Weekend get away to paris travel advice?

[archer]

Hey, im planning alittle weekend get away to paris for me and my partner but im having trouble finding a good deal, Ive always been told you can get cheap holidays to paris but looking at all the holiday makers quotes £400+...theirs alot of other countrys i can go to for cheaper.

but i do have my heart set on paris, does anyone know any cheap hotels etc etc in paris? Id prefer a nice luxuory hotel but im extremely tight for cash at the moment so dont want to delude myself thinking ill be able to afford something really nice when the time comes.

so does anybody know any cheap but friendly (preferbly gay friendly) hotels in paris thats close or not too far from the beautiful sights.

also if anyone knows of a cheap way for us to get from brighton uk, to paris that would be excellent, THANK YOU.

oh btw im planning on going around october, hopefully avoiding the majority of holidayers but still having ok weather.

oh and alittle extra, does anyone know of a good book teaching the most common phrases in french? I can understand a few key terms enough to get me by, but if i get lost or something i would really need a good reliable book to help.

 

[MizukiK]

I've never been to France but I've been reading up on it because I want to go in a year or two. Budget Travel featured this place called Mama Shelter. The cheapest room is about $129 a night, which spilt between two people is about $64.5 per person per night. It's really, really pretty.

If your really trying to save money though, you might want to look at hostels (there's an age bracket, I think). Some hostels start at like $20 per night. I'm not really sure how great they are. Some of the reviews online say that they're wonderful and some say that they're horribly dirty.

October is a good season, I guess. If you google BBC French they have some crash courses that are amazing. I'm learning from a book called French Basics.