Birthday in Paris
 

I am planning on celebrating my 30th birthday this Autumn in Paris with a group of friends. Does anyone have any recommendations for good, reasonably priced hotels in Paris (I suppose around the two star level). I'm also trying to find somewhere to celebrate in the evening. Ideally I would like to find a restaurant with some form of music or entertainment afterwards so that we don't have to move on afterwards. There will be about 10 of us. Any suggestions?

Hi gren,

My favorite hotel is the Bonaparte, 61 rue Bonaparte.

Tel 33 1 43 26 97 37
FAX 33 1 46 33 57 67

They don't have a website. They do have a cat, Napoleon.

Double with bkfst 120E.

Great idea, Grenelle. I did that (rented an apartment though & stuffed it full of friends) : ) and we had a total blast.

My tip: buy Nova Magazine from a kiosk once you arrive. It has all the club and DJ-bar listings, and special events. Their restaurant listings are also gospel truth. What we did was reserve a private area in a then-hot couscous place (it's since gone downhill, so won't recommend it now), then move on to a clubbing district.

Best thing about Paris is most of the bars & clubs don't have cover charges -- so head in, enjoy un petit verre, and if you don't like the music then go find the next place . . . civilized & desperately fun.

HTH, and I would try to stay in the 3/4/5/6 or 11 arrondissements. (ps can I tag along??)
* )

Hi Grenelle!!!

If you are 10....you need to reserve your hotel quite a lon time before to find a good hotel...!!One of my favorite hotel in Paris is the hotel Saint Dominique because it's a two star hotel...very well located!!!Just near to the Champs Elysées...So if you want to celebrate your birthday, you will find a lot of things in this district: bars, pubs, restaurants, nightclubs....Really, if I were you...I'll try!!!I give you its website: www.saintdominique.com...It's about 80 euros breakfast included!!A good deal!!

That's great, thank you. I will definitely have a look for that listings magazine.

Ira, where is rue Bonaparte? Is that in the 6th?

..Happy Thirtieth!!..just a warning Sept and Oct are very busy months for hotel bookings (thought many 3* and up as business/conf season)..what ever you do try to book now...use parishotels.com or venere.com if you have trouble finding a place but cross ref on tripadvisor..good luck!

Congrats, grenelle! How fun! My husband took me to Paris for my 30th birthday, as well, and it was very memorable.

As far as hotels, I can also suggest Hotel Residence Monge. They are on line and you can request a room with a balcony if you wish. We stayed there this past summer and were very happy with the hotel, location and ammenities.

Another celebration idea that my husband did for my actual birthdate is a daytrip and tour of London thru Paris Vision Tours. We had breakfast in Paris, took Eurostar to London, had lunch there, then had dinner back in Paris that night. He said that he really wanted me to spend my 30th in two countries and it was an awesome idea!

Good luck with your plans!

I have had a look at the site and the Hotel Monge looks like a good recommendation. Thank you

If you have 'overflow' and can't fit all your party into Hotel Monge, some of them could try Hotel St Christophe, just around the corner on rue Lacipede.
We stayed there in 2002 - my one and only 'complaint' would be that we could hear plumbing/water noise in the pipes sometimes, hadn't noticed that at other hotels before. Otherwise, nice room/bathroom, courteous desk, usual breakfast, good location.

There are a few Russian restaurants (serving excellent food) in Paris that have live music that sometimes goes til dawn. They can be quite the party scene!! One of the liveliest is Kniaz Igor (http://kniaz-igor.com/) on Ave. de la Bourdonnais in the 7th. We found out about them by accident when we went by and heard the Russian and Gypsy music, the singing and the laughter. The place is so full of atmosphere...it should be a memorable experience. If you tell them that it's for a birthday party and you want to have a fun evening, I'm sure they will make you feel special!
These restaurants are well off the usual anglophone tourist radar...the other diners will probably be Parisians, well-off Russian tourists, diplomats, journalists, etc. We had a blast there and the food is very good.

Thanks for the recommendation on the russian site. Their site looks fantastic and it would be something a bit different for a celebration. One question (which I hope is not too daft), are there normal wines to drink with the meal or is it all champagne and vodka?

Yes, there's wine. We had a bottle of St. Emilion when we were there. If you contact them, ask about their wine list to see if they carry your favorite types of wine.

The Bastille area is a good place for clubs and bars. You could try the Sans Sanz on avenue du Faubourg St Antoine in the 11th. It's quite a trendy spot - a combination of a bar, restaurant and nightclub. The decor is sumptious- lots of red velvet and gold; The restaurant serves a great choice of food, and as the evening wears on the atmosphere is definitely buzzing - lots of people dancing. I found a review here: http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguid...z_sans_paris-i

That's a good suggestion. Do they still have the TV screens in the restaurant showing the action at the bar? The only thing we didn't like about our dinner there was that it got VERY smoky. It is good price-value and would be a lot less expensive than Kniaz Igor and will attract a much more casual crowd.

Well that's it, I've turned 30 and already I'm finding things like stairs and climibing in and out of the bath more difficult....

The celebration worked out really well. thank you so much for the recommendation of Kniaz Igor. We booked there for 15 of us and organised a set menu. They looked after us wonderfully and with the music and atmosphere I felt I'd celebrated in style.
Only downside was the headache I had to deal with the next day...

I'm so glad you had a great time! How did you like the food? It's a cool place, not listed in guidebooks and attracts a very interesting crowd.

It is so nice to hear what happened after someone's trip! Happy belated Birthday anyway... the 30's were my "glory days"!

Thanks for report back, grenelle. Glad to hear your birthday plans were a success.

Welcome back, grenelle.