Paris

All your recommendations welcome and appreciated.   

Places to eat.

Must see places.

Cheap hotel/ hostel recomendations

Hiya

How long are you going for?

This might help you as well...

I have used these Passes before...London and Venice and it always works out very easy to use...when we go to London we get the one with travel anyways it may help you in Paris?

http://www.parispass.com/howItWorks.asp

Places to eat.

Benoit

La Closerie des Lilas

Chez Georges

Must see places.

Notre Dame

la Place des Vosges

les Champs Elysees

Montmartre/Sacre Coeur

Though a lot of this will depend on what you enjoy.

Cheap hotel/ hostel recomendations

What do you consider cheap?  There are lots of quite good quality mid-priced hotels in Paris (<100 euros). 

I'm going to Paris tomorrow, actually, and will be spending time with some locals so I may have more recommendations later

great thread, we are heading to Paris in April as well and looking for a great evening meal, something really high quality and a little romantic 

great thread, we are heading to Paris in April as well and looking for a great evening meal, something really high quality and a little romantic 

La Closerie des Lilas.  Definitely.  Although you won't have to look hard to find someplace romantic in Paris

http://www.closeriedeslilas.fr/

Things to do / Places to Eat etc. in Paris:

(mostly notes from from )

Restaurant Vefour
Roument en Guile Market
Le Palais du Fruit
Patisserie Historaire
La Bourse
Galerie Vivienne
Rue des Chantres
Haussmann – Arc de Triomphe
Galerie Lafayette
Le Printemps – un flanneur
Tulerie Gardens
Bois de Boulougne
19th Arrondissement – Belle ville
Parc de But Chemin (People’s Tulerie)
Square Louise Michel
Tur Eiffel
Basilica Sacre Coeur
Pere LaChaise cemetery – Honore de Balzac
Musee de Rodin
Musee D’Orsay
Garnier Opera House
Laperouse Restaurant
Ile de la Cite – Notre Dame Cathedral - think Philippe Petit
Eloise & Abalere ? Faubert, 12th Century
La Guillotine – Jazz Bar on the Left Bank
 Saint X station – Le Marais district
Palais de Paris / Palais Royale
Place des Voges – Marais District – Victor Hugo House
Pont Neuf
Hotel Particular (Le Marais)
Hotel Carnavale – Musee de Paris
Marquise de Sevigne
Salon du Chocolat
Jardin Royale du Plant – Natural History Museum
Assemble Nationale
Port St Denon?
Hopital de Pitie Salpetriere
Gobelin Tapestry Factory – Colbert
Catacombs
Café France – Bastille Prison
Café Procope

aye definitely up for suggestions from ppl that have been there. Lived in London so long and never made it there yet

Loved, loved, loved this hostel (three hostels actually, but all run by the same group-MIJE), and it's right in the heart of Paris.  I first went there in my mid-20s and have gone back there three times since.  The rooms aren't fancy, but the buildings are great and you cannot beat the location!  Price is good too.

http://www.mije.com/index_individuels_uk.asp

Everybody does Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur, but so many miss visiting Sainte Chapelle, which is hand's down the most beautiful stained glass you will find anywhere.  It is absolutely breathtaking!  Don't miss it.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en-GB&amp;q=stained+glass+paris&amp;sourceid=navclient-ff&amp;rlz=1B3GGLL_en-GBGB370GB371&amp;um=1&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;ei=eJKmS7ChK4v00gT89O3wCQ&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=image_result_group&amp;ct=title&amp;resnum=4&amp;ved=0CCQQsAQwAw

If you want an odd afternoon, I had fun wandering around Pere Lachaise, a fun old cemetery with tons of famous people buried there.  Make sure you get a map of it first before you go though.  It isn't one to be on the top of must do lists, but it is memorable and fun.  Really, I say just wander around Paris and you'll find tons to do in every direction.  Just walking up and down the river is lovely with fun things in every direction from there.

If you want to do apartment hotel, we found Citadines reasonable enough:

http://www.citadines.com/

If I were to go back again, I'd want to do the catacombs!

We stayed here - not cheap but not the most expensive either, it's mid-range.  It was also very near to Notre Dame!

Our best meal was here - romantic, French food that doesn't cost the farm.

It was our first trip to Paris & only a few days, so we did the usual tourist sites:  Notre Dame, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and walking along the Seine (in the rain).

We also made a point of doing our own walking tour of Le Marais - gorgeous neighbourhood where the movie Amelie was filmed/takes place.  Whilst in Le Marais, we bought olive oil here.  And we ate falafel at Chez Marianne in Le Marais too.

Here is a website from Sandrine Voillet, who did that excellent series in 2007 for the Beeb:

http://www.sandrinesparis.com/

Le Marais is on the top of my list as well!

Oh yeah & we also ate Phở somewhere when we were in Paris, but I can't remember the name of the place where we went.

In the same sort of theme, North African food should be decent in Paris as well, but I don't think we made it to any North African style restaurants during our brief trip.

Les puces! I'd skip all the other must-sees for a day at Clignancourt (or any of the other markets)!

I'd definitely recommend the Maison Zen for a place to stay.  http://maisonzen.com/

There are 7 apartments, studios & one bedrooms, from 80 euros up.. very inexpensive for a nice quality place.  It's quiet because it is tucked away in a courtyard.  Near the Bastille...

My work colleague is from Paris...here's her recommendations

Places from eat
General recommendation is not to eat anywhere that has the menu transalted into English or has photographs on the menu.  Her advise is to just wander around and see what takes your eye but to keep clear of eating and drinking in the Trocadero area (around the Eifel tower).  Specific recommendations

Cafe Alsace - on the place de mexico.  3 course lunch with wine is around 11 euro's
Cafe Justine - on Rue Oberkamp
Chateaubriand - Avenue Parmentier, this is a bit more expensive and has no choices on the menu (and you need to book).

Head to Metro Villiers and go round the corner to Rue Villiers and there are plenty of lovely authentic restaurants around there.

The area around the Metro Parementier (which is where Rue Oberkamp and Avenue Parmentier is) has, apparently loads of really excellent cafes and bistros and isn't very touristy so it's closer to the real paris. 

Must See Places

General recommendation is to walk as much as you can and just see what's around every corner (there's always the Metro is you get tired)

The Eiffel Tower, obviously, but apparently it's undergoing some refurbishment works - book ahead if you can or go first thing in the morning or late at night.

The backstreets of St. Germain for art galleries etc

Get off at Metro Saint Paul to see the Marry arais and the Place des Vogues (Victor Hugo used to live there and there are musuems in the area including the Picasso museum).  There's also the European photography gallery there if you're into Gallery.

From there you can go to a small island called Ile Saint Louis - don't eat or drink there (very expensive) but it's close to Notre Dame.

The walk along the Sienne at any point is highly recommended.  But if you can, start at Point Neuf which is the oldest bridge in Paris.

She also recommends a boat trip - Bateaux Mouche.

Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) area is the most touristic area of Paris but the church is beautiful and it's on the biggest hill in Paris so the view is spectacular.  (But don't eat there!). 

Places to avoid (unless you want to see the Moulin Rouge and plenty of sex shops) is the whole area around the Place de clichy and Pagale.

Cheap Hotels/Hostels

There's plenty of cheaper hotels near the Opera Garnier which is very central
There's also some nice hotels around the Villiers

A friend has this bed and breakfast;  www.beehome.fr  which is lovely, for the price of a three star hotel you'd get the equivalent of a suite but it may be a bit more expensive than you're looking for. (if you want more info, then you can send me a message on FB if you like)

Time your bookings well, a friend booked this hotel http://www.hotel-bedford.com/ but didn't book direct and instead went on to all the price comparison sites and eventually got a fabulous deal at the last minute.

Sorry this is so long!  She's very keen on her home town and now I want to go!!!!

Enjoy.