You will probably have first-day jet lag but there is lots you can do in Paris. On the first day it is a good idea to get as much fresh air as possible. Get a "top 10" guide (fodors) and see what appeals most. Paris is beautiful and you may want to stroll from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower and back through Luxembourg Gardens. Stop for a drink or ice cream and watch the people.

An evening river cruise would be just the thing to allow you to see the highlights. Take the Vedettes du Pont-Neuf from Pont-Neuf just before dusk so you can see the lights come on all over Paris and can see the Eiffel Tower as it begins to blink on the hour.

No brainer for me, it would be the on/off bus!

Chapla...Right on!!!...All the major sights/sites and sitting down to delay flight fatigue. Batobus also, especially at night.. One day?? How Sad!!!

If your plane adds at 8 am - prime time for flights from the US and likely crowds at immigration I think the change of getting to your hotel, dropping bags (likely rooms not ready yet) by 10 am are slim to none. You might be lucky - but it could also be noon.

Frankly, after being on an overnight flight the last think I would want to do is sit on a bus for a day. I would do a walk around some key sights (NOtre Dame, Ile St Louis) grab lunch and then have a nap. Go out for another walk around later and have a nice dinner after one of the boat rides. That's really all you can do on a partial day after an overnight flight.

Great!!! Any hotel suggestions?

Agree with NY traveler that you will not be at a central Paris by 10am. Customs/immigration has never been that bad at CDG, but it takes awhile to get in.

The RER train into central Paris may be your best bet. Depending on the day of the week, traffic into Paris can be rough!

I also wouldn't do a hop on hop off bus. If you stay near the St Michel RER station, you can exit the train, drop off your bags and start seeing some of Paris! Notre Dame is near by, the Deportation memorial is right behind it. Maybe a walk around Ile St Louis, and lunch there (if L'Orangerie is open, try it out).

You could do an evening cruise on the Seine to see the ET, Notre Dame, Les Invalides all lit up.

Chez Francis in the 8th ( I think), has a view of the ET if you can sit out front at a side walk table.

Google Paris hotels near St Michel to find hotels...I don't stay in that area, so I can't help you there.
If you search the forum by Left Bank hotels there is a thread there that may be of help to you. Or search by the OP name Guenmai .

I'll suggest you a itinerary for this day, but it depends where your hotel is located. I do not recommend to visit any museum, as you have not time, you will be tired and Paris has much to offer outdoors.

Most of the below itinerary can be done walking, however if you are tired, for the last parts of it (between points 9- 10-11) you can use the metro

1. Visit Sainte-Chapelle
2. Visit Cathedral de Notre-Dame
3. Walk on the Quays of the Seine, see Pont Neuf and Pont des Arts
4. Museum du Louvre - just enter the interior yards , see the glass pyramid. Then go via Place du Carrousel to
5. Jardin des Tuileries
6. Exit to Rue de Rivoli; you can have a very good hot chocolate at the famous Angelina
7. Place Vendome
8. Opera Garnier (see it from outside only)
You can have a lunch or a cake and a coffee at the elegant Café de la Paix
9. Place de la Concorde
10.Palais de Chaillot on the Place Trocadero for the best view of the Eiffel tower
11 . Dome des Invalides (exterior)

You can use Google maps to see how you reach all these points.

In the evening you can take a cruise on Seine, to see the main landmarks and the bridges illuminated.

I would look for a hotel in arr. 1 or 2, to be as close as possible to these sights.

Enjoy Paris!

There are so many hotels in Paris, that it's hard for anyone to just recommend one out of all of them. To be honest, if you are also flying out the next day (from where?), it might not be terrible to just get a hotel near CDG and avoid all that traveling to/from with baggage issues. YOu could then go to the hotel, check in, leave your bags and easily take the RER train into Paris and back at night. It's hard to say which is preferable (that or staying in Paris). I do agree it might not be fun to be taking the RER back to a hotel after dinner if you are tired. If you are flying out of Orly, then that suggestion wouldn't matter.

If you gave someone an idea of where you are leaving from the next day and what your budget is, what your issues are on transportation, etc (some people refuse to take a taxi and will only do the RER/metro, in which case, you had better get a hotel right near it), people could make better suggestions on a hotel.

I agree there isn't any way you will be ready to sightsee by 10 am, but maybe by 11 am is more likely. HOwever, you are assuming you can check into your hotel at 10 am and that may not happen, of course (odds are it won't). I mean you can go there and leave your bags, but it is very likely a room will not be ready meaning you cannot change clothes.

I say right on with the airport hotel. Though it would be great to stay in the city for a night, dropping your luggage ASAP will help and by being so close to the airport you may also save money on transport and room cost. A lot of people recommend the RER to get into town. And while it is definitely cheaper, I have always questioned how easy it is with luggage combined with jet lag. Without luggage however it would be a breeze. I also agree on the hop/on - hop/off bus. Whatever one thinks of the "touristy" nature of it, this is an inexpensive and comprehensive way to get an overview of the major sights of Paris. You can choose to stay on or get off as you please and the headphones provide a good narration of the sights in your language. Furthermore, you can decide where you may want to go back to for dinner that night. The tickets are generally good for the whole day so getting off to walk or to stay longer somewhere is no problem. If you are going out of Orly rather than CDG the next morning there are easy access shuttle buses between the two airports.

You might consider starting with a Foxity tour. This open top bus tour takes around 1-3/4 hour to follow a route that takes you past many of the main sights. Commentary is provided with individual headsets. This is not a hop-on/off bus which I think, given your short amount of time, is an advantage.

Good friends did this recently on their first day in Paris. They enjoyed the tour and thought it helped their getting oriented.

http://www.foxity.com/en

I don't think foxity was avcailable when I was in Paris. Wondering why ii is better than the hop on etc???

I don't think it's necessarily better than HOHO - just a different type of tour.

The Open Tour HOHO bus has four separate routes. It takes much longer to do a complete circuit because of the stops with people getting off, people buying tickets from the driver and people getting on. A one-day ticket costs €31.

The Foxity tour is €16 and gives someone like the OP, who has only one day to see some of Paris, a fairly quick overview. At the end of the tour, there is still time to visit other sites or neighborhoods.

Don't know when you were in Paris last, but I think Foxity has been around a few years.

Some experience from Fodorites in this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/anybody-done-the-foxity-tour-in-paris.cfm

Ok price wise differences on bus tours???

Travel in city for the day-suggest bus, metro pass, by foot or taxi? Both rather athletic adults in mid-thirties?? Just want to hit major sites, no museums.

I think you should check the websites of the bus tours if you interested, and you can see their itinerary and cost. I think MaineGG mentioned some costs, 16 euro is cheap for one of those.

As for how you get around during the day, depends what you plan to see, but the metro would obviously work, and walking between certain sites that are close enough. A taxi would be nuts IMO as a way for a tourist to sightsee in any major city.

You should be able to walk between many of the sites. Single bus/metro tickets cost €1,70 each. A carnet of 10 metro/bus single tickets you can share costs €12,70. A Mobilis Pass good for unlimited bus/metro usage for one day is €6,40 per person.

Good interactive bus/metro/RER map:

http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/carteidf.php?lang=uk

Day - morning Notre Dame - walk to nearby Louvre and Tuileries Gardens - walk to Place de la Concorde - walk or tube to Eifel Tower - walk or tube to Champs-elysees - evening wine and cheese boat cruise on the Seine.

ThaNks for helpful info!!! Think it might work well to stay at airport(Cdg) hotels-anyone have a good recommendation ???

Sweetness,

With only one day, I would vote for a bus tour (they all must be pretty much the same) to give you folks the overall picture of Paris – it’s important because the major sites are quite spread out. No way could you do it on public transportation in my view.

Also a cruise on the Seine give you another perspective of the great sites including the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, the famous bridges including Pont Alexandre III and so much more.

Enjoy you brief visit to Paris – you will return…

I also vote for a bus tour but NOT the hop on hop off bus. We found it very frustrating wasting so much time at each stop. We also love the boat tour especially at night.

I second "Valtor's" recommendations for the day; we have been to Paris 5 times, each about 4-5 days, but the biggies are all covered in the above list. Good luck! It is a very walkable city and I have never ridden the buses.

Sweetness, please come back to this thread and tell us how you spent your day.

Bon voyage!