Paris Recommendations

[Karistiona]

I'm heading to Paris for four days in August (starting the 22nd) and I'm looking for some suggestions. I've been a couple of times but never really done much touristy stuff since my family are very much "live as the locals live" when we went on holidays. My friend has never been before so we're pretty much a blank canvas. She wants to go to the Musee D'Orsay, and I fancy the Pompidou Centre but other than that our itinerary is free.

[greysfang]

I know its cliche, but I absolutely adore the Louvre. And save a few bucks when you go to the Pompidou so you can have your caricature done by the artists out front in the plaza. I still have mine from like 1983.

I can't recommend any restaurants, I don't know if the ones I liked are still even there.

[effie2]

4 days..Paris is big,your friend,s first time i d say give the 22 or so Euro and get on the hop on _off bus.Once you have a good idea about the city you can use it as transport.My favorite part of Paris is Marais area,Il de la cite and the Montmarte.There are many little brasserries i like but i dont remember the names or the streets,there are mostly around the Halles area and Marais of course.
There is also Maison de Chocolat...

[Karistiona]

Thanks for the tips ladies, we were thinking about getting a Paris Pass, it gives entry to loads of the museums and whatnot, a metro pass, a hop-on/off bus and a wee cruise up the river so these would all be possible. It's just so hard to get a feel for the best things to do when there are so many amazing things to see! Effie I think I'm staying quite close to Maison de Chocolat so I'll definitely be visiting!

[BBDSP]

I haven't been in years, but Ile St. Louis is a beautiful part of Paris, a smaller island in the Seine with beautiful 17th century townhouses. It is like stepping into the past. Berthillon, a world famous ice cream, is there as well (I think it's closed in August).

[calcifer]

paris is a 'green' city. i don't know if you guys like parks and gardens but in case you do, check out:

les jardins d'albert kahn. there is a japanese, english, french, etc. garden.

le parc andré-citroën.

le quai de la mégisserie. where you can buy flowers. or watch other people buy flowers! there's also the famous vilmorin store for people who are into gardening.

le musée du quai branly. where you can also see one of the vertical gardens of patrick blanc.

la promenade plantée. it's an old viaduct (6-7 meters above street level) that runs from 'bastille' to 'bois de vincennes'. it's about 6.5 km long and has a width of 5-6 m. it's full of plants, trees, shrubbery, flowers, etc. pretty awesome when you are looking for new and interesting ways to explore paris.

le jardin du musée de rodin.

canal saint-martin.

le parc butte au chaumont. relaxed atmosphere.

...

one remark about brasseries though. it's becoming increasingly harder to find one where you pay 20-30 euros for a main course and get something decent to eat. most of the time you risk ending up with microwaved pre packaged food, directly imported from britain. it's still a relatively new trend across france (due to the higher profit margins etc.), but it's already a huge problem in paris.

[Karistiona]

Oooh those gardens sound wonderful, if the weather is nice it'd be fantastic to go to one of the parks, take something nice for lunch and a bottle of wine and sit and watch the world go by.

[sputnik]

i second everything calcifer said.

also, go to père-lachaise cemetery. and no, not for jim morrison's grave. the rest of the cemetery is absolutely gorgeous.

les jardins du luxembourg

also, the catacombs of paris are absolutely awesome.
Catacombs of Paris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

just skip the obvious tourist traps. the latin quarter is no longer the boho paradise it used to be. it's got pretty streets but pretty much everything in it is now a tourist trap. don't eat there.

musée de l'orangerie. full of impressionist and post-impressionist art. it's also small and manageable, not a huge museum that will eat up your entire day. and it's got a huge room full of monet's giant waterlilies paintings that will bring tears to your eyes.

for restaurants, i would say to just buy sandwiches and quiches and stuff from boulangeries during the day and save your money and splurge on something nicer in the evenings for dinner. and yes, it is getting harder to avoid the tourist traps in paris so it's best to research your dinner plans in advance. check out websites like tripadvisor and zagat and michelin and stuff like that for good places to eat.
http://www.zagat.com/paris
http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/f...staurants.html

the only touristy restaurant i would still recommend is la coupole (boulevard montparnasse). it's touristy but worth going to for fresh oysters and champagne and because the place itself is pretty awesome.