Any recommendations?

What for Martin?

We are off to Paris on the 29th; can anyone who may have just come back let me know what the prices are like at the moment what with the Euro dropping daily - did you find it expensive?

Thanks.

We found Paris to be very expensive, and that was a few years ago!!!!

Same here. Sorry it's nor recent like you were asking, but we were there a few years ago and found it very expensive to eat out even well away from the Champs Elysee.

We were there for 6 days and ate at McDonald's on the Champs Elysee a few times to save some money and I never touch the place at home!

I have read that it's cheaper to eat in the Latin(?) quarter, but that was one area we didn't visit.

You do get places that offer a 3 course Menu of the Day which is better value, but still not cheap.

luci

I have read that it's cheaper to eat in the Latin(?) quarter

Ooh goody, that's where we are staying!!
I've already paid for a museum pass so I don't have to fork out for entrance fees, it's really just food and drink that I wasn't sure about. Ah well, we'll have to 'suck it and see' then I suppose and if I get a shock then we'll be looking for places that do prix-fixes.

The Museum Pass is fantastic! We went to all the major ones and even did the Sewers Museum. Make sure you have it in plain view in your hand when you enter the Louvre. A member of staff spotte mine and whisked us away to the entrance without joining the long queue.

luci

Will do - thanks Lucy

Well, we are back and we had a fabulous time My trip report is below, I hope that you enjoy reading it.

Tuesday 29th April
We arrive on time, take the RER into the city and arrive at our hotel (Saint Jacques on rue Des Ecoles) at 8.15pm. It doesn't take long to unpack and head out for dinner. We chose Le Buisson Ardent (25 rue Jussieu) from the Time Out guide as it's near our hotel. Turns out to be a great choice. There's a set menu for 32E per person. I have rabbit terrine, salmon and haddock lasagne & white chocolate mouse with pink grapefruit. Hubby has artichoke & parmesan soup, pork stew, featuring pigs ear and dark chocolate cheesecake. It's not the cheapest prix fixe (dinner with wine was 99E) but well worth it. The place was packed and we got the last table. Great first meal.

Wednesday 30th April
After a rude awakening by some workman in the hotel (our fault I guess as I forgot to put out the ‘do not disturb' sign) we get ready and pop over the road for breakfast. The croissant is hot and buttery and I can feel my hips widening as I eat it! Afterwards we visit the Pantheon as it's so close. It reminds me very much of the one we saw in Rome. Lovely frescos. We walk down towards Notre Dame in the rain. While we are queuing in the line to go up the towers it really starts to belt down and the wind picks up. Thankfully we only have a relatively short wait (about 30 mins) and the views from the top are certainly worth both the wait and the climb. You can see for miles over the city. The gargoyles at the top at stunning and some of them are frankly a little scary. The bell tower is amazing, the bell is huge and the old woodwork is an art in itself. Once we are back down we go straight into the cathedral and enjoy a seat in one of the pews. It's lovely and warm and the stained glass windows are beautiful. After we've warmed up we get up and wander around the cathedral and by the time we come out it's stopped raining and the sun is out. We take a look into the crypt underneath Notre dame with it's old foundations and ruins of what used to be on the island before the cathedral was built.
Next stop is lunch and we both have our first croque madam - delicious. I have a hot chocolate and it's a bit different to what we have at home - you get a jug of hot milk and a flask of melted chocolate to mix and make your own. Yum, yum.
After lunch we visit the Louvre and after a false start of trying to following the self guide walk I'd printed from their website we just decide to do our own thing. The place is vast and you could certainly spend a whole day in there and even then I'm not sure you'd see everything. Having already seen lots of Egyptian and Grecians treasure on our travels we don't bother with those floors and pick out the ‘main attractions'. I have to say that I was distinctly unmoved by the Venus di Milo. The crowds for the Mona Lisa were really strange; they were all pushing and shoving to take a photo and then pushing their way back out. I couldn't see one person bothering to stand and look at her properly. In my opinion the Winged Victor of Samrothrace was the best of the main ‘must sees' and the display of Italian sculptures was worth the entrance fee alone.
We have dinner in Le Tango du Chat (rue Saint Severin). It's an intimate place where you sit cheek by jowl with your neighbours, typically French, very busy and noisy. Oh and you can also bring your pets here as did the lady who came in to eat dinner with her dog! The food was OK, nothing special but there's a good choice of different prix fixe menus.

Thursday 1st May
OK, so I knew the Louvre was closed today but what I hadn't realised was that it was a Bank Holiday so of course naturally when we arrive at the Musee Rodin after breakfast, it's closed as are all the museums"¦ Ah well there's always tomorrow.
From there we walk to the Eiffel Tower, huge crowds and absolutely massive queues so it's s good job that neither of us wanted to go up it. We move onto the Arc De Triomphe - now I know this will sound silly but it's lot bigger than I expected it to be and boy is the traffic mad around there! We take a leisurely stroll down the Champs Elysees, looking for somewhere for lunch as it looks like the rain is on it's way again. We wander up a side street and chance upon an Iranian restaurant. What a find; lunch is very tasty. We have a nice bottle of wine and some Iranian tea. Luckily while we are in there the rain does come and by the time we leave it's over.
We carry on down the Champs Elysees to the obelisk at Place de la Concorde and then through the Jardin des Tuilleries. I had no idea it was there and am thrilled to see a sculpture by Louise Bourgeois; it's one of her famous spiders and simply stunning, set on a green surrounded by flowers. We decide to walk down rue Rivoli to the Pompidou Centre. Hmm, another piece of modern art that I don't understand - beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to me it looks hideous, Apologies to all those who thinks it's visually stunning, to me it's like a cross between scaffolding, air-con systems and subway escalators. Amazingly there is a Louise Bourgeois exhibition in there and I vow to come back tomorrow if we have time. By now it's around 5pm so we go back to the hotel for a rest.
This evening we'd intended to go to rue Gregorie Tours and eat in either l'Insular or Au Beaujolis as recommended on TA but we can't find the street on our map and after wandering up and down the Saint Germain Boulevard for a while we give up and head down to the streets in the Latin Quarter towards the river and end up in a non descript Italian that served really tasty and very reasonably priced pasta. Not too keen on those crowded streets around it though - very touristy and people standing outside to try and get you in their restaurant.

Friday 2nd May
We get up early this morning, grab a crepe on the way to the metro and are standing outside the Musee Rodin for it opening. We wander around the garden first; the sun is shining, the birds are signing and it feels like we have the place to ourselves. There are some lovely pieces outside and I sit for a while in front of The Thinker. The view from the bottom of the garden up to the house is like a movie set, you can almost see people in carriages pulling up outside the door. Indoors are more interesting pieces including The Kiss, which I really like. When we leave there is a huge queue and I'm so glad we came early. Next it's over the road to Les Invalides, Napoleon's tombs and the military museum that my hubby wanted to see and he loved seeing the variety of guns he's played with in various video games over the years!
We take the metro up to Montmarte for lunch before joining the afternoon tour by ParisWalks (INVALID URL Lunch is at Le Relais Gascon (9 rue des Abbesses) thanks to TA. Brilliant, the salads are amazing and if you are ever in Montmarte I would encourage you to try one - they are a meal in themselves and even die hard salad dodgers will have a hard time resisting. We pick up the tour and it's a pleasure walking round the old cobbled streets. It feels so different to the rest of the city we've seen so far. The guide is good and we see where Van Gogh and Toulouse Latrec lived. The tour ends at the Sacre Coeur and I think this is probably somewhere you either love or hate. It left us both cold and we didn't go inside and if I'm honest all the crowds of people put me off as the square adjacent to it seems lilke a tourist trap. We just took the funicular back down the hill.
We're tired now but decide that with one last push we can fit in the Pompidou Centre. It's around 6ish and what a great time of day to go, no queues or crowds and plenty of room around the displays. I saw a documentary about Louise Bourgeois last year and was immediately fascinated both by her as a person and her work. This exhibition was something that I really couldn't pass up seeing. My hubby had never heard of her but had been impressed with the spider we saw yesterday. We both agreed that we've never seem anything like the display; truly she was artist that you couldn't define, she worked with anything and everything she could get her hands on - bronze, marble, fabric, plastic, foam, old clothes. Some of her pieces were stunning, some plain odd and this exhibition will stay with us both for long time.
Afterwards we decide to have a quick bite near the centre as we both feel after our long day if we go back to hotel we won't get a out again as it's been a long day and we are exhausted. A sandwich and a couple of glasses of Sancerre ease my aching feet and legs and we arrive back the hotel around 9pm, open the bottle we bought on the way back and are asleep by 11pm!!

Well, we had 3 full days of sightseeing in Paris and I can honestly say that we'd both go back in a heartbeat as we feel like we've barely scratched the surface and there's still do much to see. The city is vibrant and interesting. Yes, alcohol is expensive but hey, that means you won't find stag and hen parties here and surely it's all the better for that, right?

Sounds as though you had a great time. If you do go back and you like the impressionist painters don't miss the Musée d' Orsay, I spend hours there whenever I'm in Paris.

I will do Judith, it's on the list for next time, along with lots of others. You don't realise until you get there just how much there is to see!

Excellent trip report Dawn. It's a good few years since we were in Paris and we too loved it. We were there for 6 days and pretty much covered everything we wanted to see. It's a fascinating city.

luci

Travelled from Birmingham 7.30am Monday 21/7/08 by coach to Paris 8 hours later tired but excited arrived, evening meal in hotel & free to do what you like, Tuesday visit to Invalides & in the afternoon Paris Opera Garnier, back to hotel then up Mountparness tower, and a night time tour of the city, Wednesday of to Giverny for Monets gardens & in the afternoon Palace of Versailles, Thursday up the Eiffel tower (top floor), then in the afternoon off to the Louvre for a couple of hours, then back to the Hotel (Hilton at Orly airport) to freshen up then out for a slap up meal + wine + beer (as much as you like) in a Bistro in the Latin Quarter by the Luxembourg gardens, Friday early start home, and at 4pm drinking a nice cup of tea in our own house, all in all, my wife & I had a marvelous time and we was extremely lucky with the weather, all the tickets for above was included with the price inc all breakfasts (buffet American style) plus 2 evening meals at the Hotel, we had to pay for the last night meal together at the bistro. A holiday to remember all for £299.00 each. we travelled with Parrys International coaches, an altogether in a different league company, the speakers above have a turn off switch if you disagree with drivers choice of music, never known that before. The holiday was great and made coach travel very enjoyable, also the courier was brilliant and was a fountain of knowledge (not at all boring) and so you hung on her every word, plus she could pronounce everything correctly..........................Wonderful

I'll be travelling to Paris on Thursday the 10th of June, returning on Sunday the 13th of June. Dates aren't flexible and I'd like to arrive in Paris by about midday (certainly not much later) on the Thursday and not leave until late afternoon on the Sunday to allow time for sightseeing on those two days.

Both the Friday and Saturday daytime will be taken up queueing early for the gigs I'm attending both evenings at the Stade de France.

I'll be meeting up with and staying with a couple of French friends (along with a load of other people) who are going to show me around Paris! Never been before so really looking forward to it!

We've booked accommodation HERE, not in the most salubrious of areas but very handy for the stadium. All we want is a bed to sleep in! The girls who know the area have said we'll travel on the Metro to a nicer part of the city for dinner on the Thursday night as we'll be having a forum meet so want it to be special.

So my accommodation is sorted but what I'd like advice on please is the cheapest way to get there! Ferry/driving is not an option. My obvious choice would be to travel on the Eurostar which I believe can't be booked until three moths before the date of travel??

I was wondering however if any of the budget airlines fly from Gatwick (would have to be Gatwick, not any of the other London airports, as travelling/parking would make it more hassle than it's worth because I live in West Sussex) to Paris and if so, would they fit in with my dates and times?

I've been told the cheapest return fare London to Paris on the Eurostar is £60, is that about right?

Many thanks for any help given!

Can anybody tell me if i would be better getting money of of an ATM in paris or buying the euros back here at home? Trying to find the best exchange rate with the euro being so poor.

Thanks Tamara

Has anybody been to Paris on a city break this year? Just wondering how your experience of Paris compares with my son's.

He flew there with his girlfriend for a 3 night break and although they had a nice time together, neither were impressed with Paris and wouldn't return.

As soon as they took their seats on the train from CDG airport to their hotel, they encountered a woman dragging a young infant along, holding her hand out for money and unfortunately money grabbing seemed to be the order of the day. Everywhere they went in the city there were genuine beggars who held their hands out but kept their heads down (too ashamed to look at them) or men approaching them with their whares. This would happen whilst they were walking along or even sitting at a table trying to have a quiet drink or bite to eat.

They also didn't know quite how expensive it would be, eventhough they were prepared for inflated prices. He quoted me an instance where they had a main meal each with just one drink to accompany the meal and the bill came to 80 euros

As for the sights, the queues to go up the Eiffel tower were hours long and they were disappointed to see modern vending machines inside Notre Damme cathedral- it spoilt the atmosphere. They did enjoy the time they spent at the louvre.

Apart from it being quality time together the only positive for them was that they had a lovely hotel.

I wonder if Paris is all its made out to be? has it changed over the years? and is their experience a typical one or is it somewhere you love to visit?

It's a good few years since we were in Paris, but we loved it. We were there for 6 nights and yes it was VERY expensive to eat out, even at restaurants well off the tourist areas.

Can't remember seeing beggars, at least not many. Didn't bother with the Eiffel Tower as I wasn't interested in going up it and that was without knowing about the massive queues.

We made good use of the Museum Pass, but were less than impressed with Versailles and left after about half an hour.

Not sure if we will go back as we pretty much covered everything while we were there and the cost of eating out would put us off.

luci

I think it was mainly the beggars and money grabbers that put them off Glynis. I know you'll always get that to a certain degree anywhere there are tourists but the way he described it, they were everywhere

We went just after christmas shirley and loved it . Would return in a heartbeat and not what we were expecting at all . I mean that in a good way.

Yes it's expensive but no more so than the likes of rome and venice and long queues but these can easily be avoided in advance . You can book ahead online for the eifel tower and there are ticket machines for the lovre. Cant say we encountered any more beggars than on any other city break to be honest. Dont think i even noticed any .

Only thing that really annoyed me with the hotel pricing was that very few hotels include breakfast in their rate .

Shame they didnt enjoy it shirley but I suppose on a first visit you would head for the main tourist attractions. In my experience these can often be a bit of a disappointment but there are some lovely quaint & stunningly beautiful areas to wander in Paris.

Where is a good priced hotel near disneyland or in paris with easy transport to get to it. We also want to see the eiffel tower etc.

Also is it really expensive for meals and drinks, eg not posh restaurants, also cola, beer, wine etc.
Any break down on prices would be advantage, thank you x