Best Western Premier The Blake Paris Gare Saint Lazare
30 rooms on rue de Constantinople, a 600 m walk from the Saint-Lazare concourse
About this hotel
Number 18 rue de Constantinople is a short walk from Place de l'Europe, the iron bridge over the Saint-Lazare track fan that Caillebotte painted in 1876. From the trains, leave by the Sortie Rome on the west flank of the platform hall and head north: the hotel is about 600 m away, under ten minutes with a wheeled case. Gare Saint-Lazare is the Paris terminus for Rouen, Le Havre, Caen, Cherbourg and Deauville and for Transilien lines J and L, with metro lines 3, 12, 13 and 14 underneath.
The Haussmann building holds 30 rooms over six floors, but the lift only serves floors up to the fifth; the sixth is reached by stairs. The cocktail lounge and the concierge desk stay open 24 hours. The hot buffet breakfast runs from 7:00 to 10:00 on weekdays and from 7:30 to 10:30 on Saturday and Sunday. Check-in is from 15:00, check-out by 11:00, with express check-out. The hotel is entirely non-smoking and states that it is not adapted for guests with reduced mobility.
- 600 m on foot from Gare Saint-Lazare, 350 m from Villiers metro (lines 2 and 3)
- 30 rooms in a Haussmann building at 18 rue de Constantinople
- Cocktail lounge and concierge open 24 hours
- Hot buffet breakfast 7:00-10:00 on weekdays, 7:30-10:30 at weekends
- Lift serves floors up to the fifth; the sixth is reached by stairs
- Check-in from 15:00, check-out by 11:00, express check-out available
Our take
At 18 rue de Constantinople the lift stops at the fifth floor, so a sixth-floor room means carrying your case up the last flight; I would ask for a lower floor when booking if you travel heavy. Beyond that, the Blake is the hotel I would pick near Saint-Lazare when I want a small building rather than a chain block on the forecourt: 30 rooms, rated 9.6 from 205 reviews, a 600 m walk from the station. The 24-hour lounge and concierge suit a late train in from Caen or Le Havre. Two caveats: guests describe the rooms as compact, and breakfast starts at 7:00 on weekdays and 7:30 at weekends, too late for the first Normandy departures.
- Ask for a room on the fifth floor or below when you book: the lift does not serve the sixth floor, and the last flight is stairs only.
- On a weekend, breakfast opens at 7:30 rather than 7:00, so for a Normandy train before 8:00 I would eat in the station and use express check-out to skip the desk.
- With a heavy case in the rain, take line 3 from Europe: Saint-Lazare is the very next stop in the direction of Gallieni.
- Staff speak Chinese, Spanish and Italian as well as French and English, which helps a group checking in late after a long rail day.
Why we love it
- 600 m on foot from Gare Saint-Lazare, with Europe (line 3) and Villiers (lines 2 and 3) even closer
- Cocktail lounge and concierge open 24 hours for a late train from Normandy
- Only 30 rooms, rated 9.6 from 205 guest reviews
Why guests love itI would book the Blake for a trip that runs through Gare Saint-Lazare, whether that means the trains to Normandy or Transilien J and L to the western suburbs, and for travellers who prefer a 30-room house to a big hotel on the station square. Business visitors to the offices around Saint-Lazare and Opéra get a residential street, a lounge open all night and express check-out. I would not book it for anyone with reduced mobility: Best Western states the hotel is not adapted, and the lift stops short of the sixth floor. Families with several suitcases should ask for a lower floor and expect compact rooms. No dinner service is announced, so evening meals mean the brasseries of the 8th arrondissement or a short walk up to the Batignolles.