soloinparis

I'll be in Paris for a few days on my own in mid-September (husband attending a conference). We're staying in the 16th. Any advice on restaurants, parks, or museums in the area? Is it relatively safe? Anything to avoid? Thanks!

Dukey1

TTT

welltraveledbrit

Two immediate thoughts;
1) Though you are in the 16th all of Paris is only a metro ride away so go and see what you're most interested in.
2) Paris is generally a very safe city and the 16th is one of the wealthier parts of town, I would imagine you would be very safe here. The only danger I could imagine there is suffocation from the complaints of the bourgeoisie, but if you're just there for a week so that should be avoidable!!!

If you are looking for things on that side of town here are some suggestions at least to start.

The Marmottan Monet is certainly a lovely small museum and it often has rotating shows in addition to the permanent exhibition. I love a small house museum and this is a great one for the works by Monet and his contemporaries as well as some lovely Empire furniture, medieval works and French portraits which you'll find upstairs.

I blogged about it here...

http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2013/...et-museum.html

I haven't visited yet but I'd love to see the Gehry designed Louis Vuitton Foundation in the Bois de Boulogne which is of course a lovely park. There's a beautiful rose garden at the Park de Bagatelle where they have concerts in the L'Orangerie which we enjoyed withFrench friends a few years ago.

http://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum...c-de-Bagatelle

If you like gardens and want to stay on that side of town I'd g to the Albert Kahn Gardens which really is a charming gem of a place. There are a number of gardens including a magnificent Japanese garden and a small museum dedicated to kahn's ethnological work. Here's my blog post

http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2013/...ens-paris.html

http://albert-kahn.hauts-de-seine.fr/english/

There are some wonderful Art Nouveau buildings in the 16th which are well worth checking out too , I'm sure you can find a walking tour book that covers them.

Hope this helps and you have a good time.

fuzzbucket

The 16th arrondissement covers a large territory. If you care to narrow it down - give the nearest Metro stop, the name of your hotel or the nearest intersection - it would be easier to advise you.

If you don't want to share, enter your address on GoogleMaps and use the "search nearby" function to look up things to do.

It's a quiet neighborhood overall, and there are long stretches between shops, restaurants, cafes and toilettes, unless you know where to find them. As someone mentioned, it is a wealthy neighborhood, but you should still be on your guard against pickpockets, who frequent Metro stations and ATM machines. The area is very quiet at night, many things will be closed, and nobody will be on the streets to bother you. If you want to walk around, you'll be safe as long as you take normal precautions.

Christina

Very safe -- I like ave Mozart, a shopping street, as well as rue de l'Assomption, a pedestrian shopping area. There are some good Art Nouveau walks in the 16th as Guimard has some buildings there, and lived there. Also the musee du Vin is near Passy. I like the Passy market, also http://en.parisinfo.com/shopping-par...uvert-de-Passy


Several great museums, really like the Naval Museum near Trocadero place, for example, and the fashion museum near Iena metro http://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr/

The park you walk to in order to get to the Marmottan museum is very nice (Jardins du Ranelagh).

Kathie

Once you get on the Metro, you can quickly and easily get to any place in Paris, so don't restrict yourself to the 16th.

I recommend you pick up a good guidebook (Fodors has an excellent Paris guide) and see what attracts you most in Paris.

As in any big city, you need to keep your wits about you and ignore or say no to people wanting you to sign a petition (it is a ploy to distract you to steal something) or likewise, people showing you that they found a "gold" ring on the sidewalk - is it yours? But in general, Paris is likely to be safer than your home town.

flpab

Marmottan Monet was great, loved the area. Nice parks.

nwtraveler

Bookmarking

Ackislander

I read the subject line to mean "What the hell's going on in the 16th" and wondered if the CRS were bashing heads like they did at Republique last week.

No, all quiet, comme d'habitude. It isn't a desert, as the letters above show, but it isn't happenin' either!

aliced

The 16th arr is about the chicest of the city! Lovely area to explore, and yes, do see the LV Fondation for its architecture and views therefrom. We took the shuttle from the Etoile which was very convenient as it's quite a distance 'in' from anywhere else.

Whathello

16th has posh areas and is generally boring.

I will not comment on safety - seems a lot of US tourists have a problem with safety in cities.

I liked Durand Dupont Rue Madeleine Michelis 16e close to les sablons,
Boulangerie Ty-Pascal 8 chee de la muette 16e : as the name says it, a bakery but with basic (but good) food : perfect for a quick lunch.
La Gazette Duret, 28 16e was superb.
Le Grand bistro saint Ferdinand 16e was nice.

Avoid the restaurants around Porte Maillot, most are ... bof...

Helsie

Visiting the Marmottan Museum is a must if you like Monet and not far away is the Bois du Boulogne ( visit in the daytime !!). There you will find a lovely restaurant, Le Chalet des Iles, on a little island. You travel across on a boat (free) and eating there was one of the highlights of our visit. Lovely surroundings, great ambience and delicious food...and not too pricey either.

Southam

Frank Gehry's extraordinary architecture for the Louis Vuitton Foundation has set its sails just inside the Bois de Boulogne and so qualifies as part of the 16th. No matter what art is displayed, the building must be considered one of this pioneering designer's masterworks.
8, Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, Bois de Boulogne, 75116.

http://www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/en.html

Whathello

Is the Bois de Boulogne stil la place where you find prostitutes ?
20 years ago female, then male or transvestites. Long time not gone. ;-)

kerouac

With these few suggestions everybody has just about exhausted the 'attractions' of the 16th arrondissement, so I hope that the OP has realized by now that at least 95% of their time will be spent in other parts of Paris.

However, I will recommend a visit to the Cité de l'Architecture and the Musée de l'Homme -- both in the Palais de Chaillot facing the Eiffel Tower -- and also the Palais de Tokyo down the street, which is the museum of modern art of the city of Paris (not to be confused with the national museum of modern art at the Pompidou center).

Christina

I gather that is sarcastic since it was in quotes ('attractions') but given it includes shopping areas, great museums and parks or gardens, markets, terrific architectural examples and walks, good views, and almost a monument (good view of Eiffel Tower), it has as many or more 'attractions' than any other arrondisement, it seems to me. I gather it isn't poor and gritty enough, but the fact is that it is not inferior to other areas in terms of attractions.

I didn't even name the Passy cemetery which has some important graves as that isn't of interest to many and that cemetery is very small and crowded. It's sort of interesting historically for that reason (Debussy is buried in there, for example). And like any arrondisement, it has some weekly rolling street markets.

Maybe the OP just didn't want to exert a lot of effort planning a major sightseeing trip or going elsewhere and just wanted some easy things to do where they were, who knows. Or didn't want to do major sightseeing on her own as she'll be doing that later with her husband. Some people are nervous about traveling and exploring big foreign cities on their own, doesn't make them bad people, just perhaps inexperienced or from a different background. I know several people in my family who would be that way.

kerouac

Christina, if you want to be a pedantic and bitter know-it-all (especially in reaction to any post that I make), I strongly suggest that you at least learn how to spell <i>arrondissement</i>.

fuzzbucket

I love visiting the Passy cemetery, and find it much easier to walk around here than on the cobblestones of Pere Lachaise. I don't care which "famous" people are buried there, though - the unusual architecture, mosaics and stained glass of the tombs are worth seeing. You could spend a very pleasant hour there, including getting a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, then head to Carette on the place near Trocadero Metro station for a very nice lunch with people who live in the neighborhood.

Whathello

No, 16th has not as many 'attractions' as other arr.
No, it is not to be rejected because it is posh. It is excentered, and devoid of much life. I wonder if Christina has ever slept there.

I have,but only in 3 hotels, compared to about 150 hotes I've slept in Paris. Et encore, 2 were close to Porte de Maillot/arc de triomphe area. Ecah time I sleep there I know why I don't do it more often.

(I have a full description of 3 pages for each including an itinerary to go there. I have sold it to 759 people, email me at '[email protected]'.
A modest contribution will be asked.)