Miranda

What are your favorite hotels & restaurants in Paris? If you can, indicate if your recommendation is very expensive, average, or "on the cheap." We'd like to do a bit of each.

Thanks, Flyertalkers!

FlyAAway

The Intercontinental Paris is very nice as is the Le Grande Hotel near the Opera House. They are walking distance from one another.

Many fine high dollar hotels near the Place de Concorde (may have butchered that).

A quirky little hotel with good prices is the SAS Radisson on the backside of Charles de Gaulle airport. Free shuttle to the airport train station and then you can get to town.

Good luck. Please let us know which property you choose.

naxos

The Grand Hotel, an Intercontinental, is very nice, but pricey. On the I'll St Louis both Hotel Deux Iles, and Lutece are charming townhouses and lovely small hotels on the beautiful island in the Seine.( mid price range for Paris) As for good food, ,I love Table D'Anvers for lunch especially. Expensive, but less so for lunch and despite its seedy location, great food and good service. Also Arpege-- very expensive, but less at lunch.

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Red '74 TR6

Check out "Cheap Sleeps in Paris" and "Cheap Eats in Paris". She shows you many different places to stay and eat, mostly small, non-chain places. She has a number of delightful places in the 7th arr. near the Rue Cler which is "the" premium outdoor street market in Paris. We stayed at a place there that was a 1/2 block from the Metro which takes you anywhere in Paris. Now is a great time to go because the dollar vs. franc is very favorable now.

pug007

I love Paris. prefer the left bank it's more lively less business travelers and some really goood restaurants. Hotel d'Aubusson is great- big rooms great service boutique hotel also, Relais Saint-Germain also in the 6th arr. rated one of the best small hotels in all of Paris. HUUGE rooms get the dbl deluxe antiques and breafast incl.plus a lot of great tiny french, italian and mediteranian restaurants on little streets in the area such as Rue de Seine Rue Dauphine and the great Rue De Buci street market

(good samiches, yum!).

SST

Where to start??? I've spent 4 trips in Paris and parts of various others, and i've probably stayed ten places. The favorite we've had is the Hotel d'Angleterre in the Saint Germain-des-pres area. The medium sized rooms, about 1200FF, were wonderful.

the Hyatt Madeliene, a LOT more expensive, has small but wonderful rooms in a great location close to the Opera, Fauchon, etc.

Hilton's Paris location is right by the Eiffel Tower, and although the hotel is no great shakes, view rooms on the Eiffel side are pretty nice. It's a nice walk thru to the bulk of the 7th arrondisement et al., too, but it's slightly less convenient, we found, to the metro than other places.

Last trip, we stayed for a week on the Ile St-Louis, at the St-Louis. It's TINY rooms were unsuitable for anything but sleeping in, a la the Paris rooms of the early 1960's
(or earlier, I guess, if you were travelling before then), and we "slummed" it for 725FF a night for 5 nights. It was fine, in retrospect, because we were so close to all the clubs of the Marais that we never got back to sleep until the wee hours, and left to go out again first thing in the AM.
It made a totally cheap trip, with the US$ so highly valued, although when you figure you just paid $100 a night, many US sensibilities suddenly are offended. I guess many years of trips to Paris lead one to a different scale, and it is a relief to occasionally get home without credit card shock.

Eating: good god, you can't go wrong in Paris. Read up. One thought: we ALWAYS stop by Berthillon, the Parisian "glacier" located on the Ile St-Louis for sorbets. Do not, repeat again, do not miss it. EVERY guidebook has more info than we can provide you. Make your reservation by stopping by in the afternoon, or asking the concierge to do it for you, if your French is too poor for the telephone. This has the added advantage of allowing you to scope out the neighborhood, too, for after dinner merrymaking.

Paris: I never tire of it. Hope you'll feel the same way!

SPort

Miranda, do you have a preferred location for your hotel? Might help with recommendations.

Library Dragon

Has anyone eaten at the Cercle National des Armees? Is it worth the bother? We don't want to go out of our way to eat at a French Officer's Club just 'cause we can.

rfrost

I, too, prefer the Left Bank; definitely more life at night than many parts of the Right Bank. I usually try to have at least one meal at a serious restaurant. Of them all, I probably like Lucas Carton best. Yes, it's expensive, but if you go for lunch it's a deal. Reserve early.

MileJunkie

Paris Hilton could be a great bargain (we paid $130/night there a few years back, in early December). The location is fine, and the view of the Tower from your window...? Need I continue?
There are literally dozens of places to eat within 2 blocks of this hotel, probably all others. Can't go wrong in any one of them. Wish I remembered their names (I don't) - but the food was GREAT in each one!

Kitty Hawk

Ditto, MileJunkie...I paid $118 a night at the Hilton Paris in March of this year. I can recommend the bistro diagonally across the street to the right of the entrance. A very good meal, inexpensive(ish), and a charming (!) waiter, as well.

johna

A hotel (pretty reasonable) and a restaurant (not too expensive):

Hotel: Hotel du Palais Bourbon. About 1/3 of the way from Les Invalides and to the Museé d'Orsay if you know those locations, or just around the corner from the Museé Rodin. A block from the Metro. Roughly $60 single (rooms adequate, but not spacious) or $110 double (very spacious); rates include breakfast. e-mail [email protected]; they also have an internet site.

Restaurant: Le 6 Bosquet (which is also their address); near the Pont d'Alma. As in any Paris restaurant, eating a la carte can be costly, but using the prix fixe menu is downright reasonable (especially since tax and tip are included). A friend and I ate for ~$55@ a year ago (just ½-bottle of wine, but we splurged a bit on it); she said it may have been the best meal she's ever had.

Vulcan

I stay at the Eugenie in the 6th. Small rooms,but ideal location with a lot of people walking thru the streets, tourists and locals, all day and night.
If your budget will allow, go to La Tour D'Argent for lunch. For less than $200 a couple, you will get some of the best food and spectacular scenery overlooking Notre Dame. I'm cheap (ask my wife) but this is the best $200 meal you will ever have.

Djlawman

For cheaper meal and a great view of Notre Dame, eat at La Bucherie, on Rue de la Bucherie, right across the Seine from Notre Dame. Reserve ahead of time, and get a window table. Then, if you are there during the dark evening, the tour boats will come along the river every 20-30 minutes and illuminate the cathedral across the river. Great view, good food, and one of our favorites.

protomartyr

The Pub St. Germain (Metro St. Germain) used to be a favorite of mine. It's been awhile, but I remember it having a moderate priced, fairly diverse menu (in Paris I always dine "prix fixe"). The attraction here - for guys like me, anyway - was the variety (one hundred+)of beers.