Lutece, great input, tell us more as changes happen. We really appreciate it.

First of all, I agree with Lutèce, the 9th is absolutely not seedy (a look at local real estate windows will convince you of that fact! ). Rue Geoffroy Marie is just kind of bland, hotel land, even though the neighbourhood is not really charming.
As far as your trip from Gare du Nord is concerned, you could even walk, if you had no luggage! Well, seriously, I think you'll be hard pressed to go beyond the minimum 5 euro fare with the taxi (actually, with the luggage extras, you'll make it), so don't hesitate and just "splurge" (7 euros, waow! ). On your way to CDG, I would recommend the same: a cab to Gare du Nord, and the RER from there on. For a 9h40 flight to a Schengen country, one hour ahead is enough, but it puts you straight into rush hour traffic, so it's the reason why I wouldn't recommend the cab all the way to CDG.

Or, others PULLLEEZE freely correct me, but I've got to be a sort of bugeter as well when I'm there. As another alternative, and I'd do this early in case of traffic... couldn't Gulliver travel (haha) with luggage in hand (and you'll see TONS of people wheeling their luggage along...) to the Air France or Roissy Stop close to the Opera?? That's in the 9th as well, isn't it? That's only about 10 to 12's to the airport, safe and sound!

'Gulliver' origiinated this post after a conversation that we had. Specifically, we are currently planning to stay at the Quality Hotel Pulitzer Opera located at 23 Rue Du Fg Montmartre. Based on this address, is this part of the 9th arr. a desireable place to stay?

SuzieC, the RATP bus from Opéra to CDG, 10 to 12 minutes ? You must be kidding! That's the frequency, but count a good hour to get to the airport.

And, AhParis, your hotel is the same neighbourhood as the initial poster: bland but safe, central, etc.

You are all so great and helpful! This is the kind of info you really can't get out of a guidebook.

Hopefully you won't mind more questions as you are the definitely the experts here.

We are only in Paris a day and a half (we won the trip so have no choice). Arriving in Gare du Nord at approx. 1:00pm on October 26 and leaving at 9:40am to Italy on October 28. There is an 80% chance we will be doing to the Lido for the 8:00pm dinner on the first night. Do you have any suggestions for the first afternoon and early evening? On Wednesday would it make more sense to hit the Louvre first or the Eiffel Tower? Are the guided tours of the Louvre good. Should we do a Seine cruise? I am so open to all suggestions as we have lots we want to see, just short on time.
Sorry for the long post

Degas: We visit Paris about three times per year now. Most of those trips are filled with visits to Castorama, which is sort of the French version of Home Depot -- which, by the way, is located on Place Clichy. There are only two locations in the city itself, and let me tell you I couldn't be happier to be close to one of them. There is nothing like hauling your DIY supplies around the city on foot. But I can't imagine if I had to get the stuff we needed on the metro...

Someday we'd like to live in Paris full-time, but it may just not happen until we can afford to retire. We are in our 30s and bought the place as sort of our retirement place. It's just a small studio, but hopefully by the time we retire we can afford something a bit bigger... Our goal was to at least try to get into the real estate market while it was still somewhat reasonable. And it certainly has been an adventure!

Proof that we love the neighborhood: We are headed there for a short visit around Thanksgiving and our apartment is already rented out. We decided on a hotel near place St. George. We want to keep getting to know the neighborhood around our apartment.

That said, I can certainly understand why a first-time visitor would want to be closer to the center of the city. But I can't think of a part of Paris we've stayed in that I didn't like!

And I also agree with Christina about Bistro des Deux Theatres -- a good fixed-price bargain at 31 Euro including kir, wine, three courses and coffee.

We stayed in the 9th at a hotel just inside the Passage Jouffroy on a go-today package deal last Christmas. We had the most fun meal of the trip at Chartier, because we ended up sitting next to a couple of French guys (actually one was Hungarian), who insisted on sharing their wine and escargots, and ended up by ordering brandy for all of us -- even though we each knew about five words of the other's language. The food wasn't great, but the atmosphere was fantastic.

The neighborhood, as others have said, was fine, if not charming. We never found any really great places to eat in the immediate area, foodwise, and ended up taking the metro over to the Left Bank most nights, where the restaurant / bistro selection is a lot more interesting.

Lutece - would you be willing to share some of your experience of purchasing the apartment in Paris? You can email me offline at [email protected]
merci bien!

"Lutece - would you be willing to share some of your experience of purchasing the apartment in Paris? You can email me offline.."

Lutece,
I was thinking the same thing...if you post, would you post online? I'd love to hear about your experiences too. For starters, who did you contact first?

Best,
Sandy

I stayed at the hotel Scribe(a 4****luxe/deluxe hotel) in the 9th ar. The area is very good, safe(except from the Place Pigale Area but it's far from the Opera) and convinient(a 10min walk from the Louvre,the Place Concorde,a 5min walk from the Madeleine Church and The Place VEndome) and has many shops(including the Grands Magasins) restaurants theatres and cinemas.

Lutece, thanks - it all sounds wonderful. Always nice to be able to enjoy your investment as it increases in value.

For someone who types for a living, I really do have to learn to proofread when I'm on this board...sheesh.
The Bus costs 10 or 12 euro's... I mean, not minutes. Sorry...
I adore the cabs...its just that my first trip to Paris, the cab from the airport into the city got stuck in the am traffic jam and there had been an accident...click click click went the meter and 92 euro's later, we were at the hotel. It wasn't the time, the time stuck in traffic is just what is...is... that extra 40 euros cut into my fois gras budget! <GRIN>

SuzieC, thanks for the clarification - we all had assumed you were starting the happy hour a little early during your first post.

Hi--we are staying at Hotel Langlois in the 9th arr in just 2 weeks so can let you know what we find. Would appreciate guidance as to best value in terms of money and time to get from the CDG airport to our hotel. Our latest guidebook suggested the bus, but, which bus? which stop? We will be two ladies (28 and 47 years of age) with one rollaboard bag each.

lacontessa, your hotel is located next to Trinité metro, ie a line with no direct connection with any bus or RER line from CDG. That said, it is relatively close to Gare du Nord, where the RER B from CDG stops. So if you want to play it budget, take the RER from CDG (E 7.8 each) and the taxi from Gare du Nord, which should set you back 8 euros at most. Be aware that if you arrive at Terminal 1, you will have to take a shuttle to the RER station, which can be annoying after a long flight. From Terminal 2 you can walk to the station. A taxi from CDG to your hotel should cost you around 30-40 euros, but forget it between 7h30 and 10h00 AM because of rush hour traffic.

We will be doing the reverse trip - GB metro to the airport, and hoping to do it by metro. We have a 9:40am flight to Rome - do you have any ideas on how long it will take us to get there on the metro - and what time should we leave? Thanks.

Hi Peels,

You can get directions and travel time at http://www.ratp.fr/

I suggest that you arrive at CDG about 1 1/2-2 hr before departure.

Lacontessa, the bus you probably heard about is the Roissybus, which leaves from the CDG terminals every 15 minutes and goes direct to rue Scribe which is right next to the Opera. From there, it's a 5-10 minute walk (practically in a straight line) to your hotel. The Roissybus costs about 8 or 9 euros one way, and I find it far more comfortable and easy to navigate than the RER. Takes about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic.

I vote for taking a cab to the hotel after a long flight. On my first trip to Paris I was young and broke so to save money I took the metro from CDG to my hotel near the Madeleine and a wheel broke off when I pulled it across the cobbles from the metro to the hotel. This summer I took a cab and happily paid 65 euros for the privilege.

As to the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower first thing in the morning...do the tower first thing. Go right at the opening time so you don't waste time in line buying tickets and then waiting in two more lines for the elevators to the top. I did the tower twice this summer and had zero wait both times. By the time I got down an hour later there were significant lines. I also suggest buying a museum pass which gets you into 70 different museums not because it is a good value (which I thought it was) but because you get to skip all the ticket lines at all of the major museums... I loved walking to the front at the Louvre, the D'Orsay, and the Pompidou.