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Paris Thoughts

I read the France Forum all the time and see many of the same questions come up concerning Paris & thought I would give you some of my opinions.

For first time visitors arriving at Charles de Gaulle, take a cab to your hotel especially if you are traveling with luggage. Maneuvering through the transit system for the first time can be a little stressful especially after a long flight & it is easier to learn the Metro system when you have time & no luggage. Do have the name & address of your hotel written down to show the driver. Be sure to get in the official cab line where you will be directed to your cab. Not difficult.

Where to stay: A lot of people say stay in the 5th arr. or 6th arr. to be "near the sights". Well, "the sights" are scattered all over the city from the Eiffel Tower to the Arch de Triomphe/Av. des Champs Elysees to Montmartre to Notre Dame to Montparnasse. All the neighborhoods in these areas have some nice hotels. People criticize the rue Cler area in the 7th as being "too touristy" but I think the popular 5th (Latin Quarter) has been "too touristy" for some time now (not to say you shouldn't see the area). By the way, what is that "meat" the Greek gyro places there are passing off as lamb now?? I have stayed usually in hotels in the 7th because I like walking around the Champ des Mars both in the early morning and at night when the Eiffel Tower is lit. I am now retired, so am able to rent an apartment for a month a year and the company I use has a nice one bedroom on rue Bellan right off rue Montorgueil (check this street out!) in the 2nd. The 18th (Montmartre) should not be ignored as an area to stay in if you really want to feel like you are living in Paris. When I lived in Paris, my room was just steps away from Mo: La Motte Picquet-Grenelle in the 15th, a major Metro transfer point to anywhere in the city and a great place to stay also.

Where to eat: One of the things I don't do is recommend to friends a particular place to eat because everyone should have the experience of stumbling into a restaurant or cafe where they may be lucky enough to have a meal they will talk about for the rest of their lives. It is fun to read the menus posted outside the restaurant or cafe. Every neighborhood has the potential of just such a memorable meal. I will say for all the flak the 7th arr. takes, rue St. Dominique, between Av. Bosquet & the Champ des Mars, has some really great restaurants both on it & just off it. And yes, I still go back to Le Chartier on the rue Montmartre because when you are young and living in Paris on $311/mo, it was (& still is) cheap and they still write l'addition on the white paper table cloths (the endive salade, please).

Just a couple of other things:
If you are going to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time, take the Metro to Mo: Ecole Militaire or Mo: Trocadéro to get the classic view of the Tower from either end of the Champ des Mars rather than going right up to it.
McDonald's & Starbucks - both have public restrooms & free WiFi. Some McDonald's charge a minimal fee to use the restrooms but hop into one when passing by because you don't know where the next restroom will be.
Learn the Metro system. No matter what sights you want to see, you will need to use it to get to it. It is a long way to walk from the Latin Quarter to the Eiffel Tower or to Montmartre. As others have said, the pass Navigo Decouverte is a great deal for anyone staying 4 days or more. You will need a picture (many major Metro stations have photo booths) and it is good Mon-Sun at a time. But it is rechargeable and you can use it on subsequent trips to Paris. All five zones are covered now. Plus it makes a great souvenir!

Posted by
11507 posts

The meat you are referring to is not always lamb.. a regular one has gyro meat.. which has always been a mix of various meats ( which can include lamb).. pork, veal, beef etc. called Shwarma or something like that.. its ground meat mixed with spices etc and roasted and carved out and that's what you get when you order a "gyro" .. if you want lamb chunks then you have to order something like a lamb souvlaki.

Its always been that way.

Posted by
9403 posts

Tom, I think you have some good thoughts here. I agree that most first time visitors would benefit from taking a taxi to their hotel, and having the name and address written down is excellent advice.
I always recommend the 4th, 5th and 6th arrondissements, as close to the river as possible, because it is the most central area of Paris and easy to walk to many of the sites, where most are concentrated (the Louvre, the Orsay, Nòtre Dame, St Chapelle, the Conciergerie, the museums in the Marais, Ile St. Louis, Invalides with Napoleon's Tomb, the Rodin Museum, the Petit and Grand Palais, Place de la Concorde, the Luxembourg Gardens, the Cluny museum, the Seine river and it's sightseeing boats, etc). No one (or very few) will be able to walk to all the sites in Paris from any one point. Having spent years in Paris, the 4th, 5th and 6th are also just my most favorite areas to be in. All of Paris, from the 1st to the 19th, is wonderful and it's easy to take a bus or Metro to other areas.
Rue Cler... I'm not a fan because, for me, it's dull and boring. It is not quintessential Paris for me. It has been so focused on and hyped by RS since he started writing his Paris guide book (and I honestly believe this is the only neighborhood of Paris that he knows relatively well) and that is why many RS readers even know about it. Every time I've been there (8?) I've seen very few Parisians (other than those working there), I mostly saw only Americans carrying a RS guide. I love my country, but I don't go to Paris to be surrounded by Americans and hear American being spoken all around me. But we're all different, and there's nothing wrong with liking rue Cler... : ) I haven't been there when they have their outdoor market, so I might feel differently if I had.
We stayed in a hotel for 6 wks a half block from La Motte Picquet-Grenelle Metro... was it Hotel de l'Avre where you stayed by any chance?
I agree with not recommending places to eat (with a couple of exceptions) and I also agree that rue Dominique has a lot of good cafés/restaurants.
Rue Montorgueil is also a good tip... I like it there.
I'd also recommend people slow down, sit at cafés, spend an hour or more in the Luxembourg Gardens where you do get to see lots of Parisians relaxing and enjoying themselves, eat pastries, learn some French history so you can appreciate what you're seeing, go to the Louvre later in the afternoon on Wed or Fri when they're open late and avoid the crowds, learn polite phrases in French which will make for a more pleasant reception in stores, etc., allow enough time in Paris to savor it, relax and enjoy... don't rush from one site to the next. Paris, for me, is not the sites... it's the people, the food, the history and the beauty that's all around you.
You have lots of good info here and I enjoyed reading it.... : )

Posted by
702 posts

All excellent suggestions. My favorite area is the 6th and also Le Marias, near St Paul. Because I love being able to just walk to places, especially to see them at night. Luxembourg Gardens is my favorite too. And I would LOVE to stay in a Paris apartment for a month. Maybe someday...