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Paris Hotels: Your Guide To Paris's First Arrondissement

By Michael Giles

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Published: 06Nov2009
Word count: 690
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You're nearly there - Paris, the fabulous city of lights! You can hardly wait to arrive . You've gotten your flights to France now you're considering some great looking offers on hotels in Paris, France . Where you are staying in the city is always an important consideration for accommodation for Paris, France even if you are looking at hotels in Paris city centre. Here's a guide to Paris's First arrondissement so you can learn more about whether this part of Paris is where you want to be!

Paris: The First Arrondissement

Paris's 1st arrondissement is filled with the sort of elegance and grandeur that centuries' worth of tourists have imagined when thinking of Paris, the City of Lights . Broad boulevards, haute couture, and well maintained parks overlooking the smoothly flowing River Seine are all to be found in this neighborhood, a district mainly of office space and tourist sites. Les Halles, Paris's weird take on a shopping center , can be found here as well.

What To Expect If You're Staying Here :

What's Good :

Spending time here has many benefits. When you stroll beneath the nineteenth-century arches of the Rue de Rivoli arcade, you will be following in the footsteps of generations of dandies and duchesses: vanished citizens of Paris of long ago . You will be near some of Paris's most remarkable tourist sites - the Tuileries garden to Chatelet -site of the Comedie Francaise, where Moliere once produced his plays - to the world renowned Louvre . And the shopping, on the elegant Faubourg Saint Honore, is without peer !

Why You Don't Want To Stay :

While during the day in the First Arrondissement provides you access to some of Paris's best sights within a few moments' walk, the business-like nature of the area means that nightlife, by contrast, is limited within the arrondissement. So unless visitors go to the Les Halles/St. Denis area there's not much to do. Les Halles/St. Denis's low brow pleasures may appear slightly seedy to those over the age of 21 (that said, the section bordering the Les Halles mall is consistently nice - a fine place to stop after catching a film in Les Halles's enormous cinema, which presents many US and English films in their original languages. But avoid going towards Rue St. Denis/Blvd. Sebastopol unless you're consciously seeking that sort of milieu.) What's more, this area can get very touristy - especially around the otherwise lovely Rue de Rivoli. So watch your purse and control your buying impulse for souvenirs until you're a bit further off the beaten path.

What To Do: Sites and sights abound here. Take a stroll down the Faubourg Saint-Honore, where nearly every famous fashion house of the world has a presence. Visit the Louvre or Tuileries Gardens near the Place de Concorde, see a play at the Comedie Francaise in the Chatelet area.

Places To Eat: Finding untouristy food is almost impossible in this area, but finding great desserts is not. Angelina, on Rue de Rivoli, has lost some of its legendary elegance, but the aging-grande-dame feel of the place makes the yellowed mirrors and creaky chandeliers worth seeing on their own merits. Plus, their famously rich hot chocolate and Mont Blanc desserts are among the best in Paris. For a more contemporary hotspot, Cafe Marley in the Louvre offers views not only of the museum's art, but also of Paris's current celebrity scene. For better food, the area right around Les Halles has a number of good brasseries, but, as said earlier, the area closer to Rue St. Denis and Sebastopol has a slightly rougher character - not at all dangerous, but nevertheless unsavory.

Shopping Spots : If the high fashion of the Faubourg Saint Honore is a bit out of your price range , head to the Les Halles mall. A surprisingly beautiful, art nouveau-inspired underground city (complete with street names, a swimming pool, park, and more), Les Halles proves that even Paris's shopping centers have a particular Parisian flair. While the area around the mall is useful for really cheap (think 3-5 euro) clothes and shoes, the mall itself has much higher quality items at reasonable prices.

TravelGuyMike loves to travel the globe. For me, Paris and France are a wonderful mix of adventure and old world tradition. Click on these links to find out more about great things to do on your trip to Paris and France. Plus you'll find ways to save money on accommodation in Paris and France and cheap flights to Paris.

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