Foreign Perspectives

So long as you haven’t chosen a gite buried in the depths of rural France, chances are that you’ll have a great selection of nightlife to choose from. Naturally, the very best selection is in Paris and, of course, there’s the daytime attractions too.

You’ll naturally want to see the Eiffel Tower (take the stairs to the first level then the elevator to reduce your queuing time) although the views from the top don’t look much like Paris as obviously the Eiffel Tower itself isn’t in them! Museums are incredibly thick on the ground and the best are the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay and the Pompidou Centre. Whilst, in theory, you could do all three in one trip you’d be crazy to consider it as after a few hours even the finest Matisse just gives you an “oh hum” feeling. There are just too many magnificent works of art to see to do justice to even one of the museums in a single day.

In Paris, hotels are all over the place and with prices ranging from around the EUR 30 range way up to thousands depending on where you choose and how fancy the place is. Don’t neglect “serviced apartments” either as they are often in very well placed locations.

Since the Paris Metro system is fantastic you can easily choose hotels in the suburbs and be at the centre very quickly. They’re usually considerably cheaper than hotels right in the centre and often in much quieter areas. The only time when you can’t do this is on July 14th when a number of key Metro stations are closed.