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If you’ve not already travelled to ‘The City of Lights’, it should be high up on your bucket list of places to see. Paris has something for everyone from the street side cafes and book sellers along the Seine to its world class museums, galleries and nightlife.
Paris is amongst the world’s most visited cities with millions upon millions of tourists travelling to see its historical and cultural landmarks such as Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel tower.
With so many people coming and going in the city, it’s important to find the perfect accommodation that suits your personality and travelling style. For solo travellers, finding the right balance between a lively atmosphere and privacy can prove tricky.
That’s why we’ve compiled this guide of the best hostels for solo travellers to help you when it comes to making the all-important decision of where to stay during your time in Paris.
Overall Best Hostel: Generator Paris
Its excellent range of facilities alongside its great location and accessibility make it my number 1 hostel in Paris. The rooms are chic and stylish and the hostel is incredibly secure.
Overview of Hostels in Paris
One thing you’re not going to be stuck for in Paris is choice. There’s quite literally hundreds of hostels to choose from, each with its own unique style.
PRICE: On average, a single night in a dorm room in a Parisian hostel will cost you around €28 although cheaper options are available as well as occasional deals.
CHECK IN: Generally, most hostels will only let you check in after 2pm so they can clean and prepare your room, but if you arrive earlier than that, the majority of places have a space to store luggage leaving you free to go and grab a bite to eat or a coffee while you wait.
SAFETY: Security in hostels is an understandable concern for travellers, but all of our suggested places to stay are equipped with lockers and entrance is only permitted to guests.
The hostels recommended in this guide have been selected based on their quality, value and services offered in order to save you time when choosing and make your trip run as smoothly as possible.
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Our Favourite Paris Hostels for Solo Travellers
With so many quality hostels to choose from, it’s not easy to name the best. However, we’ve selected the following two hostels as our favourites in the city.
Best Chilled Hostel for Solo Travellers
The Peoples Hostel
The People’s Hostel is a firm favourite among solo travellers in Paris, not least because it provides a friendly atmosphere that’s great for mingling.
✓ Comfy beds with privacy curtains
✓ Rooftop with vegetable garden and eco-friendly initiatives
✓ Buzzing common room
✗ Limited kitchen facilities with no hobs
The common room is always buzzing and especially attracts lots of people during sports games due to the large TV. However, this is a very chilled hostel so don’t expect any wild parties (keep reading to find out where they are!).
Everything you could need is well within reach including metro stations., supermarkets and an array of bars and restaurants.
As far as facilities go, the beds are cosy with a shelf next to each one for charging phones and lights, plus privacy curtains on each bed which is ideal when sharing dorms. There is a kitchen to make your own food although it’s very limited and doesn’t have a hob.
Runner Up Chilled Hostel
Le Village Monmartre
Helpful staff, a friendly social vibe and decent facilities in one of Paris’ bohemian neighbourhoods.
✓ Well equipped and well stocked kitchen
✓ Staff that go the extra mile
✓ Excellent location near the Sacré-Cœur, one of Paris’ best spots
✗ No plugs/lights next to each bed or privacy curtain
You’re first impressions of this hostel might be that it’s a bit mediocre, but once you get settled in it will blow away your expectations with helpful staff, a friendly social vibe and decent facilities.
Monmartre is one of the city’s more bohemian neighbourhoods and is home to Le Village. The hostel is a stone’s throw from Sacre Coeur, an incredibly beautiful church and one of Paris’ most famous landmarks. From here you can enjoy the whole cityscape whilst listening to local street musicians.
If you’re looking to stay in one of Paris’ more tranquil neighbourhoods, you should look no further than Monmartre.
The hostel itself has an outdoor terrace with great views, a library, a selection of board games as well as a bike rental service so you can easily cruise around and explore the area.
This hostel doesn’t have plugs or lights next to each bed which we’ve generally come to expect from hostels in Western Europe.
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Best Party Hostel for Solo Travellers
Generator Paris
A lively hostel with on-site bar and club for meeting fellow guests.
✓ Lively bar with ping pong, pool and an on-site nightclub
✓ Rooftop terrace with beautiful view
✓ Stylish, modern hostel
✗ A bit far from city centre although accessible by public transport
✗ No kitchen
If you’re looking for a base for your big weekend in Paris, Generator is highly recommended. It’s a great place to meet new people before going out and exploring the city by night.
The hostel has a rooftop bar where you can enjoy a cocktail and get chatting to people from around the world and there’s even a nightclub in the basement for when the party gets in full flow.
Back on the ground floor, there’s a café where you can get a strong coffee in the morning to cure your hangover before thy day ahead.
Generator has excellent transport links as there’s a metro station across the street. It’s also surrounded by cafes, bars, parks and a great architecture.
Runner Up Party Hostel
St Christopher’s Gare du Nord
Convenient location and the best happy hour in town, St Christopher’s main Gare Du Nord hostel is a go-to for partying in Paris.
✓ Great bar with food, drinks, pub crawls and events
✓ Pod-style beds with plugs, lights and privacy curtains
✓ Good location, right next to main train station
✗ Not allowed to bring your own alcohol in to the hostel
St. Christopher’s Gare du Nord Hostel is one of the most popular hostels in Paris for solo travellers looking for a lively atmosphere. If you’ve stayed at a St Christopher’s Hostel before, you’ll know what to expect.
Downstairs you’ll find Belushis, the hostel’s bar, where you’ll be able to take advantage of the best happy hour drinks deals going.
You can also book onto their organised pub crawls and join regular events and parties where you’ll meet plenty of other people travelling solo.
The hostel is about 40 minutes walk in to the city or you can use the nearby metro station.
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Best Budget Hostel
St. Christopher’s Canal Hostel
Like their main hostel above, this St Christopher’s has a lively setting and good facilities but at a cheaper rate due to being slightly further from the centre.
✓ Fun atmosphere at the on-site bar which is easy to make friends when travelling alone
✓ Sturdy beds with USB charging points and privacy curtain
✓ Canal-side location is beautiful
✗ Quite a distance from the city centre although easy to reach via the nearby metro stations
Okay, so we’ve included another St Christopher’s Hostel in our list but this time as the number one budget hostel in Paris.
This hostel has a more relaxed vibe than their main Paris hostel, but being a St Christopher’s, it’s still very lively. Being slightly further away from the city centre means it comes with an even more favourable price tag – ideal!
You will of course need to purchase a metro pass to access the hostel but this is the case with all of the budget-friendly hostels. We’d recommend you invest in a 3 day metro pass anyway.
The dorm rooms are cosy and each bed is equipped with a curtain and power socket and they have lift access, which should come in handy after a full-night’s partying!
The hostel has been fitted out with its own Belushis bar overlooking the canal where they host live bands and DJs and have beer pong tournaments to get you fully hyped for the night ahead.
The only downside to this hostel is that it’s quite far from the city centre, although the journey is easy from either of the two nearby metro stations.
Best Location
Vintage Paris Gare du Nord
Most convenient location right next to the main train station and great transport links to the rest of the city.
✓ Great lounge to meet other solo travellers on first floor
✓ Ideally located right near the main station
✓ Onsite gym (albeit quite small)
✗ Bathrooms and showers are cramped
This hostel is about as central as you can get. It’s really well connected to the train and metro stations so you won’t be spending ages trying to find the place on arrival and it’s incredibly close to some of the city’s best attractions.
Monmartre and Sacre Coeur are within walking distance as is the Moulin Rouge and the lively Pigalle district where Picasso and Van Gogh once lived. Today, it’s just as famous with artists and musicians.
The only downside to this one is really the showers, they are small so larger people may struggle to fit in.
If you’re looking for a friendly hostel to meet new people, then this could be the one for you.
It’s got a really warm vibe with plenty of evening events and table football. There’s even an on site gym if you’re looking to squeeze a workout into your trip.
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Best for Digital Nomads
Les Piaules
If you’re visiting Paris for work or as a digital nomad, then this hostel is a good spot to stay.
✓ Large, sturdy pod-style beds with privacy curtains
✓ Good downstairs bar with occasional live music events
✓ Close to lots of coworking spaces
✗ Poor breakfast selection
If you’re looking for somewhere to get some work done during your trip to Paris, Les Piaules is the perfect hostel to stay in. It has a super fast internet connection and a rooftop with stunning city views for inspiration. It’s also close to a number of co-working spaces if you need a good working environment.
You can sample the hostel’s homemade lemonade on an old school leather armchair in their lounge and, when your work’s done, go and explore the cosmopolitan Bellevue neighbourhood.
This is quite a lively hostel with a free beer on check in and a thriving bar downstairs so there’s always other people to hang with. Plus if you have a heavy night, check out isn’t until 12 noon.
Great for a Quiet Stay
MIJE Marais
If you’re choosing a hostel for the price, rather than the social atmosphere, then MIJE Marais offers great facilities.
✓ Set in a beautiful building
✓ Great access to the city within walking distance of Notre Dame
✓ Top notch security
✗ Limited social atmosphere
✗ No lounge area
This has to be one of the most comfortable places to stay in Paris. A great advantage of staying in this beautifully renovated 17th century building in the Marais district, is its proximity to Notre Dame and the Bastille.
The hostel contains a common room full of books, a quiet terrace where can enjoy a coffee or a glass of wine.
You’ll also get a continental breakfast is included in the price. Other facilities include Wi-Fi, free maps to aid you in finding the city’s most famous landmarks and an on-site restaurant.
The main common space is the dining area so there is no lounge-type area. For this reason there isn’t a huge social scene so it’s quite well suited to older travellers and those who don’t book hostels for the social atmosphere.
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More Great Hostels in Paris
Choosing the right hostel in Paris is going to depend on a number of criteria and perhaps the ones highlighted above might not be the best fit for you.
If that’s the case, don’t worry – there’s plenty more to choose from. Check out these other great places to stay in Paris:
Great for Foodies
Oops Latin Quarter
French food is amongst the best in the world and if you’re going to Paris to sample to the delicious cuisine, you’ll want to head to the Latin Quarter where there’s a high concentration of excellent restaurants, cafes and bars.
Oops Latin Quarter is the perfect place to stay and sleep after indulging in all of the finer things Paris has to offer.
The rooms in this boutique hostel are colourful and they provide homemade croissants for breakfast so you won’t have to worry about finding a bakery in the morning.
The hostel is a 30-minute walk from the best sights in the city so you’ll be able to eat and drink free of guilt, safe in the knowledge that you’re going to burn off some calories strolling through the streets on your way to visit some of the world’s most famous landmarks.
Great for Shopping
The 3 Ducks Eiffel Tower
3 Ducks is one of the oldest hostels in the Paris and is handily located next to the city’s most famous monument, the Eiffel Tower.
Despite being one of the city’s oldest, the hostel has a chic and arty feel, perfect for the modern backpacker. The hostel has a bar which shares space with the reception, so you can get a refreshment and start socialising while you’re checking in.
If you’re heading to Paris for the shops, 3 Ducks is located just a minute’s walk from the Rue du Commerce which is home to great clothes boutiques and some of the worlds finest delicatessens.
Great for Students
FIAP Jean Monnet
Located in a quiet neighbourhood in the 14th arrondissement, the FIAP Jean Monnet is a great place to stay if you’re looking to get a good night’s sleep in during your stay in Paris.
This hostel attracts lots of students, tour groups and school groups so it’s better suited to a younger audience.
It’s clean, quiet and included in the price is a Parisian breakfast in the morning. The hostel is the perfect place for sight-seers as it’s a short hop on the metro to the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and the Latin Quarter. Similarly, Notre Dame is within walking distance with plenty of museums to stop off at en route.
The Jean Monnet even has a small café where you can get well-priced evening meals and the super-friendly staff are always at hand to give you the best tips for things to see and do in the city.
Great for Activities
Le Montclaire Monmartre
The staff at Le Montclaire know all of the best gigs, concerts and events happening in the neighbourhood and they’ll happily book tickets and organise other events themselves for guests.
They even have a games room to keep you busy when meeting other guests, or you can relax in their cosy bar in between activities. They also provide a bike rental service so you can easily travel to and from the hostel.
