julies

We will be going next month and have the possibility of staying up to 11 nights. We are looking at an apartment rental but are really struggling with how much time in Paris. I know so many of you say that one can never spend too much time in Paris, but can you give me an idea of how you spend your time?

Do you just walk around a lot? Do you just cozy up in the apartment for quite a bit of time each day and read? Do you sightsee? Do you spend a lot of time having long leisurely lunches and dinners? Do you shop? Do you do lots of daytrips? Do you just relax? Do you spend a lot of time in the parks and outside? Do you hang out in bars and cafes? Do you spend a lot of nights out visiting nightlife and then spend a lot of time catching up on your sleep during the day? Do you go to concerts and theatre and other such events? Do you spend time just trying to see lots of different areas?

Thanks. This will help me get an idea of what's realistic for us. One issue, of course, for us is that we anticipate not particularly nice weather in the 1st half of March.

sandi_travelnut

don't you think that the responses will be subjective? People respond differently to having extra time in one location. I think some people would do almost everything you listed along with taking a couple of daytrips.

julies

Sandi--

Yes, I do think they will be subjective and that is why I purposely didn't state how we like to spend our time. This way if most of those who insist that this is a marvelous place to spend a week to two choose to spend their time in entirely different ways than we know we like to spend ours, then I'll know that perhaps we couldn't actuallly spend that much time there. On the other hand, if I find out that there a lot of people who seem to enjoy the same ways to spend theirs that we do, then I'll think that we may be fine with an extended amount of time. This is why I am trying to get a smpling. Thanks for the thought.

degas

Do you just walk around a lot? Yes

Do you just cozy up in the apartment for quite a bit of time each day and read? Some, but not extensively.

Do you sightsee? Yes

Do you spend a lot of time having long leisurely lunches and dinners? Yes

Do you shop? Yes

Do you do lots of daytrips? No, just a few.

Do you just relax? No, not really. I can do that a my cabin.

Do you spend a lot of time in the parks and outside? Yes

Do you hang out in bars and cafes? Yes

Do you spend a lot of nights out visiting nightlife and then spend a lot of time catching up on your sleep during the day? No.

Do you go to concerts and theatre and other such events? Sometimes.

Do you spend time just trying to see lots of different areas? Yes


Mixed it up and make every minute count for something. You can "chill out" when you get home!

sandykins

I think you're going to get responses that cover the whole spectrum of activities you have mentioned.

In addition, the sample you are going to get will no doubt be much too small for you reasonably to base your decision on it. For example, if 21 out of 40 respondents say that they spend most of their week in Paris watching TV in their room, can you reasonably conclude that most tourists do that in Paris, that Paris is most conducive to TV-watching, and that you should not go to Paris because you are not a couch-potato?

Given what you usually enjoy doing, decide what YOU want to do in Paris, and do it. People who live in Paris do so, and you can, too.

Travelnut

Following a whirlwind bus tour thru 6 countries (which ended with a day and a half in Paris), we returned to Paris for an in-depth visit of 12 days.

I believe the only day-trip we took was to Versailles. Otherwise, we were out and about every day, all day. Used a 5-day Carte Musee and walked a lot. Went to the cinema on the Champs. I can't believe that there was so much left to see after 12 days, in fact I'm still falling short and 2005 was our 10th visit.
If you have been to Paris before, you should have a 'feel' for how much time you want to spend there. I'd do another 12 days in a heartbeat.

amwosu

I'd pick 7 days in Paris, five days in Provence or Normandy. You'll get a good taste of Paris and many of the major sights but will have stuff left to do for your next trip!

Keren

It took me 23 days and 2 trips before I've started exploring a different area in France (now that I have, though, I can't seem to stop).
What did I do? basically the same thing each day - woke up fairly early and explored different neighbourhoods - Auteuil, Passy, Batignolles, St George, non-touristy Montmartre, Canal St Martin, Belleville, Menilmontant, Charonne, Nation, Promenade Plantée, Bercy, Buttes aux Cailles, Montparnasse, and parks like Buttes-Chaumont and Montsouris, all of which I intend to go back to.
I tried to visit at least 1 different food market each morning, but didn't really succeed in doing that, so I now have a few dozens still waiting for me to check out in future visits.
I tried a different restaurant almost every day for lunch (lunch is my main meal), I went to the cinema once and explored many English and French book stores. I did attend an opera once and intend to do so in the future, but prices are too high for me to do this on a regular basis.
I don't shop much other than for food or books, nor do I go out to night clubs, I'm not really a nightowl.
I stay in a different location each time, it's so much fun not to go back to the same area, there are so many lovely ones to base yourself in.

Nikki

I think I have done just about all the things mentioned in that list. Not so many day trips, though. I haven't stayed longer than a week at a time; I imagine that if I stayed longer, I'd do more daytrips. I have been in Paris mostly in the winter, so that limits the park time. The longer the stay, the more varied are the ways we spend our time. It also depends whether I am traveling with my energetic daughter, my less energetic daughter who needs more down time, my husband, or a friend.

If I am spending quite a while in one place, I find I need some days of more activity punctuated by some days of less activity.

For an idea of how we spent our time last February for a week, you can take a look at my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34574921

DeborahAnn

With 20 arrondissements I could see picking one each day to explore, see a museum, neighborhood, park. I know there are probably some areas you might think twice about visiting but a little research should tell you things to see in each arr. What an enlightening trip that would be. Deborah

SuzieC

Do you just walk around a lot? Absolutely.
Do you just cozy up in the apartment for quite a bit of time each day and read? NO
Do you sightsee? Can’t help but sight see
Do you spend a lot of time having long leisurely lunches and dinners? Yes
Do you shop? Not spend money but I love to go into shops…and leisurely look – galleries, music stores, kitchen and food related shops (OK, spent money in there…) Interesting to see pharmacies, grocery stores, wine shops, deli’s…etc.
Do you do lots of daytrips? I’ve been 3 times, daytrips? No yet, no time. but next time Chantilly and Malmaison
Do you just relax? In the parks…on a bench, at a cafe
Do you spend a lot of time in the parks and outside? Walking around – see above
Do you hang out in bars and cafes? Yes
Do you spend a lot of nights out visiting nightlife and then spend a lot of time catching up on your sleep during the day? No, I wake up very early LOVE Paris early..too tired to party very late
Do you go to concerts and theatre and other such events? Yes
Do you spend time just trying to see lots of different areas? YES

With 11 days - I'd move from Paris and visit the Loire too...train down, pick up car (little town north of Tours...cannot remember name) and putter there

Margaretlb

I'll take a stab at this. We've stayed a total of 45 days since fall 1999. In Sept. 1999, stayed 8 nights and concentrated on the "must see" tourist things: Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, Louvre, d'Orsay, Rodin Museum, Tour Eiffel, Invalides, Montmartre and lots of self-guided walking tours. In May 2001, stayed only 6 nights and the weather was miserable. This visit we: vistited the Cluny, Louvre, a day trip to Liseaux (to visit our former exchange student and his family)and lots of self-guided walking tours in spite of the terrible weather. This 6 nights was much too short especially considering the day trip. October 2004, 17 nights. Now this was a visit that accomplished alot: Jacquemart-Andre, Nissim Comondo, Picasso, Gustave Moreau, Delacroix, d'Orsay, Louvre, Pompadou. Walking tours of the Arcades, Les Halles area, Grandes Boulevards. Lots of time in St. Germain and Marais. June 2005, 14 nights. Another great stay this time we had the opportunity to go to the Garnier for Mozart's " La Clemenza di Tito". Revisited lots of museums and added a couple of more. This was our true culinary visit and we ate at high-end restaurants every night (our daughter was attending culinary school at the time and it was my motherly duty to eat well and report back to her And, of course, more walking tours. We did also go to Giverny and Versailles this trip (both on the same day)and did the St Martin Canal boatride. What's our style of visit on these long stays? Leisurely. We sleep at least to 9 and then a slow breakfast so we don't hit the streets until 11 or 12. Because of the late start we rarely have lunch and make dinner reservations for either 8:30 or 9pm. We love to visit museums and always spend alot of time at each, yet the Paris museums are so wonderful that we find we also revisit several we especially like. I am always on the lookout for good self-guided walking tours and we've been through some off-the-beaten-path neighborhoods which is always fun. I always check www.whatonwhen.com to check for special art exhibits. During the last two visits we attended the Veronese and Matisse exhibits (both at the Luxemborg), the Turner/Whistler/Monet and David/Poussin/Watteau exhibits (Grand Palais), Napoleon (Jacquamart), Islamic Art (Louvre), Pharoh's (Monde Arab). I always shop for condiments, honey, chocolate, cookware, handbags. We spend plenty of time at cafe's but we're not really sit-in-the-park kind of folks (we stroll through whenever we encounter one). We always try to go to at least one concert. Our basic attitude is that we try to see whatever special exhibits or concerts are on offer and figure for everything else, if we don't see it or do it this time, there's always next year! We return in June for another 12 nights

LuckyLuc

Julies

Ten days at a time is often the time we spend in Paris, and we always make our way to the plane crying and wishing for more. I was lucky enought to spend three months once but for a first visit 11 nights is just the right amount of time.

A typical day would be visiting, either a section of one the great museum or a new smaller museum or one of the many temporary exhibits. Then after a leisurely lunch we usually have a conférence-walk, followed by a coffee and pastries break in a café for some serious people watching. Then we explore one neighbourhood. Back at the apartment for a change of clothes , and then a nice long relaxing diner or an early light diner and a concert, a play or a movie.

Here is a detailed trip report of my 10 days in Paris last December.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2

susanna

Over the last 5 years I have spent a good amount of time in Paris, I have also rented places for two weeks twice, but not in Paris. I have to say that I could answer yes to everyone of your questions, and that's what's great about having an extended length of time in one place. Sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't. Sometimes one of us wants to hang out all day and read and the other one wants to take the train to a town of interest two hours away. I am usually on the move, going to museums,visiting small towns and my DH needs down time about every 3 days. He will read, go to a cafe and watch the world go by. If the weather is bad we do an indoor thing, if the weather is good we do an outdoor thing, the point is, you can be much more flexible in deciding what you want to do that day. Paris is one of my favorites for an extended length because the oportunities are endless. Wish I were going for 11 days!

twk

Personally, just because of the limitations on my travel time (which most Americans face), if I had 11 nights to spend, and had never been to France, I'd spend a week in Paris (timing it so that I could get full use of a Carte Orange), and the other four days somplace else, like Normandy.

Don't get me wrong: if somebody gave me an 11 night stay in Paris (and only Paris), I'd take it in a hearbeat and have no trouble finding interesting things to do and see, especially if I've got a Metro pass and a Musuem pass for a good part of the trip, and the possibilty of easy sidetrips to Versailles, Fountaiblue, Giverny, etc. But, spending my own time and money on a first trip of that duration, I'd prefer to see at least one other part of France in addition to the Ile de France region.

Now, I'm assuming that you've never been to Paris (or at least, no more than my first trip to Paris of a couple of days). If that's not the case, and you are making a return trip, I'd say that argues even stronger for splitting up the trip, but again, that's just my personal preference.

ira

Hi J,

>I purposely didn't state how we like to spend our time. This way if most of those who insist that this is a marvelous place to spend a week to two choose to spend their time in entirely different ways than we know we like to spend ours, then I'll know that perhaps we couldn't actuallly spend that much time there. <

As a person who spent a lifetime in research, may I gently suggest that this is an extremely inefficient way to garner information?

You will have to sort through dozens of responses that are not relevant to your concerns.

Don't be shy.

Tell us what interests you and we can suggest how best to spend your 11 nights.

Maybe a visit to Malmaison would be in order.

missypie

I've spent 10 day in Paris twice. Once before kids and once with kids. I still have a list of places I haven't gotten to yet. On the first trip we took day trips to Versailles and Chartres. On the second (with kids) we didn't take any day trips BUT we did spend two days in Disneyland Paris, which was great fun. On the second trip we went out to St. Denis, which I would recommend. I've never made it to any of the cemetaries or large flea markets, although I'd love to. I do tend to go into every cathedral, church and chapel that I walk past. It is VERY easy to find enough to do in Paris.

missypie

One more thing: If you buy the DK Eyewitness Guide to Paris and just start reading through it, I guarantee that you will read about things that fascinate you that weren't on your original to-do list.

A couple of other suggestions: We spent a little time at "the underpass" where Princess Diana died.

Also, if you are religious, consider attending a service of your denomination, or another.

julies

Thank you. Thank you to all. Now, I know why some people sometimes refer to this as the Paris forum.

I purposely didn't jump back in until now because I wanted to see what types of responses I got and I had to work for a while (it does interfer with one's personal life).

Despite those of you who think this is probably an inefficient way to get info and the fact that this certainly isn't statistically valid, I learned a lot.

Now to my situation. This will be our 4th or 5th trip to France. We've rented gites in Normand and Brittany but never for more than 6 nights. We've taken a 9 night bicycle trip in the Loire Valley. We spent a week on the Cote d'Azur and we spent 5 ngihts in a gite in SW France this past summer. We've flown into Paris a lot, but only actually spent 3 days there in February of 2002.

That trip to Paris we did a few touristy things like walking by the Eiffle Tower at night, visited Notre Dame, visited St. Chappelle, visited the Jacquemart Andre museum which I really loved, walked all over, and walked down the Rue Mouffetard. We also did some pretty non-touristy things like taking the metro one night to a Bistro in an outlying arrondissement, visiting the kitchen wares shop that begins with a D, went shopping for baby gifts on the street that has all the kids clothing shops, went to a Sunday mass to hear the beautiful music event though we aren't Catholic, visited some grocery stores etc. We purposely didn't rush around and do everything because we knew we'd be back.

I guess I need to say that our main apprehension is that we'll wake up one morning and ask ourselves why we decided to spend so much time in Paris. Frankly, the time of the year probably also has something to do with this apprehension. Last time we were there is was cold, windy and rainy so it wasn't particularly conducive to long walks, which is one of the things we like to do. But, I know that one can't predict weather.

After reading your responses I think we could possibly stay this long. We tend to be slow starters in the morning and realistically usually aren't out much before 10. We like to find places that reflect the true culture of a place. We're not one for huge, long leisurely lunches, but maybe if we were't thinking we had to cram every second full, then we could do that. We always try to take in a concert when on vacation in a city. we're not ones for nightlife and hanging out in the bars. We do enjoy finding some good wine and cheese and relaxing with it inour place before venturing out to dinner. We love authentic markets and want to rent an apartment so some days we can takt home some of the pre-prepared food that can be found in charcuteries and other shops. We like museums but not a steady diet and about 2 hours at a time is max. We like to just walk around interesting neighborhoods.

We are not the type who just hang around the apartment for the afternoon or sit in a cafe with a book and a coffee. We don't take vacations where we just sit on the beach or at the pool. My husban's max for something like that would be about an hour or two. We don't visit places just to shop.

You've been immensely helpful. Now we just have to decide what to do. Our initial plan had been to rent an apartment for a week and then take the train somewehre else like Lyon or Brugges & Belgium for the other 4 nights. However, and I should have know this from planning previous trips, I found out that it will cost us as much to take the train on prems fares to these places as it will to fly to somewhere else. I found that the 2 of us can get to Lisbon from Paris for under $200 roundtrip. Now we are torn between time in Portugal and Paris. Or, just staying in Paris for the entire 11 nights, whish is the reason for this post.

Thanks again!

SAnParis

Having been to Paris several times I hesitate to think that you will be lacking for something to do. In fact, we find & discover new things everytime we go. That is one of the reasons we keep returning. Myself, I like to cook & there is no better place to do so given the proper arrangement, than in Paris. Wandering takes up a huge amount of time, I highly encourage it. Eating, & drinking well, is also practiced frequently.