Visa for Paris

U.S. citizens traveling on regular passports do not need a visa for tourist or business travel to this country for stays up to 90 days.

The period of stay for US citizens visiting the Schengen states is a total of three months cumulative stay in the combined member states during any six months period. The Schengen member states include Austria, Belgium,Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden.
A valid U.S. Passport is required.

Visa is required for Official and Diplomatic passport holders.

Any other U.S. citizen who wishes to travel to France for any purpose other than tourism or business negotiations (e.g. work, study, adoption, immigration, or stays longer than stipulated in the entry requirements) should contact directly, the embassy or nearest consulate.

VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR NON-U.S. CITIZENS TO ENTER FRANCE

TDS may not able to assist with expediting visas to France, other than for foreign nationals who are permanently residing in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, or the District of Columbia.

For those nationals required to obtain a visa to enter France, submit the following documents:
Submit your Passport, must have at least 3 months remaining validity

2 Visa application forms, completed and signed
2 recent Passport-type photographs
Completed Cover Page (print from browser)
Copy of round trip airline tickets
Proof of Accommodations:
For Tourist Visa: Copy of hotel confirmation or proof or registration with an organized tour
For Business Visa: Copy of hotel confirmation
For Family Visit: Certificate of Lodging, issued by the city hall, of the city to be visited in France
Proof of sufficient funds for support (ie: copy of recent bank statement or letter of reference from bank)
Proof of legal residence in USA (ie: copy of Green Card, both sides)
Proof of travel insurance with worldwide coverage for emergency medical situations as well as urgent medical and hospitalization care. The minimum coverage must exceed USD30,000.
For a child under 18, if not accompanied by both parents, notarized parental consent letter signed by both parents required

For Business: Letter from the employer explaining purpose of travel, reference in France, and guaranteeing travel expenses and return transportation (more…)

Museums of Paris

Some of the best historic collections in France can be seen in the hundreds Paris museums and complexes. Many of these collections are located right in the heart of the city, housed in beautiful buildings.

Musee Rodin
This 18th-century former hotel is where Auguste Rodin once lived and many of his works are housed here. The museum and the large garden may be visited separately. The magnificent garden contains more than 2,000 rose bushes.

Museum open: April to September, Tuesday to Sunday - 09:30 to 17:45
October to March, Tuesday to Sunday - 09:30 to 16:45

Musee Carnavalet - 23 Rue de Sevigne, Paris

This museum is dedicated to the history of Paris through to modern times, and is housed in two adjacent historic mansions. which were formerly hotels. There is a very interesting section devoted to the Revolution which includes models of guillotines, execution orders, and objects used by the royal family during their final days.

Museum open: daily - 10:00 to 17:40, closed Mondays and bank holidays

Musee de Notre Dame - 10, Rue du Cloître Notre Dame, Paris

Charting the history of the world-famous Notre Dame Cathedral with numerous paintings, engravings, medallions and other objects and documents.

Museum open: 14:30 to 18:00, closed - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

Musee de la Mode et du Costume de la Ville de Paris - 10 Avenue Pierre-Ier de Serbie, Paris

Housed in Palais Galliera, this museum features a collection of French costume and fashion accessories from the 18th century to the present day.
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Weather in Paris

The weather for Paris during the summer is usually warm and dry. Paris in the springtime is a wonderful time to visit although it can be wet at times. The autumnal shades of trees lining the boulevards add a new dimension to the city’s beauty. During the winter months it can get quite cold with December and January being the coldest months with temperatures around 3ºC / 37ºF.

Paris Excursions

For a Half Day

Chateau de Versailles: No sooner had Louis XIV set eyes on his finance minister’s chateau at Vaux-le-Victomte, than he decided to build a bigger and better one. The result is one of the three most visited monuments in France. Construction began in 1664, continuing until Louis XIV’s death in 1715. Much of the palace can only be visited with a guide, with the notable exception of the 73m (240ft) Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors), where the Treaty of Versailles was signed, effectively bringing World War I to an end. It is worth queuing for a guided tour, if only to recapture the ritualistic atmosphere of the reign of the Sun King, whose actions were considered as miraculous as the movements of the sun itself. The honoured elite among the 20,000 courtiers and royal ministers were obliged to relocate to the palace and observed these banal rituals with awe.

Entry to the chateau state apartments . There is the option of a one-hour guided visit of the King’s Chamber (audio tour), which costs €4. The chateau and gardens are set in a landscaped park, designed by Le Notre, which is open daily, except during bad weather, from 0700 in summer and 0800 in winter until sunset. Admission to the park is free, although entry to the formal gardens costs €3 (free in winter months).

There are also guided tours of the garden for an extra €5. The chateau itself is open Tuesday to Sunday 0900-1730 (until 1830 from April to October). The grounds are so large that a little train chugs from the palace to the former royal love nests - the Grand and Petit Trianons (open daily 1200-1730 - until 1830 from April to October).

The Italianate Grand Trianon was built in 1687, for Louis XIV to enjoy the company of Madame de Maintenon. Napoleon also had a penchant for this building, which is on a somewhat more human scale than the chateau, and stayed there with Marie-Louise. Louis XV had Gabriel build the Petit Trianon in the 1760s, for his mistress, Madame de Pompadour. Admission costs €5 to the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon combined. The chateau (and everything on site) is free to everyone on the first Sunday of the month from November to March. Versailles is located 23km (14 miles) west of the city and is easily accessible from central Paris on the RER line C5 to Versailles-Rive Gauche.

For a Whole Day

Giverny: Monet lived in countrified Giverny, located 80km (50 miles) northwest of Paris, from 1883 until his death in 1926. The house, in which he painted his last, vast water lily canvas, is open to the public as Musee Claude Monet. Although the house retains much of its charm, the artist’s studio is now a large and over-commercialised gift shop - Monet is, after all, big business. Although many of the original paintings are now at the Musee d’Orsay, the inspiration behind them remains here - the famed water lily pond and Japanese footbridges. The museum, 84 rue Claude Monet, is open from Tuesday to Sunday 0930-1800 (April to October). Admission prices are €5.50 for the house and garden or €4 for the gardens only.

A few minutes away, in 99 rue Claude Monet, the Musee d’Art Americain , is a shrine to Monet-influenced American artists, such as Winslow Homer and Mary Cassatt. Opening hours are from Tuesday to Sunday 1000-1800 (April to October) and admission costs €5.50.

By car, visitors should take the A13 runs from Paris to Bonnieres onto the D201 to Giverny. Alternatively, the train from Gare St-Lazare station goes to Vernon, from where visitors should take a taxi or bus to Giverny.

Culture of Paris

Parisians are almost as passionate about their culture as they are about their restaurants. The French government takes art and culture very seriously, pumping money into the arts, supporting French cinema against Hollywood imports, and embarking on grandiose grands travaux, such as the new Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Quai François-Mauriac. The Opera Bastille (see Music below) opened in 1989, on the bicentennial of Bastille Day, although the merit of its architecture and the quality of its productions have since been questioned.

Major venues, in addition to those detailed below, include the Palais des Congres, 2 place de la Porte-Maillot, 17th, for opera, ballet and pop-star performances, and the enormous Palais des Sports, Porte de Versailles, 15th.

Tickets for concerts of all kinds can be purchased at FNAC Forum des Halles, 1 rue Pierre Lescot, 1st , or FNAC Musique, 2 rue Charenton, 12th . There is also the Carrousel du Louvre, 99 rue de Rivoli, 1st , located directly beneath the Louvre, or Virgin Megastore, 52 avenue des Champs-Elysees, 8th. However long the queue, ticket touts at the Opera and concert venues are to be avoided due to high prices and the prevalence of worthless fake tickets.

Listings are to be found in Pariscope and L’Officiel des Spectacles. Classical concerts are listed in the monthly Le Monde de la Musique.

Music: The Paris Opera performs ballet and opera at the Opera Garnier, place de l’Opera, 9th and Opera Bastille, place de la Bastille, 12th (Tickets cost €30-110). Large opera productions are also performed at the Chatelet Theatre Musical de Paris, 1 place du Chatelet, 1st . The varied programme at the Cite de la Musique, at La Villette , is strongest in contemporary music and home to the internationally renowned Ensemble Intercontemporain (website: www.ensembleinter.com). It also features ancient music, jazz, chansons and world music. The Cite has two important venues - the Conservatoire National de Musique, 209 avenue Jean Jaures, 19th , and the Salle des Concerts, 221 avenue Jean Jaures, 19th (tel: (01) 4484 4484). Big names in French contemporary and experimental classical music to listen out for are Pierre Boulez, Pascal Dusapin and Luc Ferrarie.

A series of orchestras, including the Orchestre Colonne (website: www.orchestrecolonne.fr), Orchestre Lamoureux and Orchestre de Paris are based at Salle Pleyel, 252 rue du Faubourg-St-Honore, 8th. Other prestigious venues for classical music include the Salle Gaveau, 45 rue de la Boetie, 8th (, Theatre des Champs-Elysees, 15 avenue Montaigne, 8th , and the Theatre Musical de Paris, 1 place du Chatelet, 1st .

Theatre: The Comedie Française, 1 place de Colette, 1st , is the national theatre, renowned for its production of the classics. Theatre National de la Colline, 15 rue Malte-Brun, 20th , plays contemporary French drama. New talent is sought out at fringe theatres, such as Guichet-Montparnasse, 15 rue du Maine, 14th . Peter Brook is based at the Bouffes du Nord, 37 bis boulevard de la Chapelle, 10th . The Odeon, 1 place de l’Odeon, 6th , hosts foreign-language productions.
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Nightlife in Paris

The temptation to make a beeline for the Champs-Elysees and Trocadero should be avoided unless visitors want to end up crammed alongside fellow tourists in overpriced bars with large egos but little atmosphere. The livelier action has now moved on to the likes of bustling Bastille, which may have been deserted by the real local cognoscenti, but still boasts plenty of colourful small bars, popular clubs and unique little drinking dens.

These days anyone wanting to really mix it with the style crowd and have an ‘authentic’ Parisian night out should break east to raffish Menilmontant, which boasts an increasingly sophisticated and eclectic nightlife scene that was kicked off by the legendary Cafe Charbon on rue de Oberkampf, a street now overflowing with bars. The smart money is on Belleville being the next new ‘in’ place, though the scene in this rough-around-the-edges part of town is far less obvious and it is just that bit further from the centre.

Back in the heart of the city, the Marais has managed an impressive renaissance of late and now offers plenty of bars, chic cafes and a perhaps surprisingly active gay and lesbian scene. Pigalle is the seedy sex centre of Paris but home to some good music venues and the Moulin Rouge cabaret, 82 boulevard Clichy, 18th, where the cancan is still performed.

The minimum legal age for drinking alcohol (beer and wine) is 16 years of age, rising to 18 years for stronger drinks and spirits. The average price of a drink while out and about in Paris is €4, although prices can vary dramatically depending on the location. Bars are usually licensed until 0100 but this does vary according to the individual venue and area. Bouncers frequently turn potential punters away and many of the smarter clubs are (or claim to be) private. There is no sure way of gaining admission, although being foreign, dressed identically to everyone inside, accompanied by a regular or simply beautiful helps. Admission prices (usually around €15-20) often include one free drink. Clubs open at around 2300 and tend not to close until dawn; it is coolest to arrive around 0300, or at least after midnight.

Pariscope is one of the best sources of information for nightlife listings.

Bars: The lines between cafes and bars in Paris are very blurred with cafes where you can settle in with a beer and a croissant for breakfast and bars when you can enjoy a late night sandwich along with your cocktail. The 1990s craze for Irish and British pubs has to some extent run its course with the new focus on more funky and interesting bars that have more in common with East Berlin than the East End of London. With the exception of Anglo/Irish bars, beers on tap (biere a la pression) are normally served as a demi (25cl).

The once trendy Buddha Bar, 8 bis rue Boissy d’Anglas, 8th, has lost much of its shine, with the bars in Menilmontant now the place to see and be seen. Cafe Charbon, 109 rue Oberkampf, 11th, the bar that kicked the rejuvenation of the area is still going strong and has stayed at the head of the game by adding a club venue, while Le Mecano Bar, 99 rue Oberkampf, 11th, so called because of its toolbox decor, is one of most popular bars in the area with a grungy feel. Nearby Lou Pascalou, 14 rue des Panoyaux, 20th, is a relaxed place to hang out with some of the most unusual toilets in the city. The scene in Menilmontant is constantly evolving so visitors are advised to just wander around rue de Oberkampf and explore some its side streets for the latest ‘in’ bar.

The Marais (3rd and 4th) is packed with a happy melange of gay and straight bars. Vibrant gay bars include the Coffe Shop, 3 rue Ste-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie, and Amnesia, 42 rue Vieille-du-Temple, 4th. Le Central, 33 rue Vieille-du-Temple, 4th, is one of the city’s oldest gay bars, with a more sedate clientele. Paris’ sole gay-only hotel is situated above the cafe. There are also a number of quirky little straight bars in and around rue Vieille-du-Temple, including La Chaise au Plafond, 10 rue du Tresor, 4th, with its ceiling decorated with Frisian cows and a lovely terrace, Au Petit Fer a Cheval, 30 rue Vieille-du-Temple, 4th, named after its huge horseshoe-shaped bar, and L’Etoile Manquante, 30 rue Vieille-du-Temple, 4th. Also in the Marais is the Web Bar, 32 rue de Picardie, 3rd, a silversmith’s atelier turned into a hip but relaxing cybernet haunt. (more…)