St Christopher's Inn Paris - Gare du Nord

St Christopher's Paris Gare du Nord opened in 2013 as the second Paris outpost of the UK-based St Christopher's Inn chain (the other is at Canal Saint-Martin in the 19th). It occupies a 10-floor former office building directly across from the Gare du Nord Eurostar exit — no exaggeration on the 3-minute walk, it's across a single square.

The ground floor is Belushi's, a UK-origin chain sports bar that all St Christopher's hostels have: pool tables, big screens for Premier League matches, 'Ultimate Belushi's' cocktail menu and DJ sets on weekends. Guests get a free welcome drink, happy hour runs 17h-20h with €4 pints, and the bar stays open until 2am Thu-Sat. There's a second smaller bar on the top floor with better views for sunset drinking. Pub crawls run Thursday and Saturday from the ground-floor bar.

Rooms are 4- to 12-bed mixed dorms, 6-bed female dorms, and privates from double-with-shared-bathroom to a handful of larger family rooms. Fit-out is basic functional: wooden bunks, reading lights, in-bed lockers (bring a padlock), clean linens. Ensuite bathrooms are in privates and a minority of dorms — most dorms use hallway bathrooms that are well-maintained.

Location wins on one metric only: arrival logistics. You're 3 minutes walk to the Eurostar, Thalys to Amsterdam/Brussels, TGV to northern France. Metro 2, 4, 5 and RER B/D/E all converge at Gare du Nord. The area itself is gritty — Paris's northern stations cluster is where all the city's transit noise collects — so don't expect a scenic stay. Montmartre is 15 minutes walk north through a real working-class stretch, the Marais is 15 minutes on Metro 4, Canal Saint-Martin is 8 minutes walk east. Women alone should Uber or Bolt after 23h, especially north of the station.