Paris hotels almost without regard to category or price observe high and low seasons These differ slightly from one hotel to another but usually the high season roughly corresponds to late spring and summer and possibly a couple of weeks around the Christmas season Be aware that when a hotel is listed in any guide or website this will eventually make it a bit harder to get a room at that hotel That means that you will paris hotels cheap probably need to book ahead especially in the high season However if they don't have a room they sometimes know another place close by that does have a room available When two people are travelling together it can be a much better deal to find a hotel room than to get 2 hostel beds More privacy for less money For individual hotel listings see the various Arrondissement pages For those who are staying for paris hotels cheap a while renting a furnished apartment might be a more comfortable and money-saving option Furnished apartments differ considerably in quality so it is important to choose carefully There are a huge number of websites in the business of helping you find one but most charge a steep commission of 10% or more It is also possible to rent paris hotels cheap apartments for shorter stays and this is an alternative well worth considering Paris the cosmopolitan capital of France is - with 22 million people living in the dense (105 km²) central city and almost 12 million people living in the whole metropolitan area - one of the largest agglomerations in Europe Located in the north of the country on the river Seine Paris has the reputation of paris hotels cheap being the most beautiful and romantic of all cities brimming with historic associations and remaining vastly influential in the realms of culture art fashion food and design Dubbed the City of Light (la Ville Lumière) and Capital of Fashion it is home to the world's finest and paris hotels cheap most luxorious fashion designers and cosmetics such as Chanel Christian Dior Yves Saint-Laurent Guerlain Lancôme L'Oréal Clarins etc A large part of the city including the River Seine is a UNESCO World Heritage Site The city has the second highest number of Michélin-restaurants in the world (after Tokyo) and contain numerous iconic landmarks such as the world's most visited tourist sight the Eiffel Tower the Arc de Triomphe the Notre-Dame Cathedral the Louvre Museum Moulin Rouge Lido etc making it the most popular tourist destination in the world with 45 million tourists annually Central Paris is officially divided into 20 districts called arrondissements numbered from 1 to 20 in a clockwise spiral from the centre of the city (known as Kilometre Zero and is located at the front of Notre Dame) Arrondissements are named according to their number You might for paris hotels cheap example stay in the "5th" which would be written as 5e (SANK-ee-emm) in French The 12th and 16th arrondissements include large suburban parks the Bois de Vincennes and the Bois de Boulogne respectively The very best map you can get for Paris is called "Paris Pratique par Arrondissement" which you can buy for about €3-5 at any news stand It makes navigating the city easy- so much that one can imagine that the introduction of such map-books might be paris hotels cheap part of what made the arrondissement concept so popular in the first place Alternately you can print your own using our maps The various tourist information centres and hotels in Paris also provide various city and metro maps for free and which have all the necessary details for a tourist One of the best value and most convenient ways to see the sights of Paris is with the Paris Museum Pass (previously known as Carte Musées et Monuments) a pre-paid entry card that allows entry into paris hotels cheap over 70 museums and monuments around Paris and comes in 2-day (€32) 4-day (€48) and 6-day (€64) denominations (prices as of Jun 2010) Note these are consecutive days The card allows you to jump otherwise sometimes lengthy queues and is available from participating museums tourist offices Fnac branches and all the main Métro and RER train stations You will still need to pay to enter most special exhibitions For best results and to avoid having to wait in the first long queue to purchase the Museum Pass stop to purchase your pass at paris hotels cheap one of the smaller museums or sites covered or at one of the non-museum purchase points The day you purchase the pass does not have to count as one of the days; you specify on the pass the first date of use and the days covered are consecutive after that Do not write your start date until you are certain you will use the pass that day Be careful to use the European date style as indicated on the card (day/month/year) Note that most museums and galleries are closed on either Monday or Tuesday - check ahead to avoid disappointment! - and most ticket paris hotels cheap counters close 30-45 min before final closing Louvre museum is closed on Tuesdays while Orsay museum is closed on Mondays good to know when setting visit plans Also consider the ParisPass also a pre paid entry card + queue jumping to 60 attractions including The Louvre The Arc de Triomphe as well as a river cruise and allows free metro & public transport travel Also note a cheaper alternative with this new combined pass available since September 2008 is the Paris ComboPass® which comes in Lite/Premium versions All national museums are open free of charge on the first Sunday of the month; note however that this may mean long lines and crowded exhibits Keep away from Paris during Easter week It's really crowded People have to queue up at the Eiffel tower for several hours Entry to the paris hotels cheap permanent exhibitions at city-run museums is free at all times (admission is charged for temporary exhibitions) These listings are just some highlights of things that you really should see if you can during your visit to Paris The complete listings are found on each individual district page (follow the link in parenthesis) Good listings of almost everything to do in Paris can be found in 'Pariscope' or 'Officiel des spectacles' weekly magazines listing all concerts art exhibitions films stage plays and museums Available from all kiosks Paris is one of the great fashion centres of the Western world up there with New York London and Milan making it a shopper's delight While the Paris fashion scene is constantly evolving the major shopping centres tend to be the same High end couture can be found in the 8th arrondisement In summer there is paris hotels cheap nothing better than browsing the boutiques along Canal St-Martin or strolling along the impressive arcades of the historic Palais-Royal with beautifully wrapped purchases swinging on each arm A good note about Le Marais is that as it is a mostly Jewish neighborhood most of the shops in Le Marais are open on Sundays The stores in this area are paris hotels cheap intimate and boutique manifesting as particularly "Parisian" style clothing stores You will no doubt find something along each street and is always well worth the look Other great areas to shop around in are around the area Sèvres Babylone (Métro Line 10 and Line 12) It is in this area you will find afore mentioned Le Bon Marchée 7th particularly rue de Cherche Midi 6th The area houses some of the major fashion houses (Chanel Jean Paul Gaultier Versace etc) and also has smaller private boutiques with handmade clothing In the Quartier Saint-Germain-des-Prés you can find a handful of paris hotels cheap vintage clothing shops carrying anything from couture early 20th century dresses to 70s Chanel sunglasses Walking along Boulevard Saint-Germain you will find major brands However if in search of eclectic finds opt to walk the northern side of the Boulevard especially along rue Saint André des Arts where you can always find a nice café to stop in The area south of Saint-Germain is just as nice and comes with a price tag to match Paris is one of Europe's culinary centres The restaurant trade began here just over 220 years ago and continues to thrive It may however come as a surprise that Paris isn't considered the culinary capital of France rather some people prefer the French cooking found in small rural restaurants outside of the city closer to the farms and with their paris hotels cheap focus on freshness and regional specialities Even amongst French cities Paris has long been considered by some people as second to Lyon for fine dining There have been other challenges in the last 20 years or so as restaurateurs in places like San Francisco and Sydney briefly surpassed their Parisian fore bearers again with an emphasis on freshness of ingredients but also borrowings from other cuisines Parisian cooks didn't just rest on paris hotels cheap their laurels during this time rather they travelled taught and studied and together with Paris's own immigrant communities have revitalized the restaurant trade Today you can find hundreds of beautiful restaurants with thoughtful (or just trendy) interior design and well-planned and executed cartes and menus offering a creative mélange of French and exotic foreign cuisines It's safe to say that Paris is once again catching up with or edging ahead of its Anglophone rivals When you are looking for a restaurant in Paris be a little careful of those where the staff readily speak English These restaurants are usually - but not always - geared towards tourists It does make a difference in the staff's service and behaviour whether they expect you to return or not Sometimes the advertised fixed price tourist menus (€10-15) are a good deal If you're interested in the really good and more authentic paris hotels cheap stuff (and if you have learned some words of French) try one of the small bistro where the French go during lunch time