neighborhood near the Sorbonne?

I have found these boards so helpful in planning our trip to Paris with our children. I have yet another question as I am trying to plan our itinerary and where we should stay.

Could someone describe the LQ neighborhood immediately around the Sorbonne(south of Rue Des Ecoles and east of St. Michel)? Is it charming and full of cafes and shops or more %26quot;institutional%26quot; because of all of the big university buildings? It seems like it has a different feel than the area closer to St. Germain, but I am having trouble finding descriptions of it in my guidebooks. Is my impression correct? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

|||

I have stayed 3 years in the LQ (5th) and one

year in St. Germain (6th).

The 6th is a bit more charming with more shops

and restaurants.

The 5th has the Sorbonne, Cluny, Pantheon

and rue Mouffatard.

I did not experience the 5th around the Sorbonne

as institutional.

For me, Hotel Gran de Ecole was perfect,

near the Contrascarpe.

Both have good metro access.

There is good night life in both.

|||

I%26#39;ve stayed in St. Germain and also in this area of the Latin Quarter. Last time in Paris, we stayed in the 5th between Rue St. Jacques and Rue des Ecoles, a block or two from the Sorbonne and in the area you are describing.

Like the previous poster, I too loved the area. It has cafes and shops but not an overwhelming amount of tourists, until you go closer to the river. There is the Pantheon and the magnificent Saint-Étienne-du-Mont church. And the number of close-by Metro stops make it easy to get anywhere.

St. Germain and Montparnasse are an easy walk.

|||

-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-

This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.

To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.

Removed on: 1:25 am, August 22, 2009