A room in a discount hotel near the Gare du Nord in Paris puts you within easy access of the sites of the city, and destinations across France and Europe. Over 180 million travelers pass through this train station every year, making it the busiest railway center in Europe, and the third busiest in the world. Gare du Nord is a main passenger link to northern France, the United Kingdom (via the Chunnel), the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. Local transit will take you to downtown Paris. This terminal is one of six large terminus stations in Paris.
Visitors who come from budget hotels near the Gare du Nord will find that the terminal is housed in a beautiful building which was designed by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, and constructed in the 1860s. Inside there are cafes, a currency exchange, newspaper stands, and a gift shop. For travelers’ convenience there are e-ticket collection machines, as well as wireless internet access and a registered baggage service. The washrooms have baby changing facilities. The station is decorated with a series of sculptures that represent cities served by the Chemin de Fer du Nord Railway Company. Among the cities represented are Paris, London, Vienna, Brussels, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Frankfurt, and Berlin. The sculptures were created by such artists as Jean Louis Nicolas Jaley, Francois Jouffroy, Jean Joseph Perraud, and Pierre Jules Cavelier. The Gare du Nord has frequently been used as a setting in movies such as The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Ocean’s Twelve.