You can totally buy tickets at the Louvre. But unless you’re a die hard art fan, the Louvre is hardly the most authentic Parisian location.

Check out the Ile Saint Louis and Ile de la Cite, the two islands in the middle of the Seine that are home to Notre Dame and famed ice cream Berthillon.

For fun bars try Oberkampf or Rue de Lappe in Bastille.

The Louvre is just OK - really big with a lot of old stuff in it – a bunch of famous paintings sure – but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as D’Orsay. I highly recommend you do that if you want to go see some art.

I also recommend the Rodin museum – small but enjoyable.

Spend an evening strolling and dining rue Mouffetard – cool vibe – lots of great places to eat.

If the weather is good I like a picnic in Jardin Luxembourg.

A good triple is to visit the Paris Mosque for lunch, cross the street and visit Jardin des Plantes (botanical garden, and the gallerie of evolution – a natural history museum) – they are all in about the same place.

I tend to avoid the champs elysee because the crowds are just too much.

Have fun – I used to live there and miss it.

The Musee D’Orsay and the Louvre are both well worth a visit, if you like art! You can get tickets at the door. The Louvre has quite a lot of variety – and you can avoid the crowds once you’ve seen the famous bits.

The Quai Branly museum is a new museum of primitive art – very good if you like that sort of thing (masks, totem poles etc). It’s near the Eiffel Tower.

For food, you can’t go wrong in Paris! Angelina’s (226 rue de Rivoli) does the best hot chocolate in the world. Fauchon (Place de Madeliene) is a very fancy deli plus restaurant. Galleries Lafayette (40, Boulevard Haussmann) has a big food hall. At Laduree (several in Paris, including one on Rue Royale) you can pick up a picnic lunch of tiny sandwiches and cakes and go and eat it in a nearby park.

Have a great trip!

There’s obviously sooo much to do. Might let us know what you’re into, to narrow it down some…
I loved the Musee D’Orsay. If you like the modern art, do Centre Georges Pompidou as well. See famous people’s graves (sadly, the only one I can recall is Jim Morrison) in the beautiful pere lachaise cemetary. Endless boutique shopping in St Germaine… Monet’s water lilies get a gallery of their own (across the street from the Louvre, I think)...

First if you are trying to get the best out of a frenchman, using a few simple words in their own language works wonders. A simple ‘bonjour’ can really make the difference if you need to stop and ask for directions.

A lot of people say avoid the area around the champs elysee, but as long as you can handle the crowd it’s well worth the visit. Watch out for the roads though.

I loved the Trocadéro personally. The view of the Palais de Chaillot and the Eiffel Tower is amazing. Oh, and the Jardin de Luxembourg is always worth a visit on a sunny afternoon.

It’s hard to decide for you what places are must see for you… It depends on your interests and budget! (Food, clubs/dancing, shopping, history, art…)

A very good overall Paris travel resource can be found at http://wikitravel.org/en/Paris. It covers a lot of material, but it’s still very accessible for quick browsing.

As for transport (see http://ratp.fr), Parc Disneyland is in Zone 5, about 40 minutes from Châtelet-Les-Halles (station at the city center of Paris). A one-way ticket costs 6.3euro, but you can buy a ten pack for 50.4euro. Careful—your last train leaves Chatelet at about 0h30.

I hope you have a great trip!

MONTMARTRE

If you’re traveling by Metro, the biggest thing to be careful are pick-pockets. Also be careful of this around any performances and on the Champs Elysees.

Musee D’Orsay, Centres Pompidou, Musee de Cluny, Louvre, Notre Dame, Tour Eiffel, and Sacre Couer are all standard places to go.

Also check out Arc de la Defense and travel to the top in a glass elevator, Place de la Concorde, Arc de Triomphe, and the Opera House.

Restaurants are plentiful and I just walked the streets, having a nice smoked salmon sandwich and mineral water for lunch one time.

It’s also best to travel with a friend. Makes it more fun!

If you happen to be finishing your day in Montmarte, or checking out the craziness of Pigalle, my favorite place to seek refuge for my tired body is a bar/restaurant in Pigalle (Across from the Pigalle Metro).
It has a post-colonial decor of palms and bamboos – Huge space!
Its cool and hip, but doesn’t discriminate with age. Im in my 30s and my aunt is in her 50s, yet we both love this place and return every year to just sink in the large wicker arm chairs, chat, eat great Asian appetizers while drinking bier blanche!

Sometimes we overstay, and leave at closing- then I recommend taking a taxi back to your home base, Pigalle gets a little “animated” at night.

Châo-bâ
22 Boulevard de Clichy
Metro: Pigalle (directly across)
Tel: +33 1 4606 7290

Montmartre’s beautiful, it’s probably my favourite part of the city !(If you’ve ever seen Amelie, most of the locations of the film were in in that part of Paris). The Eiffel Tower’s also pretty much a must-do – you’ve gotta go all the way to the third floor. I’ve only ever taken one boat cruise down the Seine, but it was great – really enjoyed that. The Catacombes and the Panthéon are the two other things that come straight to mind.

Jim Morrison might get all the headlines (Blind Io knows why), but Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf are also in Pere Lachaise. (The Curies and Victor Hugo are among those in the Panthéon).

Unless you’re an art fanatic, you could probably do without going into the Louvre…I went once, and it took me a hour or two to get un-frazzled. If you’re definitely going to visit, though, the entrance from the Carousel du Louvre will probably have shorter queues.

Here’s the link to buying tickets in English… http://www.louvre.fr/llv/pratique/billetterie.jsp?bmLocale=en

I think the Louvre is worth it if you’re into the art scene.

The food and people watching was my favorite part of Paris. Don’t be constantly on the go, take a moment and appreciate where you are! It’s Paris!

The single-most brilliant thing you can do if you plan to visit a number of different museums and monuments in Paris is invest in a Paris Museum Pass, which you can purchase at most of the museums and monuments in Paris. (There are some places – the Dali Museum and the Eiffel Tower, for example – that do not accept it, but otherwise, just about any place worth going in town does, including Versailles). You’ll save money and you’ll bypass lines everywhere you go. You can purchase a pass for 2, 4 or 6 consecutive days (I purchased one for 6 days and saw all kinds of things I wouldn’t have visited otherwise), and the more things you see, the more money you save.

http://www.parismuseumpass.com

The Louvre is gigantic. Go to say you’ve gone, but plan what you want to see. I had to see the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory and the Venus de Milo. I was in and out of the museum in an hour.

My first tip is to rent a bike! Paris has this really neat public bike system with parking slots everywhere. And—it’s inexpensive.

I agree with the person who warned about pickpockets at the station. They are creative about separating you from your wallet.

I think the Louvre is necessary. There will be lots of pieces you recognize and it is quite an experience to see them in person. The ticket lines move fast. I recommend going early in the morning. I’d also like to add the Musee de l’Orangerie (sp?) to the list of must see museums.

I suggest walking around the small Marais area. Grab lunch at a cafe and watch the young and hip. The best way to learn about the nighlife is to strike up a conversation (in French!) with a stranger.

I know it seems strange to recommend a cemetery as a “must see” location, but Paris has some beautiful ones. Last visit, I went to Cemetiere Pere La Chaise, but there is one that is more beautiful to the north called Cemetiere Montmartre. SO beautiful in the early morning with the heavy fog in the region. Look for Dalida’s grave with the heartbreaking suicide note… “please forgive me”. Something about mixing all those elements – the setting, the fog, the note – is eerily beautiful to me.

Another fun thing to do in Paris is to go on a gargoyle hunt. As you walk around, keep an eye above you.

For all the insider info on Paris you can handle – and then some, check out this site:
http://ipreferparis.typepad.com/i_prefer_paris/

Whatever you decide to do, it is impossible to have a bad time in Paris. A bientot!

Oh! And I forgot to recommend in my last entry…

The Paris Catacombs!

You definitely don’t want to miss that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_catacombs

Also, if you’re into art, antiques, and fashion, the area to stroll is called St. Germain de Pres. On rue de Buci (and come to think of it, down the street from the catacombs) there is a market where you can stock up on bread, cheese, wine, pate – the essentials. ;)