Trailer or tent, it’s true

YOU can’t walk on the grass, much less pitch a tent, in most Paris parks. But for campers there is an option in the 16th arrondissement, about 15 minutes from the Champs Elysees. It’s the Hotellerie de Plein Air, Allee du Bord de l’eau, 011-33-1-45-24-30-00, www.hotelparispleinair.com, a well-kept, 17-acre campground and mobile home park on the Seine at the edge of the Bois de Boulogne.

It has bathrooms and showers for tenters, RV parking with utilities and accommodations in 75 stationary mobile homes that have beds for four to six people, kitchens, TV, picnic tables and, in some cases, air conditioning, priced from around $65 a night, depending on the season.

The Hotellerie also has a children’s playground, store, restaurant, laundromat, pay-by-use Internet station and high-season shuttle to the nearest Metro stop. The wide-open spaces of the Bois de Boulogne, Longchamps race course and a public pool on an island in the Seine are all nearby, as is the inimitable City of Light.

-- Susan Spano