Summer in Paris. What a place to be. We love how close the City of Lights is to London, it makes the perfect weekend break from the Big Smoke. We were lucky enough to have bagged tickets to the Euro Football Final in Paris so we decided to make a long weekend of it. Bon!
One of the tricky things when travelling to Paris is trying to find the right spot to stay. We’ve found over the years that as long as you base yourself relatively close to a metro station, most of the city is accessible without too much effort. This helps not only save the cash by avoiding the super touristy places, but by also allowing us to explore more authentically french suburbs.
We love the left bank, and this trip we based ourselves in the 13 arrondissement, at the fantastic Hotel La Demeure on boulevard Saint Michel. If you do book, make sure to ask for one of the rooms at the top of the hotel. The view of Paris is tough to beat.
The first day there we decided to make our way to the Palace of Versailles, a short train trip out of Gare de Lyon. It is worth buying your ticket before you get to the Palace itself as it can get quite crowded on a summer’s day. Also check ahead as they often have a waterfall musical feature in its fantastic gardens that is worth it. We made the rookie mistake of not packing a picnic – in hindsight this would have been ideal and helped save us some cash.
That meant we were starving when we returned to Paris, so we headed to a bistro Verse Toujours, a short walk from the hotel. The food was excellent and we can wholeheartedly recommend the steak tartare (they do warn you it is raw meat!).
The next day, with temperatures soaring we did what most Parisians do on a scorching summers day…head for the pool! Paris is littered with loads of public swimming pools which are cheap and accessible to the public. But be warned, they can get rammed on weekends, so it is best to head early. We made our way to Piscine Butte Aux Cailles, a very cool protected building with both indoor and outdoor pool. It is worth noting that they have strict swimwear guidelines – no board shorts (only european style swimming trunks or speedo) and swimming caps. They do sell all this there so don’t worry if you don’t have but fancy an impromptu splash.
Feeling refreshed we explored the area which seems to have become a haven for street art. You can take a tour if you wanted to find out more. However, we enjoyed wandering around on our own and trying to discover what lay next around the corner. Some of the murals are massive – you really can’t miss them, nor should you!
Tired from our wandering around we decided to pick up a decent bottle of wine from the local Carrefour, and takeaways from the amazing Korean restaurant next to the hotel, Bekseju Village. We then went up to our room to take in the view and toast a cracking weekend in Paris.
Itinerary:
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