Harbachs. In Paris.

Hotel Louvre Montana: Boutique hotel, centrally located.

• Has library & bar…

• …but no restaurant

IMPORTANT: You are staying in the 1st arrondissement (neighborhood). The nearest addresses to you (walkable) will be in the 2nd-8th. Any address that includes the postal code, the last digit is the arrondissement (the hotel’s postal code is 75001).

And, just so you know, this neighborhood has nothing informal or down home about it.

Google Map link

Where to start?

• Breakfast = coffee & pastry from bakery
  Lunch = 12-2
  Dinner = 7-10
  Outside those times, look for a sign that says “service continue”

• If you ask for “une carafe d'eau” you will get tap water. If you ask for water, you will get very expensive bottled water. Up to you.

Au Petit Bar: (2 blocks from your hotel; this would be my home base if I were you) Old-school, family-owned cafe & 24-seat bar offering homestyle bistro classics alongside wine. Warm, friendly, comforting.

Pain Vin Fromages: Savoyard raclette, fondue & cheese platters, plus a long wine list, in a snug, stone-walled space. Very classic & won’t break the bank. (near the Picasso Museum)

YOU MUST EAT AT ONE OF THESE

Bouillon Julien: Restaurant with mind-blowing Art Nouveau stained glass and mahogonay bar, still keeps prices for REALLY GOOD classic French cuisine at about the cost of McDonalds. MUST RESERVE in advance.

Bouillon Chartier Grands Boulevards: Same idea, classic French dishes in an awe-inspiring space, for cheap, cheap. NO RESERVATIONS accepted, but the line moves fast and they have continuous service from noon-11pm.

NOTE: If you narrow down some of the places you want to go, I can offer some restaurant/bar suggestions.

I recommend that you get the 2-day pass on the BatoBus (a hop-on/hop-off Seine River boat with 9 river stops, one a long block from your hotel).

Walking tours: this guy is great. He offers lots of options and has NO corporate/tourist scam going on. He does private or group, and may show you parts of Paris you never knew about. If you don’t see something you like, tell him what you like and he can do something just for you.

E-Bike tour: this is the only company I can recommend. They do a 4 hour tour of a wide variety of sites; not just ride by and wave at the tower.

Château de Versailles (do not buy from any other site no matter how official it looks)
From your hotel, you can walk 15 mins to the train station at Musee D’Orsay and catch the RER C train (commuter line) direct to Versailles, and a 15 min walk to the palace.  If you don’t really care about the palace itself, a Passport ticket also gets you all the grounds and gardens for around $30, and you can bring a picnic and spend half a day as if you were royalty.

THE MUSEUMS

You already have a skip the line for the Louvre Museum on Monday.

Musée Marmottan Monet: over three hundred Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings by Monet, many donated by his son.

Musée de la Vie Romantique: A beautiful house museum featuring art of the romantic era (1800-1850ish). Landscapes and art inspired by history and literature, plus a tea room and garden. (reopening in Feb)

Rodin Museum: Home to the world’s largest collection of Rodin sculptures, plus giant lovely gardens. 

Picasso Museum: 17th-century building holding 5,000 artworks by Pablo Picasso, his own art collection & archive. Even if you don’t think you like Picasso, it’s fascinating. (near restaurant Pain Vin Fromages)