New Years in Paris

Don't know about best but the E Tower is a good place to be when they pop the fireworks. Our one experience was that it was cool if not cold and rainy the entire time so be prepared.

Hi Frank thanks for your reply. I've been looking at You Tube videos of New Year celebrations at the tower and there were no fireworks in the background. Do you know if maybe they changed the location where they have the fireworks show?

We were in Paris for New Years last year (08/09). It was VERY cold the entire 10 days we were there. We rented an apartment in the Latin Quarter. If you would like specific information about it you can PM me.

As for the best places to celebrate - The year we were there they did not have any fireworks, although people led us to believe there would be. I had heard how crazy it was to be AT the Eiffel Tower, so we went to the Pont Neuf bridge with a view of the tower. At midnight the tower started sparkling...just like it does at the top of every hour at night until the early morning hours. There were plenty of people on the bridge though and some people brought fireworks. And not the Safe & Sane ones we have here in Sac. These suckers went pretty high up. Anyway, there were clubs having celebrations that were pretty pricey. I'm sure there are plenty of things to do. It just depends on what you are looking for and what your budget is.

We were there for new years a few years back. Be prepared for many restaurants to be closed. We were lucky to find an italian restaurant open in the Les Gobelins area.

I was in Paris this past year for New Years (09/10). We had no trouble finding anywhere to eat dinenr (we sat doan around 10:30pm with no problems) and we counted down under the Eiffel Tower. They haven't had fireworks in the city for many years but people bring their own and are pretty comparable to professional fireworks in the US. Around 11-11:30, the police close off pedestrian access to the bridges crossing the Seine and the roads near the ET get very crowed with people. The metro is free right around midnight but be much more carefull then usual. A couple of my friends had their purses ripped off their arms and people get too close for comfort.

I would suggest finding somewhere to sit with a good view of the tower so that you are out of th emob crowds with fireworks and smashing bottles. The tower lights up in different colors and if I remember correctly, it played music.

I was at the Eiffel Tower for New Year's 2003. Never again. Gangs running through the crowds snatching cell phones (shoved through a Brit family, knocked down the dad and stole the daughter's cell phone as she was talking on it--the whole family basically fell into me and the Canucks I was hanging out with). Juvenile boys throwing their firecrackers AT people (I didn't respond to the one that went off directly behind me so the next one HIT me). At midnight, the same twinkling lights on the tower that you see every evening after dark. Watching TV in my hotel room earlier that evening, Berlin looked a lot more exciting. The next day I learned that the Champs Elysee was a mad house and that shops that hadn't planned ahead and boarded up their windows had all of their windows broken out and there was a lot of street-fighting there. I must say, however, that the 1st was a very pleasant day of going back to the places I had already visited and getting exterior shots without crowds (hardly anyone on the streets at all).

Nancy T.

I'm with Nancy. NYE at the ET is a million drunk folks, combined with a fair share of hooligans.

Couple of years ago, we spent NYE in Paris and wandered up Rue Moffetard around 11ish. We ended up in a small bar, packed with folks. Everybod partying hard! Owner/bartender swilling from a magnum of champagne.

There was such a party going on that he completely missed midnight. 20 minutes or so later he noticed the time and exclaimed "Mon Dieu!!" and tried to get the crowd to count down. By that point eveybody was drunk they didnt care.

Fantastic time!!