Hi,
I would like to add to my previous message, taking the Eurostar from Paris to London is a good idea to look for a hotel around that area (meaning in London) as I had to take back the Eurostar to Paris? I will check/ask the London forum.
Thank you again.
Anyone know of a dry cleaners in Paris? I recently moved to Paris and live in the 6th and haven%26#39;t been able to locate one by just walking around...
Thanks for your help!!
Look for the word %26quot;Pressing%26quot; on the storefront. I apologize in advance if that%26#39;s already old knowledge.
Alternatively, www.pagesjaunes.fr
Enter %26quot;teinturerie%26quot; or %26quot;teinturerie pressing%26quot; and %26quot;Paris 75006%26quot;
%26quot;Pressing%26quot; is indeed the word for a dry cleaner in France. Don%26#39;t ask me why, other than they don%26#39;t give you your stuff back wrinkled.
There was an article about a new eco-friendly dry-cleaner on the »Secrets of Paris« blog a few days ago. Maybe this proofs to be interesting for you? Wait a second ... here you go:
secretsofparis.com/heathers-secret-blog/eco-…
(If you got a little spare time, make sure to also have a look at the other blog entries and newsletters on this site ( http://www.secretsofparis.com ) as it is quite an interesting source for less known things to do in Paris.)
Where in the 6th? I may be able to point you in the right direction.
My FAVORITE dry cleaner in the city is on the rue de Varenne, ear the corner of the rue du Bac. He does all the costumes for the Opera de Paris and you can see them as you walk past. Its lovely.
you can also go to maps.google.com, choose street view and enter your address, then search nearby for %26quot;pressing%26quot; and %26quot;nettoyage à sec%26quot; ..
We always use the dry cleaner on 7 or 9 rue de l%26#39;Ancienne Comedie in the 6e. The folks who work there do a great job on any clothing we%26#39;ve brought to them. Beware, however, that all dry cleaning is expensive in Paris.
How much do they usually charge for let%26#39;s say a jacket or a pair of pants?
My daughter(age 19) and I are going to Paris for 6 nights in January. We have enough Marriott points to stay at either the Renaissance Place Vendome or Marriott Champs Elysee. I have always stayed in the Latin Quarter or St. Germain, but it is hard to pass up a free room! My instinct tells me that the Renaissance is in the better location of the two hotels, but the Marriott apparently has nicer, larger rooms. Any thoughts? Or should I just suck it up and stay in the Latin Quarter for the ambience I love? I have no sense of how far the walk from the Renaissance Hotel to the areas I love would take. Are all the restaurants around the Renaissance expensive? Thanks in advance for any help.
Hi -
I can%26#39;t believe that you%26#39;re been to Paris before and you don%26#39;t have a map. Get one. You can buy Paris par Arrondissement once you arrive, it will make a good souvenir, but for now, StreetWise Paris and/or the Knopf City Guide will help with planning.
Judging by the reviews here on the forum - you did look at the reviews, didn%26#39;t you? Anyway, judging by the reviews of these two Marriotts here on the forum, the Vendome provides the best service. That factor plus the Vendome probably has better access to the sorts of restaurants, cafes, etc., that you%26#39;d be looking for means I%26#39;d opt for it rather than the Champs Elysee. In my experience, one needs only one walk down the CE to satisfy that urge, and then it%26#39;s nice to go back to a hotel in a different location.
Vendome location is better and while the rooms are smaller they are still good size (start at 18sqm/194sqft). Your going to Paris to see the city not sit in your room!
You should go «for the ambience I love».
The Champs is a cold, commercial place that has no soul. Vendome is a center of the monied in Paris and is even more devoid of anything like a pulse of real Parisian life.
Either on or within a five minute walk of Place Vendôme the storefronts will bear (from memory) the following names: Bulgari, Armani, Boucheron, Van Cleef %26amp; Arpels, Dior, Mikimoto, Cartier, Patek-Philippe, Guerlain, Missoni, Gucci, Prada — And a dozen or so more whose names I don%26#39;t recall — and you want to take your 19 year old daughter to the soulless and uninteresting Champs-Élysées??? That verges on parental abuse!!! :-) Just don%26#39;t let her out of your sight with one of your credit cards...
Seriously, you%26#39;re about a 5-10 minute walk from the Louvre, maybe 15 minutes from the edge of St. Germain des P., and no more than a 25-30 minute walk to most of the 6th, the Latin Quarter and the islands. Although the cafés and restaurants — such few as there are — in the immediate vicinity will reflect their surroundings in price, e.g. Le Carré des Feuillants, there are moderately priced and even inexpensive places just a few minutes walk away. It%26#39;s a far better area from that pont of view than the C-E.
It%26#39;s time to break the Latin Quarter stranglehold... :-)
Thanks for your help. I was already leaning toward the Place Vendome (based on reviews). It%26#39;s hard to justify paying for a hotel, when we are able to stay for free. She will love the shopping in the area as well!! But, she also loves eating in the cheap little restaurants in the Latin Quarter (college student%26#39;s taste), and I%26#39;m not sure we would want to walk there most nights in the dark. ( I know we could take the Metro, but we love to walk.) If it%26#39;s doable in 20 minutes that would be fine. I assume it would be fairly safe?? Or should we stick to cabs, Metro after dark? Thanks.
Any other opinions? Thanks!
On a recent trip to Paris I was advised by the hotel reception staff that no, I couldn%26#39;t have an iron delivered to my room as they are banned in hotel rooms, and have been since Jan 2008.
Is this correct, or is it just a ploy to get me to use their (rather pricey) ironing service, which they suggested I do?
I%26#39;ve tried googling it, but to no avail.
We had one in our room this weekend gone - it wasn%26#39;t a straight-forward electric flat iron, however, it was a steam-jet type of hand-held machine that looked a bit like one of those velcro clothes brushes you had in the 1970%26#39;s like this:
alwaysdirect.com.au/images/…29.jpg
Never used it though...
Banned by whom?
The Marriott Rive Gauce has irons and ironing boards in each of their rooms, along with a few other hotels. But, this is not common.
Most hotel rooms don%26#39;t have enough space for an ironing board and perhaps don%26#39;t have an outlet suitable for an iron (either location or type of outlet).
I recently stayed at the Hotel Concorde Lafayette. They have an %26quot;ironing room%26quot;. I never had occasion to use it, but think it%26#39;s a brilliant idea. Why have an iron and board in every room when few people use/need them?
I used to travel with a steamer (which worked very well), but now try to pack only fabrics and clothing not requiring ironing when unpacked.
LIFE is too short to waste time ironing..that why we have polyester and such ..
My mom used to iron anything that didn%26#39;t move, including underwear and socks (..and she worked full time at a demanding job!...) BUT whenever she was on vacation she never even thought about ironing, not even on her yearly vacation in Canada for a whole month.
Thanks for the replies guys. They said it was a French regulation that came in in Jan 2008, and that irons were now banned in hotel rooms. Looks like they were fibbing!
An ironing room is a great idea - I did actually ask if perhaps I could just go and use an iron in their laundry room, but they refused. Gah.
PMSL @3CONILS. I tend to agree, but sadly I had a very creased silk shirt that refused to comply with my philosophy!
The French STILL iron everything. Even dishtowels!?!
Maybe it was a company policy
I%26#39;m going to be in the Nice area next week. I had read on this forum that in the summer there are evening markets in Nice itself where you can buy locally made leather bags, purses etc.
Since I assume those markets no longer take place at the end of October, can anyone tell me whereabouts in the area I could go to buy such products?
I can%26#39;t think of any %26quot;evening markets%26quot; in Nice at any time of the year. Vieux Nice has a lot of fashion goods shop that are open in the evening, though I can%26#39;t say they are especially good value.
Best place for leather goods is Ventimiglia just over the Italian border ( direct train from Nice). Friday is market day and best, but there are still a good number of regular shops specialising in bags, belts, and similar leather goods in the Via Cavour.I think they are sourced from the same %26quot;sweatshops%26quot; which is way they are cheap, but real leather.
Other than that, sale time in the French chain Bemon in Nice is as good as you will find.
NiceLife- the OP means the nightly craft stalls in Cours saleya in summer which do have leather goods and other crafty things.
The craft stalls come back in winter for the Xmas market but that doesn%26#39;t start till the end of the first week of December.
Therer are some hand made leather goods shops in the Old Town but i am not a particular fan of bags [except utility type ones from decathlon or freebies] so i couldn%26#39;t say what they are like as i%26#39;ve only noticed them in passing rather than as a prospective customer.
Must be, Selkie, though I confess the description %26quot;evening markets%26quot; still doesn%26#39;t connect for me. Its just Cours Saleya.
Mrs NL has a huge collection of bags courtesy of Bemon sales - and this lady knows a bargain. (After all, she found me!)
Thanks for the replies. I was referring to this post from someone called allaboutNice.
%26quot;Also, in the evenings in the summer from about June to September, the Cours Saleya is full of artisnal stalls from about 5-6 pm - leather bags, jewellery etc. There is some tat there but also some really nice things - glass jewellery from Cannes, leather bags hand-made in Nice - Wilcost is the name to look for.%26quot;
I was wondering where I could find these Wilcost bags since summer is over.
Hi, that was me. Madame Constantin runs the store - the bags are wonderful. There is a website http://www.wilcost.com/mag/fr/page-100444.htm so perhaps you could contact her and see if the bags are stocked in a local shop. The site is in French but they speak reasonable English.
You can see the different styles of bag but the photos on the website don%26#39;t really do justice to the bags, for the price - the one I bought was about 64 euros.
Or, try the Italian market in Vintimiglia but look for artisan stalls selling hand-made nice bags, not the fake replica bags.
Thank you, allaboutNice. I found the website and have emailed to ask if there is a shop where I could buy a bag.
Hi,
I%26#39;ve been in Paris 10 years ago for three days, today I feel was a dream so this time I will stay in Paris maybe one or two weeks. I will be traveling alone female age 60 (but don%26#39;t get me wrong) I travel every year in Europe and for the past 6 years focus in Italy.
Every day I do read the TA forum and is an abundance information and help (my trips to Italy were so easy %26quot;blame it%26quot; to the TA forum and thank them very much. I will leav last week in May 2010 stay one week in Paris then taking the Eurostar to London and after one week back to Paris. Let%26#39;s say up to 80 euro per night and I would prefer from what I search on the map around the the Louvre area, I%26#39;ve got mix feeling about the Latin Q.
Any advise any information much appreciated.
Thank you
By from Canada
The only 80euro a night hotel I know in this city is the Hotel de Nevers on the rue du Bac in the St Germain des Pres neighborhood. We%26#39;ve housed guests there and never (ha ha) had any complaints.
There are probably others near the Louvre, but I don%26#39;t know them.
You can%26#39;t really find a reasonably priced hotel closer to the Louvre than the Montpensier. Be careful, many rooms don%26#39;t have an en-suite bathroom, if that%26#39;s important for you.
http://www.montpensierparis.com/
Rooms with bathroom are a bit over your budget, but for two weeks I think you can contact them to try having a deal, with no guarantee to get one during busy May.
You don%26#39;t need to be in the center, because the transportation options are cheap and plentiful. Therefore it is extremely easy to spend less than 80€ if you accept to spend an extra 10 minutes in the metro.
In my own neighborhood, hotel rooms are under 60€ (with bath, cable TV and all the usual stuff).
There is always the very basic and, for the area, remarkably cheap Hôtel Tiquetonne. It%26#39;s on the street of the same name just behind the St. Eustache church and very close to the lively rue Montorgueil with its shops and cafés. Probably a five minute walk to the Louvre. It gets decent reviews that you can see here:
tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187147-d235613…
But as kerouac says if you are willing to move a bit further away from the river you%26#39;ll get better value for your hotel €uro.
First time going to Paris. Following a tour group but we extended our stay for another 4 days 3 nights. Heard much about the above 2 areas and wonder which location is more convenient for us. We have to arrange transfers/transport from Tour Hotel ( Not confirmed but maybe Novotel in Paris ) and also to the airport.
Please kindly provide some pointers as well as recommend any nice %26amp; clean cosy hotel to stay in Paris.
Appreciate and do have a nice day !
Also, can someone advise on the expected temperature in Paris in December ?
