First timers in Paris -- need advice on museums, cathedrals, day trips.
 

We'll be in Paris for the first time for a week in May. We will definitely visit some museums and churches but don't want to spend everyday in them. Plus, I'd like to do two day trips -- one to Chartres and one to Versaille. Which museums would you say we shouldn't miss? The Louvre? The Orangerie? Anything else? What about cathedrals? Notre Dame?

And would someone please explain the 'museum pass' to me? I don't know if it would be to our advantage to purchase them or just to ask our hotel to get us museum tickets, as we did in Italy.

Thanks for your help.

It is all personal preference on what you want to see, but I would definitely say that Notre Dame and the Louvre are must sees. From there we enjoyed Sacre Coeur and St. Chapelle (I would put that in the must category). We did not go to Orangerie and we also didn't make it to Musee D'Orsay, but I must admit I regret not making it there. Something to save for the next trip.

We did a daytrip to Normandy which was a major highlight of the whole trip, but your daytrips to Chartres and Versailles are excellent as well.

Must miss museums are probably different for people. If you like pre-Impressionist art, then go to the Louvre. If you like Impressionist to modern art, go to d'Orsay. If you like Monet's waterlily series, then L'Orangerie is a must. There are so many interesting museums, go to the ones that sound most interesting to you.

Notre Dame is beautiful and I would consider it a must-see. If you are able to climb the steps, the view is awesome. I do love Ste. Chapelle, but go there at a time when the sun is shining, it is so spectacular.

I always get the museum pass. You can buy it for 2,4 or 6 days (I think). It is good for consecutive days but you can buy it when you get there but it won't be valided until you visit the first museum. I always get one. Monetarily, I probably break even but with a pass you can bypass the lines - which can be a huge time-saver. To me, that convenience is worth any extra money it costs.

Have fun!

For a week, I suggest you just do one day trip. There is so much to see. We enjoyed our day trip to Chenonceau in the midst of a 10 day visit, that is my frame of reference.

As others have said, the museums you hit will be largely personal preference. We have done the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Picasso and Rodin. All of them are great in their own right.

You can either purchase the museum pass at a museum, at other designated locations or, maybe, your hotel. The first time we went, we purchased them at a musuem. Others have suggested, and I would follow this, that if you purchase at a museum you should do it at one of those that are less frequented. Your guidebook will have plenty listed. The last time we went, our hotel had them available, so you can check there first.

I agree with the poster who said one day trip will be enough. There is so much to do in Paris, I think you will either feel terribly rushed (which you probably will anyway) by two days or you will regret not seeing more in Paris.

I agree with the advice on the Catherdrals. Saint Chapelle, Notre Dame and Sacre Couer, in that order IMHO.

I have been to Paris twice and have gone to the Musee D'Orsay both times - it is my favorite gallery in Europe! I found it a lot more enjoyable and easier to explore than the Louvre.

I agree with previous posts that Notre Dame is a must-see. If you are interested, I would highly recommend climbing to the top of the tower for a beautiful view of the city.

Some museums and galleries have free days - check in advance to see if your trip corresponds to any of them.

One week will go by very quickly in Paris, and I would recommend that you spend some leisure time sitting in the cafes, just walking around and enjoying the city. It's such a wonderful place!

Oh! and make sure you walk through the beautiful gardens that are spread out around the city. Jardin des Tuileries and Jardin de Luxenbourg are both beautiful - and May is the perfect time of year to stroll through them and people watch!

I would rate Ste. Chapelle as the one must see in Paris.

If you have a good reason for visiting the Louvre, that is you know why you want to go there, then I say go. Otherwise, it is a huge museum and without some idea of what your objectives are, you can end up wandering around aimlessly.

The Musee d'Orsay is much smaller, but unless you have an interest in Monet, Manet, and similar period works, there is little reason to go there.

Versailles is one of those enigmas. People go there like they do the Louvre with no real idea of what it is or why it is. If you plan to go there, I think your visit will be greatly enhanced by some knowledge of Versailles place in history.

Notre Dame for me is just another cathedral. There are grander ones in Reims and elsewhere in Europe.
It does, however, have a dramatic place in the history of France. For that reason alone I think one should pay it a visit.

The museum I liked a lot was Musee Rodin. However, unless you like sculpture, I again suggest visiting elsewhere.

Chartres is a good day trip as you say.
I also suggest Fontainebleau and the chateau there. It was used by French kings as a retreat and by Napoleon as his residence, when he was in Paris and not off fighting some war.

The chateau that is a fantastic blend of architecture, recreated landscaping, and interior painting is Vaux le Vicomte near the town of Melun. It was funded by Nicolas Foquet the Finance Minister under Louis XIV, but Charles Le Brun, Louis le Vau, and Andre de Notre were the principal designers are planners of the the estate. Those three men were commanded by Louis XIV to create Versailles.

Where I find Versailles to be extravagent overkill and, as a result, a forceful statement of the excesses that led to the French Revolution, I find Vaux le Vicomte to be a harmonious blend of the designers art and skill in the best Baroque style.

Also, the engineers that put up that central dome must have been geniuses because back in those days there were no high rise power-driven cranes for hoisting.

I would consider Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, the Louve and the Rodin as must sees. I have not yet been to the Orangerie, as it was closed for renovations the last three times we were in Paris, but it is at the top of my list for the next trip. I agree that with only one week I would only do one day trip as there is so much to do in Paris you will find that the week will fly by. If I had only one day trip I would make it to Versaille as that is the benchmark for all others in my opinion. If you go to Versailles it is a very easy trip on the RER but seeing Versailles will take the entire day so give yourself enough time to really enjoy it. If the weather is nice, as it should be in May, make sure you allocate time for the gardens as they are huge and very beautiful.

These are wonderful responses -- thank you so much!

We definitely will spend most of our time wandering around Paris, sitting in cafes, browsing in the shops. Those are really our favourite things to do when we travel. But I do feel I need to see some museums and cathedrals, which is why I want to limit my list.

I'll read up on the various museums and figure out which suit us best. We'll definitely want to see Notre Dame, I think.

A few more questions:

If you had to choose between a day trip to Versaille or one to Chartres, which would you pick. I know you're going to say it's personal preference, but what would your choice be?

Finally, how does the cost of the museum pass compare to buying individual tickets? What I mean is how many museums would I have to visit to get the best value out of the card? And would we need a card each or can we purchase entrance for two people on a single card? Is the greatest value of the card that you get to by-pass long lines?

Thanks again.

Versailles for the gardens.

hdm,

I would take Versailles. I say this having not been to Chartes, but Versailles is the site of so much French history. It's important as a legacy of the French monarchy, but it's also where the German surrender to the Allies at the end of WWI took place(as well as others). As another poster noted, having some sense of the history of Versailles would make the trip more worthwhile, but it is surely enjoyable as a piece of architecture in its own right.

You can go to www.parismuseumpass.fr to get the 411 on the museum pass. Keep in mind, the pass is not just to art museums, but also to sites like Saint Chapelle, the Arc de Triomphe, and Versailles. The site lists all the areas you have access to. I think you will find it's the cheapest way to go and it will save you time waiting on the lines.

Finally, if you are looking for reasonable rates, make sure you take advantage of the Carte Orange metro pass. There was a thread on this floating around a short time ago, so a quick search should turn it up. This pass will give you unlimited metro transportation and, depending on your arrival day, is very economical.

Hi hdm, I'd have to agree with the others on Versailles for the day trip. It should be gorgeous in May. A whole day there will give you time plenty of time to explore the gardens; be sure to visit Marie Antoinette's Hameau.

I was in Paris in September for 4 days, plus a day at Chantilly and a day at Versailles. It was my husband's first visit to Paris and I hadn't been there in years, so in many ways it was like being there for the first time. We saw a good mix of sights...Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, Louvre, Ile Saint Louis, St. Chapelle, boat ride on the Seine, shopping in St. Germain, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Tuileries, Jardin de Luxembourg, etc. I went to the Musee D'Orsay on a prior trip and I prefer it to the Louvre, which is just too big for my liking. I've heard the Orangerie is wonderful, if you like Monet. As others have said, you need to choose the museums based upon your personal preferences.

I posted a quite lengthy trip report which might be helpful, if you are willing to slog through it!

http://tinyurl.com/3yluhg

Thanks again, everyone. And thanks for the Carte Orange information, too. We'll be in Paris from Saturday to Saturday, so my guess is that a Carte Orange would be a good bargain for us.

hausfrau, I'm looking forward to reading your trip report!

I really think museums are so personal, that you will have to choose that yourself. It should be easy to find out what each covers to make that decision. If you have no preference at all, I guess it should be the Louvre as it is so wellknown and you can find a little of everything there.

As for Versailles versus Chartres, I would go to Versailles if I only had one choice. Versailles is a very important and unique place, and while Chartres is a great cathedral with nice stained glass, there are great cathedrals/churches and great stained glass examples in Paris, also, but there is nothing like Versailles there, obviously.

Just to add to your confusion, I liked the Cluny Museum where the unicorn tapestries are, and my favorite day trip was to Giverny to Monet's House and Gardens. We also went in May, and the wisteria was gorgeous.

oh dear...I think I need a month in Paris!

One of the things we like to do in Europe is to go to Mass on Sunday wherever we are. I went to Notre Dame for Mass and really liked it. We were given flyers with the Latin lyrics of the hymns, so we were able to join in the singing.

The only thing that put me off was the constant stream of sight-seers walking around outside the area where people were sitting. There was a constant buzz of conversation, and it was hard to concentrate. If I had it to do over, I would go to an early Mass where there would presumably be fewer sight-seers.