Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

<csb> good recs in this thread though I'm no foodie.  flew Austin to Lyon 5 years ago on Aeroflot in business class through Moscow one-way for $2200.  annoying how hard it is to find decently priced one-way tickets from here to Europe in J but had no idea at the time it'd be my last time flying a Russian airline.  had a great time seeing friends living in Grenoble </csb>

the stairs at Montmartre suck but I love that there are random dudes selling beers unless I'm misremembering other huge sets of stairs in Paris.  F TABC

to add something of use to this thread Hotel Du Jeu De Paume in Paris was in a great location a very short walk from Notre Dame on the other little island on the Seine.  I'm also uncultured and had some beers at Galway Irish Pub

Posted (edited)

We are here now. Just went up the Tower at 9:30. No line whatsoever for the stairs. Short line for the elevator. Stairs are the way. An average person should be able to get to each level in 5-6 minutes without trying to go fast. 
 

We are in an apartment between the Tower and Invalids. Great location. Lots of markets nearby for baguettes, meat, and fruit for a quick meal at the apartment.   Several casual meals at neighborhood restaurants and brasseries. 

Notre Dame this afternoon. Then the train to the coast for the next 3 days. 

Edited by Your Mom
  • 1 year later...
Posted

Heading to Paris and then Nice next month with the family.  Any recs on beach clubs or restaurants in and around Nice?

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted
On 5/8/2025 at 12:27 PM, field said:

Heading to Paris and then Nice next month with the family.  Any recs on beach clubs or restaurants in and around Nice?

Love to hear about Nice when you return. I've got a trip there in August. Will spend a few days there and then I'm wide open on what to do. No limits, just have to be back in Nice 10 days later. Head east along the coastline into Italy towards Genoa? up to Switzerland? Anyone have suggestions? 

Posted

Full sending on an e-bike through the streets of Paris last week was a top 5 thrill I’ve had traveling. Highly recommend. They’ve done an amazing job getting cars out of the center of the city. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
19 hours ago, 4th and 5 said:

Love to hear about Nice when you return. I've got a trip there in August. Will spend a few days there and then I'm wide open on what to do. No limits, just have to be back in Nice 10 days later. Head east along the coastline into Italy towards Genoa? up to Switzerland? Anyone have suggestions? 

Go to Antibes if you feel like heading west, if not take a day trip to Monte Carlo to look at the the $$$.  Train to Genoa then up to Milan.  Wonderful sights in Milan...of the female type.  From Milan go to Lake Como and work your way back.

Posted
On 5/8/2025 at 12:27 PM, field said:

Heading to Paris and then Nice next month with the family.  Any recs on beach clubs or restaurants in and around Nice?

We loved Villefranche-sur-Mer, a short train ride or taxi from Nice. Great, laidback scene at the beach (pebbles, not white sand, but beautiful). We enjoyed the restaurants along the water, near Welcome Hotel. Fun to walk around the hillside town.

Lunch at Le Grill, at the top of Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo isn’t cheap, but food and views were great.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
On 6/4/2025 at 11:45 AM, Litig8r said:

Go to Antibes if you feel like heading west, if not take a day trip to Monte Carlo to look at the the $$$.  Train to Genoa then up to Milan.  Wonderful sights in Milan...of the female type.  From Milan go to Lake Como and work your way back.

yeah I'm doing Antibes and Eze for sure, Saint Tropez, then San Remo, Italy and thinking about taking the train to Cinque Terre for a few days

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 6/3/2025 at 2:32 PM, 4th and 5 said:

Love to hear about Nice when you return. I've got a trip there in August. Will spend a few days there and then I'm wide open on what to do. No limits, just have to be back in Nice 10 days later. Head east along the coastline into Italy towards Genoa? up to Switzerland? Anyone have suggestions? 

Just got back from Paris and Nice.  Ended up enjoying Nice a bit more than I expected.  Did a beach club day at Castel Plage which we enjoyed.  Highly recommend if you want to do a beach day in Nice.  Beaches in Nice are rock, which takes some getting used to.  Water is warm and nice.  There are sand beaches a train ride away, but we didn't feel like making the trip.  Bocca Mar is another nice beach club on the boardwalk in Nice.

Toured Eze, which is cool, and had lunch at La Chevre d'Or.  Expensive but kick ass views and food (Michelin stars and all).

Boat day to Cannes and the islands was probably our favorite.

Restaurants - we'd heard about La Cucina and decided to try it.  It only has like six tables all serviced by one waiter and doesn't take reservations.  We waited an hour for a table with a bottle of wine.  Best meal on the trip.  Totally worth it.  Also ate at Carmela twice.  Very good food and highly recommended.  Had seafood at Peixes and hated it.  Nice is so close to Italy that it felt like more restaurants were Italian than French.     

Posted
5 hours ago, field said:

Just got back from Paris and Nice.  Ended up enjoying Nice a bit more than I expected.  Did a beach club day at Castel Plage which we enjoyed.  Highly recommend if you want to do a beach day in Nice.  Beaches in Nice are rock, which takes some getting used to.  Water is warm and nice.  There are sand beaches a train ride away, but we didn't feel like making the trip.  Bocca Mar is another nice beach club on the boardwalk in Nice.

Toured Eze, which is cool, and had lunch at La Chevre d'Or.  Expensive but kick ass views and food (Michelin stars and all).

Boat day to Cannes and the islands was probably our favorite.

Restaurants - we'd heard about La Cucina and decided to try it.  It only has like six tables all serviced by one waiter and doesn't take reservations.  We waited an hour for a table with a bottle of wine.  Best meal on the trip.  Totally worth it.  Also ate at Carmela twice.  Very good food and highly recommended.  Had seafood at Peixes and hated it.  Nice is so close to Italy that it felt like more restaurants were Italian than French.     

I greatly appreciate this report sir. We are doing Nice 4 nights, Cinque Terre 4 nights, then Sanremo one night and Nice again the last night.

Posted

So we're thinking of an October France trip and I'm favoring 5 days in Paris and 3 days somewhere else in France that's smaller but close enough to get back in time to fly out.

My wife thinks 5 days in Paris is too much (bear in mind she's been twice without me, first time for me).  I can't imagine 5 days is nearly enough time in one of the worlds greatest cities.  

Anyone want to make recommendations on anything in particular?  @PenelopeWitherspoon?  We don't really have a budget but I'm not spending $3k a night on a hotel that we'll be using to sleep and shower and that's it.  

Posted

I'd venture to say five days in Paris is plenty and, if she's already been there a few times, I can totally see how your wife wouldn't want to do five days.  Paris is beautiful architecturally but it can be one hell of a big city tourist trap and once you've seen the Eifel Tower or Arc, you've seen it.  We just did three days and could have done four, but that would have been about all we needed.  To each his own, though.  We didn't do it on our last trip, but I'd love to do Normandy for a day if we ever went back.  We did do a bike tour of Versailles and actually really liked it.     

Posted
36 minutes ago, field said:

I'd venture to say five days in Paris is plenty and, if she's already been there a few times, I can totally see how your wife wouldn't want to do five days.  Paris is beautiful architecturally but it can be one hell of a big city tourist trap and once you've seen the Eifel Tower or Arc, you've seen it.  We just did three days and could have done four, but that would have been about all we needed.  To each his own, though.  We didn't do it on our last trip, but I'd love to do Normandy for a day if we ever went back.  We did do a bike tour of Versailles and actually really liked it.     

The last time we went to Paris, we made it a point to take a day trip somewhere.  Since most people were going to Versailles, we went to Chartres and loved it.  Very peaceful - beautiful city.

Posted
3 hours ago, LCHorn said:

So we're thinking of an October France trip and I'm favoring 5 days in Paris and 3 days somewhere else in France that's smaller but close enough to get back in time to fly out.

My wife thinks 5 days in Paris is too much (bear in mind she's been twice without me, first time for me).  I can't imagine 5 days is nearly enough time in one of the worlds greatest cities.  

Anyone want to make recommendations on anything in particular?  @PenelopeWitherspoon?  We don't really have a budget but I'm not spending $3k a night on a hotel that we'll be using to sleep and shower and that's it.  

I think 5 days in Paris, if you have been there before, is fine.  But if it is your first time, I think that is not enough time.  I would stay in Paris the whole time and take 2 or 3 day trips.  Then you have more time in Paris, but get to see other things as well.  Also, you lose time traveling.

With that being said, and something I did not know on my last trip, you HAVE to go to Notre Dame.  And it now requires a reservation unless you want to wait in a massive queue (I chose not to knowing I would be back in Paris soon).

If you are doing Notre Dame, you should hit up Sainte Chapelle as well.  There is a great restaurant right near Notre Dame (Les Deux Colombes) where I have whiled away a few hours with a bottle of wine. 

For hotels, my go to is Le Roch Hotel & Spa in the 1st, though I want to stay in Hotel Marquis Faubourg Saint-Honore (in the 8th but just...right where Rue Saint-Honore flips from the 1st to the 8th) and Voltire (also on Rue St. Roch near the first hotel).  

I have a lot of other recs, but I need to sit down with them.  

  • Like 1

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...