Hello all,

So my wife and I will be travelling to Paris next month. We will be coming in on a Saturday morning and will be leaving on a Monday morning so basically we have a day and a half in Paris. We would like to see the following: Eiffel Tower, Louve, Moulin Rouge and Versailles. The Eiffel Tower we will basically just be passing by taking pictures. We will not be going up the tower. I would like to see it at night though. Moulin Rogue will be the same...just passing by, not going in. The Louve we might possibly get tickets to go inside...going to play that one by ear. Planning on spending a lot of time viewing the palace of versailles. We are not renting a car so plan on taking metro/walking. I have the option of staying at a hotel somewhere in paris, or a b&b in either Versailles, Le Vesinet, or Vaucresson. Given what we want to do and how we will be travelling within the cities, where would be the best place to stay?

Thanks much..

You have 14 other questions embedded into Where to Stay.

My prefernces, particularly for a short stay are the 6th, 7th and 5th in order. Walking distance to Notre Dame, D'Orsay, St. Chapelle and more.

The Montparnasse Tower has great views of Paris and the Eifel Tower. http://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/index_EN.php#/home

You don't have much time, so you need to organize your doings very carefully.

Why Versailles? You can take bus or train there. I've done both. If you go, I would suggest getting there early and walking the grounds before the main palace opens. Otherwise, you might spend an entire day there. What a waste of Paris itself.

http://en.chateauversailles.fr/prepa.../opening-times

The area around the Moulin Rouge is pretty run down. I'd look at pictures on the internet before I'd spend a second there.

There are some lovely B&Bs in Paris, particularly in Montmartre. You can have a look on Petite Paris's website. I wouldn't suggest staying in Versailles though as it's quite a long way out and it would mean missing out on Paris by night. As Rastaguytoday says, you should start early. You can take the best photos of the Eiffel Tower from Bir Hakeim bridge. Take the 72 bus just opposite the Louvre on rue de Rivoli, which takes you down past Concorde, then along the Seine to the tower. Get out at Pont Bir Hakeim and walk across the bridge to the tower. I've written a post on bus n° 72 to the Eiffel Tower on my blog. Enjoy your stay in Paris.

Hey GQ,

Since you are really going to visit Versailles, not Paris, I suggest that that is where you should stay.

Re the Moulin Rouge: save yourself time, energy and money - get the movie.

Please note that the twinkling lights on the ET are lit on the hour after dark for a few minutes.

The Moulin Rouge doesn't really look like it did in its heyday, it is mainly just a small facade now with stores abutting it on either side, and right on the sidewalk. And the area it is in isn't really that grand. Yes, it has the logo and some neon and a structure to represent a windmill, but it's nothing that spectacular to look at, if you don't happen to be in the area (and it is likely you wouldn't). This is a good photo of it now
http://travelerguidance.blogspot.com...or-moment.html


It doesn't make any sense at all for you to stay anywhere but Paris as you are arriving in Paris, want to see some things there, and are departing from Paris.

Wow...awesome responses. Rastaguy...sorry, I should have been a little more descriptive on the subject The tower looks amazing to get some great shots of paris at night. (Gonna be taking a lot of pics with my DSLR. It looks like I know where i'll be the first evening Makes me rethink my agenda. Thanks for the tip Aussie and RonZ for the tower...good to know as I would not have known that. As for Moulin Rouge, it's the wife wanting to see it. I'll show her the posts and maybe we can spend our time elsewhere So being that we've never been to Paris, and given the extremely limited time we are going to be there, basically flying in at 8am and will be there the remainder of that day and have one additional day to sightsee, what would you guys recommend we hit up? Things that I really would like to see/do is see/take pictures of the eiffel tower, versailles palace, and the louve. Don't necessarily need to go into the palace (if that's even an option) if we can "absorb" the awe from wandering around the grounds outside. We'd really like to experience some of the authentic french cuisine even if it's grabbing a bite on the run from a street vendor. I'm looking at this list: http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/f...est:30058.html

What would be a good hitlist to try and squeeze in a day and a half? I know a lot of it is subjective but at least it will give me a better starting point than just roaming around without really knowing that there is something I should have seen.

Thanks again for all the feedback! Good stuff.

Since you have never been and are unfamiliar with the metro I suggest you stay very near to a metro stop on a line that goes directly to The Eiffel without transferring (line 10 perhaps.) Line 10 would also take you to St-
germaine-des-pres. Seems to me you cannot fit Versailles and the Lovre and Eiffel all in 1.5 days and I agree with the others about moulin rouge.