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SPEND ALMOST A WEEK IN PARIS FOR LESS THAN $600 INCLUDES AIR

THE REAL DEAL 1. Five Days in Paris from $545 with Airfare Visit Paris with TourCrafters' five-day/four-night Paris “City Break” starting at $545. The package includes round-trip airfare from New York (JFK) or Boston, four nights' accommodations at the Mouffetard Comfort Inn, and daily buffet breakfast. The hotel is located on the Left Bank's picturesque rue Mouffetard, one of Paris’ oldest and liveliest neighborhoods. You can even extend the trip for two nights at the Grand Hotel Florence in Nice for $269 per person, including round-trip air. This deal is valid for travel through February, then increases to $620 per person for travel through March 13. For more information go online or call 800 482 5995.

PHOTO GALLERY 2. Left Bank’s Shakespeare and Company “Whenever I visit Paris, one of the first places I always go is the marvelous Left Bank bookstore, Shakespeare and Company," says photographer Catherine Karnow, who shot “Authentic Paris” in the March 2008 issue of Traveler. American expat George Whitman opened the landmark bookstore, which is tucked away in the shadow of Notre Dame Cathedral, in 1951. "The shop is in an ancient building of creaky floors and crooked stairs," says Karnow. "There are hundreds of books and old leather armchairs where you can read for hours. If it is a Sunday, most likely there will be a poetry reading and tea in the same room where writers such as Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller have read their works. One can even stay there for free, as I did once in 1981—but you do get what you pay for. I woke up to find myself covered in bedbug bites!" Click here for more photos from the City of Light.

PLACES OF A LIFETIME 3. My Paris “My pleasure in Paris was tentative, almost embryonic at first, for I was just beginning to appreciate its contours and almost hidden pleasures, and why it was so different from the world—and the cities—that I knew best,” writes Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam in “My Paris.” “In America new was always better than old; in Paris old was always better than new. In the New World big was always better than small; in Paris there was a quiet celebration of all things small. In the New World time was of the essence; but in Paris life was of the essence—one should rush through absolutely nothing, most particularly lunch.” To read the rest of David’s essay or browse Paris’ best hotels, restaurants, and entertainment, click here.

INTELLIGENT TRAVEL 4. Sleep Like a Parisian "Searching online for budget hotels in Paris could have been easy enough, but reading user reviews was brutal. I could handle tiny rooms and appreciate off-the-beaten-path neighborhoods, but bedbugs and paper-thin walls? Non, merci," writes Traveler researcher Katie Knorovsky about her search for honeymoon accommodations. "So after weeks of drowning in scathing reviews on TripAdvisor, my fiancé and I opted instead for more uncharted (or at least less-reviewed) territory: renting a privately owned apartment. The experience had its quirks, to be sure, but none that overshadowed the thrill of slipping a key into the door on an ordinary façade in Montmartre, filled with real Parisians living their lives all around us. Plus, our tiny home-away-from-home had a kitchen (albeit proportionately teensy) stocked with a few essentials like a coffeemaker and corkscrew, and paintings by the apartment’s artist-owner hung on the walls. The only downside? Lodging like a local might mean closer proximity to other apartment-dwellers, but at least for us, it meant less interaction with others, too. Perfect, perhaps, for a honeymoon, but a bummer if you’re looking to mingle. Then I read about Pour Vous Paris, a group of Parisians looking to host travelers in their homes for modest prices and take them on neighborhood walking tours, shopping excursions, and even on picnics and crêpes soirées—all for free (that is, after paying a small annual membership fee)." Read more on Paris from Intelligent Travel.

WALKING TOUR 5. Paris’ Seine River Islands Walking Tour The islands are the heart of medieval Paris. The lively, bustling Île de la Cité is crammed with architectural gems, such as the magnificent Notre-Dame cathedral. In striking contrast, the smaller, quieter Île St.-Louis offers a peaceful village atmosphere, its shaded embankment lined with elegant private mansions standing as silent witnesses to a bygone era. Click here for a downloadable map, a full walking tour, and more.

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