GinnyJo

So many of you have been a wonderful source of information and insight on this forum, and I would very much appreciate your suggestions to improve this 5-day outline for a first-time visit to Paris in July for my husband and myself.

We love to wander neighborhoods for interesting people-watching, architecture, photo-ops, cafes, etc. We also enjoy art, artifacts and history. We want to spend time strolling at least one open-air market, not yet identified. We are planning to concentrate our Museum Pass on Friday and Saturday, but are open to purchasing a 4-day pass if recommended.

Thank you in advance!

Thursday
7am - arrive CDG from US; taxi to hotel in 6th on rue Clement
Keep the day flexible depending on how jet-lagged we are
Buy carnet and museum pass at some point
10:30: Paris Walks in St. Germain, meet at St. Sulprice; or free Paris walk 11 am from St. Michel
Notre Dame – for 2pm tour if possible
St. Chapelle – open till 6pm

Friday - Day 1 of Museum Pass
8 am: Coffee/breakfast on the way (suggestions?); walk or bus/metro
Orangerie – brief visit, open 9a – 6p
Orsay - guided tour 90 min available at 11:30 am
Quick Lunch – suggestions?
Louvre – arrive ~4pm; open late on Friday
Casual dinner near hotel - suggestions?
Notre Dame tower open until 11 pm, if missed on Thursday

Saturday - Day 2 of Museum Pass
8 am: Coffee/breakfast on the way
Versailles
Quick Lunch in Versailles - suggestions?
Return mid-afternoon
Perhaps quick stop in Cluny (closes 5:45p) or Pantheon (last entry 5:45, closed 6:30)
Walk in Latin Quarter; Luxembourg
Casual dinner there or near hotel - suggestions?

Sunday
8 am: Metro to Montmartre –station Abbesses
Coffee/breakfast there - suggestions?
10:30: Paris Walks tour: Montmartre
Casual Lunch there or Marais - suggestions?
Afternoon: metro to self-guided walk of Marais
Casual dinner there or near hotel - suggestions?

Monday
8 am: Coffee/breakfast on the way - suggestions?
Eiffel Tower (depending on wait; we missed getting on-line tix)
Champs Elysees

Depart Tues am

adrienne

Your first two days are really packed. Can you move the Orangerie to Monday when you have a light itinerary? Three major museums in one day is a lot, especially since two of them focus on Impressionism. You can buy tickets on line for the Orangerie and not wait on line at the museum.

Saturday - you could visit the Eiffel Tower on the way back from Versailles (it's on the way) and you will have fewer people in line at the end of the afternoon.

If the choice is between the Cluny and Pantheon I would choose the Cluny.

Sunday - did you know the Abbesses station has 300+ stairs or an elevator? You can also take the metro to Anvers and walk to Abbesses. The stairwell is interesting because of the murals but if the elevator is out (or if you're claustrophobic) there are a lot of stairs to walk up.

The tour ends by Sacre Coeur and I find the restaurant choices a bit lacking. Since you'll be in the Marais in the afternoon why not eat lunch there.

Kathie

Do you really feel the need for a guided tour in the D'Orsay? If not, let me suggest you start at the D'Orsay as soon as it opens - be in line before it opens. Have lunch in the D'Orsay, then walk across the bridge to the Orangerie, then walk to the Louvre. That saves you from backtracking. It's a packed day of art. There are plenty of places to eat near the Louvre, across the Rue de Rivioli, or you can eat closer to your hotel.

Kathie

BTW, we had our first trip to Paris in May. If you click on my name, you can see what we did with our 10 days in Paris.

KTtravel

You could visit the Eiffel Tower at night unless you really want to go up during the day. It is beautifully lit at night and this would free up more time during the day for you to visit other sights.

I love museums but I think your Friday schedule is too museum heavy although it sounds like you are trying to make good use of your pass. Monday sounds quite light -- I would move a museum to that day.

Gretchen

See if you really want to spend 3/4 of a day doing Versailles, instead of just more in Paris.
You don't say when you are going but the light in Ste. Chapelle may not be very good late afternoon.
Good luck being able to do all that the first day.

nytraveler

I think you're starting activities too early on the day you arrive. Everything may go well (plane on time, no line at Immigration, luggage turns up right away etc) but we have had it take 3 hours plus from wheels down to getting TO our Paris hotel (never mind time for a shower, stretch our your back on the bed to depretzelize, unpack a little, change clothes etc.

We usually go for a light lunch in a nearby cafe and then some walking on our first day - with perhaps one sight that does not require a long line or advance tickets.

nytraveler

Sorry - and much as I LOVE museums - 3 in a day is too many - we try to keep it to one - and mix up with other activities.

Patty

Little Breizh is very close to your hotel and has delicious crepes https://www.facebook.com/LittleBreizhCreperie

What do you want to eat for breakfast?

leuk2

Everybody has their own travelling style. Myself I would not have an itinerary. I'd buy the Carnet, and Museum pass(so you don't have to stand in line). Just walk around. I'd go to mussee D'Orsay if we happened to walk by, which we have done. So many places to see, but just walking around, stopping at a café for coffee and croissant, or later in the day a glass of of wine and just watching the world walk by. Sitting on a bench in Luxembourg Gardens and again just watching the people. Get up in morning and maybe pick one or two things you would like to see, and then head off. If you see something interesting ,go in. walk along the seine. Don't run around trying to see every site. enjoy the ambience of Paris.

GinnyJo

Thanks, everyone, for your feedback – it is all valuable. We do like to have a rough plan for our days, especially for the mornings so we have a direction in which direction to head. In the past, fortunately we depretzelize (love it!) pretty quickly and we have decent energy levels our first day, good at least until 4pm. (In Barcelona when it started to pour on day one, we got on the HOHO and ended up napping; no getting lost or kicked off at the end of the line.) We do move more slowly on day one and are happy for whatever we can accomplish. The times noted are for the guided tours which we’d like to join if we are on schedule; if not, we’ll DIY.

Re the museum schedule, to be honest in even the best museums by the third hour we are itching to be outside again when the weather is nice. I like the suggestion of the Eiffel Tower after Versailles, and even better I like the idea of skipping Versailles – what are others’ thoughts on this? Monday is light -- we we’ll add whatever we skipped or missed earlier, perhaps Orangerie.

Thanks for the Little Breizh suggestion; I have that from an earlier post too. For most breakfasts I usually stick to coffee and pastry, but my husband prefers something heartier, even if just it’s an egg sandwich. It would be great to have some reliable suggestions along our route.

Please keep your ideas coming!

mamcalice

For a heartier breakfast, try the Cafe Bonaparte on the rue Bonaparte near the Church of the St. Germaine des Pres. They have bacon and eggs in addition to delicious croissants.

Your itinerary doesn't include a Seine River cruise one of our favorite things to do each time we are in Paris. We like the Vedettes du Pont Neuf boats which leave from the Pont Neuf. The cruise takes about an hour and we enjoy going at dusk to see the lights come on all over Paris. Then have a late dinner on your way back to your hotel.

rhianapritchard

Depending on how many bags you have and your budget maybe you'd like to consider taking the RER from CDG, get off at St Michel Notre Damme, go over to Cluny La Sorbonne and take the No10 line to Mabillon which is the nearest Metro station to your hotel. The reason I say this is because my partner and I took a taxi from CDG to near Place d'Italie on our first visit and it cost us just over 50€. The Metro/RER is a lot cheaper.

Gretchen

The taxi will cost about that almost anywhere from CDG--for us it is the best spent 25E each to get off to a stress free start to the trip==and to pass by the Arc (usually on our way to the 7th) and see the Eiffel Tower get closer and closer en route.
Since the OP asks "skip Versailles?" --yes, yes, yes, on such a short trip. On a trip with our adult children, one couple was set on going to Versailles during the week we were there. Came to the decision day (after 5) and they said, "oh, no, we can't go--too much more to do here." I had suggested this from the first, but if they wanted to do it, fine. Didn't. Just my experience from many trips to Paris.

adrienne

Skipping Versailles - yes to that. I don't suggest it since so many people are intent on seeing Versailles but there is so much in Paris to see and Versailles take a long time.

I've taken lots of Paris Walks tours and they've all been good. The Notre Dame tour is wonderful - I've done it twice.

If you're not going to spend lots of time in each museum (the Orangerie is small and you can see everything in an hour or so), have a plan for the Louvre since it's so large and spread out. Getting from one wing to another sometimes takes a lot of backtracking; look at the floor plan on their web site and plan what you want to see and in a logical order. The Louvre can get very busy on Friday nights as it's free for those under 26.

GinnyJo

Regarding the transportation from CDG, thanks, but we have analyzed it ad nauseum and decided to take a taxi given luggage, Metro stairs and rush hour in a city new to us. When we leave, we are taking a train from Gare du Nord, and will consider a city buses for that.

Thanks, mamcalice, for the reminder about the river cruise; yes, we'll try to add that one evening. I think there are discounted tickets on line which I will pick up now, if Vedettes du Pont Neuf is the way to go. And we'll look for Cafe Bonaparte as well.

To Versailles or not to Versailles ... talking it over with my husband now.

And any suggestions about markets to visit? They are one of our favorite things.

GinnyJo

Thanks, adrienne, for the suggestion about mapping out the Louvre -- will do this next. We do enjoy guided tours mixed in with the wandering on our own, so it's good to hear the endorsement for Paris Walks and for Notre Dame. We are looking forward to it!

AJPeabody

Multiple or long museum same day visits give me "Louvre Syndrome." As the day wears on, I look at something and my brain yells, "NO! Not another one! Get me out of here!" And I love museums. So I limit myself to one major and one minor museum per day. It looks like you are setting yourself up for this, but you also realize the risk. You'll do OK with a 4 day pass, not so much with a 2 day.

It sounds like you are a candidate for my Paris lists method of planning. Mrs. P and I make lists of things we might like to do in Paris. There is list for bad weather days (museums, shopping), a list for nice weather (any place with stained glass, walking tours, etc.), and we make sure each list is twice as long as can be accomplished. We mark closure days, too, so we don't go where it isn't open. Also, we group things on each list to keep nearby things together.

Then, we get up, look out the window, choose our list, and we're good for the day. No itinerary to feel obligated to, 'cause we're on vacation. We have never finished a list, and don't intend to.

Oh, and every day try a different pastry.

Patty

For something quick, Eric Kayser bakeries have savory items http://www.maison-kayser.com/en/ They are all over. Otherwise most cafes can produce an omelet.

There's no shortage of good pastries in/near the 6th - La Patisserie des Reves, Hugo et Victor, Un Dimanche a Paris, etc.

CLBtravel

I didn't enjoy the Orsay or Orangerie as much as I expected & I think it was because both visits were at day's end, when I was tired. We devoted an entire day to the Louvre, went outside for lunch and snack break and it was wonderful. Get there as early as you can.
I would get a 3 or 4 day pass so you can break the museums up more. We spent less than an hour in the Pompidou but it was fun; a different experience than the other art museums.
I would vote Cluny over Pantheon, too. Ate sandwich for lunch in the Cluny's garden and watched people. I would also add the Conciergerie, covered by the Museum Pass; it is right next to San Chappelle and gives you better sense of the tragedy of Revolution than any other spot.
Enjoyed people watching in the Palois Royale courtyard.
We visited the Museum of Jewish Art and History, very enlightening.
Versailles needs a whole day but it isn't to be missed, I think. Boat trip a relaxing thing to do when you arrive, maybe, and will help orient you to area.
Have fun!