Paris in July - I need help...

Ok - so, my wife and I have decided to try to go to Paris the week of July 1st for about 3 nights. I have a few questions that hopefully you all can help me out with:

1. What part of the city do we need to stay in to have the most convenience to the major sites? Since we are only there for 3 nights, we want to have to spend most of the day on public transportation.

2. Does anyone have suggestions for inexpensive places to stay in Paris city center? I'm talking really inexpensive - like less than $150US per night.

3. What is the best way to get from CDG to the city?

4. Any other helpful hints? i.e. must see sights, favorite restaurants, places to stay away from?

I'd love to hear from folks that have done a short hop to Paris and see how it went. We've never been and we are really looking forward to it. I'd appreciate any help that you can give.

Thanks!!!

what are your airline options? zed or ID something? are you eligible for business class?
gateway SLC? do you have blackout dates for flying?

venere.com has good rates
the booking engine here is pretty decent with selections and $ in general
bestwestern hotels are very popular in paris--loads of them and they are discounted as available with codes
Accor hotels have very good discounts with airline ID--25, 50 or 75% off rack as available using scp144159 and code 32475

I don't know how good of a deal the Paris card is--never stayed long enough to use one for museums and transport.
the info desk at both ORY and CDG is incredibly helpful but the wait may be long--

trains from either airport are easy and relatively cheap to get into the city

First--get a good guidebook--I like Eyewitness because they lay out each district (arrondissement --sp???) by chapter and have self-guide color layouts of museums and major attractions. They have walking tours and basic how to at the back--like phones, trains, food, etc tip--that important kinda stuff

You can do bike rentals ( I have that somewhere in my files) for an hour or more--you can take bike tour (fat tire tours) with a group. they have hop-on-off buses that are $ but smashy to use for highlights one day. Good idea to start those midday (1-2pm and go around once--you can use it in the eve to go to someplace you saw on the loop, then catch anyhting else the next day since they are 24 hr tickets.

Hope that's a little to start your plans. There are plenty of folks here with more specific info and ideas

Thanks Mrs767er!

We have non-rev'd internationally quite a bit and know the backup pass drill http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...#>/biggrin.gif Our options are AF direct from SEA-CDG; DL from SLC-CDG; LH through Frankfurt; and SAS through Copenhagen. Right now the direct on AF looks pretty good from what I can tell, but a lot can happen between now and then.

Thanks for the insight on the guidebook and the information desk at the airport. We will definitely take a look at those. Also, thanks for the code on accor hotels. I've been trying to get into that discount section of their website and haven't been able to do it yet, so these codes should help.

Any more info you have would be great.

Thanks again.

Anyone else have helpful hints or tips????

I realized I didn't really answer your first question. We have a ZED agreement with DL and SLC is definitely a viable option. How is that flight currently running? What is generally the better option - SEA-SLC or PDX-SLC - are there usually flights available on those routes? I heard that Delta is usually pretty good about putting non-revs up front - is that true?

Thanks!!!

Good luck with your Paris trip, I'm thinking this might be of help. Paris Info

Hi there,

Has been long time since we have been to Paris but last time we went I booked some rooms at a Etap Hotel - Port de'Orleans was the one we stayed in and it was very basic but clean and included breakfast - we even had a view of the Eiffel Tower from one of the rooms. I just had a quick look at their website and the rooms are about 52euros. It was close to a metro station. We also bought a "musee carte" pass which worked out to be good value.

Hope this helps http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...#>/biggrin.gif

If you use the seach facility and enter Paris you should get a lot of results as much info about Paris has alrady been posted in previous topics.

The best "arrondissements" (districts) to stay are in order 4 (Bastille best location but I am biaised I was born there),3,5,6,9,2,1, the cheapest are 11,20. Hotels prices increased but they are still affordable. for less than $150/night you should be able to find a decent place.
CDG, the town, avoid cabs at any cost, it is outreageous.
You can take the RoissyBus it will bring you to Opera for less thant 10 euros, if you do not have too many luggage you can take the RER which goes non stop to the center of Paris.
They sell a museum pass which combine the use of the RER and free access to museum, if you put RATP (which is the public transportation web site) on google it will bring you the site where you can find some informations
I do not think the Champs elysees are interesting but it is because I am from Paris.
If you want to see some really local area go to the 20th around the Pere Lachaise.3 days is not a lot, I would go to Le Marais (3,4) and quartier Latin (5,6)
Other tip if you order a drink in a cafe the price is regulated at the counter, when seated at a table it is more, prices are always shown.
Have a good trip

Thanks to all of you that have responded. This is great information and I really look forward to my visit.

I would still like to hear from mrs767er about flight loads on the new DL SLC-CDG route if possible. Mrs767er - are you out there http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/smile.gif

Thanks again!

Mon Jun 30 SLC/CDG is fabulous for now--Tues is ok as is Wed but Thurs is not recommended
I would not second guess your return dates but consider the CVG connection as needed
Don't forget to ck the delta.com and see the seat options to get an idea of loads when you can't find it here--doesn't help with nrsa listing but you can at least see if the plane is chock full!

I'm hopping a flight a day early to Cape Town tomorrow for a few days via DKR so I may not get to ck--hopefully our Comair and other DL members can ck for you. Back end next wk and then going to Guatemala end of month.. whew...I'mgetting tired just thinking about all these trips--who's our fave member who describes themselves as "flyin' fool"?? that could be me...

Just got back from Paris 2 days ago! We rented an apartment in the 11th ar. Ran us 389 euros for the week. Most are rented by the week but you could look at vrbo.com or we got ours from craigslist Paris. Metro is great and easy to use. We got "carnets" (bunches) of 10 tickets for 11.10 euro (individually they are 1.50 euro) for travel. Works on bus, metro and trains in Paris.

We took Delta CDG-SLC back. Was very nice but long trip!

If I had just 3 days I'd focus on the Marais, Sacre Coeur and Monmartre (go to the Autour du Moulin cafe on Rue Lepin - great music and food) and the Eiffel Tower and Rue Cler area.

PM me if you want any details.

Have fun!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (alaskajan @ Jun 10 2008, 08:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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PM me if you want any details.[/b]

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Please don&#39;t hide the details from us in a Private Message. Others and future searchers may find them useful. http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/smile.gif

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (nonrev1 @ Jun 11 2008, 03:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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Please don&#39;t hide the details from us in a Private Message. Others and future searchers may find them useful. http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/smile.gif[/b]

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OK -- Here it is:

I don&#39;t mind at all talking about our trip.

Basically, we flew NWA over from Boise to MSP then on the CDG. It was cheaper than ZEDs to buy a ow NWA pass for the outbound since we [AS] have the deal with NW. It was about $80 per person. Had no problems getting over. Did not get upgraded either way (more later). The MSP agents said if we had had a F class pass (which you can buy for another $60 + taxes) they would have upgraded us. I had so much sunk into backups I just didn&#39;t want to buy one more set of tickets. Now I wish I had!

We were going to Fountainebleu for the first night so we bought a one way ticket to there at CDG. I would just buy the ticket into Paris for 8 euros to start. Had a little trouble finding the right ticket counter. When you get to the train ticket area, use the left hand "RER" windows not the SNCF - those are long haul. Returning to Paris from Fountainebleu the ticket counter was really busy so they just shooed us all on the train before I even bought a ticket and no conductor came around so we got back to Paris free! After we were in Paris we would use the carnets for transportation. You can buy these at just about any metro station. They almost all have ticket windows. Unless you are going to making 5-7 metro trips a day I don&#39;t think you save any money by getting the pass. We just focused on one area a day and so generally only took 2-3 metro trips a day.

My best piece of advice in navigating Paris ------ take a compass!!!! No kidding, I have really good sense of direction but we were constantly going 2-3 blocks the wrong direction before we figured out where we were all the time.

We came back with Delta because of the SLC connection. It was slick! When we listed the res agent actually listed us in business but when we got to the airport AirFrance does all the check in and they put us back to economy. I saw the Delta non-revs got upgraded but not us. My opinion - NW has better equipment with individual on-demand video at each seat but lousy food. Delta had better food but lousy entertainment. They showed us two kids movies and you had no choice!

Another piece of advice about Paris. You hear about the rudeness of Parisians. I&#39;ve always found that if I make even half an effort to speak to them in French, they will be very helpful and kind. So, be sure you know the basics of asking for help, meals, bathrooms, directions, etc. in French.

Let me know if there&#39;s anything else I can tell you. Have fun!!!