If I were going to be in Paris for a week I think I'd rent an apartment assuming that most French refrigerators have freezer sections. If I'm wrong people, please let me know as I've already rented an apartment for next May.

Wouldn't French pharmacies also have the chemical ice packs?

At one point I fell up the steps from the Metro and banged my arm really hard. We were across the street from our hotel(The Lutcia) so went to our room. MDH went to the bar and asked for ice. Alot of ice. The bartender offered a glass of ice and MDH held up the ice bucket. He then gave him a HUGE tip and the ice bucket was filled.

After a few pain pills and ice, I was OK, but it was a real scare.

So, Money talks!

There's always the frozen peas approach if you are near a shop - more likely to find a bag of those than a bag of ice.

It's not that the French don't know what a 'glacon' - ice cube - is, but most people don't find the need to have it in drinks. It's a very North American thing. In fact a number of our friends think it's unhealthy, taking the body temperature down too fast.

Wouldn't French pharmacies also have the chemical ice packs?

Oui. Ask for a "compresse-gel chaud/froid".


Besides the chemical ice packs, there is also a system based on a cooling gel and bandage (esp. for sports related accidents). The advantage of that system is that you are independent from freezers, that the cooling effect will last for hours, and that you can wear it under your clothes and do whatever you want. The brand name is Elastus Hydrocool, but I don't know if it's available in France or the US.

bluzmama: "<i>If I were going to be in Paris for a week I think I'd rent an apartment assuming that most French refrigerators have freezer sections. If I'm wrong people, please let me know as I've already rented an apartment for next May.</i>"

The fridge may have a small freezer space or there may be a larger freezer section. But IF there are ice cube trays (not at all guaranteed) they are often those w/ teensy barely more than 1/2 inch square cubes. Not enough to cool a drink from room temp.

The very fist thing I do when I move into a flat in Paris or London is check out the ice cube trays. If they are the teensy ones or there are none at all -- I go out and buy a couple. And I start freezing ice and putting the frozen cubes in a plastic bag - and refilling the trays until I have some stockpiled. I'm not an ice fanatic - but I like to make a glass of iced tea or iced coffee now and then and that simply isn't possible w/ the meager supply you usually get.

traveler24: As several others have said - even IF you can get ice delivered to your hotel room -- don't count on enough to ice down a shoulder. Even in bars - there is seldom a huge tub of ice, often just a small ice bucket on the bar that they might refill if necessary. They serve cold drinks cold and don't see the need to ice down beverages that are already cold.

I have actually used the frozen peas trick when I needed a cold compress and it works great.


Years ago I was in the "I MUST have ice!" camp, but living overseas for several years I got used to it and now prefer to not water down my drinks w/ ice (except for iced tea and Pimm's)

The French also use bags of frozen peas for this sort of thing. No need to go to <i>La Grande Epicerie du Bon Marché</i> for this sort of item.

1) Choose a hotel with ice machines. Forget everything else: bars, cafeterias, supermarkets etc. You need a quick and and convenient access to ice. And there are enough hotels with ice machines in Paris.

2) A quick selection of Paris hotels which have ice machines:

Holiday Inn Paris Saint Germain des Pres
Hotel Cervantes Paris
Relais Bosquet Tour - Eiffel
Empereur Hotel Paris
Hôtel Français

All of these hotels have downtown locations and have 3 or 4 stars.

The OP has not returned. No need to beat our brains out over the question.

Bert, straighten up!
These forums are supposed to be for people who have been to the places they're commenting about to give advice based on their own experience. If most of hte people report having had easy access to ice in their hotels, then most of the hotels probably do, and the shoulder pain will be relieved.
I don't know about the rest of Europe, but it wouldn't surprize me if Germans didn't notice if there was an ice machine or not (unless they noticed it as an oddity). Many things (not only beer) are drunk warm in Germany, and there is very little knowledge of the basic role played by cold in reducing swelling and pain--they put salves on things.
Americans, though, use ice all the time and would probably notice the lack of an ice machine.

>>>Many things (not only beer) are drunk warm in Germany, and there is very little knowledge of the basic role played by cold in reducing swelling and pain<<<

...and Germans live in tree huts and their nutrition is worms which they dig with bare hands out of the soil...

Long live the grand American civilization! Hurrah!

>>>They serve cold drinks cold and don't see the need to ice down beverages that are already cold.<<<

In fact, when Europeans travel to North America, they feel cheated when they have to pay full price for a drink which consists of 80% ice and 20% beverage. We just do not want to get our drinks diluted by ice. On a hot day, we would put exactly one icecube into a glass to keep the drink cold for some time. The latest invention are solid balls which are cooled in the freezer and which cool the drinks without any dilution - like the original rocks ("on the rocks").

What Germans (as well as other Europeans) drink cold (right out of the fridge):

- beer
- mineral water
- sodas
- juice
- milk
- white wine
- sparkling wine
- rosé wine
- sherry
- aquavit
- limoncello

What we drink warm:

- cognac
- single malt whisky
- fruit schnapps (good quality)
- red wine
- port wine

The frozen peas work great. I recently had a shoulder problem and needed an ice pack - the frozen peas are a lot better than the messy ice!
Don't some of the little minibar-type refridgerators have a small freezer section? That might work for a bag of peas.

<< Americans, though, use ice all the time and would probably notice the lack of an ice machine >>

I'm an American and I never noticed the lack of an ice machine in European hotels until this thread asking about ice. I don't expect to get ice in Europe.

Great ideas--especially "chemical ice pack" and of course frozen peas....
FYI BERT4545 I did try to phone but all i got was-- yes they had ice for drinks--but only when bar was open !!!
We are staying at one of hotels memtioned by "traveller1959" so you see my faith in Fodorites expertise is renewed again..
thank you one and all...

Ace Bandage makes a wonderful gel ice pack. I don't know if you'd have a problem carrying on the plane, but you might be able to find one at a drugstore or Monoprix once you arrive. I had some tendonitis earlier this year, and found the gel icepacks to be far superior to a drippy bag of ice cubes.

Instead of looking for ice it would be much more easier to find a pharmarcy, in Paris it seems there is one on each corner. Ask for a box of Flector Tissuel gel compress, it will take the pain away.

If you bring gel packs with you, they can't go on the plane qas carry-on.

I also think the obvious solution is to bring those chemical packs with you and you could even freeze them in most minibars. I use those at home instead of real ice packs, anyway, when I need one.

I've never seen an ice machine in any hotel I've stayed at in Paris, but would bet they might exist in places like the Hilton, 4* Holiday Inn (not the budget ones), etc. I think the HI Republique has one (but it's now a Crowne Plaza). Some Best Westerns have them, the big ones. The 3* Relais Bosquet in the 7th has one, I have no idea why. I bet all the Marriotts do.