This was our second trip to Paris, but the first one was ages ago and it had been rainy and nasty then. Going in September we had lots of sun and it was a little crisper than I thought it would be.
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Hotel: We stayed in a superior room at the Hotel Relais Bosquet, which came highly recommended by Rick Steves and also gets great reviews on TripAdvisor. It’s a great hotel. You’re very close to a Metro stop (even though the line isn’t the most convenient), the Rue Cler market, and the Champs du Mars/Eiffel Tower. The room and bathroom were both pretty big and the staff were friendly. We got delayed by a day due to flight issues, and they didn’t even charge us for the first night we missed.
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Activities: My biggest piece of advice would be to get the Paris Museum Pass. Chances are very good it will save you money, you’ll probably see smaller museums or sights you might not bother with if you had to pay for them, and you’ll save time by bypassing lines. It can be used at the biggies in Paris (except the Eiffel Tower), a ton of smaller museums, and Versailles.
Louvre: Obviously amazing, but huge. Unless you really want to spend all day there, try to take a minute and figure out what exactly you want to see after you get in. It’s a mob scene around the Mona Lisa, but the Muslim art section was empty, so it’s not all crowded.
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Musee d’Orsay: I liked this one better than the Louvre, but I’m a big fan of the Impressionists. It’s small compared to the Louvre, but don’t let that trick you into thinking it’s small.
Arc d’Triomphe: Lots of stairs, but very cool views of the city. This is where we bought our Museum Passes, and there was no line.
Seine boat tour: We did an evening tour on the Seine with Bateaux-Mouches. It was nice because you just get your own audio guide, so it you just want to sit back and enjoy the view you can do so peacefully.
Catacombs: I think this is the one thing we did that wasn’t covered by the Museum Pass. My husband wanted to do it and he enjoyed it, but I could have done without it. The first two-thirds of it is just a tunnel, and then you get to the bones. And there are a lot of bones. The people who were there with us were sort of goofy, so that made it a bit fun. Keep in mind that you come out in a completely different place than where you enter.
Saint Chapelle: Something we probably wouldn’t have done if it wasn’t covered by the Museum Pass, but I’m glad we saw it. It’s a gorgeous place and very different from most churches you see. You have to go through security to get in since it’s on the grounds of the Palais de Justice, and I saw an American guy get a pocket knife taken away.
Versailles: I’m glad we did this, but I was kind of indifferent about it at the end of the day. When we went, there was still a lot of renovating going on, so a lot of the outside was covered with scaffolding. It’s also really crowded inside. The grounds are nice, but they’re huge, and I’m sure we could have found perfectly nice parks within Paris.
Food: We didn’t do any really nice dinners because the dollar was so darn weak against the Euro when we went, but our best meal was at Le Petit Pontoise (recommended by a Nestie). I had a hearty pig cheek stew and my husband had this amazing dish of mashed potatoes smothered with shredded duck confit, topped off by foie gras. If you’re a chocolate fiend, you have to get a hot chocolate from Chez Angelina, which is near the Louvre. Most of the time we just had ham and cheese sandwiches or croque monsieur for lunch from a bakery or stand with no complaints
LOIRE VALLEY
The Loire Valley is about a two-and-a-half hour drive south of Paris. It’s known primarily for beautiful, huge chateaus and wine tasting. However, I think you have to really, really be into wandering around gardens and staring at dusty tapestries to spend a good chunk of time there. We saw one chateau and that was about enough.
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Rental car: Unless you want to bike around the Loire, you need to rent a car. We rented from Hertz in Paris and had no problems with the company. However, we got our car from the office in the shopping area under the Louvre to “save time” by not having to go out to the airport. But then we had to deal with the insane traffic to get out of the city. We paid 17€ in tolls each way, and gas is very expensive, so keep those expenses in mind if you’re considering renting a car in France. If you don’t know French and you’re going to be driving, at least learn the compass directions so you can read signs.
Hotels: We stayed at the Chateau des Ormeaux for most of our time, which has unfortunately closed. Such a shame because it was a great B&B.
When we were planning we figured we’d save a little money and get a change of scenery by spending our last night in the Loire Valley in the town of Amboise. The place we moved to, the Hotel Blason, wasn’t a bad place. We got the quad room because it was all they had available, and it actually was a good size for two people and still pretty cheap (73€). The bathroom was really small, though, even for Europe. We found free parking across the street and were able to easily walk to everything in town. If you’re looking for a budget place in Amboise it’s a good choice.
Activities:
Chateau: We only made it to Chateau de Chenonceau, but it was a great one to see. I think it was 8.50€ each to enter. The rooms were very nicely set up and furnished, and the booklet they give you provides good information. There’s a restaurant and a cafeteria on the grounds, too.
Wine tasting: The Loire Valley has several wine-making regions. Vouvray, which is known for sparkling and white wines, was the closest for us, so we did two tastings there. The first was Marc Bredif. You take the main road north of the Loire River (D952) from Amboise through Vouvray, and it’s on the right (you’ll see signs). It’s just a small tasting room next to their caves. Our host was very nice and spoke excellent English. We bought a bottle to take back and enjoy at our hotel that afternoon.
We also visited the Cave des Producteurs de Vouvray. This is a much larger facility, but they had a good tour of their caves and explanation of the wines of Vouvray.
Food: We were closest to Amboise and ate most of our meals there. We had a nice traditional French meal at L’Epicerie, which is right below the castle on Place Michel Debré. We also had fantastic pizza at Via Roma right next door.
General tips
- We took a short adult ed class called “French for Travelers” because we didn’t know a lick of French. It helped a bit, but our French is still pretty poor.
The book we used is very good if you’re starting from scratch, though. - I see people get really worried about what sort of bag to carry in Europe. Yes, you have to be careful in big cities, and some of the threats come from people we’re not used to seeing, but it’s not that bad. This was my 7th trip to Europe, and I think before I left for every one I was certain I’d be pickpocketed because of all the dire warnings. Still hasn’t happened. On this trip I took an open-topped tote bag to carry around all day. I just kept my wallet and camera in the zippered inner pocket, and our passports were back in our room safe. I also always carry a smaller wallet and leave all my extra cards and junk I don’t need at home.
- If you want to do some picnicing, steal a blanket from the airplane on the trip over so you don’t have to waste space packing one.
- Find a grocery store to buy bottled water. Our six-pack of Evian was one of the few bargains we found in Paris: 2.40€.
- If breakfast is extra at your hotel, don’t bother with it unless it’s really cheap. Breakfast at our hotel in Paris was 13€ per person! There was a wonderful bakery right next door, and you can get coffee at a lot of little places.
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