4 Day Trip to Paris
 

We will be traveling to Paris from Sept 5-9 (and then staying in London for 4 days). I was hoping to get some input regarding the Paris itinerary we came up with. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Also, any suggestions for meals in the areas we are visiting would be great. Keep in mind that my heart is not set on this itinerary - just wanted a place to start. Feel free to comment as much you like!

Day 1 – Sat, Sept 5
• Arrive at Gard du Nord at 7:55am
• Staying at Le Méridien Etoile, next to Palais des Congrès
• Couple hours to get to hotel/unpacked/situated/etc.
Early Afternoon: Eiffel Tower
• Lunch at Le Jules Verne (Reserved for 1:00pm)
• Trocadero
• Invalides
• Bastille
Late Afternoon: Champs-Elysees
• Grand and Petit Palais
• Alexandre III Bridge
• Dinner/Drinks
• Arc de Triomphe (Night)

Day 2 – Sun, Sept 6
• Day trip to Versailles (Can we use Paris Museum Pass?)
Evening: Back to Le Méridien Etoile
• Dinner/Drinks
• Eiffel Tower (View from bottom at night)

Day 3 – Mon, Sept 7
Morning: Tuileries Quarter
• Musee de Louvre
• Arc du Carousel
• The Tuileries Garden
• Place de la Concorde
• Lunch
Afternoon: Around Montemartre
• Sacre-Coeur
• Place du Tertre
• Montmartre Vineyard/Old Montemarte
• Wine at Le Sancerre
• Dinner/Drinks

Day 4 – Tue, Sept 8
Morning: Latin Quarter
• Jardin du Luxembourg
• Panthéon
• Place Saint Michael
• Saint-Sulpice
• Rue Mouffetard
• Lunch
Afternoon: The Islands
• Ile de la Cité/Notre-Dame
• Ile St-Louis (Ice cream at Berthillon)
• Visit Sainte-Chapelle• Conciergerie
• Square du Vert Galant
• Point Neuf
• Dinner/Drinks
• River Seine Night Cruise (Vedettes Pont Neuf – west end of Ile de la Cité)

Day 5 – Wed, Sept 9
• Arc de Triomphe (Quick look from the top in the morning?)
• Musee d’Orsay
• Depart for London in afternoon

Sounds good, except on the first day you aren't really going to trek all the way from the Eiffel Tower area to the Bastille and back again to Champs Elysee? You might add the Bastille/Marais area to early evening/dinner on the 2nd day, then head over to see the Eiffel Tower later that night.

I agree that Bastille is out of the way on that first afternoon. Perhaps if you change it to the 2nd day and find yourself with a little time to kill on day 1 (you probably won't), you'd like to stroll around the Rodin museum and gardens. It's very close to Invalides.

Paris Museum pass does cover Versaille.

Arc de Triomphe - it looks like you're planning to go up on day 5 - are you just walking past on day 1? Plan on a good hour to go up with lines; once you get to the top you'll want to stay a bit.

You hardly need to add anything to day 4, but you'll be right in the neighborhood of the Musee de Moyen Age, which is quite amazing and worth a pop-in with your pass, if you have time.

Thank you meliss19 and lennyba for the advice! Actually leaving the Bastille on the agenda for Day 1 was a mistake - I meant to delete that! I really like the suggestion of fitting the Bastille/Marais area to the afternoon after the trip to Versaille. This was really the only thing that I really felt I was missing (from what little I know!). I would also like to see Place des Vosges, so that would work out!

Musee de Moyen Age sounds like a great idea - we are certainly flexible about the things that we see in the Latin Quarter/Ile de la Cité area, and that sounds like something we shouldn't miss!

The plan was to wait in the line for the Arc both on Day 1 and Day 5, to see the city from the top both during the day and night. Perhaps we could pass on seeing the city during the day from the Arc on Day 5 since we will see it from the Eiffel Tower on Day 1?

Anyone think anything else important is missing? Does the locations/timing make sense? I am really not an itinerary person, so I hope to be able to go with the flow and relax once we are in certain areas.

Thanks for the help! First trip to Paris with only 4 days to work with certainly makes it a bit more difficult :)

Ah, the Musée National du Moyen Âge is closed on Tuesday! I'll pretend that I knew that and intentionally left it off the itinerary. Wonder if I could fit it in somewhere? We wanted to see Versailles on Sunday so we could see the musical fountain displays, or else I would switch Days 2 and 4 to have the museum open...

I don't know if I would do both the Arc and the Eiffel tower during the daytime on a short visit, especially if you are also climbing the Notre Dame towers for the view. If you leave that off the morning of day 5, perhaps you could cram Musee de Moyen Age in between the Orsay and - I'm assuming you're taking the Eurostar - departure from Gare du Nord. It's not completely out of the way.

Also, just a note that I seem to recall the PMP does not cover the fountains at Versailles, you have to pay separately for that.

The Paris Museum Pass will give you quick access to the top of the Arc- one of our favorite elevated views of Paris.

Except for the Arc decision, I think you have a pretty good plan. We like to just aim for an area, see a few key sites there, and also leave time to relax there as well. Don't try to cram too much in, it won't work. Just become like the many of us who keep going back to Paris because there is always more to do.

FYI, I've been to Paris seven times and never been to the Arc, didn't go inside the Louvre until the second visit, and didn't make it to Versailles until the fourth!

Enjoy...