Girlfriend,her sister & I first time in Paris!
 

Hi :)

My girlfriend and I along with her sister(all in our mid to late 20s) are flying to Paris 16 days from now. I've looked up plenty websites to check out what the best sites are;museums,places to eat etc but I still think the invaluable experiences of those who have been there would comfort me more in selecting a near perfect itinerary over 4 nights. We are all flying over to Europe for the first time-Paris is our first stop, staying at the Hotel Opera Cadet in Faubourg Montmartre on August the 1st 2013 before Barcelona (still trying to figure out the best place to propose to her ;) , Lyon,Venice, Florence, Rome, Hong Kong then back home to New Zealand.

Any info in regards to travel tips, places not to miss-especially near our hotel; best places to eat-preferably on a tight budget although we do want to eat out at least once at a nice restaurant, would be most appreciated.

Cheers :)

First of all, you have marked your post as a trip report. You are likely to get better responses if you ask the moderators to remove the "trip report" icon.

How long do you have for your trip? It is a very ambitions itinerary so be sure you have the time to adequately cover all of that ground.

As for food, the options in Paris, Barcelona, Lyons and Florence are endless. You can find good suggestions by searching on this board for "Barcelona Resterants", etc. As for the proposal, Paris and Venice are very romantic cities - you might want to focus on those two options.

Congratulations and good luck with your planning.

Hey mate,

We're up there for 6 weeks, staying in different places average of 4 nights per city.

As you may have guessed,that was my first post lol, so thanks for the tip!Appreciate it.

Logan, one thing that will make the trip a bit more fun is to learn the top 40 phrases in the local language, in the tourist industry most will speak English but having a hack at saying good morning to the staff at breakfast makes for a better trip.

Generally the French are a bit more formal than you may be used to so if you work at you will gain kudos

Hi L,

>comfort me more in selecting a near perfect itinerary over 4 nights. We are all flying over to Europe for the first time-...<

What is your current plan for Paris?

((I))

Well, you are certainly close to the big dept stores Galleries Lafayette and Printemp. You are also close to one of the most beautiful buildings in Paris, Opera Garnier.

You are also close to Place de la Madelene, place de la Concorde and Place Vendome. The Tuillerie Garden, L'Orangerie (a must for Monet fans) and The Louvre are also not far from your location.

Paris is easy to get around in by Metro and by bus, so you can get to anything easily.

It's hard to know what you would be willing to pay a nice dinner out. You might check out Citrus Etoile, near the Arc de Triomphe for the prix fixe menu. It is excellent and the prix fixe menu is very reasonable to me, but without knowing your budget, it's hard to say. Another prix menu suggestion for you is O Chateau- there's is 36 euros. They are located in the first arr, not too far from where you will be. You can also make a meal of the charcuterie and cheese plats they serve.

Les Saisons is a bistro very close to your hotel that I've enjoyed http://www.restaurant-les-saisons.com/ They have prix fixe menus starting at 15 euros for lunch, higher for dinner, and it looks like they're open at the beginning of August (many restaurants close then).