We are a family of 4, two teens girl and boy and will be arriving in Germany in two weeks, renting a car and driving to Paris from Brugge. We have a room for four at the Best Western Bretagne Montparnasse, which seems okay except for no air conditioning. Parking is free in the street. Is this a safe area to leave a car? Should we instead try to find a room in the Latin Quarter or nearer the Tour Eiffel? Is the Hotel France Eiffel a nice hotel. When I called around for reservations it was hard to find something with 2 double beds. How long will it take on a bus or metro to usual tourist sites if we stay at the BW? Thanks for all the advice you can give!!! <BR>Amy <BR>

Montparnasse is a good, central location (though am not sure exactly where your hotel is). Although it is not the most gorgeous square in Paris, it's fun and central, with good Metro access. To see major sites in Paris, I'd allow for 3 good days. A month or two is better : ) Since you are so centrally located, touring is easy with the metro or the 82 bus, which passes goes down blvd Montparnasse and hits a lot of sites. You can walk to the Latin Quarter (20 minutes), St Germain area (15 mins) shopping on rue de Rennes, or the beautiful Jardin de Luxembourg (15 mins) from your hotel. I would advise you to get rid of your car. You do not need a car in Paris, at all. However, parking should be easy as there is NO ONE HERE in August--the place is a ghost town. So far, the weather is not very hot, hopefully that will continue. Have a great trip. <BR>

Not only do you not NEED a car, but you won't WANT one in Paris. We usually arrange to pick one up the day we're driving out of town. Have a great time!

When we were in Paris, we stayed at the Best Western - Folkstone Opera, near La Madeleine, it did have air conditioning & it was nice to have, even when we were there in June. We had a triple room, a double bed & a single. Don't know if they had any rooms for 4 people. It was very convienent to the Metro, didn't seem to be alot of parking around, but those that <BR>parked on the street seemed to have know problem. I have never used a car in Paris & wouldn't want to. We chose that Best Western because of the location & price, the air conditioning was an added plus. Even though the hotels are associated with Best Western, the hotels are still French hotels rather than American type hotels. Being listed by Best Western means that <BR>those hotels have a basic standard, such as they all have a bathroom in the room. Don't know if you want to check with Best Western & see if they can do anything for you at the Folkstone, I would not have a problem staying there again.

Just to respond to the posting of not needing a car, what was your method of getting around. We didn't have much time in Paris, so we opted for taxis, but what an experience! <BR>We visited Notre Dame and had a hard time getting a ride back to our hotel because the drivers didn't want to pick us up because they were 4 of us!!! They don't like having someone sit in front with them and the taxis are small and can accomodate only 3 in back. The drivers would see 4 and just hand signal us "no way" and continue on. What a deal! <BR>All other countries we went to, no problem.

In response to the last question, Paris has one <BR>of the best public transporation systems in the <BR>world (I agree it is insanity to have a car <BR>within the city unless you have some reason, like <BR>a trip to the country). Paris is always relatively <BR>small for a city, and a tourist would usually stay <BR>within 4th-7th arr., so what would you do to get <BR>around: 1) walk; 2) metro (most useful = tube/ <BR>underground/subway depending on your custom)3) bus. <BR>Granted, you have to be an experienced, somewhat <BR>savvy traveler and just have gotten around a little <BR>to figure this out, so if you are from a small town <BR>and have never been in a big city or used such <BR>forms of transportation, I guess it could be difficult. I looked up that hotel (BW b. Montparnasse) and it's not in that a desirable a <BR>location in Montparnasse (which would be near <BR>Montparnasse blvd) -- it's on rue raymond Losserand <BR>near the Gaite metro stop, apparently. I'm not <BR>saying this is a dangerous area, it's just not <BR>probably what I would ideally pick myself as a <BR>visitor/tourist location. But, if you got a good <BR>deal and don't want to mess around finding another <BR>room, it should be fine as long as you can navigate <BR>the metro because you can get from Gaite to other <BR>locations in 15-30 minutes.

The reason we have a car is we are driving in from Germany. I did ask if I could leave the car at the rental place in Paris and pick up another one the next week but it would cost almost $200.! <BR> <BR>I would not be afraid to drive in Paris, we have lived and traveled in a lot of large cities, my concern would be with finding parking spaces. <BR> <BR>Tks for the hotel advice I will make some more phone calls! <BR>Amy <BR>

Even if you are a very competent driver, the real problem in Paris is finding a place to park. I think Paris parking is much worse than it is in NYC or San Francisco. If you need to have a car for other reasons, find a cheap place to store it and take the bus or metro. You will enjoy Paris better--believe me!!! <BR>

If I were you I would contact the French National <BR>Tourist office in New York, or perhaps a car rental company and ask them about parking the car. There may be a station, airport, or parking garage on the outskirts of the city where <BR>you can leave the car and then train or taxi into town. Wherever you leave it make sure you have the <BR>proper insurance to cover the full value of the car.

Amy, O.K. everyone is right, do not drive into Paris, I don't care where you've driven before, Paris is right up there with Rome, Tokyo and Mexico City, (NYC is a piece of cake). Have you checked the cost of turning the car in, at Orly e.g. and then picking one up at the end of your Paris stay. If you just park it, you have the use of the car, the rental company doesn't and so you'll pay for the days. A caveat, Germany has one of the cheapest rental car rates in Europe so include that in your computations. The Paris Metro is very easy to use and has stops at every place you'll want to visit. <BR>

Amy: I, too, would strongly recommend staying elswhere. The nearest metro stop (as mentioned above) takes you to the Montparnasse station where you would often have to change lines to continue your journey. Many tourguides recommend avoiding this station (and not having read this until after our first trip) can tell you that this is advice to be heeded, especially with kids. This location is also way out of the way for seeing the major sights and attractions. A look at a map would tell you that this is NOT a central location for sightseeing. The Hotel France Eiffel would be just fine - near the Bir Hakeim metro station and within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower. If a room is still available there, take it. This is a much better location than Montparnasse. It's also within walking distance of the several large parking garages on Avenue de la Motte Picquet by Ecole Militaire (although I have no idea what they charge). There are two other parking garages in the area (a bit farther away though) as well. Lots of reasonably priced restaurants in the area. Your kids would love the selection of small eateries and street vendors near the Bir Hakeim metro station - and the souvenir shops here are the best in Paris. All sorts of interesting and nice momentos at better prices than anywhere else. There's also a "western" restaurant at the Hilton (also within walking distance) with bar-b-que, fried chicken, pecan pie, should the kids not be enamored with French food. Otherwise, my advice would be to go to www.france.com. You can e-mail a request there. I would advise requesting accomodations for four in the 7th arrondisement with or near parking. You'll receive a prompt response with several suggestions. Agree completely with everyone above who advises against driving in Paris. Even if you do manage to navigate your way around, parking is impossible. You had better be fluent in French, because most spaces are private and for cars with one sort of sticker or another. If you park illegally, it will be towed immediately!

Donna is right about the Montparnasse area. It really isn't so far from some sights, but the station area seems fairly unsafe. It is a big, relatively confusing station. My wife and I are convinced that a man was stalking us and trying to rob us on the way to the hotel from the station one night. It wasn't horrible, but there are much better areas to stay. I would try to avoid the station at night with kids. <BR>

Oh, for heaven's sake -- the Montparnasse area isn't <BR>THAT bad; I view it as one of the more expensive, <BR> trendier areas of Paris (and I've spent a lot of <BR>time in that area, unlike the previous two posters)- <BR>I went to school there and always stay there when in <BR>Paris and love it. Francesca's post above (I believe <BR>she lives in Paris) is a more valid opinion. <BR>It is hardly way out of the way for sightseeing -- <BR>Luxembourg Gardens are only a 10 min walk from <BR>blvds Raspail & Montparnasse, around where I <BR>stay. I dislike the Mont. metro station also because <BR>it's so large, but have never viewed it as one of <BR>the most dangerous sites in Paris--geez, by those <BR>standards you'd have to avoid most of the city. <BR>I agree I would not choose that site as the best for <BR>a typical tourist, but that was largely because that <BR>hotel is near the Gaite metro stop (an inconvenient <BR>line and not a very scenic location), not a comment <BR>on Montparnasse in general. I also would not choose <BR>a hotel right around the train station, but that's true <BR>of every train station in every city I've ever been in; <BR> I'd much rather stay in Montparnasse than near <BR>the Bir Hakeim metro, to be honest. On the other hand, <BR>there aren't a lot of tourists around because it's just <BR>too far away, I guess, from the T-shirt shops of <BR>Notre Dame, so I'm happy. But, if you do stay in <BR>this area, don't think you have to walk around with <BR>a big dog and mace, or anything--I could tell you <BR>plenty of metro stops to avoid worse than this one. <BR>

Thanks to everyone who has answered. At this point we are booked into the Holiday Inn Garden Court which is on Blvd. de Grenelle and a 10 min walk to the Tour Eiffel, with a view. We would have preferred a French hotel, but quite frankly it was just too much as there are 4 of us and we would need 2 rooms. The Holiday Inn has a king and a sofa sleeper. Our daughter can sleep next to me! <BR>We are renting a car in Germany as that is where we are flying into. It is cheaper to just park it in a lot in Paris than to turn it in! <BR>Amy <BR>

Glad you found a hotel and hope you enjoy Paris. After re-reading my message yesterday, I realized my wording was a little off-target. I don't want to mislead anyone else who may be considering this area of Paris. I shouldn't have said it is "fairly unsafe," but "less safe than many other stops within the main tourist area." Of course, like most posts on this site this is based on impressions. I don't have crime statistics for the areas. It also wasn't meant to disparage the whole Montparnasse area, which I did like. In brief, the intent of my message was to say that there are better areas to stay for convenience and safety. I also like to stay away from the hordes of tourists, but there are areas to do this other than Montparnasse (such as Rue Cler). I think train station areas are often a little less safe than others in any city, but I often stay there myself for convenience of catching trains early. Certainly, the area around Montparnasse station is better than the area around the Haupbahnhof in Frankfurt. <BR>