Rick Steves Paris

by Rick Steves, Steve Smith, Gene Openshaw

Overview

From the top of the Eiffel Tower to the ancient catacombs below the city, explore Paris at every level with the most up-to-date 2021 guide from Rick Steves! Inside Rick Steves Paris you'll find:

• Comprehensive coverage for spending a week or more in Paris
• Rick's strategic advice on how to get the most out of your time and money, with rankings of his must-see favorites
• Top sights and hidden gems, from Notre-Dame, the Louvre, and the Palace of Versailles to where to find the perfect croissant
• How to connect with culture: Stroll down Rue Cler for fresh, local goods to build the ultimate French picnic, marvel at the works of Degas and Monet, and sip café au lait at a streetside café
• Beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps with Rick's candid, humorous insight
• The best places to eat, sleep, and relax with a glass of vin rouge
• Self-guided walking tours of lively neighborhoods and incredible museums and churches
• Detailed maps, including a fold-out map for exploring on the go
• Useful resources including a packing list, French phrase book, a historical overview, and recommended reading
• Updated to reflect changes that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic up to the date of publication
• Over 700 bible-thin pages include everything worth seeing without weighing you down
• Coverage of the best arrondissements in Paris,including Champs-Elysees, the Marais, Montmartre, and more, plus day trips to Versailles, Chartres, Giverny, and Auvers-sur-Oise

Make the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves Paris.
 
Spending just a few days in the city? Try Rick Steves Pocket Paris.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641712873
Publisher:	Avalon Publishing
Publication date:	01/26/2021
Edition description:	23rd ed.
Pages:	736
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Since 1973, Rick Steves has spent about four months a year exploring Europe. His mission: to empower Americans to have European trips that are fun, affordable, and culturally broadening. Rick produces a best-selling guidebook series, a public television series, and a public radio show, and organizes small-group tours that take over 30,000 travelers to Europe annually. He does all of this with the help of more than 100 well-traveled staff members at Rick Steves' Europe in Edmonds, WA (near Seattle). When not on the road, Rick is active in his church and with advocacy groups focused on economic and social justice, drug policy reform, and ending hunger. To recharge, Rick plays piano, relaxes at his family cabin in the Cascade Mountains, and spends time with his son Andy and daughter Jackie. Find out more about Rick at www.ricksteves.com and on Facebook.

Connect with Rick:
facebook.com/RickSteves twitter: @RickSteves instagram: ricksteveseurope



Steve Smith manages tour guides for Rick Steves' Europe tour program and has been researching guidebooks with Rick for over two decades. Fluent in French, he's lived in France on several occasions, starting when he was seven. Steve owns a restored farmhouse in rural Burgundy where he hangs his beret in research season. Steve's wife, Karen Lewis Smith - who is an expert on French cuisine and wine - provides invaluable contributions to his books.


Gene Openshaw has co-authored a dozen Rick Steves books, specializing in writing walks and tours of Europe's cities, museums, and cultural sites. He also contributes to Rick's public television series, produces tours for Rick Steves Audio Europe, and is a regular guest on Rick's public radio show. Outside of the travel world, Gene has co-authored The Seattle Joke Book. As a composer, Gene has written a full-length opera called Matter, a violin sonata, and dozens of songs. He lives near Seattle with his daughter, enjoys giving presentations on art and history, and roots for the Mariners in good times and bad.

Table of Contents

Paris 5

Pans by Neighborhood 9

Planning & Budgeting 15

Travel Smart 26

Orientation to Paris 29

Sights in Paris 57

Historic Core of Paris 62

Major Museums Neighborhood 63

Eiffel Tower & Nearby 73

Left Bank 81

Champs-Elysees & Nearby 93

Opera Neighborhood 101

Marais Neighborhood & Nearby 109

Montmartre 116

Self-Guided Walks & Tours 118

Historic Core

Historic Paris Walk 118

Major Museums Neighborhood

Louvre Tour 152

Orsay Museum Tour 184

Orangerie Museum Tour 209

Eiffel Tower & Nearby

Rue Cler Walk 219

Eiffel Tower Tour 233

Rodin Museum Tour 246

Army Museum & Napoleon's Tomb Tour 258

Bus #69 Sightseeing Tour 284

Marmottan Museum Tour 292

Left Bank

Left Bank Walk 302

Cluny Museum Tour 316

Champs-Elysees

Champs-Elysées Walk 322

Marais Neighborhood

Marais Walk 339

Picasso Museum Tour 353

Pompidou Center Tour 363

Père Lachaise Cemetery Tour 378

Montmartre

Montmartre Walk 393

Sleeping in Paris 412

Eating in Paris 446

Paris with Children 478

Shopping in Paris 496

Entertainment in Paris 520

Paris in Winter 535

Paris Connections 541

Day Trips from Paris 563

Versailles 565

More Grand Chateaux 600

Chartres 612

Giverny & Auvers-sur-Oise 634

France: Past & Present 649

Practicalities 660

Appendix 715

Index 729

Map Index 747

Post-Pandemic Travels: Expect a Warm Welcome…and a Few Changes, Research for this guidebook was limited by the COVID-19 outbreak, and the long-term impact of the crisis on our recommended destinations is unclear. Some details in this book will change for post-pandemic travelers. Now more than ever, it's smart to reconfirm specifics as you plan and travel. As always, you can find major updates at RickSteves.com/update.

Editorial Reviews

"The country's foremost expert in European travel for Americans."—Forbes

"Steves is an absolute master at unlocking the hidden gems of the world's greatest cities, towns, and monuments."—USA Today

“Every country-specific travel guidebook from the Rick Steves publishing empire can be counted upon for clear organization, specificity and timeliness."—Society of American Travel Writers

"Pick the best accommodations and restaurants from Rick Steves…and a traveler searching for good values will seldom go wrong or be blindsided."—NBC News

"His guidebooks are approachable, silly, and even subtly provocative in their insistence that Americans show respect for the people and places they are visiting and not the other way around." —The New Yorker

"Travel, to Steves, is not some frivolous luxury—it is an engine for improving humankind, for connecting people and removing their prejudices, for knocking distant cultures together to make unlikely sparks of joy and insight. Given that millions of people have encountered the work of Steves over the last 40 years, on TV or online or in his guidebooks, and that they have carried those lessons to untold other millions of people, it is fair to say that his life’s work has had a real effect on the collective life of our planet."—The New York Times Magazine

"[Rick Steves] laces his guides with short and vivid histories and a scholar's appreciation for Renaissance art yet knows the best place to start an early tapas crawl in Madrid if you have kids. His clear, hand-drawn maps are Pentagon-worthy; his hints about how to go directly to the best stuff at the Uffizi, avoid the crowds at Versailles and save money everywhere are guilt-free."—TIME Magazine

"Steves is a walking, talking European encyclopedia who yearns to inspire Americans to venture 'beyond Orlando.'"—Forbes

“…he’s become the unofficial guide for entire generations of North American travelers, beloved for his earnest attitude and dad jeans."—Outside Magazine

"His books offer the equivalent of a bus tour without the bus, with boiled-down itineraries and step-by-step instructions on where to go and how to get there, but adding a dash of humor and an element of choice that his travelers find empowering."—The New York Times

"His penchant for creating meaningful experiences for travelers to Europe is as passionate as his inclination for making ethical choices his guiding light."—Forbes

"[Rick Steves'] neighborhood walks are always fun and informative. His museum guides, complete with commentary about historic sculpture and storied artworks are wonderful and add another dimension to sometimes stodgy, hard-to-comprehend museums."—NBC News

From the Publisher