Paris! Who has been there?

phaxx

My girlfriend and I are planning to go to Paris for a long weekend in late January. Does anybody have any tips, suggestions or experiences you can tell me about?

I've been told it's a rather expensive city - any tips on how to get by relatively cheaply? (students... )

I've managed to find what seems to be a nice list of fairly cheap hotels. (2 star listing)

Found a map of the metro too, which I'm sure will be useful in planning how to find the hotel...

cerebus

Paris is a great place - here's some suggestions:

* If you get a clear day, visit the Eiffel Tower - well worth paying for. The view from the top is truly spectacular.

* Don't know if visiting the Louvre would be in my list of recommendations. Worth seeing, but be warned you'll probably find all the famous pieces like the Mona Lisa surrounded by hordes of Japanese tourists. Also, it is really big so it can take a lot of time to work your way around it. Instead, I'd recommend a trip to the Musee d'Orsay - we thought this was much more enjoyable. Then again, you may not be fans of museums at all in which case skip them all! I would walk around the courtyard of the Louvre though as it is worth seeing - weird juxtaposition of those funky glass pyramids with old buildings.

* Notre Dame is nice, and just around the corner is a little church called 'Saint Chapelle'. It is inside the Palais de Justice on the Ile de la Cite. Very cool stained glass windows, and lots of history...

* Wander the streets, see the sights - it is a really beautiful city.

* You should find lots of great places to eat - we thought it was good value.

I really like the city - my wife and I spent our honeymoon there, and found it reasonable, price-wise (I was pretty much a poor starving grad student at the time)

See if you can find a cheap hotel down around the latin quarter - you'll be reasonably central, and it should be easy to find cheap, good quality restaurants. We stayed near the Boulevard St. Germain (I believe we were on Rue des Ecoles?) and found it pretty much perfect.

If I think of anything more I'll post it.

P.S. I should mention I'm jealous

phaxx

* If you get a clear day, visit the Eiffel Tower - well worth paying for. The view from the top is truly spectacular.

Is it worth waiting for, to get to the top? I assume it won't be all that busy in January, it being cold and windy, and worse at the top

See if you can find a cheap hotel down around the latin quarter - you'll be reasonably central, and it should be easy to find cheap, good quality restaurants. We stayed near the Boulevard St. Germain (I believe we were on Rue des Ecoles?) and found it pretty much perfect.
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Street name rang a bell. Was considering this hotel - is that the one you were in?

cerebus

Is it worth waiting for, to get to the top? I assume it won't be all that busy in January, it being cold and windy, and worse at the top

Believe it or not, it is worth the wait! I know it is probably the uber-cliched "visit to Paris" activity, but I thought it was just fantastic. If you get a cold, clear January day I could not recommend it highly enough.

Don't know about a wet, cloudy day though...

Can't quite remember the name of the hotel we stayed in last time but it could well have been that one (let me do some research and I'll see if I can dig up the name). Even if we did stay somewhere else I would imagine the one you've found is probably pretty similar, so it should be safe enough. *

[size=-2]* No guarantee of satisfaction is actually being provided... your mileage may vary [/size]

cerebus

Found the place we stayed - the Hotel Saint Jacques, 35 Rue des Ecoles.

Basic, but nice. And very romantic!

phaxx

Ah-ha, thanks! Found it.

100 euro more (for three nights) than the other one I was looking at, but that one is quite out of the way. (20th arrondissement, 30km from the eiffel tower)

Is the metro expensive? Any idea how much spending money one ought to have to easily cover three days?

memphis

Originally posted by cerebus
Paris is a great place

* Wander the streets, see the sights - it is a really beautiful city.

That about covers it really.
I've been to paris for a few days after i finished 4th year in school.
I took a train down from Brussels with my brother.

Paris is fabulous. I can certainly see why they call it the city of love. bring your g/f to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and ya'll suddenly realise how much ya really love her, so romantic.

I've sworen that I'm gonna pop the question at the top of it when the time comes.

Notre Dame is amazing if your into that kinda architecture thing.

And if your into the art then visit the Lourve. But like cerebus says don't be surprised to see a huge crowd of Japanese chaps around the more famous painting like the Mona Lisa.

jim_rebels

Well worth a visit.
Ryan air fly to Beauvais which is not all that far from Paris and you get a bus which drops you at the James Joyce pub (sorry dont know name of the area).
There are lots of cheap hotels so even if ya have not got somewhere to stay before you go you'll get someone easily and you can barter with some of them.
I stayed in a hostel once with the lads and was there with an ex and stayed in a Comfort Inn which was very reasonable.
There is also a chain, I think called Formula 1 which are very cheap.

Enjoy it's a magnificent city.

Gaz

Great city , going there myself again in late January.

I found restaurants good value , not all that different to dublin, taxis are very expensive though , from Charles des Gaule airport to our hotel (just of the champs elysses) was €45.

Yes the eiffel tower is well worth it, even at night... great view.
Also go to the top of the Arc de triumph, great views and it has a museum type part inside up the top ... sh1t load of steps to walk up though.

Also and i know this is very tourist bt if you havnt been i would recommend going to eurodisney ...i thought it was great, not too dear and has plenty to do, and the queues anint so bad at that time of year.

Great city you will love it

Samba

Going to live there at some stage, ive visited the place a million times cause a few of my m8s live there.

If you want one truly class experience which will cost you a tenner I think and will keep you busy for a few hours, go visit the Catacombs which stretch all over paris underground it is freaky ****, lots Skelletons lying around (but i dont know how your gf would like, probably best suited to go with a few m8s).

Other wise the George pompidou Centre is wicked.

For nice Cheap Meals go to the Rue Mufftard which is in the Latin Quarter there is one restaraunt which is pricy compared to others in the area but still 10 times cheaper than any of the half assed ones in Dublin. its called Oceanic or somthing of the sort.

If you have the time try and make it out to the palais de Versaille that is so damn impressive.

Now in relation to Drink, that is where you are going to suffer big time, pubs and clubs can charge what they like over there so be sure to scope out the happy hour times (rue mufftard again has over 20 pubs some Irish and many danky).

Best bet is to get your hands on a Club/Music Guide if you like Music you will die when you see the variety of music and clubs at your disposal + in most clubs Venues your 1st drink is free with admission and that means any drink you want, so get the biggest cocktail going (just make sure that is the case).


If your looking to find cough (substances pm such as alchohol )

Some places are expensive others are not, over all Paris is cheaper than Dublin i.e food general cost of living its drink you should be worried about.

Enjoy your trip

Oh, and do not be under the average tourist Illustion that Paris is zeee city d'amour, hold on to your wallet tightly and watch out there are a **** load of dodgy basts.

Someone asks you for a ciggarett, you dont smoke. catch my drift

Samba

I found restaurants good value , not all that different to dublin, taxis are very expensive though , from Charles des Gaule airport to our hotel (just of the champs elysses) was €45.

You got ripped off should have only cost you 30 Eur, and btw CDG airport is miles away from paris, you should have gotten one of the many buses which take you there for 8 Eur.


I dont know what restaurants you went to, but they were obviously dire if they were no different to the ones in Dublin, some of the best food ive had is in Paris.


btw phaxx, if you are looking for a small snack during the day here is what you do, find a moroccan/Algerian Patisserie (oh the smells) pick up what looks good take em to a cafe and enjoy a nice fresh coffee the way it should be.

lili

well, if you have the luck to have a good weather, walk along the seine, and take a look to the book shops, you will feel the atmosphere of paris:)
then go to montmartre, the heart of paris and go up to the sacré coeur.
for the lunch or the diner, you can go around the bd st michel.
and the top of the top is to walk in the paris streets the night. an advice, if you want to not make queue for the restaurant you have to book your place.
if you're out around the 1 hour of the morning, go to the champs de mars, and wait at the off light of the eiffel tower.
by the way, all samba said is cool to visite too:)
oh yes, and go to the cimetery of père lachaise.

Samba

oh yes, and go to the cimetery of père lachaise

Aye tis a very humble experience seeing it, although these days you will be lucky to get within 6 feet of it, gaurds 24/7 for many reasons.

That is Jim morrison's tomb