Who can tell me about Paris?

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

I plan to go to Paris with dp for a long weekend over the bh weekend.

So I have the following questions:

What parts are the best places to stay in? ie places that have cafe's and good restaurants. Also there needs to be a Metro stop in the area so we can move easily around the city.

What shall we do while we are there? What are peoples opinions on the tourist attractions? Montmarte, Eiffel Tower, Louvre etc etc

Anu opinions good or bad are welcome.

Thanks xx

Hi, we went to Paris a month ago for the first time. We stayed near the end of line 9 at Port de St Cloud. We went with a coach firm ad it was really good as an introduction to the main thin gs to see. It also gave us time to explore other bits ourselves. Mumsnetters gave us some pointers.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/2411/506124?ts=1210952683946

Thanks Cadbury. What were your highlights? Did you find the food very meat orientated? I'm not a veggie, but most of the menu's look like meat, meat and more meat.

The metro and bus are everywhere and very easy to navigate.

Stay in Saint-Germain-des-Prés (6th arrondissement) - it's the best for cafés.

If youlike Mussels then there's always that with chips, served most places as well as steak and chips. They have lovely salads, we eat a lot when we go to france just beacuse all the food just seems to taste so much nicer than here. Momatre is great as you get a lovely view, the Eiffel tower is worth visiting but you just need to stand underneath it and look up to get the whole idea of it, the view from momatre is free and the eiffel tower always seems to have long queues and is expensive. The galleries are worth a visiit especially the Quai D'orsay if you like imressionists like i do and the Louvre is worth a visit too just because it really is full of all the things you've always heard about. Just wandering around paris is fun too, its a lovely city and the Champs Elysee is what you'd expect. It all depends on how much money you want to spend. Coffee is expensive in all the cafes but if you find restaurants off the beaten track they are much cheaper and the food just as good.
We're going for the first time in 5 years at the end of july andI can't wait. Have a great time.

I love the Marais / St Paul (lots of little squares like Place St Catherine) - good hotels and cafes. Most french menus have a heavy meat bias. I'm veggie and lived in France for a few years, you can always eat from the starters menu to reduce meat in-take.

My Paris highlights are;

Musee D'Orsay (been about 10 times!)
Notre Dame area (walk along Rue de Rivoli and then cross the river)
Monmartre /Sacre Coeur
St-Germain-des-Pres and Marais for glass of wine and watch the world go by (depending on age and behaviour of DCs)
Walk from Eiffel Tower up through fountains to Pigalle.
Jardins de Luxembourg - look longing at the beautiful apartments overlooking the gardens

Loads more but that's all for now.

Oh yes clarinsgirl, i forgot the Jardins de Luxembourg - lovely, even in the rain it always seems to rain when I go to paris so don't go at the end of July its bound to rain!!!

My highlights were a restaurant called Chartier www.restaurant-chartier.com that I loved so much we went back fora second night! It is rather meat orientated. In fact, one evening, we were ordering our meals and ordered some haricot vert as well and the waiter said, "But the meal comes with chips you know" as if chips were the vegetable component. Nevertheless, it was lovely and the food was simple but delicious and rather inexpensive.
Another hightlight was Sacre Coeur in Monmartre - I found it really very moving.
We enjoyed walking a lot and sitting in cafes and drinking coffee.

You must go to the moroccan tea rooms at the beautiful Grande Mosquée de Paris (39, rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Paris, in the 5th arrondissement) and have mint tea and fabulous little pastries.

Also, Parc des Buttes Chaumont in the 19th arrondissement, has a waterfall and great views of Paris.

Stay in St Germain de Pres area, easy to get to from airport on the metro system, very central you can walk to practically everywhere, near the river if you want to get the river bus. Lots of little bars and cafes etc

Great hotel called Le Regent, 61 rue Dauphine. www.hotelleregent.com. Very good.

Definitely eat out at Chartier, very authentic old fashioned wood panelled, large french restaurant.

I love to go to Sacre Couer and look at the amazing view over Paris, if you go to the left hand side of it, you can climb all the little steps to the top, which is great.

Eiffel tower has HUGE queues, so go first thing or later on.

The Louvre is where Mona Lisa is, she is very tiny!

The boat trips are good, as there are so many amazing buildings to see along the banks of the Seine.

Buy Paris TIME OUT - can pick it up in the UK. Will have excellent suggestions for accom, what's going on, and great restaurants - usually down little side-streets - which are cheaper and much better than those more obvious.

Thank you ladies, who needs a Rough Guide when we've got MN?!