New Year's in Paris- help
 

Hi. My husband and I are taking our first trip to Paris over New Year's and need help! First, where should be stay? We have narrowed it down to: Hotel Grand Paris Univers, Hotel des Grands Hommes and the Artus hotel- all in Saint Germain. We would like to stay at a nice hotel with Parisian flair- one that has good service, good beds, not too noisy in a nice and centrally located area. Also, if anyone can recommend restaurants and New Year's Eve activities, that would be great! Do all of the museums close for New Years Eve and New Years? Thanks very much.

I haven't stayed in any of those hotels, so can't compare them on your measures, but I know they are all fine, central locations.

I've never heard of a museum being closed all NY Eve, as that isn't a national holiday, only NY day. A museum that regularly might have evening hours on Wednesday night would probably not be open that evening, however -- the Louvre isn't, for example. I think all museums are closed on NY day, if someone knows of any exception, perhaps they will post.

I assume you know the Artus may have French flair, but it is modern, not traditional style. It is on a very narrow, busy street, but I imagine noise wouldn't be a problem in January. I would probably prefer the location of the Grands Hommes myself, but that's just personal taste. One possible nice thing about it is that it is near the Pantheon, and while not perhaps obvious, that is a slight hill. So, if fireworks were going off over near the Eiffel Tower, you could probably have some view of them from around there. I remember being right around there on Fete de la Musique last summer when they turned on the Eiffel Tower's twinkling lights for the first time in a while, and it was a nice show from in front of the Pantheon.

I'm also going to be in Paris (first time) for New Years and have been searching online for special activites but haven't come up with much. If anyone knows of any websites I could try please post them here.

Thanks Babaldas, I posted numerous questions about New Year's and didn't get much feedback. I also have looked online and there ain't much there. We pretty much decided to just eat out at a cozy place (we're not big spenders) and walk around. You may know that thousands gather Champs Elysees for the big moment--we're NOT into crowds so we'll be avoiding that, but if you enjoy that sort of mad crowd atmosphere that could be a fun place to go. There's also the river boat cruises, though they'll probably expensive. We considered doing that, but I think we'll just eat and walk around.

be aware that many parisian restaurants close for the holiday week and many of the rest are reserved well in advance for house parties.

it would behoove you to pick a place that will be open and book it right now. otherwise you're likely to be SOL.

we've never been new years eve types (normally we fly out of paris on new years day). but we did do the eiffel tower for the millenium. if you can't deal with crowds, i'd advise against going anywhere near it.

i can recommend a very good and quiet restaurant that generally does not have a private party: l'oulette. it's not cheap, but the dining experience and food are well worth it.

bon chance! bonne annui...

bonne annee...

Thanks subcon. I'm still learning my chat room lingo: what is SOL??

mp413, SOL is commonly used outside of chat rooms as well. It stands for "S**t Out of Luck."

In trying to find a evening concert or two for the week of US's Thanksgiving, the Paris-touristoffice.com has a complete list of museums and public spaces open for both Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

My Partner and I will be in Paris for NY's and we plan to just eat and walk around. I have not found too much info. on events, etc. either. As for dinner plans, I called my hotel and the helpful staff there said that in early December many of the restaurants send their NY's menu info packets to all the hotels. They told me to call back in early Dec. and then they can make recommendations after they reciev the restaurant marketing material. We just decided to book our favorite little restaurant in the Latin Quarter for NY's... we sent off our deposit. Most paris restaurants will want a deposit to confirm the rez. for NY's dinner. Good Luck. I hope we all have a blast for a great end to 2003!

Check out this restaurant in Paris (was listed as highly recommended in former Fodor's edition)-- it is in Latin Quarter and does have special New Year's dinner (rez must be made prior to Nov. 25). Check out the website:
http://www.chantairelle.com/chantairelle/intro-usa.html

Hi Gracey!

My husband and I went to Paris over New Year's a few years back. We had no idea what would be going on so asked the concierge upon arrival. He suggested that we book a special dinner for the evening as most restaurants abandon normal seating times and do 5 or 7 course meals.

We were thrilled and booked the restaurant he suggested. We thought we would have a nice dinner then taxi down to the Champs Elysses to ring in the new year. Boy were we wrong. The restaurant made every course last at least 45 minutes with drinks in between. And, the food was very, very french (i.e. organ meats, fish gelatins, etc. I'm a foodie but there were a few things I couldn't stomach)Anyway, by 11:30 we were starting to panic - we were going to MISS New Year's in Paris!

We tried to pay our tab & leave but the things you hear about paying your tab are true. You simply cannot leave until they're ready for you to. So, we gave in and celebrated at the restaurant (much pomp and circumstance - a four foot tall chocolate cake, sparklers, champagne chefs parading around the restaurant to applause, etc.).

Finally at 12:30 they let us go and began calling taxis for the guests. We got in a taxi at 12:45 and asked our driver to take us down the Champs Elysses and then to the hotel.

Much to our amazement, the entire center of Paris was basically a riot scene! 3 inches of broken champagne bottles on the streets, cars overturned, people fighting. It was frightening! We went back to our hotel room to watch the violence live on French T.V.

Turns out, that restaurant probably saved us and our New Year's!

I have no idea if that is a normal New Year's Eve but we were certainly thankful to have had a fun, safe evening!

The restaurant made every course last at least 45 minutes with drinks in between. And, the food was very, very french (i.e. organ meats, fish gelatins, etc. I'm a foodie but there were a few things I couldn't stomach)Anyway, by 11:30 we were starting to panic - we were going to MISS New Year's in Paris!


Problem is : what you described *IS* New Year in Paris : having a long dinner with many dishes and drinks, with midnight being the pinnacle of the meal. If you're going to have a meal (as opposed to, say, throwing a party) on New Year's Eve, be it with friends, family, or in a restaurant, there's no way you're going to leave before midnight...

Besides, there aren't much festivities in the streets : no particular displays, no fireworks, etc...Just a lot of drunk people, usually and hopefully in a good mood. The traditionnal gathering on the Champs Elysees, in my opinion, isn't really worth leaving the table.

Hello Gracey,
You're right, the Saint Germain area is a good and central one. I can advise you to go to the hotel Left Bank Saint Germain, a *** hotel, not very expensive, well located, quiet and comfortable. I give you the web site adress if you want to see it or to book by the internet (I think you can do it on their website): http://www.leftbankstgermain.com/index.html
Have a good trip in Paris!