sharbear84

Hi! Very excited for trip to Paris (and Provence - that will be another post) in a few weeks with my husband. We are in our late 20s, and I've been to Paris before for only 48 hours and he's never been. Here's a tentatively outline of what I'm thinking - would love comments, critiques, etc - thanks! We do plan to buy the museum pass.

*would also particularly like comments on transportation - I am having trouble telling if I will be able to use metro to most places, so we do plan to walk a lot...so I want things to be in a logical order for the most part.

[Also, we love food so you will see a lot in here, and are especially looking forward to non-fancy food such as crepes, croissants, and roast chicken - I haven't planned most of our meals but have noted when I think we are near something in particular we want to eat.]

Saturday:
get into Orly airport in the morning- taxi to rental apt on Rue Mazarine
lunch/brunch - any ideas on where our first food stop should be?
explore Saint Germaine
Luxembourg gardens
[Rodin museum if not nice weather or have time]
Eiffel Tower in the evening
picnic from Rue Cler street market in Champs de Mars

Sunday:
morning - Bastille/Richard Lenoir Market
11 or 2 city free walks Marais tour
eat at l'As du falafel
Notre Dame
Saint Chapelle
[Berthillion ice cream]
boat ride on the Seine - I do know to print out the discount coupon in advance

Monday:
10 am - 3 hr vespa tour reserved w/left bank scooters - not sure exactly what we will see, and then we may keep the vespa for another 24 hours
L’Orangerie museum
[Angelinas for hot chocolate]
Tuileries garden

Tuesday:
Musee d’Orsay
Boulevard Raspail market for lunch
check out Le Bon Marche

Wednesday:
chocolate/bread/cheese “tour” - I just want to take it easy today and explore all the specialty food shops I've read so much about, including the self-guided "tour" of chocolate shops from the NYTimes.
Louvre in the evening - they are open late on Wed, correct? I figured maybe less crowded.

Thursday:
Versailles!

Friday:
Guy Savoy lunch at noon - this is our one big foodie splurge
5 pm City Free walks Montmartre tour - see sunset from Sacre Coeur

Sat - early AM train to Avignon

bachslunch

Itinerary looks good to me -- not at all rushed and very well thought out. There are other attractions you could add in depending on your interests (Pompidou Center, Cluny Museum, Carnavalet Museum, Arc de Triomphe, Pantheon, Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, Sacre-Cour and nearby Montmartre), but you're including a very good choice of options here.

Not sure where you are staying, but the metro goes reasonably near the attractions you're considering, so you should be fine there.

Enjoy!

Michel_Paris

Looks good.
For walks, I have only used Paris Walks, and they are quite good.

The Metro goes everywhere, so buying a carnet (book of 10 tickets) to get you near where you want to go, then walking will work out well.

Plan St Chapelle around a sunny day and/or getting there early to avoid crowds. Add Ile St Louis to that day

I like Vedettes du Pont Neuf for the Seine cruise. Do at night, after dinner on nearby Left Bank.

Vespa around Paris on your own...sounds risky

sharbear84

Bachslunch - I did mean to add some of those, especially Arc de Triomphe, thanks! We do plan to do a Montmartre tour and see Sacre-Cour on Friday. We are staying near the Odeon metro stop, as well as others too.

Michel_Paris - Thanks, glad to hear Paris Walks is good. Hmm right now St. Chapelle is not early in the day, so maybe I should change things around a bit. We do plan to go Ile St. Louis that day. I am worried about the Vespa but my husband wants to!

Judy

If you google Vedettes du Pont Neuf, you can print the discount coupon from their website.

dro

Do the Seine tour around sunset so you go one way while it is light and return in the dark to see Paris lit up.

Behind Notre Dame there is a moving Memorial to the Deported Jews. Very moving. You go below ground level to see it.
St. Chappelle does not have to be early, just in the sunlight for the upper chapel.

If you have time, see Les Invalides and Napolean's tomb, and go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

sharbear84

Thanks. Would it make sense to try to go to top of the Arc de Triomphe on the day we go to l'orangerie? It's not that close to it, but doesn't seem near anything else on the itinerary either, unless I"m missing something. I definitely want to see it and maybe stroll champs elysees.

mamcalice

Try to visit the Musee Rodin on a sunny day. To me, the most charming part of the museum is the large sculpture/rose garden in front and back of the house. It is a lovely place to explore and to have a picnic.

sharbear84

Thanks mamcalice - good point! That would not be a good museum to save for a rainy day. I just hope we do have good weather, as so much of our plans are counting on it.

HowardR

One minor suggestion: Don't save the Rodin Museum for a rainy day. Rather, go on a sunny day, as the outdoor area at the museum is worth spending some time in!

dro

You can walk the whole Champs Elysee from the Tuilleries (where the L'Orangerie is) to the Arc. You should be walking all over in Paris! Walk over the Pont Alexander and over as many bridges as you can.

gh21

We also stayed near Odeon. Highly recommend two restaurants in the area.

Fish La Boissonnerie
69 Rue de Seine, 75006 Paris, France

and


Marco Polo
8, rue de Condé
75006 Paris
01 43 26 79 63

denisea

On your first day if you are in the 6th, Le Danton is a good place for basic fare, also Les Editeurs (across the street) is also good. If you don't mind picking up lunch, Gerard Mulot has amazing pastry and items likes salads, quiches, and beautiful desserts. All are very close to the Odeon metro stop.

I agree with the previous post...use the Metro and buy a carnet of tickets. Great and easy way to get around.

maxima

Sounds wonderful.. though I too would skip the Vespa unless you have experience on a motorbike before.

The Musee D'Orsay is presently under renovation and not all floors are open. The website visually depicts what is on view. However, many paintings and drawings from the museum are now on exhibit at the Hotel De Ville, across the river and that exhibit is free.

The Louvre is less crowded in the evening, but not every gallery is open every day. However, you can see the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory at all times. You can enter the museum from the underground metro stop .. Carousel du Louvre and its usually not as crowded coming in that way.

After your meal at L'as du felafel, walk down the street a bit to the Place du Vosges.. the oldest planned town square in Paris.. its a lovely park.

I agree, buy a "carnet" a pack of ten metro tickets,, you will find it easy and convenient to use. dont throw the ticket away after you enter the station as you need it to exit as well.

walk along the seine... and across the bridges.. Paris is a great city for walking.
enjoy!

aura1234

Louvre will take a day at least! My mom got tired after 3 hours in one of 3 sections (3 floors each). I had to go back alone for another whole day to see most of the work. It is ALWAYS crowded there, especially where Mona Lisa resides.Must see top/central section with Kings apartaments-the only rooms that have furniture and ceilings finished! The rest of the museum-plane walls and scratched floors, and the ART! See Normandy section and Peter Paul Rubens room-the best work!Nothing to see in Bastille square-only poor students walking , asking for donations.Luxembourg garden and Medici palace-nice to take a break from walking, seat on the bench. Note:washrooms are scarce around the city! And you have to pay for an entry about 1EUROs. Eiffel tour: get ticket to 2nd level. Versailles hard to get to by train-line C splits in two! Ask questions! People will tell when to get out to catch next line train going all the way to the end. Subway stinks, lots of lines changes, get cheap food underground in Opera station: chinese meals for 6 Euros. Basic coffee +croissant +juice(not real) will cost you 12 EUROS, so instead i went to normal chain store-EDs, bought yogurts, buns, tea, cheese and ate them all week.Le Printemps+Lafayette big shopping Centre is nice to just walk through, get some warm food there-it is not expensive.Must see Sacre Coeur white basilic on the North. Expect climbing lots of stairs up the hill!I got tired a bit. Ignore Pakistani and Arabic refugees on your way to the Basilic-they constantly stop you with some garbage for sale-just pass by. Their Baklava is overpriced and some shoe store owners in that small area are rude-but you can just joke about that-they don't care and don't expect to make money. See Notre-Dame-de-Paris.Lots of artists exhibit their work around it. Square of the Republic is also a meeting place for Muslim protesters (Paris is already overpopulated, has NO jobs, and protesters do not understand that and keep arriving)and lots of pigeons making a mess...Champs-Elysees-great street to walk through-see the square trees, stores, park, people!

dro

We love Brasserie Balzar near the Sorbonne.

seafox

Great intinerary - be sure to stop, sit, relax, take in Paris and of course talk about what you will do the next time you are in Paris - there is always a next time!

sharbear84

Thank you dro - we do plan to walk a lot it's just sometimes hard to tell how this will work out on a map. I also have to buy some not so touristy looking comfortable shoes!

Thank you everyone for the great comments!

Michel_Paris

I'm a heretic in that I don't find the 'actual' Champs Elysee to be all that special. I do like 'visual' of looking up the Champs form Place de la Concorde. Climbing the Arch...if you are doing the Eiffel, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame tower,etc..I might skip climbing it.

Place de Vosges, absolutely. Add in Palais Royal (near Louvre) and the Passages (also near Louvre). If you like to look at high end antique stores, across from the Louvre is the Louvre des Antiquaires, a building with many dealers.

Look at some of the smaller museums. Jaquemart-Andre, Moyen Age (aka Cluny) and, if you want to get out of the centre into a nice area, the Marmottan museum.

avalon

You might be better off buying a Navigo Decourverte for Monday thru Friday if you plan on using the metro a lot or using the buses which I much prefer. You can get on and off when you see something that interests you. You can get an inexpensive lunch in the Rodin Museum gardens cafe.

As mentioned some of the smaller museums ae excellent, the NIssam de Camondo is my favorite. And the Carnarvelet is a good history or Paris experience.

I am with MIchel , The Champs leaves me cold. O do love the view from the top of the Arc better than from the Tower