My practice is to never touch a minibar, so I can't even remember if there was one in our superior room at the Hotel Prince. We did buy croisants and bottled water, which we had in the room at most any time along with other dry snacks.

The first morning we went to a little bistro accross the street from the hotel and sat down. I had an American coffee and my girlfriend had a coke light and we each had a croisant. The bill was over 11 euro, so we learned.

I would go out to a bistro and stand at the bar (prices are cheaper), get an Espresso, just ask for cafe, put a lump of sugar in to cut the bitterness and I had my cafeine fix for about 1 euro. Then I would stop at the grocery right by the metro entrance and get my girlfriend a coke light for about 90 cents, a couple of croisants or other pastries for about 60 cents each and a 2 liter bottle of water for about 35 cents.

You will also find baguette sandwiches sold all over Paris that make for a cheap lunch. Since the weather should be nice in May/June you can do a la carte breakfast and a picnic lunch vern nicely.

For dinner near the Hotel Prince we found the Cafe du Marche had dinner plates for 10 euros and huge dinner sized salads for 9 euros. So you don't have to spend a lot even for sit sown dining.

I've heard that the hotels don't like you bringing in food so I carry a black tote bag folded in my purse, then in the evening on our way back to the hotel we would pick up wine (cheapest in the super market) chees crackers, desert, or whatever we might want for the evening meal. I put everything in the tote and walk right by the reception desk with no problems. If you are near Rue Cler you can get all kinds of great take-out foods. The mini fridge in our room was too small to be much use to us, however, we were there in the winter so I put the water juice and milk out on the windowsill for the night. I tavel with a cloth ice chest in the US but we've never been able to find ice in Paris and beleive me we've tried. We've stayed in a few places that included the breakfast in the price of the room. The hotel Spledid in th 7th did. Some others charge $15 which is not a good deal at all. Do not take anything out of the mini fridge unless you are willing to $5 for a coke. There are small super markets all around Paris. You can get this fabulous yogart and all kinds of good food.

Morning Tex,

While I hate to promote McD's it is pretty good for breakfast. We would buy pastries at the nearest bakery and take them to McD's where we had a good sized cheap cup of coffee and our child had a McD's breakfast. The French do that too. Then we sat down in a window seat and enjoyed people watching. We also often borrowed cork screws from the desk to open the bottle of wine we would buy to drink in our room and never had a problem.

My experience is that the French love to eat, as you might guess, and there are many places where you can get a whole lunch to take away. I cant imagine anyone stopping you from bringing in a bagged lunch to eat in your room....but maybe. Might depend on whether they have a dining room.

You will find that other than breakfast there are many places to eat reasonably in Paris.......and it is fun to find them.

Happy New Year

Bea

It is really dependent on each hotel's "policy"... We have always stored little snacks, juice or coke in the room's minibar, although we don't necessarily 'flash' our groceries at the front desk when we pass through. Many hotels do not like guests to eat in their rooms probably to curb spills/cleanup, and uninvited 'guests' (mice or bugs). If you don't see a policy anywhere regarding food in your room, you can a)ask about it or b)just try and see if it is commented upon

We stayed at a small hotel in the 14th and we bought lunch at the shop next door - as we retrieved our key from the desk, the clerk wished us "Bon Appetite" as we went up to our room.

I've read posts on other boards where the hotel mgmt 'yelled' at a customer for bringing in food. So... it just depends.

This thread reminds me of a funny story. A few years back I was staying at the Hotel Lutetia. My friend and I used the minibar quite a bit, and if I recall correctly we even called the desk to get it restocked at one point. Upon checkout, the cashier was looking over our bill and got this concerned look on her face. I can only imagine that people have complained about their minibar bills in the past, or some such. She took a a deep breath, and said "Madam you have xxx euro in charges from the minibar." I replied, "Oh yes I know! It's not a problem, we enjoyed using the minibar."

Ok, maybe you had to be there, but it was funny...

When I went to Paris 5 years ago we didn't really use the minibar, but next summer I specifically sought out a hotel that had a minibar because I'm travelling with my father who is diabetic and we were hoping to refrigerate his insulin. We do this all the time in U.S. hotels (hotels without minis in the room often give you use of a fridge free of charge if you let them know you are diabetic and need it to store medicine). It never occurred to me that the hotel cared what you put in there as long as you left the room with the minibar exactly as you found it. Have you all found this to be the case? We are staying in a pretty good hotel in the 1st so I'm hoping this won't be a problem.

Why don't you rent an apartment? You could have a kitchen to yourself and buy groceries which would cut down on your eating out bills, and go out to eat when you want to instead of every meal having to be "out".

There are many open markets to visit even in the one week you will be there... where there is prepared food as well as food one can cook.

OK, now I am reminded of a "bringing food into a hotel in Europe" memory that had been forgotten LOL! I was arriving at the VERY fancy Gritti Palace years ago, and my Mom and I had brought some gorgeous fruit with us from a basket that had been delivered to our room in Paris, our prior stop. Upon arriving at the Gritti in the early morning, our room was not yet ready, so they stored our luggage for us for a few hours, and we decided to take a stroll at Piazza San Marco. We were stumped as to what to do with the fruit. Before leaving the hotel for our stroll, I remembered I had some jewelry with me that I did not want to "stroll" with....so we took a safe deposit box at the hotel. After stashing the jewelry, I looked at my Mom and said "what should I do with the fruit?" We looked at each other and laughed...."no one's looking, so let's put it in the safe deposit box!" so we did !! LOL....and then promptly forgot all about it until we checked out several days later. When the hotel employee unlocked the safe deposit door....he said "MMMM smells so GOOD in here!" My Mother and I burst out in hysterics...it was our VERY ripe FRUIT!!!!!!!!