Paris Travel Guide and City Guide For Your Trip

Paris

Paris, the City of Light, is filled with thousands of hotels, attractions, shops and restaurants. Get help focusing on where to stay, where to eat, where to go and more basics before you go to Paris.

Getting There

Paris is one of the most popular destinations in the world, which makes it quite easy to access. It is a major hub for many airlines, and a great starting point or stopover during a European vacation. Since it is so popular, there are also many great bargains on airfare, lodging or vacation packages.

Getting Around

Paris is divided into arrondissements, or neighborhoods. These arrondissements run in a circular spiral starting at the center of the city and winding outwards. The city is also divided by the Seine River, and the two sides are the Left Bank and Right Bank.
Public transportation in Paris is extensive, including the popular Metro trains, France's train system running to points outside the city, a bus system, and more.

Where to Stay

There are hundreds of hotels in Paris, which can make it a pretty daunting task to isolate the right one for you. The best thing to do is to determine which attractions you want to see most and which arrondissements there are within (the map link above will help). Once you do that, search for lodging within that arrondissement or close by. Many of the most popular attractions are within the first five arrondissements.
Once you've done that, you need to decide how much to spend and whether your room should be luxurious or basic. The French government regulates the star ratings, which is quite helpful. You will pay the least (and usually get the least) with one and two star hotels. Three star hotels are usually reasonably-priced and comfortable enough for most travelers. Or you can live it up in four-star accomodations.

Where to Eat and Drink

One of the most divine indulgences on a visit to Paris is definitely the food. Some of the best gourmet restaurants in the world are located here. Even cheap cafe eats or street crepe vendor food is wonderful.
It can help to do some research first about where you want to dine. For some of the most popular restaurants, you can even make reservations online. You can also ask your concierge for help booking reservations, or for suggestions on where to eat. Note that in Paris, dinnertime is commonly later than in the U.S., and is around 7 or 8 p.m. Unlike smaller French cities where it can be tough to find an open restaurant between lunchtime and dinnertime, however, there is always somewhere in Paris to grab a bite.
Paris is also packed with several hip nightclubs, jazz clubs and fun cafes.

Paris Attractions

The city of light has many of the world's most visited attractions, such as the Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Arc de Triomphe. It's impossible to see them all, but do your homework first and prioritize. With a numbered list, you can start with the most important. Then, anything you miss will be less important.

Staying Connected

Even during a vacation in Paris, you might need to stay in touch with work, friends or family while visiting. No need for concern, though. There are several cyber cafes in the city, wi-fi (wireless internet connection) is increasingly surfacing, cell phones can be rented and calls to home are relatively inexpensive from public pay phones (with the use of phone cards, or telecartes available at any convenience store.