Paris

[R_x]

Who's been? Which airport is best to fly to? What sights did you see while you were there? X

 

[sue_88]

I went in 2010 as part of a foodie trip from Uni. We drove/ferried it there.

Saw Eiffel Tower, snail farm, fois gras, moulin rouge, saw The Lourve building didn't have enough time to go in, arc de triomphe great for photos.

Went for 4 days, enjoyed it, probably wouldn't go back.

 

[cherrylips100]

Theres the Eiffel tower (book ahead) arc de triumph and notre dam. The Louvre is worth going to if you enjoy art. The area where the Sacre Coure and the Moulin rouge is also very pretty. I flew to Charles de Gaulle and got a metro into the centre, getting around is easy.

 

[R_x]

Thanks all I could think of is the Eiffel Tower and the love lock bridge. But heard of some of the other places so will have a look. How do you book ahead for the tower? What are the shops like?

 

[MrsMandy]

I would highly recomend doing a night river cruise down the Seine - it is beautiful at night with all the lights - we combined it with a driven city tour after and the guide took us to all the sights and explained the history of them.
Deffo go up to the troccoderro (opposite eiffle tower) at night - the best place to watch the light show from the tower!!
I love Paris - its one of my favorite places to be!
For good shops the Champs ellese is good - but looooong take good walking shoes!! And the gardens before you reach the louvre is lovely for a peaceful moment (and ice cream! )
Enjoy - i'm very jealous cant wait to go again! Xx

 

[Pearls18]

I've been a couple of times but by train and ferry. I've done all the traditional Eiffel Tower, night Seine boat tour, Notre Dame, Disneyland lol etc, like Sue I wouldn't go back, it's ok but much prefer other European cities, places like Rome and Barcelona I'd go back to numerous times but not Paris, don't know why but it didn't have my heart, I think it was over sold to me lol (mainly by films and popular culture!)

 

[Jamandspoon]

We've just moved away from Paris to Singapore - I loved it there!

Airports depends on how much you want to pay for ticket and where you are flying from. Orly is cheaper to fly into the Charles de Galle and most of the city hopper flights you will be able to go to Orly. Transport to city from Orly is via OrlyVal (part of
Metro) and will take a little longer than Charles de Galle but is easier.

Shopping is great in Paris - champs élysées is all the high end designer, but there are other great shopping centres like So Ouest for clothes, Le Marie for quirky type shops and the banks of the Seine for flea markets / antiques.

Sight seeing depends on who you are going with and when the obvious ones are
Arc de triomphe
Tour Eiffel ( book in advance online, google
Visit Paris Tour Eiffel)
Versailles
Sacre Couer
Trocedero
Le louvre
If you like Monet pictures Le Orangerie in the gardens of the Louvre is a real gem, along with the Louvre gardens
Le Grande et Petite Palais
Seine river boat trip
Musee D'Orsay
Saint Germain En Laye ( end of RER line A) huge gardens with view across the WHOLE of Paris
Euro Disney
Parc Asterix

Most tourist attractions/restaurants/shops are closed on Monday, even in Central Paris so avoid Mondays. Taxis are awful so try and stick to the Metro/ RER

Let me know if you want any more info - enjoy!!

 

[alicecooper]

I was born in Paris.

Just don't bother with the Pompidou centre it's utter rubbish.

 

[supertabby]

I wasn't looking forward to Paris as I thought it would be too overhyped (we were going to visit my sil when she was doing a uni placement elsewhere in France and we tagged on a few days in Paris). But I loved it!

Fly into Charles de Gaulle and get the Metro into the centre. The Metro is the best way to get around Paris so hotel-wise find somewhere near a metro station.

Main sights:


Eiffel Tower is the obvious one - go up during the day but go back to see it lit up at night. The gardens around it are nice too. We didn't actually book in advance and got a ticket on the day.

Louvre - worth it to see the building but if you enjoy art set aside a whole day at least. It's massive!

Montmatre - where all the artists used to live bohemian style like the moulin rouge movie! (it's still an "art" place but a bit touristy now) climb the big hill up to the church, there's fab bistros and absinthe bars along the way and lots of street artists. There's a great Dali museum too. Get the metro to Pigalle for montmatre. Pigalle is where Moulin Rouge and a lot of other strip clubs are. Moulin rouge is a short walk down and worth going having a look at it from outside (you can see a show if you want) if you're going to montmatre anyway.

Latin quarter is a fab area for bars and restaurants, it's very relaxed but great food and drink. It's near Notre Dame.

 

[R_x]

Another question guys. How much spending money do you roughly need?