overwhelming Paris

atilladehun

Hi, heading to Paris for Easter weekend with my girlfriend. Any tips on which areas to stay or eat, or see.

People have told us the 3rd district but montmart looks nice too. We're just looking for a romantic weekend, some sights, nice food and maybe some shopping or something.

We'd really appreciate some help!
Thanks.

Stojkovic

atilladehun wrote: »

Hi, heading to Paris for Easter weekend with my girlfriend. Any tips on which areas to stay or eat, or see.

People have told us the 3rd district but montmart looks nice too. We're just looking for a romantic weekend, some sights, nice food and maybe some shopping or something.

We'd really appreciate some help!
Thanks.

Paris is an over-rated, over-hyped extortionately expensive smelly ****-hole.

Enjoy.

coylemj

Stojkovic wrote: »

Paris is an over-rated, over-hyped extortionately expensive smelly ****-hole.

I've no doubt that a lot of people who visit these shores and spend most of their weekend drinking in Temple Bar go home and say the same about our capital city.

Stojkovic

coylemj wrote: »

I've no doubt that a lot of people who visit these shores and spend most of their weekend drinking in Temple Bar go home and say the same about our capital city.

When commenting on a foreign city why does everyone slag off Dublin. I never said Dublin was a shining, junkie free utopia. It too is a ****-hole.

shadowcomplex

Stojkovic wrote: »

When commenting on a foreign city why does everyone slag off Dublin. I never said Dublin was a shining, junkie free utopia. It too is a ****-hole.

Id be interested to know what cities you recommend

wesf

Paris is a great city, been there 4 times now, stayed in Montmartre twice, in an Ibis hotel. The first time the room had a great view of the whole city with the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomph visible.
I intend on going back this Summer.
As for what to see, the usual stuff, the 2 i've mentioned above of course, Notre dame, do the Seine boat trip, definitely get out to Versailles if you have time, it's amazing, don't forget the Louvre.
Also on the Champs Elysees there is a Haagen Dazs "restaurant", definitely worth a visit, as is the Champs Elysees itself.
Good idea to take one of the open top tour buses also.
Not 100% on places to eat, I just played it by ear but there was a little Italian place near the Moulin Rouge which is close to that Ibis I mentioned in Montmartre.
Oh Sacre Coeur is worth the climb too, great view!
Eurodisney is only a half hour train ride away, and the metro system is very good for getting about.
Brush up on a few essential phrases, the French will be more helpful if you attempt to speak French than if you just try to speak in English.

athtrasna

Personally I wouldn't stay in Montmartre if you paid me, I always stay in the Latin Quarter around Luxembourg RER, which makes it really handy for flying into CDG. To me a lot of the 9th near Montmartre is seedy.

I love Paris, have been there almost 20 times. I have a sheet of tips I did up for an intern in work, if you want to pm me an email I'll send it on to you.

cowboyjoe

+1 for Luxembourg area and avoiding Montmartre. Find a cheap hotel near an RER or metro stop. I stay near Maubert Mutalite metro. Lots of shops, restaurants, bars to suit everyone. 5 min walk to Latin quarter, St Michel, Notre Dame. Buy a carnet (book) of metro tickets or 2 day pass and explore Paris. Superb city. Visit the pantheon, scare cours, Eiffel Tower, place des Vosges and place vendômes near the louvre - so much to see and do all over. Lived there for 8 months and it's only expensive if you eat/drink in prime tourist spots, great value to be found. Hotel rooms quite small compared to other cities. Enjoy.

Stojkovic

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Id be interested to know what cities you recommend

In Europe I'd recommend Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Tallinn, Madrid, Berlin, Barcelona, Budapest, London, Seville, Krakow of the places I've been too. Would not recommend Riga, Bratislava.

atilladehun

Thanks for the tips. Think we are going to airbnb an apt. spent the day looking and there's some lovely ones. Sometimes I head away and have nothing planned but I feel with Paris I might get my stuff together. I've been to other parts of France before and found that a casual 'sure this place looks grand for lunch' can be very expensive and not feel worth it.

Unshelved

I really liked staying in Montmartre - it feels like a village within the city. We booked an apartment with homeaway.com - which worked out as good value.

If it's your first time in Paris, definitely do a boat trip on the Seine. As you'll only be there for a weekend at least with the boat trip you get to see most of the sights. I'm not a huge fan of the Champs Elysees - too many tourist traps - but Laduree is well worth the expense for the macaroons, or for lunch, coffee or a glass of champagne.

Also on the Champs Elysees is Sephora - a HUGE shop selling makeup and beauty products - your girlfriend will love it!

If you're into museums go early to the Louvre (there's always a queue) and the Musee D'Orsay is well worth a visit too. If you go to the Louvre there's a restaurant nearby called Angelina on the Rue de Rivoli that does amazing hot chocolate and patisseries (also good for lunch).

Best for shopping are Les Grandes Magasins - Printemps, Bon Marché and the gorgeous Galeries Lafayette - they're all quite close to each other near the Opera. The Marais neighbourhood in the 5th also has some great shops, restaurants and bars.

Buy a carnet of 10 bus/metro tickets from any tabac and use them for transport.

Be careful of your belongings on the Metro and beware of pickpockets/scam artists around the Tuileries.

Have a great time!

Arbiter of Good Taste

If you are planning on doing a lot of museums/art galleries, think about getting a museum pass. I've been to Paris a number of times - the last time for a week. We ended up getting the four day pass which costs about €50 and let's you into pretty much everything.

You can get one- and two-day passes also. Tho I don't know what they cost.

Apart from being amazing value, it means you get to skip the queues in the more popular places. If there's a less popular place you want to visit, go there first and buy the pass as the queue will be shorter. Then just walk in every where else (though you will still have to queue for security in the Louvre, it still beats queuing for the tickets). We got ours at the Rodin Museum and were sorted.

Also, in most places it allows you to go in more than once, so it means you have a city of clean toilets at your disposal when the need arises!

shadowcomplex

Stojkovic wrote: »

In Europe I'd recommend Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Tallinn, Madrid, Berlin, Barcelona, Budapest, London, Seville, Krakow of the places I've been too. Would not recommend Riga, Bratislava.

Wouldn't Tallinn and Riga be similar

Stojkovic

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Wouldn't Tallinn and Riga be similar

You'd think, but no very different.

Riga is basically a Soviet city with a small nice old town. But the people are ignorant scamming Russians.

Tallinn is only a short hop from Helsinki and is definately more Scandinavian. Full of Swedes and Finns aswel as pleasant friendly locals. The old town is like a fairy tale.

jacko1

athtrasna wrote: »

Personally I wouldn't stay in Montmartre if you paid me, I always stay in the Latin Quarter around Luxembourg RER, which makes it really handy for flying into CDG. To me a lot of the 9th near Montmartre is seedy.

I love Paris, have been there almost 20 times. I have a sheet of tips I did up for an intern in work, if you want to pm me an email I'll send it on to you.

fully endorse this - stay near the Luxembourg gardens - off place de la Sorbonne has many nice hotels , restaurants and cafes and it is on the RER straight from airport so no need to change