7 day Paris Itinerary recommendations
 

Hi fellow traveller,

First time post, my wife and I are travelling to Paris next week and we would appreciate if someone can comment on our itinerary. We don't plan on jam packing our schedule but if possible would like to cover the following in our trip(not in particular order):

Siene boat tour at night
Notre Dame
Musee d'Orsay
Louvre
Marais (ideal for sunday??)
Versailles
Luxembourg Gardens
Montmartre & Sacre Coeur
Champs Elysees
Eiffer tower

We will be staying at a hotel in St Germain Quarter, arriving on late Thur morning for 6.5 days.

A few questions:
- Which visit of the above can be combined into one day? (considering proximity, travel time, time to spend there etc.)

- How busy are the above area and line up this time of the year (late Oct)? Should we get the Museum pass or is there any better time of the week (or during the day) to visit such sites to avoid the jam?

- Are there other areas that we miss listing that worth a visit? We also like to plan a few walking tours for ourselves to see and experience more of a parisian life style.


Your comments are much appreciated.
Peter

Hi

My wife and I went to Paris in April for a week and I have posted a trip report with links and pictures on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/Paris_France.htm . Maybe that can provide some helpful info for you :d

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Hi pp,

You have a nice plan.

www.mappy.com will give you walking distances between addresses (change "express" to "pedestrian").

www.ratp.fr will give you directions for using buses and metro.

For Montmartre, take the no. 18 bus (Montmartrebus) from Pigalle up to Sacre Coeur and walk back down.

For just two museums, I doubt that the pass will save you money.

You can buy tickets for the D'Orsay the day before and avoid lines.

For your boat tour, you might want to consider www.batobus.com.

Are you sure that you want to take a day away from Paris to See Versailles? The gardens will not be at their best.

>Are there other areas that we miss listing that worth a visit?<

Of course. You aren't in Kansas anymore. :)

You can't see it all in only one week. Don't even try.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

On your Marais Sunday, you might consider visiting Musee Carnavalet, 23 rue de Sevigne. This is the museum of the history of Paris. Don't be put off by the name as it's quite a fantastic museum with period rooms of furniture, lots of paintings and artifacts and it's FREE. On your Notre Dame day, if you at all like stained glass windows, you should think about visiting Sante Chappelle - best enjoyed on a sunny day. Close to Musee d'Orsay is Musee Rodin which has a lovely sculpture garden of Rodin bronzes(including Le Penser) (only E1 to enter the garden) and if you want to see more, the museum itself has lots of his marble works including "The Kiss" and "Praying Hands". This museum also houses the art Rodin collected so there is a Van Gogh and other great paintings. Personally, I found Versailles not worth the visit. Others don't necessarily share my opinion but I never recommend giving up a day in Paris to see Versailles. Here's a link to the tourist info that has lots of ideas. http://en.parisinfo.com/

I'd also recommend adding Ile St Louis to your Notre Dame day. Nice area for browsing and eating. You can also catch your Seine cruise from near Notre Dame (Vedettes du Pont Neuf), so that could be combined. You could also add part of St Germain to that day, walk along banks of the Seine near Notre Dame is also worthwhile.

St Germain on its own is worth a day. Luxembourg Gardens (picnic?), rue St Germain, Musee de la Moyenne Age (Cluny) , St Sulpice, Arenes de Lutece (roman arena could easily fill a day.


The Eiffel Tower (approach it from Trocadero side), Orsay, Rodin, Ecoloe Militaire, Champs de Mars and area could fill a day. If need be, you could do the Seine cruise from this area (Place D'Alama).

Marais (places des Voges, City Hall, Carnavalet, Picasso, Pompidou) could fill another day.

Arc de Triomphe, Place Concorde, Place Vendome, Opera, Tuileries, Madeleine, Palais Royal, Louvre, rue Rivoli, rue St Honore could be another day.

Versailles, on your own (not difficult) or tour would fill a big part of another day.

Montmarte and Sacre Coeur would fill part of a day. Look at the Montmartobus which is a trolley that runs arouind the area. The funicular is also something you might want to take. Maybe add Parc Monceau and Musee Nissim Camondo.

If you like Monet, the Marmottan museum is a nice , small place located away from the touristed areas, so it could be a nice morning away from the crowds.


You might also want to do an organized walking tour. Paris Walks is one I've used. It's nice to have someone take you around ,tell you the stories, and take you to places you might not see on your own.

Another idea might be a bus tour on the first day to get an overall view of the area. There are also nighttime tours that see the illuminations.

Miscellaneous...
Getting from the airport to the city has been discussed for ages on this forum. ZYou can take the RER train directly form CDG to St Michel (Left Bank) and then Metro (walk) to your hotel. Cheap, may depend on amount of baggage you have. There are also cabs, and shuttles (need to be reserved) that are more expensive. Air France and Roissybus also have buses that run from CDG to specific drop off points in central Paris.
Paris is definitely a good walking city, and even more enjoyable when combined with cafe time. I persoanlly buy a carnet of metro tickets (basically a pack of 10) and walk all day, then maybe metro it back at the end
to hotel. Metro is very extensive, and you will never be very far from a station. People here also recommend the Batobus, which is a "water taxi", gives nice views of the city. Dinner will be from ~8PM onwards. I never reserved, but if you are going to popular places you may want to phone, or reserve on your way by. Restaurants post their menus outside, so you will be able to check before going in. You might find that not taking breakfast at your hotel is better deal, since you will be easy walking distance to a many places that will have the equivalent. ATMS are everywhere, so no need to buy much currency at home (maybe enough to get to hotel, but there are also ATMs at CDG).

Hopr this helps.

If you click on my name, you'll find a Paris trip report that I posted a week or so ago. (I'm not sure how to link it to this post.) We just spent a week in Paris - might give you some ideas. Have a great time - we loved our time there!

Here's the link to Susan's trip report:
http://tinyurl.com/ty8us