Europe: Plz help with Paris Itinerary with College Grad!!!
 

Hellow everyone,

My daughter and I will be arriving in Paris May 27th and will be departing on May 31st. We will be staying at Le Meredian Montparnasse, which I know is a little out of the way but we are using points so it is what it is. I am having trouble organizing my itinerary based upon this location because I don't want to spend my day jumping from one part of the city to the other. I would prefer, if possible, to keep my days organized.

Please excuse my spelling btw! I have been reading this forum and guide books and my head is spinning! Here is a list of places we would like to see.

Louvre
Tuileries Gardens
Marias-Place des Voges
St. Chappelle & Notre Dame
Rodin Museum
Eiffel Tower - don't want to climb up the top just see it.
Arc de Triomphe
Orsay Museum

I definately want to take a night cruise on the Siena.

Of course, we must have time to shop and sit in cafes to just enjoy our time together.

Can you wonderful people give me some suggestions on how to organize my list, give some recommendations on where to shop and whatever else you may want to suggest!! We will be leaving Paris to got to Vienna for 4 days and then we will be going to Rome for 5.

Thanks for your help!!

Some comments,
You can use the Air France bus to transit to/from CDG. It goes to Gare Montparnasse.

Have a look at the Detination Guide here for Paris.

The first day may be a bit of a jet lag day, so I'd just do some walking that day, no museums.

Consider mixing in an organized walking tour like Paris Walks to get a more in depth feel for an area versus a guidebook.

You are right to group things.

The Champs ELysee, Arc de Triomphe, Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, Palais Royal, Opera Garnier, Louvre would be a full day or more, depending on if you wanted to spend time inside the Louvre.

Notre Dame, Ile St Louis, St Chapelle, the banks of the Seine and some of the Left Bank another day. I like the Musee du Moyen Age (aka Cluny), small, built in old abbey, built over roman baths, some interesting middle age artifacts of Paris.

The Marais area would be another place you could fill a day. Place des Vosges is a must, there are also a lot of nice old mansions in the area, some good shopping,etc.

Another day could be more of the Left Bank, this time adding in Luxembourg Gardens, perhaps Catacombs, some quality cafe time, and the Orsay.

For Eiffel Tower, I like recommending approaching from the right bank, between the buildings of the Palais Chaillot (Trocadero area). Really nice views, then you can walk across river to the tower. You could then walk to the Rodin.

Several choices for Seine cruises. Vedettes du Pont Neuf is located near Notre Dame, smaller boats. Also popular are Bateauc Parisien and the Bateaux Mouches. Some a located near Place D'Alma.

Not sure what your museum interests are. The Jacquemart-Andre is the former mansion of an industrialist who donated it and his art collection to the country. Nice, compact, with a good audio guide and on-site restaurant. Located near the street with the big, well known shops (Galeries Lafayette, Printemps..)

Another intersting one is Marmottan. If you like Monet, this is the place to go. It's located in the 16th, so you would be leaving the main core and seeing a bit of the less touristy neighbourhoods.

Markets are also interesting. Depending on day of week, could go to see farmer's market, or just head to a market area, like Mouffetard, Buci on the Left Bank. If you want a flea market, with some upscale, Porte de Clignancourt has been around for ages.

Hope this gets you started

Mike

Michel_Paris,

Thanks so much for all the info. I have read the desination guides and I think for the most part i will use them as a foundation and cutt or add as needed.

Hi M,

www.mappy.co.uk will show you where the nearest metro stop is from your hotel. (one is Line 4, one is L13)

It will also allow you to see where you are with respect to the various sights.

The Streetwise Guide to Paris (available at www.amazon.com) has a metro map.

You can;t do Paris in such a short time.

I suggest planning on one morning "must see" and another in the afternoon. Leave the rest of the day for serendipity.

You might like www.batobus.com for cruising on the SEINE.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

The Batobus is great. You can get an inexpensive hop-on-hop-off multi-day pass (13EUR apiece?), and it goes to the eight major areas of Paris. The Seine is specially gorgeous at night, so be sure to ride on it after dark. Batobus doesn't run too late at night, though, so you'll need to check the schedule.
:)>-

Mambo,

I definitely want to do a night cruise of the Siena and I particulary want to see the ET at night. I think my daughter would enjoy having a glass of wine durikng the cruise. is there a specific tour company that I can go through for this?

You might want to check out the Paris entry in the "Three perfect days" series at http://tinyurl.com/zl44s

Seamus,

What a fantastic link! Thanks so much. I will get my schedule together and post it so that all you wonderful people can tell me if I am headed in the right direction. Thanks.

Have you checked here on fodors.com, under Destinations, for suggested daily itineraries for Paris? It's helpful, to group the locations together.

There are a couple of dinner cruise companies, but we weren't interested in that, being a family of four. You will see the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night, from any of the boats.

Maybe you can take your own wine on the Batobus, for a very low-key toast to yourselves. Anyone know if that would be legal and/or acceptable?
:)>-

I've never done a Seine dinner cruise. From what I have read, it's a bit pricey and the food is OK. You could consider bringing your own wine and cheese. Perhaps one of the larger boats where you can sit up top and snack. The tours do go after dark, so that would be prime time to go, many buildings and bridges will be lit up.

You will not be able to see all of Paris, as others have stated. I've been 9/10 times, and still have that pesky list of to-do's. So pick your top places, allow time for just wandering, time for just sitting at an outdoor cafe, and you will do fine.

Do a rough itinerary and people here will comment.

Hi M,

>I definitely want to do a night cruise of the Siena and I particulary want to see the ET at night.

It is the SEINE.
Siena is a town in Italy.

You can use your Batobus pass for the evening/night cruises. You can bring your own wine aboard.

((I))

Ira,

Thanks for pointing out my spelling error...I believe I fair warned everyone :)

I love all your posts by the way, they have helped me tremendously in my plans. M.