tahlanicki

The Air BnBs we are finding are around 150-175 a night (with registration numbers, don't worry) and are pretty adorable. I am wondering if that might be hard to beat with a hotel. Under $200 a night sounds pretty nice. I will check those out though because you never know.
I did not know that about the address numbers correlating with arrondissement, and I did not know booze is more expensive, good thing I am a wine or beer girl! Great tips...
I guess now I need to try to familiarize myself with the metro with is totally foreign to me. (foreign, haha see what I did there?)
Bruges looks adorable and perfect but 3 hours each way by train seems like a lot for a day trip, no? What are all of your thoughts on doing a day trip with a 3 hours train ride each way? Is the train a nice enough part of the experience that I won't mind it being longer? As long as I can have a glass of wine, I will probably be cool with it. I am thinking if I am cool with a 3-hour train ride, then Alsace region will be the type of experience I am looking for. (My real life Disney day, lol)
I saw a suggestion to stay in Marais (2, 3,4) instead of the 5th, 6th, is that because it is more lively?
How did people plan trips before the internet???

ToujoursVoyager

I like Bruges, and we stayed there 2 nights before taking the train to Paris. You could just train to Bruges on your arrival day. Spend 2 nights there and then train back to Paris for the remainder of your time.

Bruges is a very walkable charming little town. You can rent bicycles and go around the city.

suze

I think you should wait until you get to Paris to decide about any "day trips". I'm guessing you'll be so busy you will skip the idea entirely.

If you stay in a central area you don't have to "familiarize yourself with the Metro". I mean it's good to understand public transportation, but staying in the 5th/Latin Quarter you can walk to most of the major sites and sights in the central area.

The other thing to understand about the arrondissement number/neighborhood layout within the city - is that they spiral outwards (like a snail) from the 1st in the middle.

kelly324

Hi tahlanicki! I just got back from 5 days in Paris this past December. I've been twice and even though I'm from South Florida (Miami/West Palm Beach area), I would never be able to navigate driving in Paris!! It's crazy! I stayed in the Latin Quarter, less than a block from Notre Dame and a cool place with awesome beds and you can include breakfast (first breakfast! Lol!), which was a really good breakfast to start the day. The hotel was right across the street from the statue of St. Michel, called Hotel Royal Saint Michel, not expensive, not a luxury hotel, but close to the Sorbonne, so lots of bars and places to eat and very lively at night. I'm also not familiar with Metros, and being from the south, have no experience with them, so I found a great alternative - BatoBus - it's a hop on hop off boat that stops at all the major sites and is about 12-14 euros a day, and a great way to see the city.

TDudette

FWIW, our Bruges trip was a bus tour. It left early and stayed late. I don't remember it taking us as long as 3 hours.

When I was a newbie to Paris travel, knowing the landmarks (like "close to Eiffel Tower") made more sense to me than an arrondissement number. I know that Parisiens use arrondissement the way we use neighborhood names, but to many new travelers, a little backup info would be helpful.

Eventually, we took busses rather than metro--we could see more, it was easier on the knees (more steps in metro), and with digital stop titles, easy to get around.

PalenQ

For day trips from Paris stick to two hours max each way by train. Strasbourg too far - Loire not - train to Tours and take mini-bus tours from station ton some of best of Loire chateaux.

Christina

I think people should do what they want, they can make up their own mind as to how long they want to travel on a train for a day trip. I've done day trips that were 2.25 to 2.5 hrs each way if it were a place I really wanted to see and didn't think it would fit into any other schedule. That extra time doesn't really matter that much if you just doing nothing with it anyway, you can easily spend an entire day sightseeing and be back in Paris by dinner. Besides, doing day trips is really relaxing as you don't have to pack up, move hotels, etc., just take a small day pack with stuff and hop on the train.

Strasbourg is NOT too far for a day trip, it's only 1.75 hrs by train. In fact, it would be a lot more time efficient than going to Tours and then doing mini bus tours to chateaux.

I don't think I've ever spent 7 days in a city without doing a day trip elsewhere, that is too much of one thing for me. When I travel to Europe, I want to see a variety of things, not just spend a week in one big city. But again, one day decide that for themself, but I don't think seeing more and more museums in Paris is preferable to going someplace completely different and seeing something else. Strasbourg is very different from Paris in terms of cuisine, etc., also, I think that's a good alternative. Loire is certainly possible but I don't think of any amazing cuisine there. YOu can easily drink Loire wines wherever you area. But if you are fascinated with the idea of seeing those old chateaux, sure, that would work also.

Lyon might be an option also or Dijon, for food and drink specialties.

tuscanlifeedit

If you go to Chartres and after the cathedral and formal garden, keep heading down hill. It impressed me as "fairy tale" in that area. I would go back, and it's such an easy daytrip. But cathedrals are a bigger draw for me than castles.

And if you go to Fontainbleau, the little town of Barbizon on the western edge of the Foret du Fontainbleau is supposed to be extremely charming in a fairy tale sort of way. I had an excursion planned there but Air France thought otherwise at the time. Still might go.

MaineGG

Your arrival in Paris on a Monday with a stay of a week plus would allow you to take advantage of the very good deal of the All Zones Navigo Découverte weekly pass for 22,80€. This weekly transport pass is valid from Monday through Sunday and includes unlimited travel in Paris and the region around Paris (zones 1-5) on Metro, RER, buses and many trains. If you should decide to make a daytrip to a town nearby, it may well be included. You can buy this pass at the airport or in many Métro stations, and will need a photo. There is a one time charge (5€) for the re-loadable card and card-holder.

More info here:
https://www.ratp.fr/en/titres-et-tar...-travel-passes

and here:
https://parisbytrain.com/paris-train...go-decouverte/

Zone map:
rer-transilien-train-zone-map.pdf

wunderbar2

Just throwing my two cents in, for what it’s worth. Yes, Riquewihr and Ribeauville are beautiful small towns, picturesque, quaint and maybe what you’re looking for but during the day they’re completely overrun with tourists and completely different when the huge groups of tourists leave for the day. Both become sleepy little burgs with not much going on unless it’s during a festival or special. We’ve been to both several times and rented a great apartment in Riquewihr for 9 nights, using it for our home base and doing many day trips but you will need a car to get to these towns.
Enjoy your planning, that’s half the fun, isn’t it and have a wonderful trip. Paris Is my fav city, having spent lots of time there over the past 15+ years, it never gets old to us. Enjoy!

tahlanicki

Ok so our apartment is booked, in the 5th, with a registration number and wonderful reviews. Now the fun part, planning. I am not going to over plan and I’ll keep things loose, and the advice from everyone is super helpful. Here’s what I guess some of this will come down to, am I romanticizing the train ride?? Like I have this picture of having drinks and relaxing and it being no biggie to sit there for 2 hours. Am I in for a surprise?

kelly324

Ok so our apartment is booked, in the 5th, with a registration number

tahlanicki - may I ask which rental site you booked with that had registration numbers? For my next trip Thank you!

tahlanicki

I used Air BnB, and I messaged several owners who’s listenings didn’t have numbers to see if it was an oversight and they all either played like they had no clue what I was talking about or claimed they didn’t need them. I tried to figure out if that was true, but since so many did have numbers, I got over that real quick. Apparently for owners there’s a field they put the number in when describing the house so there’s no way it could just be left out as an oversight. So don’t even bother contacting owners without numbers. Total waste of time. I can let you know how ours is, I googled street viewed and “walked” around the neighborhood and it seems perfect.