sim83

Please help in planning itinerary keeping in mind these points of interests: louvre, Eiffel tower, seine river cruise, notre dame, D’Orsay Museum, Pont Alexandre III. Sainte-Chapelle, Arc de Triomphe , Champs-Élysées, Montmarte and Sacre Coeur. Mouffetard Quarter, Opera national de Paris, Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, Pere-Lachaise Cemetery. Totally flexible to skip what 3 days can’t behold. Also, want to know how to travel from one point to another. Any prior bookings we need to do?

I have read several itineraries but don’t seem to find something that talks about how to commute between the attractions and how it should be planned considering our hotel location and the fact that we are with our 2 year old baby. We are considering between two hotel locations and need to pick what will be more central to go around the city: 34, rue de l'Arbalète and 43, Rue Saint Charles.

Here is the tentative itinerary we have planned though we don’t have much idea on how much time is involved in moving between different places.

9th august(fri): reaching paris airport from Singapore at 7:20am. Taking train to Port Royal buy 10 ticket metro pass and from there a cab to hotel at 34, rue de l'Arbalète. Settle in apartment and should be able to stat tour by 12:30pm.
Walk to Pont Alexandre III, then walk through the Jardin de Tuileries to Musée du Louvre.

10th august(sat): Notre Dame. Palace de justice then Sainte Chapelle, Through Latin Quarter(Musee Naturel du Moyen Age(wont go inside), Cluny Square, La Sorbonne, College de France, Saint Severin church, Saint Etienne du-Mont church, Pantheon, Place Saint Michael.), picknick in the Jardin du Luxembourg to Rue Mouffetard, Later, Eiffel tower (just an hour before sunset)

11th august(sun): Musée d'Orsay, Montmartre & Sacre Coeur. Later, Seine river cruise

12th august- take cab to for the 9am tgv to geneva

tailsock

The metro is an excellent and efficient way to reach these destinations. You'll want to buy a carnet of tickets which is 10. Simply go to the ticket clerk and say "un carnet sil vous plais" Carnet is pronounced "car-nay".

my advice would be to download google earth if you haven't already and pull up the map of Paris. Place a pin over ever point of interest you plan on visiting. It's easiest to visit attractions that are relatively close to one another to avoid unnecessary backtracking and travel.

While you can't take google earth with you there are offline applications for smartphones that work on GPS yet don't require expensive cellular data. Two I would highly recommend are CityMaps2Go and MetrO. The first will show you your location on a map you downloaded before you left and the other will tell you which lines to take to get where you want to go as far as the metro is concerned. good luck

Christina

What do you mean, how to commute between attractions? Have you ever been in a big city? YOu can take the metro (underground system) or buses or walk. You said you were going to buy a 10 metro tickets (it's not a pass, it is literally 10 separate tickets, you get a discount), so I presumed you know about the metro.

Either of those locations is central enough for general tourism, however the rue St Charles location is probably a bit closer to a metro stop (about 3 blocks to Charles Michels or Dupleix metro stops). I have stayed in both areas, actually, and like both, but the area around Charles Michels is nice for families and there are actually a lot of Asian tourists who stay over there for some reason, if you care. I think because there is one large Asian hotel or something.

rue Arbalete is a nice area between rue Mouffetard and the 13th arrondisement, but that particular locaiton is more like 5 blocks to a metro stop (Gobelins or Censier). But lots of good food shops around. The bus going down the nearby Claude Bernard does go over to Luxembourg Gardens, however, although it doesn't run late at night (maybe not past 8 or 9, I forget, or else it is very infrequent in those hours). So either location would work, really.

As an alternative idea to your taking the RER to Port Royal and then a taxi, you could take the Air France airport bus to Montparnasse and then a taxi. it is about in-between the two locaitons you are considering and I think the airport bus may be easier and more comfortable for you. I know you can easily get a taxi there due to the train station, of course. Now there is a taxi stand at Port Royal, so could be fine, I just don't know if there are always taxis there or not.

Your itinerary seems okay, but I don't think you are going to want to walk from that location near Gobelins to Pont Alexandre III (near the Invalides RER station), especially with a baby. Do you know how far that is? Wel, if you do, fine, but you are planning this after just arriving that morning and settling in, so will probably be not yourself. It's over 4 km.

There are no prior bookings you have to do with just general sightseeing. But if you are sure when you want to go up the Eiffel Tower, I would buy that ticket online i advance for a certain time and if you are sure you will go to the Louvre and Orsay museums, you can buy those tickets online, also. Although I wouldn't bother if you have to go pick them up somewhere, only if you can print them yourself.

bardo1

Everything in your itinerary looks pretty good. Use it as an outline and see what happens and just make adjustments on the fly as needed.

You'll get nice views of the Eiffel Tower on your river cruise. Deciding to go up the tower is a major time commitment between getting there/back and the horrid lines just to look around from the top for 10-15 minutes.

The apt at 34 Rue de l'Arbalète is the much better choice for getting around.

A few thoughts:

1) Consider Metro, Bus or Taxi to the Invalids stop to begin your Friday sightseeing. Pont Alexander III is quite a walk from apt. Especially with a 2 y/o. You can consider walking home afterwords depending on time and everyone's energy level afterwards.

2) Don't be put off from taxi's - just keep it in mind as an option. Your time is and energy limited and it is often money VERY well spent. Be selective, however - maybe just one or two taxi rides for this vacation. You DON'T want to take a taxi way out to Montmartre or Pere-Lachaise, for example - way too expensive. Closer in, however, it will be somewhere between 10E-20E, depending on distance. Look here for some sample fares between some of your destinations - http://www.taxifarefinder.com/

3) Saturday: Looks fine. After taking Metro to Notre Dame, it's all walkable. you might want to print a Google map of the area (excluding Eiffel tower)and draw a route that makes sense. You might also want to make Rue Mouffetard the last stop just before Luxembourg Park since it's a perfect place to put together a picnic. A quick taxi from Rue Mouffetard to Luxembourg Park might an opportune "taxi moment". Later - Metro to the Eiffel tower but get off at the nearby Trocadéro Metro station for the best view of the Eiffel tower in the city.

4) Sunday: Allow 40 minutes each way between Invalides and Montmartre (includes time on funicular and walk from Abbesses Metro).

StCirq

Regarding taxis, you should know that you can't just flag one down on the street (unless you're less than 50 meters from a taxi stand) - you have to go to a taxi stand.

As for getting around, get a map of Paris and mark the places you want to see, then figure out if you want to walk, take the métro, or take a bus. Everything you need to know about the Paris transport system is heere: www.ratp.fr

Nikki

I believe the rule about taxis is the opposite: the only time you can not flag down a taxi in the street is when you are near a taxi stand. I hail taxis on the street regularly. Some areas are much easier than others to find taxis, however.

Underhill

A good guidebook would be an enormous help. I like the Michelin Green Guide to Paris and the Eyewitness Guides, as both have itineraries that help you save time.

sim83

Hi All

Thanks for all the suggestions.
Christina, yes I have been to many big cities and am also living in one. The reason I asked was because I was not sure what's more convenient(direct connections, with a child) in Paris as it's our first time there.

We are done with planning our itinerary and it looks like this:

Friday:
Optional:
Opera
Gallaries
Tuileries Garden

Confirmed:
Louvre
Sienne River Cruise

Saturday:
Notre Dame
St. Chapelle
Latin Quarter
Lux gardens
Rue Moufettard

Sunday:
ET
Arc
Champs
Montmarte and Sacre Couvre
Optional- montparnasse Tower

bendigo

Hi, You may already know, but Louvre is open late on Friday nights - check the website.

Depending on how you handle the tiring trip from Singapore, and how much time you want / need to spend in the Louvre, you may be able to fit some or all of your optional Friday activities into the afternoon before the Louvre.

Gretchen

Take a taxi from the airport.

sim83

@Bendigo, yes hopefully we will do all of it.

@Gretchen, we are thinking of taking the air france shuttle to Montpar. and then a cab to hotel(around 40 euros total). I have read if the weather is bad or in traffic the cab fares shoot up.

sim83

@tailsock, those are great applications. Just downloaded. Thanks!

Sarvowinner

The stalls at Monge Marche in the open square below Rue Mouffetard are only open until until 2.30pm on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday (3pm). It would be a pity to miss them. Perhaps you could switch your Saturday and Sunday schedules (not sure how that would impact on Notre Dame)

Gretchen

Yes, the fare would probably be about 50E. Just thinking about you, luggage and a two year old. Sometimes paying a little more is better for the psyche to me, at least. I LOVE the Sunday pl. MOnge market.

texasbookworm

A couple things--

I would probably go to St. Chapelle first, as the lines get really long as the day goes along. Even if you have a Museum Pass (did you investigate that? It's worth it for passing up the line at the Louvre! But doesn't help pass up the security lines at St. Chapelle or Notre Dame tower).

Sunday certainly has a lot of climbing involved, if you do the steps at Sacre Coeur. But you are wise to do the ET first (do be there before it opens if you can). If you are tired and the day is not spectacular, I'd maybe give Sacre Coeur a miss (I was very uncomfortable there with my group of high school students after guys at the little train yelled lewd things and sorta followed us--not close, but I didn't like it. Up top there was a similar uncomfortableness reported by my students later. I will never go back there, if I'm ever there again. But I know many many have had completely fine experiences. So...)

Yes the Louvre is open late on Fridays. In June we didn't notice that the crowds were any less than another June day morning, but it does give you extra hours that day to go.

bendigo

In December, Friday night at the Louvre was - what queue?

The upside of way-off-season travel, but it is impossible to travel light - although I guess it's possible to wear the same coat every day!

robertharris

Take a taxi form the airport it is a better for you.

Gretchen

With only 3 days, maybe the top of the Eiffel Tower is not a good investment of time.

sim83

Thanks everyone, you all have great suggestions!

Ok, will take a taxi makes sense.

Sacre Coeur- We don't intend to go inside, just want to take a look at the structure.

ET- I am hoping that if we get there early in the morning on Sunday, it shouldn't be a long queue. If it is, we might try our luck again in the evening. The trip would be incomplete without going up there!

Thanks for that tip on St. Chappele, we would do it first.

About the stalls at Monge Marche, I think our hotel is quite close to this market, we should be in the hotel by 11am and we can probably stroll to the market to get a feel.

sim83

Btw, just managed to get ticks to ET for 2nd floor. But the system didn't let me book if I entered my baby's details(though he is free of charge). So now I have 2 adult tickets, does anyone know if they will let my son in without his ticket?