December 24, 2003 - We've said it before and we'll say it again, off-season travel equals great savings for you. Our proof? We present you with exhibit A: several offers to the City of Light in deep winter for under $100 a day.
Leading the pack are Go-Today and Octopus Travel, both offering combos starting from $379 per person based on double occupancy and before any additional fees and taxes. Go-Today just extended its deadline (originally set to expire on December 22), so now you have until January 9, 2004 to book for Tuesday and Wednesday departures between January 11 to February 23. The bundled deal includes your roundtrip airfare, six nights' accommodations in the barebones tourist-class Timhotel Gare Du Nord located in the 10th Arrondisement (you can see a picture of it at www.hello-paris-hotels.com/timhotel_nord/nord.htm), and morning meals. Taxes and fees run $119 per person and transfers to and from Paris airports is an additional $60; that makes the total $558 per person for your six nights. Weekend departures cost an extra $50 per person; single supplements run about $200 more. For more information, including additional costs for other gateways, go to www.gotoday.com/FR_FGPY.ASP.
Running neck and neck, Octopus Travel is also offering roundtrip airfare out of NYC or Newark, morning meals and six nights' stay, this time in the 66-room Hotel Mirific in the 17th Arrondisement, placing you farther out of the city center than Go-Today's pick. (Fair warning: space in the Mirific was quite limited at the time of this writing.) Travel dates are good through March 31, however, giving you more dates from which to choose. Additional costs include $94 for taxes per person and $200 for a single supplement. You're on your own in getting from the airport to your hotel, but you can click here to our information on how to get around Paris. For more details, go online to www.octopusvacations.com or call 877/330-7765.
For $20 more, consider Gate 1 Travel, which has a "6-Day Instant Purchase" package to Paris from $399 leaving on January 29 and February 5, 12 and 19 if you book by December 31. You get the roundtrip New York-Paris flights, four nights at the tourist class Lyon Bastille Hotel, and breakfast. This price is valid for flights from Boston, New York, Miami, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Add-on prices include $59 for more than 60 cities in the east and Midwest (e.g. Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Chicago), or $118 for flights from more than 40 cities in the west (e.g. Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco).
The Lyon Bastille Hotel is classified as Tourist Category, with only 48 rooms, in an older, six-floor building located not far from the Gare de Lyon, one of Paris' most popular train stations. Its general price range is between €93 and €125 (about $112-$150), and it's in the 12th Arrondissement. Standard room amenities include satellite TV, phone, minibar, hairdryer, safe and air-conditioning. Breakfast is served, but not other meals, and there is a lounge in the hotel.
Contact Gate1 Travel at 800/682-3333 or at www.gate1travel.com.
Finally, Picasso Tours, based in California, is offering roundtrip airfare from New York to Paris and lodging at for four nights from January 5 through March 31 starting from $399. Book by January 15. Children 12 and under can book at $299 when staying with their parents in the same room.
Picasso's choice of hotel is the three-star Ibis Paris Berthier in Porte de Clichy, about halfway between Montmartre and the Opera (each about two kilometers, just over a mile, in either direction) with 700 rooms, and though it was built in 1974, is was heavily renovated in 1997. Many of the rooms are bigger than some in older, smaller hotels used by different tour operators as noted above. In addition, you get amenities including a health club, swimming pool, whirlpool, sauna, steam room, 24-hour currency exchange, two restaurants, a lounge bar and babysitting services. You can book extra nights, too.
Some sample departures from other US gateways run as follows: $449 from Boston or Philadelphia, $474 from Atlanta and Washington, D.C., $499 from Chicago, $549 from Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles or Miami, and $574 from San Francisco, Phoenix or Seattle.
Contact Picasso Tours weekdays from 8 to 5:30 PST at 800/995-7997 or visit www.picassotours.com.