darine1234

My daughter and I will encounter a lay over starting 8 am this summer and was wondering how we could fit in as much as possible in the 24 hours we will be there. Ofcourse we would love to visit the Eiffel Tower and eat, eat, eat!!!!!!
I saw something online about a bus tour that runs every 8 minutes for 23 euros, but is this something I can purchase the day we arrive?
Also, which of the metro or taxi is more time consuming? I would be worried about returning to the airport ontime.
ADVISE PLEASE!!!!

jent103

What time does your flight leave (I assume from CDG)? If you stay somewhere near the RER B line, it's a straight shot to the airport. It took me a little under an hour back in March from the Luxembourg stop. But I'm not sure how early it starts.

You could do a bus tour, but you don't have to. Personally I'd drop my bags at a hotel and then just wander around - maybe start at Notre Dame and Sainte-Chapelle, then make my way to the Eiffel Tower. If there's something on your must list, note the opening/closing times, but otherwise I'd just see where my feet take me. That's personal preference, though.

darine1234

Yes we leave cdg the next day @1:00pm. I was also looking at getting the Seline river cruise, Paris Illuminations and dinner on the Champs-Elysees. That starts in the evening so we could do the bus hop on hop off tour during the day.Someone also mentioned something about the metro. Do you think that will be to complicated for us? or is a shuttle better?

jent103

Have you ever taken the subway in New York or DC, for example? It's no more complicated than that. If public transport is completely new to you, and you don't want to worry about it, you could ask the hotel staff to call you a taxi, but I don't know how much that would cost from central Paris or whether you'd run into lots of traffic. Is your outgoing flight on a weekday or weekend?

You'll find that most (not all) posters on Fodor's tend to do their own thing, rather than taking a hop-on-hop-off bus or tour as you've mentioned. It's an expensive way to get around (you can walk and take the metro or city bus a few times for just the cost of the bus ticket), but it's convenient for tourists who don't want to figure out getting everywhere on their own. Personal preference.

There are lots of great restaurants in Paris, but the Champs-Elysees is really touristy and my guess is that a restaurant there wouldn't have as good food or prices as you could get elsewhere.

darine1234

Good to know! I would like to enjoy the good food I hear Paris has so probably not including the dinner in out tour. I've never really used that type of transportation before. But we really are just going to be there for 1 day, not getting a hotel, so i figured to get as much done as possible in the little time we had available. Thanks so much for your help!!

mamcalice

A second suggestion that you not eat on the Champs Elysees. Unless that is you want fast food or an expensive, not so great cafe.

Get some suggestions from here for restaurants near the center. Take the Seine cruise on Vedettes du Pont Neuf near dusk and watch the lights come on all over Paris. Then have a nice dinner nearby perhaps at Le Regalade St. Honore in the 1st.

I'm not sure what you mean by "not getting a hotel". Do you plan to stay up all night? What will you do?

annhig

yes, how are you going to manage without a hotel?

in fact, why would you not want/need one? you'll be arriving at 8am, so you ought to be in central Paris using the RER B by 10am. what are you going to do with your luggage? you could, [and I would] book a hotel near an RER B stop and go straight there, leave your luggage, then set off to explore Paris.

you can do a lot in a day - Notre Dame, St. Chappelle, the Tulleries, the Orangerie [if you like Monet] then over to the Eiffel Tower, and get the batobus back along the Seine to Notre Dame.

go back to your hotel, have a shower and a little rest, then go out and explore the Left bank/st germain and have a nice supper, making sure that you get a chance to look at the Eiffel tower all lit up at night.

go to bed, get up for a nice parisian breakfast, go for a walk along the seine or round the little streets of islands in the seine, and then get the RER B back to CDG.

have a lovely time in Paris!

denisea

Don't eat dinner on the cruise! Definitely, go out enjoy Parisian cuisine. Do get a room-you can't wander all night and you will want a shower! Listen to annhig and I also agree, skip the restaurants on the CE.

darine1234

You know, it seems I didn't think this thru very well. Annhig, you make alot of since and I would love to enjoy breakfast in Paris!! Any recommendations on hotels close to the "attractions"??

annhig

darine - there are of course literally 100s of hotels near the attractions in Paris - they are everywhere. one technique i have used is to concentrate on hotels that are within walking distance of an RER B stop; that means you won't have to change lines and deal with long underground "correspondences".

That narrows it down [taking them north to south] to Gare du Nord, Chatelet les Halles, Notre-Dame St. Michel, and Luxembourg. for such a short trip i would jettison the less central Gare du Nord and Luxembourg, so it comes down to whether you want to be on the right bank [Chatelet les Halles] or the left. [Notre Dame St. Michel] personally I would go for the latter but it makes so little difference as not really to matter at all.

if you go on trip advisor or booking.com, you can put in your date, budget etc., and when the available hotels come up look at them on a map, to see which ones are closest to the RER B stops. et voila!

if you tell us what you budget is, some people here may have some ideas for you.

jent103

I'm with annhig - our hotel (Grand Hotel Saint Michel) last year was in between the Notre Dame St Michel and the Luxembourg stops, and I thought it was very convenient. But your budget will determine how helpful any specific suggestions are for you.

darine1234

Yes I understand the budget idea. I went to booking.com and found it pretty helpful. They have a map around the area you prefer and you can just choose from there. Other than the hotel I think I'll just play it by ear when I get there about the bus hop on hop off tour. And for dining we will just stop everywhere lol!! You all are amazing thanks so much for all your opinions and suggestions. I will probably keep checing in as I may have other questions along the way until June.