How to use this guide to make your trip go smoothly

• Organize your trip as much as you can before you go, including making reservations for a few of the more popular restaurants and tours. Many places now take reservations online.
• Bring a working cell phone, or rent one at the airport from Orange (a French cell phone company), especially if you are traveling with a friend. This will be very important so that you can meet up with ease. Remember, when we write a phone number in this guide, it will start with 01 42 and so on. If you are dialing from a US cell phone, you must dial 011 33 (then drop the zero) and continue with 1 42 and so on. The 01 42... is what you dial when you are dialing from a Paris-based phone, at your hotel, for example.
• Print out the website pages you think you might need while in Paris (or send them to your cell phone), as your hotel or apartment might not have a printer. Bring your laptop if you have one, as nearly every place now has Wi-Fi, including the public parks.
• Download and print out a few of our walking tours.
• Buy a good map before you go, such as Paris par Arrondissements by Michelin or a guide from Blay Foldex. These are not fold-out maps; they are small books.
• Change about $200 at the airport ATM. If you take a taxi it will cost around 50 euros. A cheaper alternative is the Air France bus, which takes you to the Place d’Étoile, in the 17th Arrondissement, and runs at about 12 euros. From the Place d’Étoile you can either take a taxi or the metro to your destination. We find the taxi to be simpler from here because you won’t have to lug your suitcase down the metro stairs. This website has a lot of good tips on getting to the city, including information about the Air France bus.
• Note: On the site you’ll notice references to places in the 1st or the 6th—this refers to the areas of town called arrondissements.