graduation trip

Two moms with our 18 year old daughters are out to see Paris for five days in May. We want to stay somewhere that will be reasonably safe at night but full of activity near a metro. Any suggestions about areas to look into?

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I love the 5 th and the 6 Er., especially for two 18 year olds it is a great place!

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I think the 5th would be your best bet.

I stayed there 4 times in the past 5 years.

You can walk across the Seine easily, there

are numerous things to see (my favorites in the

5th are the Cluny Museum and rue Mouffetard).

The metyro is lose at hand. I had no worries

about safety there.

The night is full of activities near the Seine.

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The north part of the 5th tends to be busier and a bit too urban for my personal taste, but I love the area around the Pantheon and the rue Mouffetard.

My personal prejudice would be for the 6th, near the St Germain des Pres Metro. There is a lively cafe scene at night, lots of great teen shoping on the rue de Rennes and you are central to pretty much everything.

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I am a huge fan of the north side of the 5th and stay on the Blvd St Michel almost every trip. The area around the Place St Michel is quite lively, there is a McDonald%26#39;s, 50 or so inexpensive restos, easy Metro access, shopping, a short walk across the Seine to Ile de la Cite, Notre Dame, etc., a Starbucks on Blvd St Germaine just 5 minutes walk from where St Michel/St Germain cross, and lots of Sorbonne students everywhere. I have traveled with high school students several times, so I mention McDonald%26#39;s and Starbucks not to get beaten up, but because I am aware that they are extremely popular with 18 y/o%26#39;s...even in Paris.

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I took my graduating senior daughter last summer, along with her 15-year-old sister. We absolutely loved staying near the Eiffel Tower. Actually, we were about 1 min. from the Ecole Militaire metro stop - very convenient for sightseeing. On our return to Paris at the end of the trip, we chose a different area of Paris, just to experience different places and wished we had gone back to the Ecole Militaire/Rue Cler area. It just felt so Parisian - the girls absolutely loved it. Our 103 euro triple room in the Hotel de Turenne was located in the roof - like a garret and had huge windows with an Eiffel Tower view. The area was filled with flowers and trees and had tons of little markets, cafes and boulangeries on every corner. The market (Shopi) next to the metro has a great lunch special on some days - 4 euros for a baguette sandwich, pastry and drink. We were out well after dark every night and felt completely safe. The Champ du Mars and Eiffel Tower were just a short walk away and we visited it and picnicked there several times.

The trip favorites of my daughters: baguettes, the Latin Quarter in the evenings(lots of Greek gyro shops and interesting street entertainers ), picnicking at the Eiffel Tower, Nutella crepes, and shopping on the Champs Elysees (Promod, Etam and Sephora). I checked out a couple of stores carrying young, trendy fashions on the internet and discovered that we could afford a couple of them. Promod is located on the Champs Elysees and has fashions and prices similar to Lerner NY and Express. Real cute stuff that the girls loved (spent their own money!) I was the hero of the day, because since I had checked Promod out, I knew we could afford it. When we were walking down the Champs, window shopping at all the expensive stores, we came to Promod and I said (very nonchalantly), %26quot;Hey, you want to do some shopping?%26quot; It was a hit! Etam also has reasonable prices. Sephora has all manner of neat makeup, perfume and bath-like stuff.

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I vote for the 5th, Latin Quarter. My 18 year old went with me in the fall and loved it! The area is very safe at night. There are narrow pedestrian streets, street markets, shops, great cafes and a good night life too. The area around the Eiffel tower does not feel as safe, there are fewer metros in the area and not much going on at night as far as night life, so I am going to steer you away from that area. I am sure Softballmom knows what she is talking about and had a great time, but may not have anything to compare it to (by staying in the Latin quarter before), so I am just comparing the areas.

Keep in mind a lot of small charming hotels in the 5th do not have air conditioning. This is not a huge problem if you can open your window to a relatively quiet street.

Best of luck!