Apartment 2nd

Also found this apartment

http://www.vrbo.com/110497

anybody ever stay there or what is area like

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I haven%26#39;t stayed in that apartment, but my husband and I rented an apartment from CentreParis this past May that was in that area, on rue d%26#39;Aboukir. We LOVED the area. Rue Montorgueil is an amazing pedestrian street with wonderful bakeries, cafes, fruit markets, cheese shops, etc.

We felt like we were really living amongst the locals, as the area is not heavily touristed, but you can walk to soooo many sites. From our apartment, we walked easily to the Seine, the Marais, the Louvre, the Opera, the Madeleine, St. Chapelle and the Latin Quarter. I wouldn%26#39;t hesitate to stay in the 2nd again.

Car rental

Hello, i need some advice about car rental. I will be based in Antibes and i will need a car for some days. Is it so expensive as they say? where can i rent in good price?

Thank you in advance.

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This is a generic answer, however almost invariably the best rates are to be found by pre-booking and shopping around because prices change all the time.

Often the brokers have the best prices.

Suggest you try some websites such as:

www.auto-europe.com

www.kelkoo.co.uk

www.priceline.co.uk

www.carrentals.co.uk

www.carhiresearch.co.uk

www.kayak.com

Multi currency prices are available.

If you are considering renting in high season I would seriously review whether you really need a car at all. Roads are very congested near the coast, parking is a real problem and car damage is prevalent.

Public transport will usually take you where you want to go much more cheaply and efficiently. An odd taxi may work out less expensive than several days of car hire.

Hope this helps

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Thank you very muh for the help. We will stay 10 days but we are not plkanning to drive more than one or two. I like trains anyway!

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%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;we are not planning to drive more than one or two%26gt;%26gt;

You might find that car rentals of at least 3 days cost no more than a 1 or 2 day rental. There are steep, one time costs which also make short rental impractical: Road taxes, train station or airport pick up surcharges, environmental fees for cars with automatic transmissions, and young driver surcharges.

Hotels in Louvre/Rue de Rivoli area?

Hi everyone,

My parents are travelling to Paris in a few weeks and I%26#39;m trying to hunt down a nice hotel for them to stay in that%26#39;s not too overpriced. I%26#39;ve been to Paris myself a number of times but I%26#39;m trying to find a comfortable hotel around the Rue de Rivoli/Louvre area as that%26#39;s pretty central. Does anybody have any recommendations - maybe with a couple of nice restaurants around, and perhaps even a hotel that does breakfast as well?

I%26#39;d really appreciate any advice you may have, thanks so much!

K xx

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You can try Hotel Brighton and Hotel de la Place du Louvre, both of which are members of the Esprit de France hotel group.

http://www.espritdefrance.com/en/home/

I personally find the 4th-6th districts to be more %26#39;central%26#39; than the 1st for sights and definitely for dining choices.

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Thanks so much for your advice - do you have any particular hotel preferences for the 4th-6th districts?

Again, thank you for your help!

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We had a great stay at the Hotel Britannique. It is in the 1st and we loved the hotel as well as the location. Lots of stuff all right around, and very close to the Louvre as well as the isles, and a block from the Rue de Rivoli. They have a very nice breakfast as well.

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I liked staying at the Hotel Saint Louis located on the Ile St. Louis. It’s quite basic with the thin walls although it does have renovated bathrooms (tiny in standard rooms but well-equipped anyway); btw, there hasn’t been one hotel I’ve booked in Paris that had soundproof walls. What I liked about the Saint Louis was that the staff couldn’t have been more helpful and welcoming and the location on the island makes it convenient to walk across the bridge to the 5th %26amp; 6th districts as well as to other locations such as the 1st and 7th.

http://www.saintlouisenlisle.com/

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Check out Le Meurice. I stayed there about 2 yrs. ago and really liked it. It was right on Rue de Rivoli and just down from the Louvre.

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Thank you so much for all of your suggestions, much appreciated!!

Food, Drink, Backpacks allowed in Museums, Versailles?

We generally carry some small snacks and water in our backpacks when travelling, and sometimes pack food for a picnic lunch or dinner. I am guessing that backpacks need to be checked in a coat/baggage room at museums, but is it OK to have food and drink in them. We traveled in Europe a lot 10-12 years ago and never had an issue with this. We were recently at the Art Institute in Chicago, however, and they were very strict about no food or drink (even small water bottle) allowed anywhere in the museum, even in a backpack in the coat/baggage room.

What are the rules for backpacks, food, and drink at the major museums in Paris and at Versailles. We will probably do a good part of a day at Versailles so it would be nice to be able to bring along some of our own food. Thanks.

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I just returened from Paris and Versailles. I did not carry any food with me to museums but I did sometimes carry a bottle of water and always had my bag checkd. My bottle of water did not get taken away except at Versailles. I did see them making people leave any food or water bottles they had when we sent through the security check into the Palace. Somewhere they do have a room that you can leave unauthorized items in - such as food. If you have a small backpack I saw many people with backpacks, but they do go through it and if there is food or drinks you will have to throw them out at Versailles. I%26#39;m pretty sure at almost every museum we went to there where sings that said no food and no flash photography. I think if you look on line at the location%26#39;s map you can see if they have baggage areas.

Rue Vavin? 6th arr, any advice on location would be helpful

Anyone familiar with this street/area? I would appreciate any insight as I am unfamiliar-

Thanks for any insight you can provide!

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Hi. We stayed in an apartment on rue Vavin through Vacationinparis.com last fall. It is a busy area, but in a nice way. Rue Vavin is a narrow, one-way street directly off Luxembourg Garden. It is near rue Montparnasse and the wonderful Le Dome seafood restaurant. It was about 5-7 minutes to a Metro stop (Vavin)

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Oh, I almost forgot the best part...there is a Hevin chocolate shop on rue Vavin.

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Thank you for the information. Was it convenient to travel ito/out of CDG? Did you taxi, shuttle or Metro?

Thanks in advance for your update!

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Rue Vavin is a great street on the left bank between Luxbg garden and Blvd Montparnasse. Very active during the day with many stores (a lot of kids clothes stores), cafes, gelato vendor etc. It is quieter at night. Metro Vavin and Metro Notre Dame des Champs are convenient. Many buses there. From airport there is RER B to St Michel and Air France bus to gare Montparnasse (both with a bit of walking at the end, easy without too much luggage) but I always prefer a taxi after a long flight if I have serious luggage.

There is a restaurant called Le Parc aux Cerfs at the top of the street that I like and also a pizzeria a few doors down.

Rue Vavin is one of my favorite streets in Paris, great walking location.

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Thanks for the additional information. I feel much better as the rental company has not been as communicative as others I have read about on these forums.

In your opinion, I am traveling alone and will have one bag and one carry on. Is it best to take a shuttle or taxi to this area? Or, take a shuttle and then taxi direct to the apt...

Thanks again for your advice!

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Armed with a good map (even from Google or Mappy.com) you could walk in about 10 minutes from the Air France coach dropoff in front of le Meridien hotel by Gare Montparnasse. A couple of turns, passing lots of cafe tables, cinemas, etc.

Or RER to Port Royal and walk a straight shot up blvd Montparnasse for about 10 minutes...

or RER to Gare du Nord, then switch to Metro line 4 to Vavin stop.

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Thanks for the advise- I will defintely do a mappy.com and share with others my trip experience-

I appreciate the advice I have obtained on this forum and pleae know that all input has been most helpful!

If anyone has booked through parisianflat.com please advise as to your experience....

Hope each and every one of us enjoy Paris!

Christine

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Hi again Christine,

I just looked at the flat you are considering. It is very beautiful. I%26#39;m not sure if budget is a concern, but I%26#39;ll throw this out as an option. The one you are considering is $400 per night. When I stayed on rue Vavin, I rented a lovely two-bedroom apartment in a very secure building through vacationinparis.com. I%26#39;ve used them four times with a fifth time coming up this Dec. Very reputable company.

The apt was on the 5th floor with an elevator; backing on to a courtyard so it was very quiet. It was just wonderful. Not elegant, which yours is, but perfectly clean and charming in every way. The owner%26#39;s brother, who is the local contact, is American. He even stowed our luggage on the last day while we took a last stroll around Luxembourg Garden. That apartment rents for $250 per night. If you want to have a look, it%26#39;s vacationinparis.com then in the 2-3 bedroom options, it%26#39;s ID #123 called Luxembourg Garden Splendor.

Good luck, whichever you decide to do!

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hi christine, i am wondering if you ended up booking with parisianflat.com and if you were happy with your experience. i can%26#39;t find much to verify the integrity of the company or apartments. thanks. annette

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I would love to stay in this area, and hope to do so next year, or the year after. If you do, I have one word for you. No, its not plastics, it%26#39;s the Lucernaire. It%26#39;s a cultural center on the rue Notre Dame des Champs, right off the rue Vavin. All kinds of plays, shows, concerts and everything else. And the cheapest beer in Paris. Look for the website. This place was co-founded by Gerard Depardieu.

-- Steve

Ryan Air, Stansted Flight

My daughter arrives Marseille on thhe Ryanair Fight ex Stansted Aug 4th.

She is trying to get Chavillon, Provonce the same day and does not want to spend a night in Marseille but the flight does not arrive until 22 15 so public transport is finished by then.

Any thought on how to get to Chavillon the same night without paying 100+ euro for a taxi as this must happening every day with the Ryanair flight arriving at this time.

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Are you sure about the place name?

do you maybe mean Cavaillon?

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Sorry, yes Cavallion.

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Assuming she won%26#39;t be renting a car, she may need to stay overnight and travel on the following morning. There are a few hotels on the airport, including an etap hotel, with a free shuttle bus connection, about £40 a night.

www.accorhotels.com/gb/home/index.shtml

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No no renting of a car.

All she wants to do is get to Chavillon the same night.

There must be a way as the Ryanair flight arrives after public transport finishes.

Who was it said local knowledge is everything.

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The airport website has details of bus services: www.mrsairport.com/eng/acces/acces_bus.jsp The only ones which are still running when the Ryanair flight arrives are the shuttle services to Marseille and to Aix TGV / Aix-en-Provence. Unfortunately, when you check the train timetables - http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ - the last train from Marseille St Charles to Cavaillon leaves at 18.46.

I would guess most Ryanair passengers are either heading for Marseille or Aix by bus, hiring a car or being picked up - there have been a few queries here about onward transport to other smaller towns (like Cavaillon) and the only one which is just about possible is Avignon, using the sleeper service and arriving well after midnight. If you find anything else, please post back so that others can benefit!

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You can hire a private driver, but it will cost you in excess of the amount you said you didn%26#39;t want to pay.

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I had a look at airport shuttle companies for you but they are about 140 euros

Staying in a budget hotel and travelling the next day by train would be

the most practical option IMO

One Night in Fontainbleau

Hi myself and my boyfriend are spending a day and a night in Fontainbleau on Monday 27th July. Can you recommend somewhere nice to stay either a bed and breakfast or a hotel? We will have a car and will spend the day there. Can you suggest what would be the must dos while we are there. I know the castle is a must. Also a nice place to have dinner that night. Thanks a mill

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I do not have any personal recommendations but this website may offer a few suggestions in the area:

http://www.fontainebleau-tourisme.com/