Anyone been to Paris lately?

Doesn’t seem like anyone on the board has been since the attacks. How is the city doing? Are restaurants busy?

Looking forward to heading over there in April.

Cheers
Jeremy

I was wonderering the same thing Jeremy as I am headed over in Mar/Apr as well. I will say the lodging I was looking for was crazy busy and reservations at top restaurants seem a little tight as well. My thoughts are Paris has to be one of the safest cities in the world now but I guess we never really know - just have to keep traveling in my mind.

I’m there in April as well.

We will be there in March.

Hi - We were there in January. (We go almost every year.). It was fantastic - everything is normal/great in spades, plus almost no American tourists whatsoever and the strong dollar making prices great.

Couldn’t ask for more. Truly wonderful. Refreshing to not have an American voice even anywhere in eg, the Marais. For the first time ever in Paris though, we did agree on a plan in advance if the 1 in a million terrorism event did happen in a subway or cafe, etc., we were in.

Re restaurants, yes they were booked/busy as usual - just all French people, with maybe a Brit or Japanese here and there.

Theo

We were in England in Dec and met a number of Parisians and others who had been in Paris recently. From what they said, things are going normally (as Theo reports), but everyone is slightly wary.

There on biz next week. Looking for suggestions for very good, but affordable by per diem guidelines options. Suggestions?

The tension you could feel in the streets has faded from Nov/Dec, but I’ve read and heard many times that restaurants, in particular the more expensive ones or the ones where many tourists go (or used to go I should say), are struggling since the attacks.

A friend booked a table at the Tour d’Argent recently, and the lady on the phone proposed any time the day after, and the day after that, etc. At one time you would have had to wait 1-2 weeks for a table there. Just one example, but I’m told quite representative of the current mood…

Alain

We were there Christmas Day through Jan 3rd and we had a lovely time and compared to our many trips we sensed a normal energy throughout the city and with friends and persons encountered during the trip. We asked friends to share thoughts on the mood post violence, in months past, and most were of the opinion that things were very close to returning for them. They (retail and restaurant trade) foreign tourism is still not at normal levels for time of year but slowly increasing. Some of you may know that during our visit period locals take time off and, let’s say 50% or more to a majority of restaurants operate modified hours, we still enjoyed favorites and had new discovery too. We enjoyed Ellsworth and Spring and had a chance to have a new experience too. We are of the opinion that while caution should be (and was) exercised, visiting a city/area where such a heinous act of violence occurred in recent past. At the same time, we were happy with the resilience of those who simply do not allow terrorist to destroy the vitality of such a great group of people and city Paris. We met so many Americans, Australians, British couples who like us love Paris and simply were there to celebrate the life of Paris and its people and culture.

Just got back from a trip which took me to Paris last week (Thursday to Saturday) and it was hard to tell things were not “normal” for this time of year. Lots of people on the street, my hotel (Westin Vendome) was allegedly full, my one night at a restaurant (fantastic Japanese meal at Zen) seemed reasonably busy etc. etc. This was my second trip since Bataclan (first was in early December) and things seem to be hopping once again.

This is excellent news. I hope to get there soon and show my support.

At least a dozen other Berserkers have been there since, but maybe not reported here.

Paris was bustling 2 weeks ago. I had no problem using Uber either.

Just noticed this, we were there about 3 weeks ago, though only for 2 days. L’Arpege, Le Comptoir, Versailles, and strawberries were in season

flirtysmile



Le Comptoir did have empty tables at dinner but I just put that down to it being a Tuesday night. They were about 90% full.

in the NY Times today:

Thanks for the link to the article, Ray. Given the recent terrorist events, it’s not hard to expect that the hotel-based restaurants would suffer quite a bit.

It’s good to note the comment in the second to the last paragraph in the article about the mountains and the sea being packed with tourists, though. My wife is researching for a place for a few days stay next month in SW France and she tells me that it’s still not easy pickings and that a couple that she looked at did not have availability.

Just back from a weekend in Paris and have to admit that I was not hearing as much English as I would have expected. Loads of Parisians out and about as far as I could tell. Morels and strawberries were both great (see www.tgjp.com for photos from a dinner I attended).

At about this time last year, I remember that Le Comptoir did have availability for the wife and I for a Friday night dinner when I called to inquire earlier in the same evening. Somehow, I don’t think it gets that busy.

I’ve been going to Paris every year for 16 years around April/May. It is the quietest I have seen it. We had no troubles getting into any restaurant and apart from Bistrot Paul Bert on a Friday night no restaurant was full.

We were there for a week at the end of March, and the lack of American tourists was visible. People said that Japanese were not coming either. We booked before the Brussels attack, and to be honest thought about cancelling, but then decided we didn’t want to live that way. Had a great time. Re restaurants, we couldn’t get into the Comptoir one weekday night (without a 45 min wait), otherwise no trouble (including lunch at Passage 53, which incidentally we didn’t care for–more on that elsewhere, tho the others were not especially high-end places). We went to the theater in the Palais Royale one night, it was not full at all, FWIW, and at the end the lead complemented the audience on showing up during “ce moment difficile”. It was clear to everyone what he meant… Haven’t been to Paris at that time of year recently, so I can’t compare.