advice about Paris please

39redrose

thanks for that RumanaB
Any one any advice on how to divide our almost 4 days in total there? How much can we pack in to this time? I'll have to leave the board just now, but will come back in tomorrow
Speak soon and thanks
x

qbazdz

Hotel Im staying in is 3 min walk from Louvre. Really nice and clean. Amazing location, and if you know a bit of French you can get a good deal as Im paying 600 euros, for 8 people in 2 rooms for two nights, what compared to last year trip is a massive saving, on the same hotel. That all includes breakfast. The hotel is called Prince Albert Louvre.

More to come tomorrow. Bed time, got to go to work tomorrow.

ash11

You are able to buy cheep tickets for eurodisney on ebay, that is what we have done, we arer going next week we brought them from someone in france which worked out a lot cheeper then the people selling in the Uk and we got the tickets withen three days.

:j :j :j :j

tbs624

For the cost of your Disney tickets (49E/41E) you could have a boat trip on the Seine and a tour of “Secret Paris” by electric bike (45E) : http://www.parischarmssecrets.com/

Your youngest will get in free to most museums, your eldest can get in Free on Friday evenings ( I think free admission for u-26’s is on Fridays) or you get a pass in advance which makes it cheaper to visit many of the usual attractions. Always check costs for your eldest because a reduction tier sometimes applies up to 20yrs (+student discount if applicable) Free on 1st Sunday of month.

Freebie/cheap ideas: Buy baguettes , cheese & fruit and picnic in one of the parks - Jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin des Tuileries, Parc Monceau. The one that Parisians head off to is Park de la Villette - 10 themed gardens - the Garden of Mirrors, Dragon Garden, Bamboo Garden, Garden of Acrobatics, and the Science & industry Museum is here too (charges) with its Geode cinema (imax). The Canal de l'Ourcq runs through the Park, and there’s an elevated walkway along ths canalside, plus fountains, waterfalls, ponds etc, and another that crosses from the porte de Pantin to the porte de la Villette.

Paris Plage - stroll along the river banks to the temporary summer beach area along the River Seine. Rock climbing wall/ trampoline etc (charges)

Promenade Plante from Avenue Daumesnil to the Bois de Vincennes, old overhead railway route, now pedestrianised so car free and has several entrances and exits, along the way.

Why pay to go up the Eiffel Tower? Go to dept store Galleries Lafayette, escalator to top floor, stairs from restaurant to roof terrace with same height views of Paris as 1st stage of the Tower. No queues, and its free ( don’t stop for coffee though - v expensive here, just see the view and go elsewhere to eat/drink)

Free admission to Petit Palais on Ave Winston Churchill - sort of mini Musee d’Orsay ( altho’ charge for any special exhibition)

Stroll through the Marais and it's free to hang out on Place Beaubourg, next to the Pompidou Centre - watch the street entertainers, and the move onto look at the weird & wonderful modern art fountain sculptures on Place Igor Stravinsky.

If you want to eat out cheaply try the restaurants/cafes in dept stores or the one in the Louvre (you don’t have to pay museum entrance to use it but may have to hand bags in to security) - buffet style salads, hot meals and cakes/patisseries at a reasonable price ( why can’t our museums match this?)

Unless your kids are jaded Londoners who use the tube all the time, most of them enjoy planning a trip anywhere via the metro
Hire a bike ( Velibre)- couple of Euros for an hour. Different pick up stations across the city - subscription payment at start via credit card.

Obviously free to visit places like l’Arc de Triomphe (unless you want to climb to the top) If you are an eco-warrior who loathes cars, you won’t be enamoured of the crazy drivers who circle it but they can be an entertainment in itself! Place du Tertre and Sacre Coeur, Montmartre - touristy but street artists, buskers and mime artists etc

Late night stroll around Paris when everything is lit up. For around 30E for all of you, you can travel in Europe’s fastest lift to the top of the Montparnasse Tower (56 floors) It’s open until 11.30pm and the views at night with the city lit up are amazing.

Have a look at the Paris Visite card for cheaper travel on metro, RER, bus & tram

hollydays

Is thee still a fairground/and or a cable car at the foot of the sacre coeur inmonmartre-might be worth a look?Think they call the cable car the funicular.

There is also a very nice fountain that is illuminated in different colours,at night,and to music i think,well worth a look-free i think-trying to remember where it is (off the champs elysees maybe,a royal palace perhaps?)

There ia a hotel brand called formule une (accor chain),its rooms contain a double bunk with a single bed over.44 euros a night,per room.I have stayed there-its great value.Think i stayed at Porte de chatillon,it's near to the porte d'orleans metro ,line 4.

39redrose

wow thank you tbs264, ash11 and hollydays
I think I'll print all this out to reread and plan our trip, I must admit, the potential cost of Disneyland scares me, and perhaps my 10 year old will be excited enough with Paris itself. Any tips or info about Palace of Versailles folks?
thanks
39redrose

tbs624

39redrose wrote: »

. Any tips or info about Palace of Versailles folks?

well worth a visit and do-able by train, about 40-50 mins - see here http://wikitravel.org/en/Versailles for info on combined travel/entrance.

hollydays

I usually use the dorling kindersley "eyewitness guides" guide books (get one from your library,or second hand on Amazon.From my copy,(2004)there is a section called childrens paris.It says many museums are free on sunday and others allow children under 18 in free at any time (ask at the Office du tourisme) or check the weekly entertainment guides such as Pariscope,(PUBLISHED ON A WEDNESDAY,THE EASIEST TO USE)l'officiale des spectacles,Paris Momes or zurban. top kids museum is the cite des sciences et de l'industrie.it has sections for kids called la cite des enfants and techno cite.In central paris,the palais de la decouverte,within the Grand Palais is a lively science museum where staff adopt the role of mad inventors.

For childrens parks see the jardin d'acclimitisation in the Bois de boulogne,includes a childrens theatre and a circus,a pony club,a mini railway and boats.

The bois de vincennes has simple amusements for children in the inexpensive parc floral.it also has paris' largest zoo (check opening times-there is also a fair but i think that closes in may)

Perhaps most appealing is the small menagerie in the jardin des plantes.

A more unusual outing is a day at the circus the cirque de paris offers a days entertainment where they can meet the animals,put on clown make-up or practise tightrope walking.shows are held in the afternoon,following lunch with the atistes.

Most of the main parks hold giugnol shows (a french tradition like punch and judy) in summer wednesday afternoons and at weekends.One or two shows are free (consult publications mentioned above).

There is a roller skating rink in the parc moncrau,and the parc des buttes-chaumont.

Old fashioned fairground carousels near sacre coeur(you can use your metro ticket to ride the funiculaire cable car too) and forum les halles.

entertainment-The office du tourisme et des congre de paris (gare de lyon and eiffel tower) have leaflets and a telephone service giving details of free concerts and exhibitions,its website is useful.

two english publications paris free voice and the quaurterly the city are available at newsstands and wh smith (248 rue de rivoli)


One thing i just remembered,european hotels don't often have tea and coffee making facilities-and Lidl are going to have a travel kettle from 12th june for £7.99-i have been meaning to buy one for ages
there is bit there to be going on with-enjoy Paris!

RumanaB

My favorite place in Paris was this fountain in La Defense near the Grande Arche.
There's a picture on http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbriard/2490770408/. Although the photo still doesn't do justice to just how beautiful this fountain is.
When you're feeling really hot and you just want to relax this is the place to go...everyone was just sitting around the edges of this fountain with their feet dipped in the water. That's one of the things I love about Paris..you can't walk for 10 minutes without coming across a fountain & each fountain seems to have people sitting around it with their feet dipped in the water!

Warrington-Mike

39redrose wrote: »

I have booked a 2 star hotel in the 9th arrondissement so looks quite central.
39redrose
x

I lived in Paris about 10 years ago, only for 6 months, and the 9th is a good area, close to many Metro stations easy to get round the city from there - just a word of 'caution' it is also the red-light area, and despite me being in a tour reps uniform, holding a clip board and being followed by 20 tourists, some women still propositioned me! (and, according to my wife, I am not that good looking!) :eek: