first i%26#39;d like to say thank you to everyone for the great posts! i%26#39;ve been reading them for weeks, while planning our journey. we will be in paris for 3 days in october and i have a few questions......
1) we will be taking the eurostar from london to paris and staying at the hotel de la tour maubourg. how difficult is it to navigate the metro system considering we have luggage? should we just take a taxi?
2) the hop on hop off bus tour (paris l%26#39;open) is what we are considering for our first day. it sounds perfect but the website hinted that sometimes the buses are full. does anyone have any more details regarding this tour?
3) considering our limited time in paris, should we opt out of versailles? i know there is so much to do in paris alone that a side trip with only 3 days seems stretching it!
and 4) out of the main %26quot;go to the top and see the view%26quot; spots, which is the best in your opinion? notre dame, eiffel tower, arc de triumphe or the basilique du sacre coeur?
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I would suggest just taking a taxi to your hotel. You could do it by Metro, but it%26#39;s not fun with luggage - the taxi will be faster and much easier.
Others can give you more information about the bus - one observation is that it may take so much time that you will be short-changed on time to actually go into places you want to visit. It might be better to just walk or take the Metro and go directly to the places you know you want to see.
If this is your first trip to Paris, I would recommend leaving Versailles to another time, as it really needs a full day. There is so much to do in Paris that yu are likely to feel a bit cheated (especially if your three days includes the day you arrive, as that means really only two and one-half days).
My favorite place for a view is the top of the Arc. It%26#39;s never been crowded (much less have there been long lines, as at the ET) when I%26#39;ve been there, and it%26#39;s a beautiful view regardless of the time of day or evening. Sacre Coeur is also a lovely (though completely different) view, and also is much further from the monuments you may be trying to spot (by contrast, the top of the Arc is great for looking directly across at the ET, as well as straight down the CE, etc.).
There also is a very nice view from the top of the Pantheon (which, if you visit the Luxembourg gardens, is close by). Hardly anyone goes to the top, so should be quick and easy to get up there. Others also have recommended the view from Tour Montparnasse (in part because you can see Paris but NOT the Tour itself, which is an uglly eyesore on the skyline, IMO), but I have not been up there yet myself.
Have a really good time!
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I%26#39;ve been schlepping luggage on various Metro systems for years - all alone - husband not able to go along - every body say aaaaah with sympathetic tone -
The problem with surface transport is that it is subject to traffic delays. I no longer under any circumstances fly into CDG - but if I did I would take the RER and the Metro - After a trans Atlantic flight I%26#39;m in no mood to sit in traffic watching the taxi metre tick over.
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the best best view of Paris, is Tour Montparnasse (close to many monuments you can easily spot), and Montmartre for the overall view to the roofs of Paris, but with few recognisable monuments as you are far away.
I postponed tour Montparnasse until last year (been living here 9 years!) and couldn%26#39;t believe the view, much better than the Eiffel tower in my opinion (been up dozens of time).
You also have a nice view from the top of the Pompidou center
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I think you%26#39;re fine on the Metro as long as your luggage gas wheels, it was less fun with a carried suitcase. Bare in mind also that there are not many escalators (like the London tube has), only stairs/lifts.
For the view, I recommend sitting on the steps of Sacre Coeur, but my favourite %26quot;tourist%26quot; thing I%26#39;ve done in Paris was going up Notre Dame and seeing the gargoyles, so I am torn!
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