Critique this Paris ininerary please :)
 

Saturday (arrive via Eurostar at 10 a.m.)
I do not know the easist way to get from de Nord to our hotel (8th arr., Charles de Gaulle - Etoile metro stop). Any tips would be greatly appreciated. :)

After settling into the hotel:
Arc de Triomphe
Walk down Champs Élysées to Pl Concorde
Tour Eiffel
Siene river cruise

Sunday
Louvre
Notre-Dame
Jardin des Plantes.
Depart via Eurostar at 6 p.m.

How does that sound to you all?

I'm no expert, but I believe the Louvre on Sunday is impossible to do with your time constraint due to the free entry long line & crowd. How about Saturday since it's a stone's throw from Place de la Concorde.

The Web site says it's only free on the first Sunday of the month. Perhaps I read it wrong, however?

You're probably right, it's been a while since I actually went inside the Louvre or Tour Eiffel because we always gave up with super long lines.

sppunk - My suggestion is get a carne' of metro ticket upon arrival and because you're in Paris for such a short time I presume you are travelling light, so head to the link between Gare de Noord and La Chapelle( quite a walk under ground), but Chapelle metro stop takes you straight to Ch.d.G-Etoile. Couldn't be easier unles you want to take a cab which is just as easy. Head to the exit where the cabs line up, join the queu which moves rapidly and they'll stick you in a cab.
We too are arriving by Eurostar later this month but have not got such a direct route to our hotel(nearest metro Bonne Nouvelle).Get a metro map without delay.
Have a lovely time.

Ooops - that should read CARNETS (10 tickets).

Thanks for that tip. I imagine we will take a taxi because we will have a suitcase apiece and a new metro system to learn with bags right off the bat isn't the easist choice. Plus by taxi we will immediately see a bit of the city, which my fiance I know will love.

Hi sp,

Before you go to the Arc, have lunch and people watch for a while.

The area around the Arc and along the Champs will probably be mobbed.

For Sunday, you might want to buy a ticket for the Batobus (See www.batobus.com) and do a loop around the Seine. It stops at the places you want to see.

I suggest the Musee D'Orsay instead of the Louvre.

The taxi line is at the east end of the terminal.

TO tod: The #48 city bus goes from the gare to Bonne Nouvelle. If this interests you, I will tell you how.

Hi,
As someone suggested buy a carnet of tickets for the Metro. Fomr Gare du Nord, the route I see to get to Etoile is to take Metro line 4 in the direction of Porte de Clignancourt (note that the subway directions are given by which of one the two 'end points' of the line you want to head towards). Go one stop to Barbes Rochechouarté. Change lines to Metro Line 2, go in the direction of Port Dauphine. 10 stops later, you are at Etoile. Depending on whewre your hotel is, you should ensure to exit that station on the proper side, since it is a bit busy, wide area, easier to cross over underground.

Your first day looks good. Maybe add the Opera Garnier for a look, don't forget to also go up the one block to Place Vendome, where the Ritz and a bunch of very hogh end jewellery shops are located (nice window shopping!).

Day two I would re-organize a bit. Unless you want to specifically visit the Louvre, I would possibly add the Orsay or maybe Rodin (both in the same general vicinity). A nice walk back to Notre Dame form there would be along Rue St Germain, lots of places/cafés to eat, plenty to see.

I would add St Chappelle to your Notre Dame visit, a block away and well worth going for the stained glass. After Notre dame I would then go to Ile St Louis, which is connected to Ile Notre Dame. Nice place to walk, shop, eat. From there you could walk along the Seine to Jardin des Plantes. Some good restos along the Left Bank of the Seine. Jardin des Plantes is also near Arenes de Lutece, which are the ruins of a roman arena. Neat place for a picnic.

Hope this helps
Mike

This website can be used to plan how to get from A to B on public transportation. I printed out a few of the routes we were likely to use, and it really helped.

http://www.ratp.fr/index_eng.htm

Since you will be there only two partial days, I assume you want to see the sites, rather than go into them. We walked everywhere, and it took a lot of time. I noticed that there are a lot of tour busses that cover the main sights, and for a short trip I would suggest looking into those. A boat ride is also a good way to see a lot, and very memorable.

On our visit in October, the Arc resembled nothing more than a construction site in the middle of a huge traffic circle; we watched the traffic more than the memorial. Tour Eiffel is magnificent anytime, but many particularly like to see it at night, when it is illuminated. A boat tour would be good for that.

For Sunday, I would suggest starting at the East (I think) end of the island, and see the back of Notre Dame, then the front. I also recall that the bridge from Isle St. Louis was closed to traffic for a street fair, but I can't remember if that was Saturday or Sunday; look when you're there. From Notre Dame, I would continue west and see the bird fair (as I recall, it is a flower fair on most days, but a bird fair on Sunday; either is very interesting) since you are in the neighborhood. If it is a sunny day go into Ste Chappele for the magnificent stained glass (its worth it even on a dreary day), again, since you are right there. You are then very close to either the Louvre or D'Orsay; many find the Orsay more approachable, but if you want to see something that is in the Louvre you have to go there. The trouble is that, unless you can get there very early, it becomes very crowded around the "famed" exhibits, even after you have worked your way through the admissions line. Either way, the walk along the Seine will be very interesting.

I'm not sure you'll have enough time to include the Jardin des Plantes, but if you want to try (and assuming you want to return to your hotel to pick up your luggage) I would start at the Jardin des Plantes, then cross onto Isle St. Louis at the eastern end and walk through it then cross to Ile de la Cite for Notre Dame and the other sights, and finish up with the museum.

You will be busy seeing all that in so short a period, but it will be worth it. Enjoy your trip.

Climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe
at sunset and watch the fading shadows dance over the rooftops and lights begin to twinkle all Paris.

Skip the Louvre and add the Orsay and Rodin (plus garden) - both are in the same general vicinity.

You can avoid the Louvre line by going in the Rue Rivoli entrance under the red awning. It goes into the Lourve shopping mall and food court. When you enter, you go down a short flight of steps and straight ahead is a ticket machine. I think it will even take a credit card. We used it in March and walked right in.

You can find the metro map at http://www.ratp.fr/ParisVisite/Eng/Pla_q/f_pla.htm.

The Louvre is unbelievably huge, you'll only be able to dip into it, and unfortunately the queues tend to be long. We have used the short-cut entrance suggested by Marty which lets you skip the general queue if you buy a combo card for a number of museums, I didn’t think it was allowed otherwise. As Ira suggests, the Musee D'Orsay might be more manageable, but there are bad queues here too, and you don’t want to be spending all your limited time queuing.

The Arc de Triomphe and Champs Élysées could be completely skipped in my opinion (you are already getting your view from the Tour Eiffel, and the Champs Élysées isn’t really that nice to walk on at all).

I’d suggest instead strolling around St. Germain, Ile St Louis and the Marais. If you like him, the Picasso museum (in the Marais) is probably the best single-artist collection in the world – it shows his development and range exceptionally well - and it doesn't typically have the long queues found at the Louvre/d'Orsay.

I'd definitely make sure to see Ste. Chapelle and, if you are running out of time skip the Jardin des Plantes. OK but not particularly Parisian. If you decide to visit the Louvre, and it is fabulous, try to determine in advance what you would like to see and use a museum map to find those items.

Thank you guys so very much. I appreciate at.

How much would a cab cost from the Nord train station to the area around the Arc, any ideas?

We didn't have to have a museum combo card for the Louvre in March. It may be different in summer, but the people I took there just bought single tickets each person and walked through the food court and right in. I took them to the Musee D'Orsay on Sunday morning about 30 minutes before opening, and we were at the front of the line.