chris45ny

I got so much great feedback from my London/se UK post that I hope to luck out again.
I am currently planing a 2+ month long trip to Europe. Travelers are my husband and myself, both retired and over the age of 60. I have some knee issues so walking down stairs (ok walking up) makes for a slow go. This will be our first trip to Paris. I took French in college so can get by-barely!

We will arrive in Paris via Eurostar that we will take from Ashford International in the UK. Hoping to get the 9:55 am train. Should I pre purchase these tickets? I hesitate to do this as we will be coming from Canterbury-not too far away-but returning our rental car first. I'm not 100% sure we will be able to make that morning train. My plan is to find a 1BR apartment rental in Paris located near public transport-bus or metro. Looking at places in 15th, 4th, 5th, or 6th. Open to any suggestions. Budget 150 euros-could go higher if place really special. Plan to do breakfast most days in the apt. but we will have dinners in restaurants/cafes. I'd like to do 1 splurge dinner-maybe the one at the Eiffel Tower? If so I will make a reservation before we even leave the US.

Will want to buy some good chocolates (dark preferred) and good wine to have as a late night treats in the apt. This is for me. My husband is a beer drinker, cheese, crackers kind of guy.

My passion for Paris is Monet, museums and the Cathedrals. I plan to buy the Paris Museum pass. Will buy carnets for public transport.

day 1-arrive to apartment, settle in, buy some supplies, check out the neighborhood.

day 2- Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, check out the Pont Neuf, walk over to Ile St. Louis if time permits.

day 3-Pantheon, Eglise Saint-Sulpice, Luxembourg Garden, Eglise Saint-Germain Des-Pres

day 4-Chartres day trip

day 5- Orangerie, Tuileries Garden, Orsay- will aim for a Thursday to take advantage of later hours

day 6- Louvre-plan is for this on a Wednesday or Friday for the late hours; will visit, leave for lunch nearby, and re-enter Louvre, maybe Palais-Royal

day 7- Rodin, Invalides, picnic lunch Trocadero, Eiffel Tower

day 8- Versailles day trip

day 9- Sacre Coeur, Pompidou Center I know they are not close to each other but I didn't know how else to do this-any advice??

day 10- Seine river cruise

day 11- Marmottan

day 12-Giverny day trip

day 13- Champs Elysees walk, Arch de Triomphe

day 14-Cluny, Eiffel Tower just before dusk

The order of the days can easily be switched to accommodate weather or other circumstances. Some days appear lighter than others so we will also be doing some people watching from cafes and just aimless wandering. I will do very little shopping-mainly things to bring home for family and friends-souvenir stuff. If anything catches my eye for myself I'll get it. My husband will want me to pick up some mustard that I've read about on other posts.

I have no idea if this itinerary is too rushed, doable or not, completely wrong order, etc. I welcome any and all advice, suggestions, even criticisms! Thanks in advance for any help.

FrenchMystiqueTours

In regards to the Eurostar, those tickets go on sale 6 months in advance and that is about the time you should buy them as they'll be the cheapest, usually around 50€ from London to Paris. If you wait until the last minute you might pay as much as 225€ for the same journey.

In regards to your itinerary I think you've got a nice list of things to do and places to see so if you don't see everything you had planned on one day, do it on another day. Some days look light on activities so you'll have time for more. Don't forget to leave room for spontaneity as you'll likely discover things once you are here that you hadn't even thought about.

Here is some advice about using public transport in Paris and other info.

To learn how to get around Paris by métro/bus/RER use www.ratp.fr. Here is a link to a route planner:

http://www.ratp.fr/itineraires/en/ra...herche-avancee

Here is an interactive map of the system:

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

Since parts of this website are only in French you can also use www.transilien.com or www.vianavigo.com. Via Navigo probably has the most complete English website.

To learn about the various types of transport passes look here:

http://vianavigo.com/en/tickets-and-fares/

A good website to learn how to use public transport in Paris is www.parisbytrain.com. It will likely answer any of your questions about what is the métro, what is the RER, what kinds of tickets you need, how to buy tickets, what kinds of passes are available etc.

Buy a good detailed map of Paris of around the scale 1:12,000 and it will show all streets and street names, museums, monuments, gardens, parks, sites, attractions and the location of all RER and métro stops. A handy booklet to buy is called ''Plan de Paris par Arrondissement, L'Indispensable''. It is available in the Relay bookstores you'll find in the main line train stations and RER stations. It can be bought in many other places as well, such as bookstores, magazine/news stands, many touristy souvenir stores, larger supermarkets, tabac stores etc.

In any métro or RER station with an information booth you can get free maps of the Paris transport system and use those in conjunction with your street maps to figure out how to get around and determine where you are.

You can figure out walking times and distances between sites by using a mapping website like www.mappy.com or a similar website.

You can look at the Paris tourist office website for info about what to see and do in Paris as well as learn about the various passes for visits and public transport: http://en.parisinfo.com/

TDudette

I can't help with your Eurostar question, but your itinerary looks very reasonable to me. Being flexible about weather and late closing times is very sensible.

On our first visit, DH and I stayed at Hotel Elysee Ceramic very near the Etoile station--RER to Versaille left from there if memory serves. We also stayed on Rue du Cherche-Midi in Montparnasse. A wonderful street but not as convenient to metro.

Remember there will be stairs in subways. I don't recall having to walk underground in Paris to change train platforms though. Anyone help here?

On the day you have Sacre Coeur and Pompidou scheduled together, I suggest letting weather determine to which you go first. You might consider a cab to Sacre Coeur as it's uphill. Pompidou had a nice rooftop restaurant when we were there, FYI.

I'm sorry to say DH and I never got to Giverny so I don't know if it ends up being an entire day. An evening visit to Sacre Coeur area might be nice to add on to that day if you aren't too tired.

You should get some good advice here. Have a wonderful trip.

Judy

Your itinerary looks quite doable. You've got lots of room to move things around based on weather, etc.

We like parisvacationapartments.com for our Paris stays. You don't say what time of year you'll be in Paris. Unfortunately, they have only one one-bedroom apartment which is air conditioned and it's a bit over your budget. If you are not there mid-summer you may find one of their other apartments that works for you.

Have a fantastic trip!

janisj

>>Should I pre purchase these tickets?<<

You absolutely MUST pre-purchase the tickets. And as far in advance as you can once your times are set and the dates are released for sale. For one thing - last minute tickets are much more expensive. But assuming money is no object . . . the Eurostar regularly sells out so even IF the walk up fare wasn't too expensive, there is a very good chance you couldn't get on at all. Not all trains stop at Ashford so your chances are already reduced . . . Buy as soon as you can.

adrienne

Paris Museum Pass - check the price for the pass against the museum admission prices as the museum pass is not always cost effective. You can purchase advanced tickets for most museums from their web sites.

Day 2 - you can do lots more on this day. You might be interested in the Conciergerie or the Deportation Memorial. Ste-Chapelle doesn't have lines. The lines are for security and the museum pass does not allow bypassing this line; you must wait your turn.

Notre Dame gives a free tour on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This is a 1.5 to 2 hour tour and is very good. Try to arrange your Ile de la Cite time to coincide with the tour.

Day 3 - just behind the Pantheon is the lovely St-Etienne-du-Mont church with beautiful rood screen.

Day 10 - Seine cruise is only an hour so you could move the Pompidou to this day and see other things in the Marais.

Day 13 - you can combine this with the Louvre. Start at the arch and walk (downhill) on the Champs Elysees and finish at the Louvre.

Paris Walks give some great 2 hour walks which you can fit in to your itinerary.

http://www.paris-walks.com/

chris45ny

FrenchMystiqueTours-Wow! Thanks for all the links and info. Much appreciated.

TDudette-Walking uphill is no fun for me so will see about a cab to SC. Thanks.

Judy-I still don't have exact dates yet as I'm working on the itineraries for our destinations in Italy. I'm hoping to be finished within the next few weeks. We're thinking open jaw tickets into London around August 8, 2015. That would bring us to Paris around August 24, 2015. We will fly home from Rome around the beginning of October 2015.

janisj-I should be able to purchase those tickets as soon as they go on sale. I'm thinking I read about 5 months before hand?? I'm going to go for the 9:55 am train but the one at 12:47 pm isn't too late either. Just those 2 trains at this point. Another question-from Paris we want to fly via Easy Jet or Air France (whichever one has a better time and price) Should I get these tickets ahead also. I checked kayak.com but they don't have info for my dates yet. Right now they are showing $65 USD pp one way from Paris to Venice, late morning time. Air France shows $62 but early morning time. I thought fare was reasonable but fares will probably be higher due to high tourist season time of year.

chris45ny

adrienne-Thanks for all the advice/suggestions. On day 2 if we have time I'll consider your ideas. The problem is me. When I go to a place I really take my time. If there are labels/explanations I read them all. Sometimes my husband gets impatient but I'm so interested in history. I have to read and look at everything!! I will add the Saint-Etienne Du Mont as per my map it is close to the Pantheon. Maybe I will follow your suggestion for day 13 as long as it's a late day for the Louvre-thanks. On the light days if we are up to it we can always add some other things lower on my list. I'm sure this plan will be tweaked a lot.

I knew I'd get good advice from all of you so thanks so much to everyone who has chimed in to respond to my post!

Kathie

We felt the Paris Museum Pass was worth its weight in gold, not just for the museum admissions, but also for being able to skip the lines.

Your itinerary looks fine to me. Be aware, of course, that you will likely move some things around to accommodate weather issues or fascinating places you stumble across.

Chocolate: our favorite remains Pierre Marcolini. That was the winner of our "best chocolate" task in Brussels, and while we tried several other chocolate makers in Paris, we went back to Pierre Marcolini.

For finding our way around, we found the map in the Fodors Paris book was the one we liked best. We used our iPhones (and free data through our T-Mobile plan) to guide us from place to place. While we tried a number of apps, we found google maps to be the best, mostly because they gave info on which Metro exit to use. Their time estimates were silly (1 minute to change trains?) but gave us an idea. We mapped out the places for the next day each evening.

For restaurants, take a look at La Forchette, the restaurant booking site. We are able to book our own reservations and some places give you a discount (read the conditions carefully). We opted to have our main meal of the day at mid-day, which is less expensive than dinner and which worked better for our schedules.

Have a wonderful time, Chris!

sanderskn

I think you have a great itinerary! Great job not over doing things and grouping things that are close by. Have q great time! Really try to make it to the Cluny museum, it's wonderful.

Leely2

No Place des Vosges?

KTtravel

This sounds like a great itinerary. Your trip sounds like it will be terrific.

You might want to try to catch a concert in Sainte-Chapelle or a ballet or other event at the Opera Garnier. We did both of these recently and really enjoyed them. The Sainte-Chapelle concerts can be booked once you get there. You can look at the Opera Garnier website when it gets closer to your visit.

I also recommend Paris Walks which was mentioned above.

We recently stayed at an apartment at www.parisbestlodge.com and were happy with the apartment and the agency. We stayed in the 5th but I think I'd prefer the 6th, 7th or possibly the 4th, for a future visit.

michele_d

With having traveled to Europe for three months and then six weeks, I think you will appreciate not having every day scheduled with activities. You will need a sort of 'vacation from your vacation' a few times during your two month vacation. Be sure to allow days for laundry and such. We took a day every 2-3 weeks, during our 13 week trip, and didn't even leave the apartment. Just kicked back and relaxed.

Regarding the Seine Cruise. I prefer to take the evening cruise, as the lights reflecting down in the water and up on the buildings are spectacular. You can also time it to catch the Tower twinkling.

Paris is great for just strolling about. One of my all time favorite memories was taking the evening Seine Cruise then grabbing a gelato and strolling hand in hand with my husband along the Seine, stopping to listen to the musicians playing. Can't wait to return. Have a great trip!!!

chris45ny

Leely2-

Will hopefully have time-most likely towards the end of our 2 weeks-to explore the Marais and will certainly relax in this lovely square you mentioned. Thanks for the heads up.

KTtravel-

Attending a concert or an opera sounds great but I don't think I could get my husband to the opera. I'll check out the apt. link you posted. Will also check out Paris Walks. Thanks.

michele_d-

For our trips I always plan an itinerary but rarely, if ever, is it followed to a T. I've planned for days with not so much crammed in just to allow us to do what you recommended-just to relax and breathe! Seine cruise just before dusk-great idea. Thanks.

dwdvagamundo

Chris--

Just got back from Paris--There were lots of steps and walking in the Metro--my spouse has bad knees and she was able to do it, although in a good bit of pain. You may want to take a taxi first thing in the morning to get to the more distant places and then walk back, thus sparing your knees and/or take a taxi back to your apartment if you're worn out. Taxis are pretty affordable within Paris and we used them a lot.

Giverny can be a whole day thing--we took several hours just for the house and gardens (Museum was closed it being a Tuesday) so if Museum is open it will be a full day. We had lunch at a neat restaurant--I'll try to find name and post it.

Like adrienne, I'm skeptical on the Paris Pass--I've read that you have to see two or more included museums per day to make it pay. You can buy tickets on-line for many places (including Versailles as we did this and it worked out well), so I'd check out which places you can book on-line and compare total cost. The downside is of course that you have to book for a certain day. If you will have internet access in Paris, you could get the ticket (i.e. printout) the day before you plan to go.

I would add St. Denis Basilica and try to do it on the same day as Sacre Coeur.

You could do Pompidou on same day as Arc de Triomphe and Champs walk, as the last two don't take all that much time unless you do more than window shop.

Do go to the Place de Vosges and its near neighbor, Carnavalet Museum (for history of Paris)--had we had one more day, we would have gone back to the Carnavalet, as it is huge and fascinating.

However, we found that our favorite thing was to amble around the city, stopping into things that were on our "list" when we saw them.

nola77382

We toured Giverny in a half day but we went first thing and had pre-purchased our entry tickets. We got caught in a heavy rainstorm which didn't diminish the beauty of the place. It was spectacular and made our visit to L'Orangerie even more fascinating. I wrote about it here: http://herewegoagain-paris.blogspot....ontmartre.html We went to Montmartre in the afternoon.

We used the Navigo Decouverte pass for transportation. It's valid Monday to Sunday only but we got our money's worth! We also had the Paris Museum pass and got our money's worth but that took some planning to use it most effectively.

Leely2

I visited St. Denis for the first time this summer after many trips to Paris. Can't believe I waited so long! It was wonderful. If you have time, give it a go. Also agree about Carnavalet, which by the way is free.

DebitNM

The dinner at Jules Verne at The Eiffel Tower will set you back at least $500. We were 4 and with just 2 bottles of wine, the bill was close to $1500. The experience was a bucket list item for sure. Sadly, the food wasn't. Maybe consider lunch there instead. Also, need to book in advance, way in advance as there is just one booking for dinner.

chris45ny

DebitNM-

Appreciate the heads up on the ET restaurant. I don't mind paying a hefty price for a splurge dinner but I expect the quality of the food to somewhat match the price. Maybe lunch it will be and I'll look elsewhere for dinner to top off our stay in Paris.

dwdvagamundo, Leely2

Walking for miles is ok as is walking up steps. Walking downhill or down steps are what bothers my knees. Thinking taxis and buses may be the way to go. Will look out for the name of the Giverny restaurant if you can find it. I do think the Paris Museum Pass may work for us. I know you have to use it on consecutive days so may plan my days by that. Most of the museums I want to see are included in the Pass. I have taken note of your other sight suggestions-St. Denis and Carnavalet. Thanks.

nola77382-

Thanks for the link to your blog. I skimmed through but tomorrow I will take the time to read the entire parts of your Paris adventure. Giverny looks lovely in May!

Samsaf

Following. Great info on this thread!