vishalmodi

Wife and I are going to Paris this September 2014 for about 5 nights.
Any recommendations on what district to stay at and what to go see where to go eat.

Our budget has not been determined yet. Unfortunately, we are not growing money on trees.

A list would be nice. Going from highest priority to lowest.

Also some places to eat I know there are so many options. We are both open minded people and willing to explore a little when it comes to food.


Thanks,
Vish

nytraveler

For us to tell you what to see/do you MUST give us some input.
What are your interests? Museums? Architecture? Turing cute neighborhoods? If you have no info - suggest you look at destination section here and also get a couple of guide books.

In terms of food - there are thousands of options - and without a budget and if you want one of the traditional French cuisines or are willing to explore asian or north african food - and if you want beer or wine - we have no place to start

Christina

To tell you the truth, Paris is such a large city, you can just walk around and find cheap places to eat very easily, you don't have to plan ahead for that. At least, as long as you don't stay in a place like around the Champs-Elysees. Menus with prices are posted outside all places.

To keep to a budget, I suggest you stay in the 5th, 3rd or 9th or 11th arrondisements. There are others places you could stay, of course, I'm just trying to make it easy. They will be cheaper than the 6th or 1st or 4th, for example, both for hotels and eating, in general.

StCirq

<<A list would be nice. Going from highest priority to lowest.>>

That's quite a request. There are no travel agents here - we're volunteers. Not to mention that there are lists in every single one of the hundreds of guidebooks to Paris. And there's the internet. And what makes you think that the priorities of strangers on the internet would match yours anyway?

adrienne

You'd need to determine where you're staying before getting a list of restaurants. There are plenty of Paris restaurant threads on this board for you to look at but there is no point going out of your way for a restaurant when there are good ones all over the city.

Stay in arrondissements 4, 5, 6 but next time I'll probably stay in the 14th or southern part of the 5th.

My priorities would be different from yours as I've been to Paris before and would not include some things that you might want to see. Here's my list which I happen to have created already but I do not have several hours to determine priority order. Priority order is not the best way to look at a list since not every sight is open every day; you need to be aware of which days things are closed.

You also need to be aware of where sights are located. Your first and second priority might be a half hour away from each other so you would not see them in that order but group things that are near each other.

Val-de-Grace Church
Mosque and tea garden
Rue Mouffetard
St-Etienne-du-Mont Church
Luxembourg Gardens
Pantheon
St-Denis Basilica
Orsay Museum
Pont Alexandre III
St-Germain-des-Pres Church
St-Sulpice Church
Orangerie Museum
Notre Dame
Ste-Chapelle
Ile St-Louis
Hotel Dieu
Seine Cruise
Cluny Museum
Rue Montorgueil Market
Rodin Museum
Maillol Museum
Marmatton Museum
Picasso Museum (currently closed)
Jewish Museum
Places des Vosges
Carnavalet Garden
Stravinsky Fountain
St-Merri Church
St-Eustache Church
Fontainebleau
Jacquemart-Andre Museum
Nissim de Camondo Museum
Arab Institute
Le Train Bleu
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church
Julian-le-Pauvre Church
Art Deco buildings
Eiffel Tower Backstage Tour
Pere Lachaise
Belleville
Promenade Plantee
Bourdelle Museum
Champs Elysees Gardens
Quai Branley Museum
Auvers-sur-Oise
Sundials
Bois de Boulogne (rose garden)
St-Gervais-St-Protais Church
St-Eustache Church
St-Germain l'Auxerrois Church
Musée du Cristal
Montmartre Museum
Pasteur Museum
Museum of Romantic Life
Gustav Moreau Museum
Passages
Sundials
Four Seasons Fountain
Rue du Cherche-Midi
St-Thomas Aquinis Church
Legion of Honor Museum
Rue du Vieux Colombier

BigRuss

<i>Wife and I are going to Paris this September 2014 for about 5 nights.
Any recommendations on what district to stay at and what to go see where to go eat.

Our budget has not been determined yet. Unfortunately, we are not growing money on trees.

A list would be nice. Going from highest priority to lowest. </i>

This is a troll-ish post, quite honestly.

First, get a guidebook. You're going to Paris for a reason, figure that out and then tell us and we can help focus you.

Second, get a map. There are no districts, there are arrondissements and they are numbered and set out in an internally logical pattern.

Third, either you have a maximum budget or you do not. The difference is crucial. If you do, state it. Until then, use the resources here or at Timeout.com (not affiliated with Fodors, afaik) and figure out your eating and lodging options. Paris has the population of Chicago, you will have ton(ne)s of places to eat and ton(ne)s of potential lodging options.

Christina

Oh, for heaven's sake, arrondisement is a French word and means the same thing as what many people call "districts" in many cities. I suppose you'd insist someone use the Czech word for city district, městské části, when asking about Prague? Never seen that happen on Fodors. It is kind of pretentious sometimes when people don't even know a foreign language, I think, to insist one use a foreign word for one particular thing. Why arrondisement rather than church, for example? Lots of people on Fodors use that word or use the word subway for tube, etc.

I'm sick to death of people accusing posters of being "trolls" because they think they are so superior to them, also.

vishalmodi

Christina you go girl! lol

nytraveler

The OP may be a troll - but I rather get a flavor of someone who is simply very naive and has not spent more than about 5 minuts picking a spot on a map.

So - if yuo are a troll - goodbye.

If just anaive tourist - so some research and come back with some more specific information and questions.

And for hotels we need to know if you are looking at strict budget properties for 80 or 100 euros and willing to give up certain amenities - or you want luxury at 1000 euros per night.

vishalmodi

I am going to be looking at AirBnB. I have no problem with many of these Apt under 100 a night.

I take it your more of the serious traverler as opposed to the average travler. I am not on your level yet. Plus I probably will be cooking many meals in the apartment as I have read that will save a bunch of money and time.


Hahaha I wanted to see what everyone has experienced. This is my way of helping me brainstorm.

I have couple of Walking paris books.


-Vish

Seamus

Vish - One of the joys of Paris is that it is a great city for wandering. If you are not obsessed with checking the boxes on a preordained list and are happy to rely at least to a degree on serendipity, you will do just fine. That said, it is good to have at least a basic sense of the place you will visit and perhaps a few things on the to do list.

When selecting your apartment, proximity to a metro station is a key attribute. Use google maps to check out the immediate neighborhood and be sure you are not located right above a music club (unless you want that.) Also, if using airbnb absolutely do not deal with any owner who suggests working outside the usual procedures for contact and payment - that's a pretty good indicator of a scam. As for cooking in it can save a bit and provide a nice pleasant meal in comfort, but there are also plenty of places where you can pick up a reasonably priced meal, especially outside the touristic areas. Do allow yourself at least a bit of self indulgence!

There is a regular poster here who lives in Paris and has posted a number of wonderful "trip reports" exploring off the beaten track parts of Paris. His screen name is kerouac and if you use the search function here for his name it shoudl turn up many of them.

twoflower

Good on you, Christina!! I too have often raised my eyebrows to the ceiling when posters talk about arrondissements. Sure, when you're there it's wise to get to know the arrondissements ("when in Rome (or in this case Paris) etc"), but as non-Parisians are trying to be helpful on a forum, I find it lmore useful to use descriptive and colourful names rather than cold and impersonal numbers. I've been to Paris 5 times now, Yet I still find "Latin Quarter", "Marais District", "Montmartre area" and so on more helpful and meaningful than a plain number. If you asked me where I stayed on my last visit I can tell you it was near the Place de la Republique or on the Rue du Temple, but I'd have to check my Paris map to tell you what arrondissement it was. And that's fine by me: - names (to me) conjure up images; numbers don't. And images are what I want when I'm talking about a place or about travel.