The Saint Paul hotel, while ideally located in the old section of Lyon, is a seriously flawed choice of a place to stay. It’s located at the beginning of a pedestrian walkway surrounded by lots of restaurant, bars, and resultant noise. The staff is extremely welcoming and friendly; however the reception area is dingy and small. There is no elevator and to get to your room, requiring guests to navigate a narrow winding stairway with dirty carpets. The stairs are so narrow that carrying your bags up the stairs is quite difficult.

Saint Paul is a two star hotel, so one cannot expect too many amenities, but even in this category the hotel leaves much to be desired. We had rented two double rooms, one so miniscule there was barely room for the bed. The other room was a bit larger but certainly not spacious. The floors, cheap linoleum, were not very clean. Peeling paint greets you as you attempt to navigate the stairs. The shower curtain lacked half of its curtain rings. The shower was of the Statue of Liberty, hand-held variety, leaving us wondering why there was no shower head wall hook. An ill-placed door stop required the bathroom door to be placed between your legs while using the toilet. The window sills were invariably dusty. The hotel has no air conditioning ,the ceiling fans operate at hyper speed, and you cannot practically open your window because of street noise. The rooms have no curtains, but only cheap plywood shutters, so expect to arise at sunup.

In one of our rooms we awakened at 6 a.m. to find bedbugs climbing over our legs, the sheet bloodied. While the staff was very apologetic and did not charge us for one of our rooms, we were constrained to discard a suitcase and place clothes in plastic bags for washing and high-temperature drying. (The dryer treatment is necessary to kill bedbug larvae.) Fingers crossed that we did not unwittingly export Saint Paul's bedbugs to our next stop.

While we recognize that bedbugs can occur occasionally in the best of hotels, on top of all of the other serious deficiencies of the Saint Paul, this would seem to be a hotel to avoid. If the Saint Paul is in the top ten percent of Lyon hotels, then France's second largest city has a very serious problem indeed receiving guests. Our stay at the Saint Paul was certainly a cauchemar.

we stayed here because it was close to our favourite restaurants and in a great central position, but the main reason was the cheap prices. I asked for a high floor but probably not necessary as the extra thick double glazing lets no noise filter through. I loved the old building, and we had a new bathroom - although the fact of being at the top made the shower not very powerful! our bedroom was ok (441) but lacking on the decoration side, and the cloth wardrobe gave the room a student feel about it - shame there was not some old wooden furniture instead, which would have gone well with the building. we had breakfast for 7euros -croissant, bread and butter, juice and very weak coffee! but in lyon we have never had a good deal at breakfast and this was the cheapest we've had! I would stay here again, but hope to have a room with more authentic feel to it! we were there with our car which we thought would be difficult to park, but luckily found a space in an adjacent road and left it there, which was good.

This hotel is a small 18Th century building. Therefore the rooms are full of character and very clean.
The location is right in the centre of Lyon old town, about 200m to the river and main bus route.
Me and my sister stayed here for two nights. It was meant to be three but we had an emergency and had to get home. the staff were so very helpful and did not even charge us for the last night. Staff have plenty of local information and they are willing to answer any questions you have.
it is really reasonably priced and you get a real flavour of lyon old town - I would book it again without a second thought.
breakfast is simple but fresh and very tasty.

Just stayed for the second time in hotel Saint Paul. We got, on request, the same room as the last time: room number 223, on the second floor with a view on the street. SInce last time they installed double windows in the room, probably after complaints about the noise on the street. We never had a problem with it. Yes, it's a area with lot of bars and restaurants and you will hear people passing by, but so what.
It's a small hotel with an excellent service. The people at reception are happy to tell you all about the surrounding, nice restaurants and other interesting stuff in Lyon. The rooms are no big - we had one of the larger ones, about 19 square meters - and don't have airco, but a fan. Out bathroom was big enough with a very nice shower and bath. Because it's a small historic building there is no lift. So be prepared to climb.
Breakfast seems to be okay (7 euro's) but we always went a little bar at the river, closeby, that opened at 8 o'clock in de morning. I think it's called Le Rocambole and we spend great times there, in the morning and for drinks in the evening. Great terrace!
If you want to stay in the neighbourhood for diner in the evening, there are a lot of wonderfull little restaurants in the area. For the 7th time we visited La Nef des Fous in Rue du Boeuf and opposite hotel Cours le Loge you'll will find a little bistro called St Jean, with a cozy - and not to hectic - terrace under the trees. Great Lyonais food. Also Les Adret (a bit more expensive) and Le Bouchon Tirer (if I write that correctly) are excellent. Well, enjoy your stay at Saint-Paul. We're looking forward to come back there fot a third time.