Paris

Check out the usual booking sites such as www.booking.com or www.venere.com , the two areas that I like and which mean you have lots to do on your doorstep in the evenings are the Marais and Bastille area and also around the Canal Saint Martin.

On our most recent visit we stayed at Le 20 Prieure Hote, 20 Rue du Grand Prieure, a smart modern hotel, reasonably priced for Paris and in the heart of the excellent 11th Arondissement.

As Paris hotels are not cheap there is also the option of renting an apartment and there are lots of sites where you can search for available apartments in a variety of areas.

A la Biche au Bois, 24 Avenue Ledru Rollin, Gare de Lyon, only opens Monday to Friday and booking is essential. It has a 4 course meal for a very reasonable price, given the quality, featuring terrines and other starters, grilled steaks, coq au vin, etc. then a cheese board , followed by dessert. Very reasonably priced wines and lovely staff, it is a real gem.

Le Patache, 60 Rue de Lancry, Canal Saint Martin, is a new addition by the owners of the wine bar next door, see below, it is typical of what you would expect from a Paris Bistro. The food was good, the wine reasonably priced and the service lovely, highly recommended.

Le Chemise, 42 Rue de Malte, Republique, is a very smart modern restaurant which was highly rated in reviews. We booked the set lunch and thought the food and service was outstanding, this is a definite on the list for a return visit.

Le Cambodge, 10 Avenue Richerand, Canal Saint Martin, is Cambodian and very popular, it always packed and there are frequently queues. Go as it opens at 7pm to be sure of getting a table, the food is great, lovely tastes and reasonably priced. Service was very friendly and helpful in explaining the dishes.

Dong Huong, 14 Rue Louis Bonnet, Belleville, is in the heart of an area packed with Asian restaurants and this Vietnamese establishment is very highly rated. A large space always packed and with really helpful staff who will guide you through what to have. Incredibly good value.

Chez Mammy, 3 Rue Valles, was recommended in a recent article of the area around the Marche Aligre in the 11th. We booked for lunch and it was packed, the food was good and the service friendly but felt rushed. The area nearby Rue Paul Bert is packed with places as is the Market area.

Le Bariole, 103 Rue de Belleville, Metro Pyrenees, is a local bar and restaurant with excellent traditional dishes such as confit de canard, steak and roast veal. There are places which probably have cheaper set menus but the quality was very good. The reviews mainly in French testify to the quality.

Flo Restaurants is a restaurant group which owns some of the most wonderful brasseries in Paris. They all have good value set menus and are some of the oldest traditional restaurants in Paris. The settings are superb, the food excellent and the experience of eating in such historic surroundings is not to be missed. They include the four below.

Terminus Nord, is opposite the Gare du Nord, they have a set lunch menu, it is not cheap but the place, service and food is excellent. Go before you head out to the airport they will whisk away your cases and feed you well.

Bofinger, Rue de Bastille, this is said to be the most beautiful brasserie in Paris and is really a stunning place to have a meal.

La Coupole, 102 Boulevard de Monparnasse, as an art deco masterpiece.

Julien, 16 Rue de Faubourg,  St Denis, this is an art nouveau style restaurant and smaller and more intimate than some of the other in the group.

Bars

Canal Saint Martin, metros Republique, Jacques Bonsergent, or Gare de L’Est, has some great local bars, many of which do good platters of meats, cheeses etc. The best ones we found are below.

Le Patache, 60 Rue de Lancry, is a wine bar with a selection of food available, they have a very good Happy Hour and you can just have a drink if you are on your way to or back from dinner. The owners have opened a restaurant next door, see above.

Chez Prune, Rue Beaurepaire, has the best tables by the canal and therefore is always busy.

Le Cinquante, 50 Rue Lancry, is a small bar with a couple of back rooms. Funky, retro feel with a good selection of music and customers. It serves affordable classic dishes in the evening. Very popular on the couple of times we visited recently.

Le Baron Rouge, 1 Rue Theophile Roussel, 12th is close to the Marche Aligre. It is a wine bar with a selection of meat & cheese platters in varying sizes. We have visited it on a number of occasions and always enjoyed the atmosphere, the staff are friendly, there is a mixed clientele and it is very reasonably priced.

Le Charolais, 15 Rue La Cotte, 12th, is just around the corner from Le Baron Rouge and opposite the market. A very local, rugby supporting bar, with a good selection of wines and very popular with locals eating both at lunchtime and in the evening.

Bar Paris Haut, is just opposite the Parc Belleville, a wonderful place to sit and have a drink while gazing at the lovely views over Paris and it also had an interesting looking menu.

The area around Belleville and Oberkampf has a wide range of bars and restaurants and is worth exploring.

The Rue and Place Sainte Marthe, near Metro Parmentier, is an artists quarter with a real local feel, the bar restaurant L’Autre Café, Rue Jean Pierre Timbeau, is a traditional bar and restaurant, popular with locals.

Another great area for bars, cafes and restaurants is the Rue de Charonne, Bastille, one in particular Pause Café won the best café in Paris award a few years ago, it has good French bistro cooking. Also Rue de Lappe & Rue Faubourg St Antoine nearby are both full of bars

In the same area is a lovely walk along Viaduct de Plantes above Avenue Daumesnil with excellent “Artisan” shops below and Viaduct Café at No 43 is very smart and has good food

On the Left Bank Rue Biche has a small market and some good places to eat nearby, the best bar is Bar du Marche but it’s prices are more in line with what you would expect in Paris.

Drink

Drink like the locals, if you sit outside a café on the Champs Elysees you will probably put an enormous dent in your budget, but if you go to some of the former fringe neighbourhoods around the Canal Saint Martin and Republique then you will be able to enjoy a wide variety of bars and cafes at reasonable prices. It used to almost always cost more to sit outside, less to sit inside and if you can stand at the bar even less, these days this is changing.

What to drink next, sample great French wines in some of the many new wine bars springing up or try some of the craft beers available in what seems to be a beer revolution in the city.

Like any major capital city you can drink anything you want but do follow the locals and do some homework, try some of the bars listed above.

Musee d’Orsay, if you can only visit one art gallery make it the Musee d’Orsay. What the French can do with an old railway station, they fill it with some of the best impressionist pictures under one roof in a wonderfully designed building.

The newly opened Foundation Louis Vuitton, in the Bois de Boulougne was designed by the famous architect Frank Gehry and it is worth visiting to see the building and the setting alone. The building has a series of terraces at different levels with wonderful views, the exhibition when we visited was less impressive than the building. There is a regular shuttle bus costing 1 Euro from Charles de Gaule/Etoile Metro, very handy as it drops you at the entrance to the building. At peak times booking tickets to the building on line is advised.

Take a trip up the Seine  on the famous Bateau Mouche boats to rest the feet and see the bits of Paris you have missed. You can also do a canal trip along the Canal Saint Martin through the working locks and down to the Seine.

The Marche Aligre in the 12th is an excellent area to explore, the market has recently re-opened and the streets around are packed with restaurants, bars and food shops. Rue Paul Bert nearby also has some excellent eating places so this area is definitely worth a visit.

Rue Mouffetard, Left Bank, is a great food street market, a real part of Paris and a chance to explore the Left Bank.

Le Marais is a lovely area to walk around and it has some of the most trendy bars and restaurants. Rue Vieux de Temples is a great street to walk down, the Bar Au Petit Fer a Cheval is an original zinc bar with excellent food.

Canal Saint Martin is lovely local area with lots of good bars and restaurants start at Metro Jaures and walk to Metros Jacques Bonsergent or further to Republique

Shoe shopping in Paris is fantastic in Rue Mesclay, off Place de La Republique and Parallel to Boulevard St Martin, it has dozens of shops with fabulous choices and styles, much cheaper than the same shoes in other shops in Paris.