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paris advice

  1. avatar DuncanDisorderly

    heading to central paris to do a bit of touristing at the weekend. has anyone else been here and can recommend some things to do / tourist traps to avoid etc.? thanks.

  2. avatar lateralus

    Avoid the stalls that sell like, stupid pens and crap. Those guys will try and get you to buy anything, and especially the guys around the eiffel tower selling dodgy cigarettes an' all. Just generally watch out for dodgy people I guess, there's a hell of a lot of them.

  3. avatar rinky

    Strangely I was about to ask the same question. Just realised I'm missed out on a Patti Smith gig there next week, anyone got a link to a Paris gig guide so I don't miss anything else?

  4. avatar nonlogic liam

    Versailles is always great.

  5. avatar Stalina

    I'm living in Paris at the minute, and there's no shortage of things to do. Also, most things are bunged with tourists with it being the most visited city in the world and the like.
    But here are things I like to see on a regular basis..

    Basilique St Denis
    St Chapelle/Concergerie (Ile de la Cité)
    Notre Dame (Same)
    Sacre Coeur (Montmartre)
    Pantheon (Boulevard St German)
    Sorbonne area/Odeon is nice, some nice bars
    Pere Lachaise cemetery - go see Jimmy Morrison, and they'll give you a map of other people to visit such as Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Chopin and the like (20th arrondisement, near Menilmontant)
    Tour Montparnasse - not as touristy and the Tour Eiffel and better views. (Montparnasse)
    Napoleon's Tomb and Army Musuem (Invalides)
    Catacombes (Denfert)


    And then you've got your staple touristy Tour Eiffel, Champs Elysees, Louvre. By all means go and check these out and have a look at them, but unless you're dying to say you've been in them don't spend all day queuing. You can always check them out another time, try and see as much as you can around Paris to get a real feel for the city and people.

    I recommend that you get a Paris Tourist metro pass - 3 days unlimited travel on the metro, bus and RER within Paris for 20 euro. Can't beat that for value!
    Also, keep your wits about you on such public transport - keep wallets, purses, passports etc somewhere safe. There's an awful lot of baddins looking to steal yer monies, and being a tourist makes you a bigger target. The metro runs until roughtly 12.30 every night and to 1.30 on Fridays and Saturdays. If you reign yourself home to come home on the last metro you'll save yourself a fortune on taxis.

    Re: bars and the like.. There's cool bars everywhere where you can sit and watch Paris go by, as for music there's lots of jazz around Chatelet area and more sort of Rockish style bars in the Bastille (both on metro line 1)
    Just google whatever you're looking for in the way of musical experience, you'll definately find something worth looking into.

    Anything else specific you'd like to know or directions to places or hotels or how-to-work-the-buses (harder than it appears, I assure you) you can email me at altairpsychosis@hotmail.com
    I hope this helped but there's so much in Paris worth doing and seeing and experiencing that its hard to be specific. Its a wonderful place, I hope you both have a wonderful time! smile

  6. avatar DuncanDisorderly

    thanks for all your kind advice - will take it into consideration!

  7. avatar dOUBLEwONDERFUL

    Go to the Fleche D'or. Its generally on every night and theres a good UK/US presence for socializing.

    http://www.flechedor.fr/

  8. avatar feline1

    the most important thing is to remember to speak French.

  9. avatar nonlogic liam

    Or Algerian/Turkish, as that is the language the muggers speak.

  10. avatar martyrocks

    Anyone familiar with Paris France at all? headin over and have no clue of decent bars, venues etc....something like Annies or the limelight would be cool...just to have a few drinks with some decent music...not a "trendy uber cool" spot!any help would be great....

  11. avatar tinpot anto

    La Fleche D'Or near place De L'Italie, and Le Klub in Chatelet are both cracker wee venues.

    Though a lot of venues and clubs are run as unlicensed squats basically and tend to spring up and disappear as quickly, so check the posters round town.

  12. avatar martyrocks

    nice one cheers!!

  13. avatar xfirefishx

    Check out this thread http://fastfude.org/topic.php?id=28924 . It has loads of great Parisian tips.

  14. avatar The_Martyr

    Hey, coming in off firefish's link, which was my departure in September, it depends what you're looking for, but as tinpot anto said, Fleche d'Or is quite cool. Trendy but unpretentious.

    Last night I was out in Bastille area, which is really highly regarded, especially for a pub-crawl type experience, but to be honest, I didn't think much of it. Very squatty venues, all roughly living-room sized and not much room. Although nearby is a place called Motel which is cool, music is pretty good too.

    There's a place near me called Truskel which is exactly like annies, it's great fun and has very reasonable drinks prices for a night out. Expect to pay at least 5 euro a pint, up to around 8 after ten/midnight in most places. Pre-drinking is crucial, haha.

    Are you coming over in a group?

  15. avatar returnofthedogs

    Heading to Paris for relaxing long weekend. Can anyone recommend the cool/artsy/music/nice cafe area where we can get a hotel.

    cheers

  16. avatar Ric_vdb

    the latin quarter is your best bet!

  17. avatar Garzo

    Avoid the groups of men trying to sell you string at Mon Martre. It's pretty good though aside from that. Also if you go to Notre Damme you should check out Who's Bar which is nearby. They do an awesome Guinness and they gave us free Absynthe. There was also live music every night. Well cool place. Eiffel Tower was well overrated. I get it, it's big, but it still looks like a bloody pylon. L'arc de Triomphe was better. Far more impressive, especially with the Bastille flag the size of a house flying underneath it.

  18. avatar palrub

    on the back of this thread can anyone help with some quibbles??

    looking to book a weekend in october in paris for myself and the missus [birthday]. the 'package' deals on a lot of websites seem extortionate for the likes of fri 2nd oct to mon 5th oct.

    would it be best to get flights and accomodation separate, if so who what where etc.. or is there any decent package deals i can get set up with, and again who what where etc..

    much appreciated!!!

  19. avatar fletch_belfast

    I haven't booked a package in a while, 'cos I like to get what I want, at the price I want it, on my own terms, as I'm some kinda of control freak.

    So I went to Paris in April last year, just booked my cheapo flights with easyjet and my 3 star hotel through accomline.com, who I've been using for a few years now.

    As long as ur not one of these snobby weirdos that expects to stay at a hotel in a foreign country and have a massive room and a butler to wipe ur arse, then a 2 or 3 star hotel is ideal for any normal punter, and should save u a few quid.

    See how these prices grab you for 2 or 3 star hotels:

    http://www.accomline.com/SearchResults.asp?searchBy=Criteria&hidLocID=&hidLocName=&hidLocKey=&hidLocCountryID=&SetInDay=[Fri]&SetOutDay=[Mon]&country=France&city=Paris&dummyhotelName=&suburb=&txtLocationKey=City%2C+Region%2C+Suburb+or+Landmark&hotelName=&star5=ON&star4=ON&star3=ON&orderBy=Total%2CAvailability%2CRank%2CHotel&Checkin=2009-10-2&Checkout=2009-10-6

  20. avatar T Entertainment

    And the prostitution situation?

  21. avatar my-angel-rocks

    someone wrote:
    I like to get what I want, at the price I want it, on my own terms, as I'm some kinda of control freak.

    Does that not answer your question Chris?

  22. avatar fletch_belfast

    my-angel-rocks wrote:
    someone wrote:
    I like to get what I want, at the price I want it, on my own terms, as I'm some kinda of control freak.


    Does that not answer your question Chris?

    Sorry, was the prostitution question being directed at me..?

    I looked up Paris escorts before I went, but they're way overpriced, so I didn't bother. And I looked up all the info I could about the Pigalle area, and heard nothing but bad things, so again, decided to leave it.

    Overall, in a city with so much culture and heritage and things to see, it would be a waste of your precious time in Paris to be a sex tourist.

  23. avatar loveisthelaw

    Paris is famous for circus schools and Zappa tribute bands

  24. avatar tinpot anto

    Mais oui, Christophe, he eez a connoiseur of ze clunge

  25. avatar Chi-Lite

    I'm away at the beginning of September. Easyjet are doing dirt cheap flights, I paid seventy quid return for two. And then if you look about you can find a reasonably cheap hotel, like I did.

    I wouldn't book a package, do it yourself.

  26. avatar comprachio

    I stayed in the Hotel Paris France which despite only being two star was an excellent hotel. One of the cleanest rooms i'd ever stayed in and a decent location. 98euro a night. If I was going back anytime soon i'd defo stay there again

  27. avatar abandcalledboy

    I love Paris, We did however go and get literally kicked out (back into the metro station) of place de clignancourt for annoying street hustlers though.

    Flea markets are great.

  28. avatar rentaghost

    We're going at the end of September. Check out Expedia for hotels. it helps if you know vaguely where you want to stay. We chose the Latin Quarter. Easyjet are doing dirt cheap flights as Chi-lite says.

    I am NOT looking forward to keeping Smitty in the beer levels to which he is accustomed though. Fingers crossed the exchange rate will have improved a bit by then.

  29. avatar fatterkin

    Hey rentaghost, after you tire of spending €6 for a glass of wine at a street cafe, take the metro to 'le baron rouge' which was the absolute highlight of our trip last year. Wine averages €3 a glass, even the amazing chabis we tried was 3.50 and al pacino circa devils advocate works behind the bar, he is a legend. We stayed about 4 hours drinking eating the cold plate or meats & cheeses. Without a doubt cant recommend this place enough.

    Not sure if it has its own website but not too hard to fine, in the bastille area.

    http://www.wineterroirs.com/2004/08/paris_wine_bars.html

  30. avatar shiniru

    2 warnings, 1) cars (they drive over you regardless)
    2) they walk like they drive