April in Paris | 5 reasons to visit Paris now

Place Vendome, from the Tuilleries, photo by David Ourisman (c) 2015 all rights reserved

Update — April 11th ... the Euro is now $1.06. Time for European travel!

Is Paris on your mind? With the euro on sale (1€ = $1.09), grab the moment and plan that last-minute trip to my favorite city in the world. Here are five reasons to visit Paris now.

1. Strong dollar. Remember when the euro cost $1.40? With the euro costing only $1.09 today, this is a 22% discount on everything you buy in Europe — hotel rooms, meals, museum tickets, even that impulse purchase at Chanel.

2. April is shoulder season in Paris. This means less crowds and lower prices than during the the busier summer months.

3. Warm enough. Although April in Paris isn't balmy, spring in Europe has warmed up over the years. I took the  above on April 2, 2014 — and it was a beautiful day.

4. Beautiful hotels... In the picture above is my personal favorite hotel in Paris, Le Meurice (the building on the right). If you have more of a four star budget, the Westin Paris is pictured in the building to the left. I can get you value-added amenities at both hotels — including free breakfast, free internet, hotel credits, and even a guaranteed upgrade at Le Meurice.

5. ... and more beautiful hotels. A couple minute's walk from this same intersection are even more world-class hotels, including the Mandarin Oriental Paris, Park Hyatt Vendome, and the soon-to-reopen Ritz Paris. And, yes, I can get you amenities at each of these hotels. Here's my google map to our entire collection.

If Paris is on your mind, there's no better time to go than now!

copyright (c) 2015 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.