each night at the hotel, plus the cost of the entry tickets, of course.

However, if you only intend visiting one of the two parks in the Disney complex (Disneyland Park or Walt Disney Movie Studios Park) for one day, the entry tickets would be priced at 52 euros per person. This would make the room pricey at 230 euros. As you will only be in Paris for two nights, it makes more sense for you to stay in the city.