1/2 day Paris itinerary
 

As crazy as it sounds - we will only have 1/2 a day in Paris before we leave for Naples the next morning. We will have 2-3 days in Paris at the end of the trip when we come back after touring Italy. So we want to take full advantage of the 1/2 day in Paris and have planned the following based on the Fodors 3 days Itinerary for Paris. we want to make sure this is doable in 1/2 a day in terms of waiting in lines for the tower, walking distances, etc:
? See the eiffel tour via Champ de Mars (we will want to go the top as well)
? Tour the Seine on a boat
? Walk or take metro to Arc de Triomphe
? Walk along Champs Elysees across Place de la Concorde and the Jardin des Tuileries
? Have dinner

Hi HH,

I take it you are staying overnight in Paris.

I suggest that you drop your luggage at your hotel and go to the nearest Batobus stop. Buy the one-day pass and take the loop around the Seine. You can get on and off at many spots.

www.batobus.com

Go to the Eiffel tower at night to go to the top.

I think I would skip going to the top of the Eiffel Tower if I had to cut one activity. The lines can be very loooong and will eat up alot of time. Here's what I would do:
- visit Eiffel tower via Champ De Mars. Take pix. Walk over to Trocadero for another view.
- metro from Trocadero to Arc De Triomph
- Leisurely walk Champs Elysees to Louvre
- Dinner
- Night boat tour on Seine

Have fun!

Thanks! Yes we will be staying the night. So are the lines for the Eiffel Tour long in the evenings as well? I guess we will have to wait to go to the top until we swing by towards the end of the trip. Is there anything else in that area we could explore?

Your proposed tour looks absolutely frantic!

If you get to the Eiffel Tower later than 10:00, you will waste an hour (or more, depending on day of week and season) standing in line. Last June, the line was closed at 20:00 to get everyone in by 22:30. Since dinner is at the end of your itinerary, I assume your half-day won't start until noonish - so I think the E.T. is out.

How about a 3-5 hour l'Open Tour followed by a dinner cruise?

Don't walk <u>any</u>where unless you have a week to kill. There's far too much to see and do to waste your time marching. The M&egrave;tro goes everywhere; use it.

How about:

Metro to Troccadero, exit and wow...there is the tower, pictures of the fountains etc.
Metro to Arc de Triomphe. Walk down Champ Elysee, check out Place De la Concorde, Place Vendowm (Ritz and fancy jewellers), continue same direction via Tuileries Garden, sit and watch people with their sailboats in the pool.

Carry on, See outside of Louvre (no time ot go in!). Go to Place Royale and enjoy the square. Carry on under arcaded sidewalk of Rue Rivoli, lots of chances to pick up souvenirs here.

Hop across one of the bridges to Ile Notre Dame. Check out Notre Dame, then move on to Ile St Louis for some browsing. Probably no time to do St Chapelle, but check if you want.

Leave there and cross over to the left bank. Check out some of the bouquinistes (book sellers) on the top bank of the Seine. Maybe a stroll down below along the Seine (just like Audrey Hepburn). Can then wander Left Bank steets (perhaps Rue St Germain) until dinner time (8PM). Lots of restaurants here, some nice ones along Seine also(eg. Montebello has patio with views of Notre Dame). Then you could catch the Vedettes du Pont Neuf Seine cruise at the tip of Ile Notre Dame. Other Seine cruises can be at Place D'Alma, but that would be a bit of a hike.

Hope this helps
Mike
http://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/

This would be...a full 1/2 day.

..will you be arriving in paris in the am after an overnight flight???if so you will likely be jet laged..agree about &quot;dumping stuff&quot; at hotel but will be about noon by the time you hit the streets..the itinerary would depend on where the hotel is..if close to the seine, a walk might be great to stretch the legs..if not, definitely a walk in the nearest interesting area..would pick one site, museum (and not one with a long line..use that for your return and buy a museum card then)..have dinner and then to bed!..would have more specifics if you could post interests and the location of your hotel...disreguard all of the abouve if i have made the wrong assumption about a long flight.

Hi - thanks for all the info. Yes we are flying from the Us - East Coast so the flight is not that bad. I have been on a lot worse! But, yes you're right, we probably will have some degree of jet lag and will probably be tired earlier in the day. We will have to keep your tips in mind when booking the hotel though. we knew we wouldn't get an in depth view of Paris in 1/2 a day - but we wanted to maximize time instead of sitting around. We are in our mid 20's and don't have a problem with a hectic schedule for vacation. we just cannot sit in one place and love walking everywhere we go and exploring everything. So, although it might sound &quot;frantic&quot; to some - it is exactly the pace we are looking for since this is our style of vacationing! :)