Paris Travel Store

Find helpful guides, passes, gear, and travel accessories for your trip to Paris

Paris Passes

CDG Airport Shuttle
Paris Museum Pass
Paris Visite Pass (Paris Metro pass)
Eurostar London to Paris Rail Pass
France Rail Pass

 

Paris Guidebooks

Markets of Paris A guide to the food, craft, and antique markets of Paris, organized by arrondissement (neighborhood/quarter).	Paris Pastry Guide, Kindle Edition American expat and pastry expert David Lebovitz guides you to the most decadent desserts in Paris.
Rick Steves Paris Rick Steves is my favorite guidebook author because he has a way of making history and art very accessible. A great companion to help plan your itinerary.	Hungry for Paris, The Ultimate Guide to the City’s 102 Best Restaurants Food writer Alex Lobrano gives tourist-friendly insight into where to eat in Paris.
Parisian Chic Look the part in Paris with this guide to Parisian style, written by a former fashion model.

 

 

Paris Travel Gear

What’s the best luggage for Paris? Here are some general considerations. To avoid extra fees, choose a lightweight bag that will keep you within the airlines 50-pound luggage limit. Keep your luggage light if you’re using public transportation (RER, Metro). You’ll may need to transfer trains and will likely face a trip up the stairs with your luggage once you reach your stop.

Some international travelers prefer to use luggage they can carry on board to make sure it arrives at their destination with them. (Nothing will get your trip off to a rockier start than lost luggage on your outbound flight.)

Here are some recommendations for high-quality, lightweight luggage that can hold a week’s worth of clothes and also fit in the overhead.

Travelon Rollaboard Travel with the brand that many airline pilots and flight attendants use. As the name implies, the 20-inch “Rollaboard” will have no problem fitting in the overhead.	Rick Steves Convertible Carry On Travel expert Rick Steves’ luggage of choice is a versatile convertible backpack from his own line of travel gear. It’s an expandable carry-on bag that you can wear on your back, and Steves uses it as his sole piece of luggage. If mobility is a priority and you’ve got the discipline to pack light, this might be the bag for you.
Victorinox Mobilizer NXT 5.0 Ultra Light Carry On Bag A lightweight carry-on is weighs 7.4 pounds empty and measures 21 inches tall, which is short enough for the overhead compartment on even the strictest airlines, like Air France. This luggage is well constructed, with a three-position telescoping handle and inline skate wheels.	Pacsafe Wrapsafe Cable Lock This luggage lock allows you to secure your luggage anywhere, in case you need to take your eye off it for any reason. I personally like it for locking bags to the luggage rack when riding the high-speed train in France. A lot of passengers get on and off at the stops before you reach your particular destination, and you can’t always see your bag from your seat. (Or, you might be forced to store your bag in another train car if there’s no room left in yours.) With your bag locked to the rack, you don’t have to worry about your bag getting off at a stop without you, even when it’s out of your sight.
PacSafe Travel Safe Use this portable travel safe to store your passport, extra credit cards, cash, iPod and other small valuables that you don’t want to carry on your person every day. Great for hotel rooms that don’t have a safe.	Eurosurge Travel Adapter I love this little gadget. It has two sockets so that I can charge my phone and laptop/tablet, or my tablet and camera battery at the same time. It has a built in surge protector too.
Rick Steves Money Belt A money belt is meant to hide your valuables under your clothes, so that you can keep them on your person (as opposed to leaving them in your hotel room). If you need to keep train tickets, passports, your emergency cash, etc. with you, then that’s where a money belt can help.

Ladies DSLR Camera Bags – You can carry one of these fashionable, discreet camera bags without anyone knowing you have a DSLR camera on you. You can put your regular purse stuff in them too.

Door Alarm – This door stop alarm provides me with extra peace of mind. It’s great for hotels and for Paris apartments.

Small Battery Operated Carbon Monoxide Detector – This little detector has a kickstand, so you can sit it on the floor near wherever you’re sleeping, where it’s best suited to detect carbon monoxide. You might not have even thought about this, but why not take a small step to prevent an easily preventable tragedy.

Small Smoke Detector – Smoke detectors (détecteur de fumée) are not required by law in French apartments until 2015. Paris hotels with more than 100 beds are required to have smoke detectors starting in January 2012, but that law was only passed in October 2011. Count on it taking a little time for hotels to get up to code. (Very small hotels and B&B’s are exempt for now.) To be safe, take your own battery operated version smoke detector to Paris.