The number one site for those who love France.

I moved to Paris from Washington DC for a one year project and I never left. I fell in love with the city and France and it's now my home. I have created this Web site to tell you all about the best of Paris and some of the inside deals and secrets I've learned during the past eighteen years. - Karen Fawcett, BonjourParis.com President

 

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Premium Membership in BonjourParis.com gives you exclusive inside access to some of the best Paris and France have to offer. If you are traveling to France or just love French food, culture, and style Premium Membership in BonjourParis.com will give you exclusive discounts, articles, and insight you can not get anywhere else.

"Bonjour Paris, www.bonjourparis.com, is one of the most comprehensive and fun sites about life in Paris, written from an American-expatriate point of view. You can also subscribe to a regular e-newsletter."
- Frommer’s Paris 2005

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How informed and up-to-date is our information?
USAToday has been coming to us for the past 6 years to write their Paris City Guide; as well, we’ve been contacted, annually, for consultations by such biggies as: Frommers, the Savvy Traveler, Paris for Dummies, etc. And now we’d like to introduce ourselves to you.

“Why not slip into the French groove BEFORE your plane lands? And stay there long after your visit? That's what BP does for me. The newsletter makes Paris and the rest of France seem so much closer. And that's all to the good.”

- Rudy Maxa, host & Co-Executive Producer of public television's 52-part series, "Smart Travels: Europe with Rudy Maxa” and the "Savvy Traveler"

These discounts, included in your Premium Membership, add up to a total value of over $600 (far in excess of the $35 membership):

$30+ Value: 3-Star Left Bank Hotel du Danube in St-Germain-des-Prés: 10% off (3 nights minimum) www.hoteldanube.net

$220+ Value for 2: on Luxury Barge in Burgundy: 5% off www.francebybarge.com

$50+ Value: Day of Decadence Shopping Tour: 10% discount

$30+ Value: 3-Star Right Bank Hotel Britannique in Paris Center: 10% off www.hotel-britannique.com

$5+ Value: 4 roues sous 1 parapluie: 10% off 4roues-sous-1parapluie.com

$96+ Value: 4-Star Luxury Left Bank Hotel Crillon: 16% off www.crillon.com

$50+ Value: 4-Star Left Bank Hotel Villa d'Estrees in St-Germain-des-Prés: 15% off and a VIP treatment, including a first day Museum Pass www.paris-hotel-latin-quarter.com

$30+ Value: Auto Europe: $30+ Value - 5% off auto rental and hotel bookings (Value assuming typical one week car rental and three nights hotel booking) www.autoeurope.com

$20+ Value: zChocolate: 20% off a first order (over $100) www.zchocolate.com

$30+ Value: MedJet 10% off travel insurance (if you’re ever hospitalized more than 150 miles from home, MedJet will fly you to the hospital of your choice at no charge in a medically equipped and staffed aircraft). www.medjetassist.com

$38+ Value: 4-Star Left Bank Hotel D’abusson in St-Germain-des-Prés: 10% off www.hoteldaubusson.com

$40+ Value for 2: French Wine Tours: 10% discount www.wine-liaisons.com

 

To enhance our columns, we also offer a wide-range of variety. Take a look at just some of the stories we’ve published recently:

Hotels and how to find yours
Paris travelers are either very fidèle (faithful) or they hotel hop as they look for one they can call “home.” Considering the hundreds of hotels in the City of Light, which have been built or renovated in the past few years, the hotel you loved during your last trip might not bear any resemblance to its former self.

Where do Chefs Eat?
“I want to forget I’m a chef when I go to a restaurant, chat with my friends such as Christopher Cussac over a plate of asparagus, or freshly caught sardines, at La Table de Robuchon.” Christophe’s cooking sparkles, as does the Jacques Garcia décor.

Hôtel Caron de Beaumarchais
The minute I stepped inside Hôtel Caron de Beaumarchais, located in the heart of the Marais in Paris’ fourth arrondissement, I thought I was at the wrong address. I was mentally prepared to see the usual snooty doorman and cookie-cutter lobby furniture combo typical of many other three-star hotels, but the crackling fireplace, harp, and 18th- century card table that greet guests of the Beaumarchais look more like the inside of a private home than a hotel designed for tourists.

Hotel Résidence Foch : A Quiet Night in Paris
The lobby at the Hotel Résidence Foch is typical of most small Parisian hotels : clean, cozy, but nothing too fancy. What really makes this three-star hotel special, however, is the obvious care that the owner, Nelly Roland, takes in making each of its 25 rooms unique. Tucked into a side street off the Avenue Foch, near the Bois de Boulogne, the Hotel Résidence Foch gives you a good deal for your money in a pleasant, charming, and quiet hotel.

Wine-Tasting in Paris: Cracking the French Wine Code
“So what do you think about this wine’s legs?” Before spending my Wednesday afternoon at an informal wine tasting, I probably would have giggled in response to such a question. However, after just a few hours with Olivier – a friendly, English-speaking wine connoisseur – I now not only know why somebody would ask that question in the first place, but also what the possible answers could mean.

Geek Chic - Touring Paris on a Segue
In Paris, tours are a dime a dozen. Each offers its own twist on history, culture or theme, but few can actually deliver a tour that’s radically different from its competitors. Enter the City Segway Tour, the newest and coolest way to experience the City of Light. Instead of taking the standard double-decker bus sightseeing route, climb aboard a Segway Human Transporter and whiz past tourists on foot for a view of the city you’ll never forget.

The Creuse: France's Green Heart
It's a Sunday in early March and Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary have just sat down to lunch with their two teenage children when Mr. Ordinary broaches the dreaded question: where do we want to go on holiday this
year?

Plume Plume
Been missing the exquisitely romantic lately? Plume Plume is just the eye candy for you. (And oh so French!) Open only for two weeks now, this is the La Durée of accessories.

Do you like the French?
OK, OK, I just can’t take it anymore. Every time I am preparing to go to France, at least one of my friends or relatives pipes up with something along the lines of “Why are you going to France? They are so rude. And anyway, they don’t like Americans.” I have smiled gamely and dismissed such remarks for several years now, but lately I have observed that the disease is spreading.

Barging in France
Like a good book, where you know by the first paragraph that you don’t want to get to the last page, the Luciole has you lamenting, upon first entering, the day you must disembark. You’ll feel as if you are visiting friends on their boat for the week; friends who have wanted you to visit for many years and are so glad that you’ve finally arrived that they will do anything to pamper you.

Touring Paris in a Citroen
As I wandering back to our apartment one afternoon during a recent week in Paris, I spotted a charming-looking Citroen 2CV driving down our street and took a quick picture of it with my new camera.

A Guide to Paris Guidebooks
Planning a trip to Paris but you're confused about all the guidebooks? Let Larry Guzman take the guess-work out of which one is right for you.

How to rent an apartment in Paris
So, you’ve decided to rent an apartment in France. You feel less like a tourist and are excited to see Paris through new eyes, the windows of your very own Parisian residence. Beware: buying a small dog and learning to properly tie a scarf does not make you a Parisian--more like, a tolerated American visitor. It’s important that you take a moment, drown out the Edith Piaf melody and concentrate on the rules that will help you obtain your apartment rental fairly and successfully…and avoid getting screwed over simply because you are an American and, as the French say, "American’s don’t speak other languages." Learn to speak this one.

The rara avis La Cagouille
Perhaps one of the most charming (and funny) Frenchmen to be found in all of Paris is André Robert. He, along with his partner, Gerard Allemandou, owns the rara avis La Cagouille. Unique as in how? This is not a classical French restaurant where you’ll be whipped up the fanciest potato pureé in town, along with a tasty lamb with crisped, tempurad onions swirling up artfully to the sky, and foie gras presented on toast points with little cubes of duck broth jelly.

The Unbearable Lightness of Packing
It is always the shoes that kill my idea of packing light for Paris. The shoes for walking around the cobblestone streets of the Marais during the day. The shoes for going to the Buddha Bar at night. And what about the shoes for strolling by the Seine?

How to Dress French
You can spot them from a mile away. The women who are not French. The tourists from Europe and Asia. The Americans became the easiest to spot after a week in Paris. The American women I saw had obviously dedicated time to get dressed.

First-timer
The day that I made the decision to move to Paris by this year’s end, I didn’t tell a soul. That was nearly one year ago. In fact, it wasn’t until just a few months ago that I let my closest friends and family in on my little secret.

Shopping 101
One of the many joys of visiting France is the opportunity to shop for things not easy to find here in the U.S.—or to find at all, in some cases. So I always take a foldable suitcase (and rolls of bubble wrap) with for shopping, because years ago I learned the Traveler’s Axiom: buy it when you find it, because chances are you’ll never see it again.

French Design: The latest in contemporary architecture at La Galerie d'Architecture
In search of new ideas or inspiration and want to witness the latest in contemporary architecture? La Galerie d'Architecture, situated in the heart of the Marais, is a unique space hosting temporary exhibitions on new and upcoming architects from all over Europe, Japan and the U.S.

On Rue Tatin
Chef and author Susan Herrmann Loomis has been up since 6:30 AM. She has already made a loaf of homemade sourdough bread this morning, using a special starter recipe from a farm in the Dordogne. One would never guess that this bona fide expert in French culinary tradition hailed from anywhere other than France.

Brive on a Budget
Gastronomy and low budget vacations don’t usually go hand in hand, but there’s a little gem about four hours from Paris that is worthy of any weekend getaway…

Up, Up and Away
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a hot-air balloon. Wishing to see the French countryside from a different perspective, I jumped at the chance to head up in a hot-air balloon.

Hotel Napoleon reviewed
Just imagine: if a beautiful art student living in Paris in 1928 had been given a more traditional gift, such as adiamond necklace, by her husband rather than a residence building, we would not have the Hôtel Napoléon Paris. The Napoléon Paris is still owned by the same family that created this hotel back in the 1920’s, and you can feel the history. But beyond the ambience, you won’t find a better view of Paris. Where else you can see the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower from your bed?

Dances with dog
“ Just as you learned to speak French, you must learn to speak dog” the dog trainer tells me, in French. Learning how to speak French was one of the hardest things I ever did, but learning to speak dog does not seem too easy partly because it involves speaking dog with a French accent and making sounds with parts of my throat that are unused by American speech.

Rue de Commerce - Shopper's Delight
Shop the 15th. The 15th? Oui, oui! Avoid the tourists and the running around and shop where the locals do. If you have limited time in Paris and want to bring home the booty, Rue de Commerce is the little street that could.

Domaine du Tariquet - Gascony in a Glass
One of the many benefits of cultivating your interest in wine, and even starting your own wine cellar, is that you are able to follow the fortunes of wines and spirits that you have enjoyed. You don't have to start over every time that you go into a wine store. There will often be some wines that you have previously liked (or been disappointed in). Sometimes you may want to see how a favorite wine compares with other wines from the same region in the same year.

Les Tripettes de Barjols - Anne-Marie Simons
It's winter in Provence, but that doesn't stop the feasts. Anne-Marie Simons takes us to the Fête de St. Marcel in the small Haut Var town of Barjols.

Do we only review the best?

As much as we try to focus on the best for you, we know that even a beautiful country can have glitches, so we tell you where to steer clear from in order not to spend your bucks shamelessly on a place you’ll wish you’d never visited. Forget Guide books that have to fill in the blanks, and often one writer is borrowing from another. If we don’t think you should take the Montmartre Funicular (and we don’t), we’ll tell you. If we actually think visiting Bercy Village is worth your time (we do) and every other guide is telling you to steer away, we’ll clear the matter up immediately, and in great detail.

Looking for good deals on Air Fares, Train Travel and Tours?

When we have the breaking news, we break it to you first. And often we go out and make it happen. In fact, if you find a tour you’d on which you’d like to obtain a discount, let us know and we’ll ask!

So what’s next?

You, we hope! We look forward to having you join us in your new online Francophile home. Pull up your armchair, subscribe and start exploring France online, right away.

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