Young couple in Paris

Hello, I need some advise after overwhelming myself with information from these forums. My boyfriend and I are both in our early 20%26#39;s and have flights booked to Paris at the end of May for 3 nights. Neither of us have been to Paris before but am I right in thinking that 5th would be the best place for us to stay in terms of nightlife? We don%26#39;t want to spend a lot around 110 euros a night maybe a little more if the location/hotel was right. I thought i found a belter with Hotel du college but they%26#39;re fully booked. I find myself being put off a lot by reviews hence why i%26#39;ve left it a bit late! I want to be in walking distance of cool bars and restaurants in the evening that wont cost the world... can anyone recommend any hotels? And one last question, where are the gig venues in Paris? or any bars that have open mic nights etc

Thankss!!

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You need to read a guide book so that you can zero in on those things that particularly interest the two of you. Beyond that, you coould just be stuck with what you can get as far as hotels are concerned.

Try www.venere.com and www.ratestogo.com and see if there%26#39;s anything there that appeals. May is already high tourism season, and there may not be many choices.

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Actually most, if not all, of the 20 districts have cool bars and cafes and restaurants..Why? because each arrondissement is a self-contained %26quot;village%26quot; with everything from its own city hall, police station, schools etc. to all sorts of stores. After work most Parisians had rather stay in their own area than traipse all over Paris again..I think that I had rather go to the Bastille area and the Oberkampf area for the type of night life that the Parisians themselves enjoy than in the 5th, as the later is getting a bit too touristy now. Mind you, there are still some tiny basement places in the 5th that have been famous for 50-60 years. As for gigs they are likely all over town but not the type of places known by the average poster on this forum. Some bars do have open mic. but this not very common and I wager that you have to be able to sing old French songs!

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The Latin Quarter in general is probably the best in terms of the proximity to the sights, especially on a short stay, as well as bars, restaurants, nightlife.

Let me start with the nightlife: sounds like you would enjoy Caveau des Oubliettes at 52 rue Galande. It%26#39;s one of the coolest bars I%26#39;ve ever been in: the downstaris used to be a prison back hundreds of years ago, now they hold music jam sessions: bunch of guys playing different style music every night. We loved their rock and blues night we stumbled on one night so much, we came back the next night after dinner. Not sure what styles of misic they play which night but defintely worth checking out. It%26#39;s free too, you just have to buy a drink at the downstairs bar (little more expensive than upstairs. It was great... Honestly, we stayed up till 1 or 2 in the morning and realized that we would be missing out on couple of hours of sight-seeing time the next morning, but it was worht it! It was also very non-touristy, which I love..

We also went to a jazz club, don%26#39;t remember the name but Paris is famous for jazz so i think if you google jazz clubs in Paris, you will find something good close by. Also very affordable.

Not sure if you spelled the name of the one hotel right - its it Hotel des 3 Colleges? If not, you should check it out. I enjoyed staying there. Couple other inexpensive places in the area are Hotel Des Grandes Ecoles, Hotel Cluny Sorbonne, Hotel Central (info courtesy Risk Steves Paris 09 book). We stayed at Hotel Du Pantheon which was great, but may be a little more expensive.

Hope this was helpful, enjoy your trip!!

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i love monteparnasse... the hotel lennox monteparnasse and the l%26#39;aiglon are small but great service and we went literally everywhere in 6 days...

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