1st Draft of Paris Itinerary - 6.5 days, 7 nights - Please Comment!
 

Hello Fodorites!

I’ve finally pulled together a ROUGH itinerary … and would love your comments. Right now, I THINK we can move at a leisurely pace (esp. on Sat/Sun/Mon) but I may be mistaken.

Some background: We are in our early 30’s and staying at an apartment on Ile de la Cite. We will arrive on Tuesday, September 23rd at 9:30 am from Toronto (trying to get a few hours of sleep on the plane). We are in Paris until Tuesday, September 30th. We both speak passable French and are fairly seasoned travelers – we also usually move at a very fast pace. We are getting a Museum Pass (6-days) and a Navigo Decouverte. We are NOT big into nightlife (i.e. no clubs, bars, discos, etc.) We are generally up early and to bed early! We like museums but also only hit the main pieces that we’re interested in (i.e. can’t really foresee spending a whole day at the Louvre). We are not big fashion shoppers but love to wander around neighbourhoods and markets. The below itinerary only lists the major sites – the plan is to visit the sites and then hang out in the surrounding neighbourhoods afterward.

Here goes …

Tuesday
- Arrive CDG at 9:30 am - get to apartment, get acquainted with the neighbourhood, go grocery shopping, pick up Museum Pass/Navigo Decouverte, etc.
- If we’re feeling up to it, take a Seine river cruise (Vedettes) in the afternoon (possibly replace this with L’Open Tour)
- Dinner on Ile St. Louis or Latin Quarter

Wednesday
- Pick up L’Open Tour near Notre Dame
- Musee Rodin
- Eiffel Tower – Backstage tour @ 5:30 pm (requires pre-booking – only avail Wed and Sat – possible to move this to 10 am)
- Dinner near Eiffel Tower

Thursday
- Sainte Chapelle (get there early to avoid lines)
- Conciergerie
- Notre Dame (back to the apartment for lunch?)
- Louvre
- Dinner in Marais

Friday
- Arc de Triomphe
- Champs Elysees
- Le Printemps/Lafayette (we have tickets reserved for the 3 pm fashion show at Lafayette)
- Possibly re-visit Louvre if we run out of time the day before (open until 9:45 pm on Fridays)

Saturday
- Versailles – get there first thing – return mid-afternoon (?)
- Musée de l'Orangerie

Sunday
- Rue Mouffetard Market
- Musee D'Orsay

Monday
- Sacre Cœur
- Musee Picasso

Tuesday
- Depart first thing for Gare du Lyon (TGV to Avignon)

So, any comments regarding the logic/logistics of the combinations? Also, please feel free to add some other items in if you feel we’ve got the time.

Thanks so much for all the help!

Hi L,

>Saturday
- Versailles – get there first thing – return mid-afternoon (?)
- Musée de l'Orangerie

With only 6.5 fays, I suggest skipping Versailles and enjoying Paris more.

((I))

As for Versailles, I figure if the populace of Paris could go for a visit in 1789 and bring back "souvenirs", then you should too.

Some random thoughts...

If I was to recommend a Seine cruise, I'd do it after dark. Much more atmospheric (bridges and buildings lit up, Eiffel sparkling,etc..) Vedettes is good and near to your apt. Also check out the Square du Vert Galant at tip of Ile de la Cite.

You don't have a lot of Left Bank time. I might consider more of a day there. See Luxembourg Gardens, Mouffetard, Cluny (Moyen Age) Museum (small, interesting and built over roman ruins). Walk along blvd St Germain, Buci market and rue Ancienne Comedie, cafe time, and finish at Orsay.

Sacre Coeur and Picasso are a bit split up. I might consider doing a Marais Tour with Paris Walks in the morning, it finishes at Place des Vosges (a must see), eat lunch there (I ate at Cafe Hugo last visit), from there go to Picasso, then finish day at Sacre Coeur. I'm a bit ambivalent about Sacre Coeur..church just OK, mostly it is for the view. After that...are you thinking about a Montmartre walk-about? Dinner there?

Brasserie de L'Ile St Louis was a good spot for lunch last trip. I also had a good dinner at Le Vieux Bistro, beside Notre Dame. Across the river from Ile St Louis, on Left Bank, there are some good restaurants along Seine river, some with outdoor eating.

I might skip the fashion show. If shopping is not a big deal for you, I would use that time for something else.

I'd round out visit to Louvre with area around it (Place Vendome, Palais Royal, arcades along Rivoli, Laduree,etc..). The Passages are also neat architectural walkways to visit.

You can either visit Versailles "on your own" or via a bus tour (Parisvision or Cityrama). If you want to control your schedule, think of taking RER train there and back. Get there early to miss crowds, then wander at your own pace. As Ira said, you can easily fill your time in Paris with the amount of days you have.

People here have also recommended Segway and Fat Bike tours as fun options.

Not enough time for Versailles.

I don't have any critques of your schedule, but what is the backstage tour of the eiffel tour, and how do you get tickets?

Don't do the Seine ride the first afternoon. I did this once and fell asleep.

Agree with poster above who said the night ride is more spectacular with the building lights and the Eiffel Tower doing its show.

Do you really need a 6-day museum pass? It won't help you with the lines at Ste-Chappelle as you cannot cut ahead of the security line and I don't think you can bypass the line for the Notre Dame tower.

If you do Versailles you'll need a full day. You won't want to cut it short to get back for the Orangerie. You can do the Orangerie on Friday after the Arch - you'll have plenty of time.

Just a suggestion, but why don't you swap the Mouffetard market on Sunday for the Bastille(also known as Richard Lenoir) market? I've only been there on a Thursday, since we weren't in Paris on a Sunday, but I heard it is fabulous on a Sunday.

I think you could switch the Mouffetard market for another day - isn't it a permanent street market that is open everyday?

But the Mouffetard market on Sunday is better than the other days. More lively and there's the accordian players at the bottom and people singing and dancing (around noon). It's wonderful.

I haven't been to the richard lenoir market on Sunday so I can't compare them.

If you do the Mouffetard market you might want to walk about 10 minutes farther and see the Mosque and drink mint tea in the garden behind it.

WOW! thank you so much to all for your replies...keep the advice coming! i appreciate it tremendously!

ira/apersuader65: versailles is the one thing that DH is insisting on! so we gotta do it. he's left everything else up to me ... it's the least i can do!

Michel_Paris: got it. will do the vedettes in the evening (most of our evenings are 'open' except for one night when we want to go to a concert at sainte chapelle). i will incorporate your left bank ideas into sunday. as for sacre coeur/picasso on monday, it was just really two things that are on my list and were not easily 'combine-able' with the other items. i like you idea of the marais walk and then heading up to sacre coeur later on.

Gretchen/Adrienne: will extend versailles to the whole day. and if we're done early, then we'll just come back to the city and wander around one of the neighbourhoods.

rhy: here is the link for the backstage eiffel tower tour.

http://en.parisvision.com/89,197-gui...ate=c1fea2ab52

i found out about it on this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...cret&fid=2

Anna1013: could you tell me a bit more about this market in the bastille?

We have been to both markets on a Sunday - the Mouffetard market is definitely more festive. The Richard Lenoir market was good, but we thought the Moffetard market was more fun. The Moffetard market is open Tuesday through Sunday (closed on Monday). We haven't been there in a few years, but remember it fondly. We are planning to go again on a Sunday when we return to Paris in October. The Richard Lenoir market is open on Thursdays and Sundays.

If it was me - the night of the Ste Chapelle concert is the same night I'd do the Vedette cruise. Go to the earlier concert (there are two most nights), then you basically walk around the corner to the pier for the boats. Just a lovely evening all around.

I prefer the first concert because there is still some light in the sky so the windows glow. By the time the concert ends, it is dark and perfect for the illuminations along the river.

Hi lilaki , how did you reserved ahead of times for the fashion show in Galeries Lafayette.?

Graziella5b: here is the info for the lafayette fashion show...

http://www2.galerieslafayette.com/in...fontLang=latin

i sent an email and received a reply the next day.

The bastille market is in the 11th, or Bastille district. Everyone always raved about it on the boards, so we decided to head on over for our last trip. We went in the morning on a Thursday, and I really loved the market - there was a whole stall just devoted to spices and dried fruits. There are also candy stalls, pastries, vendors who sell all types of sea salts(including fleur de sel) that are combined with garlic, ginger, herbs, etc.

Not sure if you want to make the trip over, but you could always explore the area while you are at the market. If you want, you could check out my trip report that I did last June, and I'm pretty sure I went into more detail about the market - just do a search under my name...it's currently #24 in the topic section.

You might also want to do a search by either typing in "bastille market" or "richard lenoir market" in the search options. As noted, this market is only on Thursday and Sunday. Since you said you like markets, you could go to both and compare!

As a another tip, we stayed on the island next to where you are staying, the Ile Saint Louis. Since you are so close, really make it a point to try the ice cream from Berthillion - it was amazing! Some people love it, and others just tend to find it so so, but you really need to try it yourself :)

We loved the unusual flavors that you can't get in the US - some of the flavors we tried were white chocolate(my friends favorite), chocolate, earl gray(friend thought it was so so), blood orange, chocolate,creole(rum raisin) and an unbelievable chocolate ice cream with bits of orange skin in it - it think it sort of was called guradani.

On the same street you'll find Amorino which sells gelato - I'm not a huge gelato fan, but there portions are about triple the size of berthillion's. The yogurt gelato was really good.

On the same street, there is a creperie that also had a take-out window. They had crepes with savory fillings, but I loved the chocolate & banana crepe and we also had one filled with orange marmalade....sooo good! I think I'm getting more and more jealous of you by the minute :)

hi Anna1013 - thanks so much for all the info about the markets! i may just be tempted to go to both.

and yes, i was already trying to figure out if it would be TOO slovenly to have berthillion/ amorino each night before heading back to the apartment!!!

lilaki,

I think it would be a "sin" if you didn't get some version of ice cream each night when you are on the Ile de Cite! Trust me - I looked back on my trip report and I noticed we didn't go to Berthillion each night...how stupid is that?

Also, the scoops at Berhillion are quite small(but just enough in our opinion...especially if you get two flavors!!), so I think you could argue that eating them each night isn't that big of a deal. Besides, you will probably walk off all the calories anyway!

Forgot to add - I hope we can look forward to a trip report when you return?

<<Forgot to add - I hope we can look forward to a trip report when you return?>>

oh, absolutely!!! this forum has been INVALUABLE to my planning!

btw - anna - i just found your trip report - AMAZING details!!! thank you for sharing!