We stayed at St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord, which is just a short 3-minute walk away from Paris’ Gare du Nord international station (where you alight if you come to Paris by train from London).

Room

As you can see from the picture, our 10 Bed Mixed Dorm was pretty clean and also had a personal cage for you to put your belongings. I liked that there was a curtain to every bed for some privacy.


There was also a sink in the room for easy washups.


St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord also provided a reading light, two plugs and two USB ports for charging. Super useful for those travelling with phone, portable charger, camera etc which are required to charge daily.

Toilet

I don't have photos of the toilet but it was a shared toilet located outside of our room. Each floor has its own toilet of 4-5 cubicles. I didn't have to queue to use the shower cubicles when I was there but if it's peak season, I guess you can always try going to the toilets on the other floors.

Common Area

St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord has ample lockers in varying sizes for all their guests. You'll have to bring all your luggages two storeys down to a basement where the lockers are located so remember to pack light!



St Christopher's Inn is a chain hostel across Europe so their common area was very well furbished. They also have a myraid of activities planned so if you're looking for a hostel to build your social life, St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord is perfect for you.

If you're a lightsleeper, take note that St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord is located beside a club so it gets a little noisy at night although it shouldn't pose much of a problem. I'm a lightsleeper myself but I found it managable.




St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord's breakfast spread (not free-of-charge). The breakfast spot is located in the nightclub so it evitably smells a little like stale alcohol. You can grab the food and sit on the outside section, which is a bar slash burger joint at night, so it's not a problem.

Service

I have to admit I was blown away by St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord's service. Their staff always had a smile on their face, no matter how busy the hostel was. Tarek chatted with us a little and asked how long had Cheryl and I been friends (almost a year at that point). He then told us he'd present us a little surprise if we could prove that we've been friends since 2017 (not too difficult considering I had more than 20k photos in my phone wtf).


We got two free breakfast vouchers! That's the story of how two budget travellers got to enjoy free breakfast in Paris.

Safety

Google autocompletes 'Gare du Nord' with 'safety' and 'safe at night' so that's obviously a huge concern. I found it managable in the day — a few scammers loitering around the station but that's how Paris unfortunately is and since St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord is located within the proximity of a major train station, that's unavoidable. Just ignore anyone who approaches you and you'll be fine.

I have to admit it's a whole new different ball game at night. Pardon me, maybe I'm speaking from an ignorant perspective since the streets of Singapore are safe to roam at 4am, even as a girl. I found Gare du Nord station intimidating at night. I spotted someone wearing knuckle dusters when we were exiting the station at around 11pm. Whether it was an fashion accessory or worn for other purposes, I'm unsure but the fact remains that big groups of people hang out outside the train station at night.

Just be smart and vigilant when walking around the area (and throughout Paris) and I think you'll do fine. Cheryl and I are both petite Asian girls and we survived so safety shouldn't be a big issue.

Will I return to St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord?

Yes, definitely!

St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord

Address
5 Rue de Dunkerque, 75010 Paris, France

Contact
gdnreception@bedsandbars.com  |  0044 2086007505

Price
€26.90 (S$43) on Thursday, €32.90 (S$52.60) on Friday

Booking
I made my hostel booking on Hostelworld, where they have a free cancellation policy so you can change your mind anytime.