A wonderful week in Paris
 

Hello Paris lovers and fellow travelers -

I am so grateful that I stumbled upon this site. Fodor’s is such a lovely travel community online.

Need your expert advice.

I am planning a trip to Paris for the first time. In fact this will be our first trip to Europe.
We are celebrating my 40th birthday. We toyed with the idea of doing a grand European holiday; London - Paris - Venice - Florence - Rome. But after reading all your expert advice, decided against it as there is so much to see and experience in each city. Just felt we would not be doing justice to any city if we just went on a whistle stop tour. Also we would like to come back to Europe to explore some more.

We want this to be a truly relaxing and comfortable vacation. I love nature, art, museums, history, architecture, fashion and shopping. My husband is a nature lover, loves gardens and appreciates art. He would also appreciate visiting some fine churches in and around Paris. We are both foodies, love great wines and love photography. We would enjoy visiting some local farmers markets. We would enjoy a comfortable vacation. However we believe in getting value for our money. We do not have too much of vacation time hence would not hesitate to fly if we receive suggestions for a great weekend trip.

We depart from the US May 18th 2012. Arrive Paris May 19th 2012.
Depart from Paris May 27th 2012. Arrive US May 28th 2012.

Would you please advise -
1. What makes more sense us renting an apartment in Paris or staying at a centrally located, hotel. Any suggestions for a centrally located clean, comfortable, great value, good service apartment/hotel, with basic creature comforts like a hot shower in the room, lift/elevator to the room/apartment.
2. I have seen great restaurant suggestions. However my husband is a pescetarian. He eats fish, vegetables etc, but does not eat meat. Any suggestions for restaurants which serve great seafood and vegetarian food (dairy and eggs is ok).
I eat meat and would love to be adventurous and experience great French food.
3. What is the best way to get to and from the airport and travel in and around Paris? Suggestions?
4. Suggestions for great travel companies offering great sightseeing city trips with expert guides.
5. Suggestions for must see sights in Paris and great weekend trips.
6. Locations to purchase museum passes.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

With gratitude,
Kalinaturegirl

1. I've done both and both have pluses and minuses. For your first trip to Europe I'd say hotel.

2. The best things about French restaurants and cafes is they all have their menus (and prices) posted outside. You can see before you go in if there are things on their menus to suit you
both. Assuming your French is limited a menu translator app for a smart phone would be handy.

3. Best way into Paris? Taxi. It will be in the 50 euro range.
You can also take a bus or train. For a first visit, take a cab. Once in Paris the best way to get around is public transit... the metro and buses. See http://www.ratp.com

4. Google "Paris Walking Tours' and you'll find many. Pick up a Michelin Green Guide and follow their walking tours... nobody does it better.

5. Surely you have some ideas? Eiffel Tower? Louvre? Sacre Coeur? Delve into a guidebook or 2 and see what interests *you*.
Some people swoon at the very thought of revisiting the Opera Garnier and find it the most remarkable building in Paris... I thought it garish and overdone. But all I know about opera I learned from Marx Brothers movies and Bugs Bunny so there you go! LOL What I'm trying to say is a must see for me could well be a 'meh' for you.

6. The info desk at CDG or any museum or site that honors the pass. I usually pick one up from a quiet location where there's rarely a line like the Conciergerie.

Hope this helps get the ball rolling... I hope you love Paris as much as most of the rest of us here! ;^)

Thank you ParisAmsterdam for your prompt response. Appreciate it.

Any suggestions for hotels ?

These are the attractions which are currently on our list, which we have yet to finalize.

1. Musee d'Orsay
2. Louvre
3. Versailles
4. Eiffel Tower
5. Champs-Elysees
6. The Latin Quarter
7. Montmartre
8. St-Germain-des-Pres
9. Arc de Triomphe
10.Musee Nissim de Camonde
11.Musee de l'Orangerie
12 Sainte-Chapelle Church
13.Luxembourg Gardens
14.Notre Dame Cathedral
15.Musee Rodin
16.Sacre Coeur Church (Sacred Heart Basilica of Montmartre)
17.Picasso Museum
18.Giverny (If time permits)
19.Place des Vosges
20.Jardin des Tuileries

A week is a nice amount of time. Paris and area offers what you are lookin fr

1. An appartment gives you greater flexibilty for meals and be price effective. Best place to start looking is by doin a search here. MANY threads with agencies, reviews.etv
2. Le Petit Zinc is one I have tried. Le Dome another. Note that restos post their menus outside, so you can browse.
3. RER train is direct to city and cheapest. From there, transfer to Metro. If more bags, possibly shuttle or taxi. Air France bus goes to pre_determined stops. ONCE IN paris, Metro is great. Purchase a 10 ticket 'carnet'
4. Paris Walks are great. Parisvision and Cityrama offer coach tours in/out of Paris. I like Vedettes du Pont Neuf for Seine cruises.
5. You might want to read a guidebook and Destination guide here for anoverview.

With your list, group them by area. Even with a week, you have a lot.

perhaps one day:
1, 4, 15, Eiffel via Trocadero

another day;
12,14, Ile St Louis,6, Jardin des Plantes

8,13, Musee Moyen Age.

Not sure if 2 day trips is too much

Jaquemart andre another small museum
Marmottan great for Monet and seeing area outside of core
Add Palais Royal to Louvre area
Champs Elysee is great for views, less so for walk
The 'Passages' near Louvre might be interesting.

My one suggestion is to not 'overbook', allow some time to just 'be' there, not rushing to next on list. I like to start my day with breakfast at a cafe, then off I go. I could see a relaxed trip being one morning item, and one afternoon area. For example, my last trip I did morning Paris Walks tour of Marais. It finished at Place Des Vosges. Had a nice. Lunch at Cafe Hugo outdoor table, then wandered in Marais.

Notre Dame area could be one full day, including meals and cruise. Lunch on Ile St Louis..I ate outdoors at Brasserie de L'Ile

Thank you Michel_Paris. Have made a note of all your suggestions.

There is so much to do and see in Paris it is hard to try and pack everything into a week trip. But there is something special about stopping at a cafe and sitting at an outside table for a break and just people watching / absorbing. I highly recommend! Once you visit Paris you WILL BE planning a return trip. Its magical.

Have you narrowed down an area to stay? We have stayed in several areas (7th, 5th, 6th, and 19th) and really enjoy St Germain (6th Arr.) For a first trip I might suggest a hotel in the Latin Quarter (5th), it makes navigation very easy.

Most of the "big" sites are within walking distance of the Latin Qtr. The St Michel metro stop in the center of the Latin Qtr is a very convientent main stop with trains leaving to every part of Paris. Plus St Michel is right on the RER B line from the CDG so one train from airport gets you with a block or so of your hotel.

The one problem with the Latin Qtr is make sure you leave the area to find a restaurant. Too many touristy places. MUCH better offerings if you walk a couple blocks in any direction.

A nice "budget" hotel in the Latin is Hotel Esmerelda. In November we paid 85E a night which is a great deal. The hotel is directly across the river from Notre Dame with great views of the cathedral.

You're on the right track with a Museum Pass (highly recommend), and I second the suggection of buying your metro tickets in a carnet (group of 10 at a discounted price).

The metro is very easy to navigate, so don't be intimidated. Just jump in and follow the route signs.

Enjoy your trip! I'm jealous, can't wait to get back to Paris!

Léon de Bruxelles is a reliable restaurant for fish eaters.

Kalinaturegirl,

I would humbly submit:

1. An apartment is pretty easy, but I would advise using a US agency that will walk you through everything and mail you the key before you leave the US. This will make it pretty simple. A hotel will cost more and you would eat out all the time. I find it more relaxing to be able to eat in on occasion. This is my go to: http://www.vacationinparis.com/ Look at Studios and 1 BRs, they are sorted by area - I think the 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th would all be good for a FIRST visit (Caps are directed to other Fodorites - not you).

2. You'll have no problems finding suitable restaurants. I suggest looking at menus whenever you are walking around, taking note, and return (or even go in and reserve if it's on the fancy side).

3. While not the cheapest, the least stressful would course is to take a taxi to your apartment or hotel. Especially as it's a first trip. You can consider taking Metro and a commuter train (RER) back to airport after you've familiarized yourself with the system/country/language (and not jet-lagged).

4. I have no experience with tours. Our first time to Europe was a week in Paris and we did just fine with guidebook and map. Fat Bike Tours has American guides and is recommended on this board quite often.

5. You've done pretty well on your own here with your list of twenty. Add time for walks through neighborhoods. I see Montparnass and many other neighborhoods worth a stroll are missing altogether. You don't need to decide before you're there.

6. ParisAmsterdam had good advice for this. You can also get it ahead of time online: http://en.parismuseumpass.com/rub-th...-of-sale-3.htm A 4-day pass should be fine for a one week stay - you can see a LOT of museums in 4 days.

kerouac - If you were the only person on this forum making hotel and restaurant recommendations everyone would sleep at Ibis and eat at Léon de Bruxelles. If I were doing hotel and restaurant recommendations everyone would sleep at Première Classe and use the 15% discount from the hotel to eat next door at the all you can eat buffet from Campanile. ;)

Kalinaturegirl

What a nice birthday present - a week in Paris.

I recommend the Michelin Red Guide Paris for a list of restaurants by arrondisement. It will help you find restaurants that meet your criteria.

For a general guide I recommend Rick Steve's Paris Guide. I found it very helpful for my first trip to Paris in that it gave lots of basic information about sites, museums, transportation options, suggested walks throughout the city and places to see outside of Paris and how to get there, etc.

Certain museums are good places to purchase the Museum Pass because the lines are either short or nonexistent: the Concierge (next door to Saint-Chappelle), the Rodin Museum and the Military Museum (a few blocks from the Rodin Museum).

NW,
good point about Michelin Red guide, I used their recs for Latin Quarter and was quite happy. I did not go to star'ed ones.

someone who was recently there recommended Pudlo guide to restos

A rookie's experience (mine):

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2011/06/paris.html

I would move the Rodin Museum up your list if it were me. We really enjoyed it.

If going in May, I suggest Monet's home in Giverny as a day-trip - the flowers are truely a sight!

I know I'm a broken-record about this on this forum...but we love St-Denis Basilica in Paris. We actually prefer it to Notre Dame. Burial place of many French monarch back to the 6th centurey one of the first Githic cathedrals. It's an easy Metro #13 ride to the Basilique St-Denis stop, then a 1-block walk.. This is the type of place short-visit folks don't have the time to see, but, sicne you're staying awhile, you shouldn't miss it.

As for farmer's markets, they're everywhere in Paris, but each one is only open specific days of the week. When we go, we stay across the street from Place Baudoyer (Wed & Sat, not one of the biggest, but close to our hotel), and we always buy fresh fruit to eat with our morning pastry and coffee.

The one on Blvd Richard Lenoir, near Bastille, is huge - open Thu & Sun, if I remember correctly.

SS

I would go to Giverny! I still want to go myself but have not been in Paris while it was open.

I second St Denis! I would also recommend Chenonceau in the Loire valley...beautiful gardens. Even the vegetable garden was pretty and fun to spend time rambling through.

I would rent an apartment. We enjoyed it but don't use hotel services for anything. The buses and metro are easy to use. You will get a lot conflicting suggestions as to what area to stay in. We love the 6th.

For fish, you could try Goumard or Le Fables de la Fontaine. I have found that most places do offer fish, so I don't think your husband will struggle to find dishes he can enjoy.

You can scratch The Picasso museum off the list since it will be closed for renovation until the summer of 2013.

You could combine a coach tour of Versailles and Giverny. Otherwise take RER to Versaiiles Rive Gauche OR regular train to Vernon then cab to G. One day trip might be enough.

We enjoyed Fish La Boissoniere in the 6th off St Germaine No website but these are links for some info. We were there in Oct and would recommend reservations. Apparently they take reservations for the first seating. After that you just show up and wait at the wine bar for a table to open up.

http://www.parisvoice.com/food-and-d...a-boissonnerie

http://www.placesinfrance.com/fish_l...ie_bistro.html

If you leave Paris on the 27th, won't you get home on the 27th too?

I will join the side of "think about an apartment." One night in a hotel might be fun, but the flexibility of having your own place is really nice.

If your husband is interested in churches, you should consider a trip to Chartres. For a chateau and gardens closer than the Loire Valley, what about Vaux le Vicomte?