Sweet dreams in the big 3 / Paris

QUINTESSENTIALLY LOVELY, Paris is the city of dreams. Take, for instance, 72 hours in a suite at the Crillon on the Place de la Concorde. That legendary hotel recently offered a three-night package, including airport transfers, breakfast, a tour of the premises and lunch at its vaunted Les Ambassadeurs restaurant. The price: $30,000.

At about the same time, six of the city’s top hotels, including the Crillon, were fined for price-fixing.

If that doesn’t take the stars out of your eyes about Paris, nothing will.

Far better, I think, is to pursue a different, but wholly achievable dream, set in a small, sweet, ivy-covered Paris budget hotel, from which you may see Notre-Dame Cathedral or the twinkling lights of the Eiffel Tower if you stand, craning your neck, at the window.

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Degres de Notre Dame

I feel like a rat, outing the Degres de Notre Dame, one of the most appealing budget hotels I’ve ever seen in the City of Light. It’s in the Latin Quarter just across the Seine from the eastern apse of the great medieval cathedral where Victor Hugo’s hunchback rang the bells.

The Times reader who told me about the hotel said to keep it hush-hush. But I have loose lips. Besides, people should know about this charmer on one of the prettiest little squares in Paris, even if they have to plan way ahead to get a room there.

The Degrees de Notre Dame is on the quiet east side of touristy St.-Michel, above a restaurant that features French and Moroccan cuisine, where the tables spread to the sidewalk in warm weather. It has 10 doubles on five floors starting at $132, all walk-ups with attached baths. The big room on the top floor, priced at $192, has a kitchenette and a view of the cathedral. But my favorite is the blue room, overlooking the street, which has a smashing tiled bath.

Breakfast is served in the cafe-bar downstairs, where guests check in and out because there’s no lobby. Across the square is the perfect Latin Quarter restaurant, La Maison, with a beloved brindled mastiff as the mascot.

Degres de Notre Dame, 10 Rue des Grands Degres, 011-33-1-55-42-88-88; doubles from $132, including breakfast.

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Hotel de la Bretonnerie

ONE of the things I like most about the Hotel de la Bretonnerie, in the delightful Marais, is its versatility. It has 29 rooms on five floors, but because of the 17th century building’s state-protected antiquity, they were never renovated cookie-cutter style, so they retain their old, singular configurations. If you call and say you’re a honeymooning couple, a single or a family of four, the management will give you accommodations suited to your needs.

A solo traveler or romantic couple would be well-pleased by one of the Bretonnerie’s small but handsome canopy-bed doubles, at $138. A family would thrive in a junior suite, with two rooms separated by a bath, for $216. Chambers on upper floors have wood beams, and all are decorated with pretty fabrics and wallpaper.

Then, too, no one could ask for a better Right Bank location. The Bretonnerie is on one of the main walking routes between the Pompidou Centre and the Marais, with its elegant Place des Vosges, and Picasso and Carnavalet museums.

Hotel de la Bretonnerie, 22 Rue St.-Croix de la Bretonnerie, 011-33-1-48-87-77-63, www.bretonnerie.com; doubles from $138.

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Hotel du Dragon

I cut my frugal-travel teeth at the Hotel du Dragon, on the Left Bank near St.-Germain-des-Pres, with its 11th century church, chic shops and landmark cafes, including Les Deux Magots and Cafe de Flore. A decade ago, I stayed in a small double, at the end of a dark, winding corridor with timer-controlled lights and shared toilets.

My room had a sink, jury-rigged shower, sway-backed bed, black-and-white TV mounted on the wall, window overlooking an airshaft and the unmistakable smell of a Paris budget hotel. As I recall, I was happy there, but then I got spoiled and started wanting somewhat more luxurious accommodations in the City of Light.

When I recently returned to the Dragon, I found that the rooms had been redecorated and upgraded, though they are still affordably priced at $130, double occupancy. The style is traditional, almost countrified, with wood beams and old armoires. Now, all 29 chambers have private baths, telephones, TVs and hair dryers, though there is still no elevator. Evidently, the French family that has run the place for five generations puts a lot of care into the Dragon.

Hotel du Dragon, 36 Rue du Dragon, 011-33-1-45-48-51-05, www.hoteldudragon.com; doubles $130.

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Hotel du Palais Bourbon

THERE are three hotels on the Rue de Bourgogne in the Left Bank’s 7th arrondissement, which runs between the Rodin Museum and Palais Bourbon, home of the French National Assembly. My favorite is the well-kept, professionally managed, 30-room Hotel du Palais Bourbon, a two-star hotel with the polish, decor and amenities of a three-star.

There’s a demure little lobby downstairs and an elevator. Upstairs, the rooms are unusually large, with burnished wood floors, Oriental rugs, big windows, high ceilings, flat-screen TVs and large private baths.

The neighborhood is one of the safest in Paris, thanks to gendarmes on almost every corner protecting the seat of the French government. Les Invalides is a few blocks west and Boulevard St. Germain a short walk east. Le Lotus Blanc is virtually next door, a postage stamp-size Southeast Asian restaurant with terrific pad Thai.

Hotel du Palais Bourbon, 49 Rue de Bourgogne; 011-33-1-44-11-30-70, www.hotel-palais-bourbon.com; doubles from $150, including breakfast.

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Hotel Langlois

THE area around St. Trinite isn’t one of the city’s grandest neighborhoods, but it can boast a budget hotel of considerable distinction. The Hotel Langlois is in a building from the 1870s with much of its 19th century style intact, thanks to owners who preferred to refurbish the hotel’s Belle Epoque architectural detail instead of gutting the place, modernizing and adding rooms at the expense of space.

The lobby has an elaborately carved wooden archway and wide, graceful staircase that spirals around an old cage elevator. Even the landings are decorated with antique furniture and art, as are the rooms, mostly doubles priced from $125. Those on the sixth and seventh floors retain their 19th century character and have Paris rooftop views. Some have fireplaces, neoclassical statuary and built-in wood armoires that take up an entire wall. On other floors, there is a melange of styles such as Art Deco and midcentury modern, but all the furnishings are authentic, selected with a connoisseur’s eye.

Other, more practical, details please as well: the four-day weather report offered to guests, uninflated mini-bar prices (for instance, a bottle of mineral water costs $1.80, about the same as on the street) and $12 breakfasts brought to the rooms for no extra service charge.

Up until five years ago, the Langlois was the Hotel des Croises. But then Jonathan Demme shot part of his “Charade” remake there, calling it the Langlois, and the name stuck.

Hotel Langlois, 63 Rue St.-Lazare; 011-33-1-48-74-78-24, www.hotel-langlois.com; doubles from $125.

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Hotel Mansart

THE Hotel Mansart is part of Esprit de France, a small, home-grown chain with seven moderately priced hotels in Paris. From the Aiglon near Montparnasse to the D’Orsay and Place du Louvre, all are exceptionally well-maintained and run. But I single out the Mansart because its rates, from $197 for doubles, are surprisingly reasonable given its style and location near the Place Vendome.

The Mansart, next door to Bulgari and around the corner from the Ritz, has 57 rooms on seven floors and most of the technological bells and whistles business travelers need.

Fashion industry people have cottoned to this place, thanks to its reasonable rates and proximity to Rue St. Honore. Plus, it’s airy and cheerful, and its rooms are decorated in a cool classical and contemporary mix.

Hotel Mansart, 5 Rue des Capucines; 011-33-1-42-61-50-28, www.esprit-de-france.com; doubles from $197.