I am planning a trip to Paris in mid February (so no way to dibe outdoor..) and I'm looking for restaurants with a no smoking area. I found good suggestions on the web (smokefreeworld.com/paris.shtml) like La Belle Hortense, Au Tibourg, Mariage Freres, Chez Pento and Le Sancerre. Has anyone tested any of these places. I've seen that a similar message has been posted last year but I would appreciate if there is a follow-up. <BR>PS I'm not from California or Maine...I'm from Italy and I have a hard life the all year round...so please...HELP ME!

I have a very good recommendation -- Bofinger Brasserie near the Bastille, and I ate there just last week. There's a Petite Bofinger across the street as well, which I did not eat at, but which also had a non-smoking section. <BR> <BR>The food and serice were great, and the non-smoking salon is the nicest part of the restaurant. <BR> <BR>I did notice on my last trip to Paris that there were more "real" non-smoking sections in restaurants than even a few months ago. Bonne chance!

Hello Claudia: <BR> <BR>One restaurant/cafe that is not listed on the site you mentioned is the Pain Quotidien. It's a Belgian chain and although normally I wouldn't recommend chain restaurants, this one is an exception. They have at least 3 locations in Paris and this is one of the best places to eat lunch or brunch in the entire city. It's very affordable, too! <BR> <BR>I've written more on this restaurant/cafe (pictures and map included) on a site for travel to France. I'm worried about placing the URL here because it is a commercial site and I don't want to offend anyone. I also have a list of restaurants with smoke-free environments. If you'd like the URL, please e-mail me. I'd be happy to send it to you. <BR> <BR>Regarding the restaurants in your post. Mariage Freres is good but a bit overpriced in terms of the quality. La Belle Hortense is a charming cafe that doubles as a bookstore. And Le Sancerre is a wine bar and is quite good. I am not familiar with Chez Pento. <BR> <BR>If the weather is good try the restaurants with tables outside. It helps a little. <BR> <BR>Angela

I am allergic to cigarette smoke, the doctor gave me Proventilin. It worked great, maybe you can ask about this. <BR> <BR>Also, went to Paris for New Years, every restaurant we went had a no smoking section but because many are so tiny the smoke was every where. I nicely asked waiters to move us further from the smoke on several occassions and they were happy to help. One even opened a window to help the smoke escape. <BR> <BR>Good luck, it wasn't as bad with smoke as I expected but this could have been because of the Proventilin inhaler.

Avoiding smoke in restaurants is a challenge in Paris we've found (and we have been there many times). Many more do have non-smoking areas then they did in days gone by, but as many restaurants tend to be small the smoke "drifts" to the non-smoking section anyway. Also, we found in many places the non-smoking area was only a couple of tables (again right next to the smoking) so there was no where to go to avoid it. <BR> <BR>What we've done is try and eat "off hours" - going to dinner earlier when it is less crowded helps for instance. Larger restaurants tend to have more tables so if it gets bad you can ask to move if there is room. Unfortunately you can't eat outdoors (picnic in park) in Feb unless you hit a real warm spell but it's an option for others going in warmer weather. <BR> <BR>I hate to say it but McDonald's is a smoke free environment and we have been known to pop in there at least once on each of our visits to Paris for a fast food, smoke free lunch (the restrooms are usually clean and decent too). <BR> <BR>On occasion (when we were tired out) we've brought sandwiches back to the hotel room and had "lunch" in while we rested up - it's not ideal, but cigerette smoke really bothers me so I am always looking for ways to avoid it. <BR> <BR>Another ploy is try and get a table where the adjacent tables have American's sitting - overall American's tend to smoke much less than Europeans so while you may lose something in "local atmosphere" you might just gain an immediate smoke free area - at least for awhile. <BR> <BR>Good luck and enjoy Paris, it's a great city.

There is a restaurant on Boulevard Montparnasse, a short distance to the west of the intersection with Rue de Rennes called Bistro de la Gare. <BR> <BR>It is a moderate cost bistro that serves consistently reliable food -- not great but not poor either. We have eaten there 5 times total, in 1999 and 2000. In 2000 the interior seemed a little different so that the non smoking area was actually separate from the rest of the restaurant. (Previously, the non smoking tables had no curtain wall to separate them from the remainder of the restaurant.) It also has an outside area, although smoking is allowed there. <BR>Without wine, our bill for two people was usually around $40.00. The salmon dish was ok and the dinner salads were ample and good. The menu seems to change slowly over time.