After 16 years of marriage and never spending a night together without kids for the last 11 years Mrs OB and I have a sitter for a long weekend away.

She has long wanted to goto Paris and this seems like an ideal opportunity, but I don't know anything about the place.

So could the STW massive recommend me an area/hotel to stay in, and appart from the obvious tower, Louvre etc recommend some things to do. Is it worth paying the extra to stay right in the city centre or a couple of km out etc.

Try the moulin rouge – expensive but unforgettable. They do three shows a night, the first two with dinner, the late one you (just!) get a bottle of champagne each, which is the cheapest (I use the term loosely, as nothing in Paris is cheap!) option. Harry's new york bar is worth a visit, but again, its best not to check your bill too closely. Walking along the Champs Elysee at night is good (and free), just try avoiding the 'looky looky' men. Sunday morning in the area around Sacre Cour, sitting at any of the pavement cafes is a nice way to chill. I could go on – enjoy.

Take one of the bats along the river. cheap but a great way to see an alternative view of the city.

don't wash a day before, then when you get there have sex for at least five hours, don't wash some more, go out for coffee and sit outside (even if its raining), scowl at EVERYONE, then get vomiting drunk on Ricard/Pernod/Absenthe and have a fight with a parking meter. you'll love it!

oh and watch out for the giant bats down by the river!

I'd buy the Lonely Planet guide and do some homework before I went. In my experience they are great for planning city breaks.

Paris is very compact and walkable. If you´re lost, you´re never far from a Metro station. Printemps and Galeries Lafayette are character-full department stores if you like shopping. A walk through Le Marais behind Rue de Rivoli will show you a nice quiet bit right in the centre, with old mansions and small winding streets. If it´s not raining the Jardins de Luxembourg are another nice stroll.

Laduree for the coffee and maccaroons
The Tuileries if it's sunny
Notre Dame is stunning

So far, for accomodation we have been recommended the Ibis hotels in the west of the city, but we have also considered a 4* hotel very near the Louvre. This is clearly the more expensive option, but was wondering if that would allow us to soak up the atmosphere more rather than monster days of walking with the hotel being just a place to crash.

Time Out's "Paris Walks" book is excellent. You get a real flavour of the city as a place to live rather than visit, if that makes sense (its written by people who have moved there and discovered it, rather than visited and researched it). It has a knack of taking you to all the key places whilst being away from the crowds, we were in the shadow of Notre Dam and had the street pretty much to ourselves at one point.

Monster days of walking and a place to crash are the only holidays I know (that don't involve a bike). But then we've been told we holiday harder than most people work.

Went to Paris back in August for my 30th. Completely fell in love with it. Fantastic city but definately good to get a guide book as so much stuff to do.

If you want to see the backstreets of Paris and truly experience Paris over a 3 hour tour then I would go on a Bike About Tour. The best money I've ever spent (30€) We were there for 10 days and seen all the sights but the best was the bike tour. It's run by an American and Kiwi who just love Paris. Paris is so flat and so biking around it is such fun. We had a group of 12 and a few of the older women hadn't been on a bike for 20+ years and they loved it. Obviously the weather may not be the best but such a great experience if you can do it.

http://www.bikeabouttours.com/index.htm

I lived in Paris for two years, this thread has reminded me that it's high time I paid a visit, 'tis a wonderful place…

In the city:

Monmartre and the area around the Basilique de Sacre Coer
Eifel Tower (do it just before dusk on a clear day for maximum effect)
Jardin du Luxembourg
Notre Dame
Watching the traffic chaos from the top of the Arc de Losing is fun
The Frog & Rosbif pub can be amusing

Out of the city:

To see Versailles is to understand why the revolution was necessary, easy day-trip
Claude Monet's place at Giverny is a bit of a trek north-west but drop dead gorgeous

The boats, Moulin Rouge, shops etc are tourist traps and best avoided, IMHO. And don't bother with the Louvre, while it's certainly amazing it's so overwhelming you won't be able to scratch the surface in a weekend.

Paris is my favourite city, so much to do and depends on how you want to spend your time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGjaWaZMQ1A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me89EgYwk0U

Some of my Paris vids along with loads of others on you tube

'Arc de Losing' – brilliant

We stayed at the Hotel des Grandes Ecoles in the latin quarter and enyoyed our stay. The rooms are situated around a small courtyard garden and it has a nice out of the way feel for somewhere so central. Notre Dame is only about a 10-15 minute walk away and its stained glass is a must see. Its well worth paying to go up onto the roof but arrive early or late to avoid the worst of the queues.

If you're not vegetarian and plan on having an evening meal out then you could do worse than try out the beef bourgignon at le petit saint benoit bistro in St germain de Pres. House red is not bad either.

monmatre
eifel tower
louvre

were our favs,
took the missus for her 30th, 3 years later im still living off the brownie points

Sunday morning walk along Canal St Martin (Amelie location), brunch at Chez Prune, continue into Le Marais, coffee at Place des Vosges.

Alternative dinner locations – Atelier Renault on Champs Elysees – sort of a car showroom with a restaurant; La Gare in Passy – in a converted railway station.

The Louvre is fantastic but just go to see one small part, or you'll be running all over the place. Musee d'Orsay is more manageable and has an amazing collection of more modern works.

Wander round the Passages near Opera.

Eat ice cream at Bertillon on Ile de la Cite.

Gosh … so much to do … a weekend is not long enough. Nor is a lifetime …

Paris? – never heard of it!

The louvre is free on the second Sunday (iirc) of every month

Flights now booked, just looking for hotels and itinery!

Chartier – 7 rue de faubourg montmatre was very good when I went. Authentic and likely to be sharing a table with Parisians rather than American tourists…

I can echo most of the above recomendations and add Pere Lachaise (sp?) cemetery.We had a great meal nearby and relaxing walk around the cemetery in the afternoon. A beautiful place.
Can't remember the name of the hotel where we stayed.It was cheap and cheerful,niot far from Grande Defense Station.
We did the weekend "on the cheap" (for Paris)and had a great time.

Just back last week from a break there. Never been before but found subway very safe and very easy to use, and stations not far apart. I'd save your money and stay somewhere cheapish a bit further out. We spent so little time in hotel wish we'd gone for that approach. Latin Quarter great at night for food drink and atmostphere.

As all of the above you'll love it, just don't take the shrugging and apparent rudeness personally and have a giggle at it.

We found that the red douvle decker bus tours although a completely touristy thing to do were great for getting about and seeing stuff in a short space of time.

Also, and this may seem obvious but, it will be cold, very cold. Wife and I went in November last year and it felt much colder than we expected, although I notice the temp doesnt seem too bad just now.

My favourite place though, have fun.

+1 for the Frog & Rosbif (just for 1 drink) – great fun to be had ordering food and drinks and passing the time of day in French and then it turns out the person taking the order is from Leeds. 🙂

The Jewish Quarter is good for a wander, as is Pere Lachaise. We also fancied looking at the catacombs but have failed on 3 occasions to find them. 🙁
Also, if you just 'happen to be' around rue St Germain there are all the Au Vieux Campeur shops – all sorts of outdoor goodies in about 10 different themed shops.
There's a really nice Italian restaurant on rue des grand armees but I can't remember the name of it. It is next to a bar that is known as the medics, but that doesn't really help either does it? Sorry… (Someone else who knows Paris might know the real name of the bar…)

We have stayed in the centre of Paris in various 2* hotels – they're all perfectly fine – and also stayed on the outskirts. The public transport is great and can be part of the experience, so if you fancy saving a few quid to spend on other, nicer stuff then this can be a good way to do it.

When we are not sure what to do in Paris, me and J usually take a metro the the end of the line and walk back to the centre via anything that looks intriguing en route.

Great suggestions everyone. Plan so far: Start Day 1 with a bus tour and then do all of the tourist things starting at the east side of the city and walking west finishing at the Eifel tower, then try to find the alternative stuff on days 2 & 3.

Still not sure where to stay, but SWMBO is favouring the cheaper Ibis option.