Hey everyone...has anyone been to Paris recently and can confirm whether La Samaritaine is closed or not? I've seen some old posts both here and on TripAdvisor saying they've been closed for quite awhile for safety reasons but wasn't sure if they've reopened since. It's one of the places I visit within my first couple of hours in Paris just to take in the view from the rooftop!

Any ideas for other accessible city views near Notre Dame or the Latin Quarter would be welcome!

Thanks~

Christina

Last I heard/read, La Samaritaine has been sold, the department store is no longer in operation, and may be turned into luxury condos.

Views are fabulous from the towers of Notre Dame, Ceil de Paris atop the Tour Montparnasse, the steps at Sacre Coeur, the rooftop terrace cafe at Galleries Lafayette, and, of course, the spectacular views from many of the bridges and all along any of the river cruises.

There are some ideas in this:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34785883

Wow. If La Samaritaine has sold, who's going to provide all the free maps of Paris?

The only problem with the view from the towers of Notre Dame is you can't see a view of Notre Dame from there. LOL

It hasnt been sold. LVHM still owns it. Who knows whats going on with it but i would be surprised if it reopened in its original format. It's just sitting there for the time being.

You can see the opposite side of Notre Dame from the terasse of the Institute du Monde Arabe. You can go up to the terrace freely.

In any case, you can forget Samaritaine until further notice -- it is planned to be closed for six years, and a lot can happen in six years.

And you can get your maps from Galeries. Last I read and fairly recently, it apparently was a real safety problem that has closed it. The gorgeous ceiling--hope it is saved.

Samaritaine sits on such a large, prime piece of real estate in central Paris, I am highly skeptical it will re-open as a department store. There are many more profitable ways to use that chunk of land. Would not be surprised if its future incarnation is mixed use--could easily see it converted into an upscale "Samaritaine Village" of shops, offices, restaurants, and condos.

It will be some sort of shopping center, if not a department store, because the Paris municipal council instantly zoned the building exclusively for retail commercial activity, to prevent conversion to a hotel or offices, as soon as rumors started flying.

Right, and we all know that once the French make a decision or pass a law, they NEVER change their minds.

True but to Paris' credit, how many cities in the US can you think of that would have passed a maximum height restriction something like a hundred years ago and never wavered on it?

LVMH already tried the upscale-store concept after it bought the property, ruining the department store's reputation as a BHV-style store (a bit like an improved version of the old Sears stores). As this new concept failed, it was coincidentally discovered that the building wasn't up to today's fire codes, and so it was closed. For some reason, the modifications required to bring it up to code are supposedly expected to take years and years. Who knows what might happen during that time? The one thing that we probably <i>won't</i> see is a return to the famous Samaritaine of old.

Yes, the instant closure was extremely suspicious, as other parts of the Samaritaine had already been converted into Sephora and Etam stores, and they are considered to be totally safe apparently, even though all of the buildings are similar in age and style. What they said precisely was that due to the big open spaces in the middle, the whole place will collapse in less than an hour if a major fire breaks out. Fine, but in that case, what about Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, which have the same open spaces?

Hi

It looked pretty closed when I walked past it a couple of days ago And getting up in the tower at Notre Dame also takes a bit of time. We went there one morning and the line was pretty long and they were only letting in 20 people every 10 minutes or so.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

The BHV, not long away from the Samaritaine also has a rooftop terrace, though the access isn't very easy to find.

Clairobscur, what is the BHV?

Bazar de l'H&ocirc;tel de Ville (BHV) 52/64, rue de Rivoli - 75004 Paris

www.bhv.fr

WK

Gard - there does not seem to be a link to your Paris trip. It says, &quot;Coming soon&quot;

Actually the building where the Sephora was etc was gutted. Only the exteriour walls were left standing during the renovation. But I do agree. Its probably not unsafe. Was just an easy way for LVHM to shuffle around employees without dealing with months of picketing and strikes.

where the Sephora IS i mean.