I'm looking at possibly staying at the Intercontinental over the Holidays? What has your experience been. Is it worth 1900 francs per night? Thanks for your help.

There are two Intercontinental hotels in Paris-one near the Opera and one on Rue de Rivoli near the Louvre. We stayed at the latter two years ago. Our room was very large, although we had our daughter with us and there was an extra bed in the room. I noticed that some of the other rooms were quite small, but nicely decorated. The location is great, as is the service and the breakfast. If you check other five star hotels in the area, I don't think you will find anything less expensive. Check and see if there are any specials available for this time, maybe free breakfast or an upgrade. Good luck.

We stayed at the same one on Rivoli mostly thanks to the World Cup, the rooms were very hard to find in Paris. The rooms were what you would expect of that price range in Paris. We got an upgrade to a penthouse unit facing the Tuileries because they could not give us the rooms we asked for. We also got free vouchers for breakfast because of the "mix up". We would say the free vouchers were a mixed bag; we ate elsewhere for all the meals except for the departure day due to the early flight. It looked like only American tourists using the voucher eat there. There are many decent brasseries and cafes on Rue St. Honore and beyond, no need to eat American version of French breakfast.

I am also planning to stay at the Intercontinental Paris in November.I have requested a room facing the Tuileries but I still have a few questions. Can anyone tell me about any specific rooms that are larger and what floor is best for a good view? I have also just recently been told that the Rue de Rivoli has a lot of tacky stores such as mcdonolds, tee shirt stores, etc. and that it is a very noisy area. Does anyone know if this is true?

The rue de Rivoli is extremely long. The eastern end has more of the tackier shops, although these are interspersed <BR>with little gift shops and cafes. As you move west past Place des Pyramides, <BR>the shops and cafes improve although many are overpriced because this is prime tourist area. The area around the Intercontinental is just fine, very nice in fact. The shops are very overpriced, but with a few exceptions not too tacky. <BR>The Intercontinental is a very nice, large hotel. Yes, the rue de Rivoli can be noisy and traffic congested, so if I were staying there I would ask to face the back. I have not stayed there but close friends of mine have. A year ago the hotel was undergoing some renovations of rooms, I don't know if that is completed. If not, there may be some interruptions of heat hot water as my friends experienced. <BR>I would inquire about special rates through a travel agent as the hotel is part of a chain and sometimes there are seasonal "deals". Also, call their 800 number if you haven't already. <BR>