tgowen

We are thinking about doing the day trip to Paris from London. Any advice you can give us? This may be a silly question but will there be things closed on Easter Sunday in Paris? Thanks for your help in advance.

Riffic

Daytrip to Paris?
I'm marking this thread because I secretly enjoy watching people's blood boil when they don't agree with a poster's itinerary.

I assume that all museums that are otherwise open on Sundays will continue to be open on Sundays. Almost all shops (except those on Champs Elysées) are ordinarily closed on Sunday, and I would guess that even these stores will take a breather for Easter Sunday.

flygirl2

How do you mark a thread? As far as people getting upset with someone elses itinerary is so shallow. We live different lives, have different priorities & schedules, so to each their own.
tgowen-hope you get to Paris & enjoy your day.

Margie

I just looked at the website for the Louvre and it's open from 9am to 6pm on Easter Sunday April 11, and Easter Monday.

Have a great time!

jenifer

Have you ever been to Paris? What are you interested in seeing while you are there? Certainly in one day you cannot "do" Paris, but it's a beautiful city, and I'd take it in whatever amount of time I could, even if only one day.

If you've never been, you would probably enjoy a boat ride on the Seine. I like the Vedettes de Pont Neuf, which depart from Pont Neuf. Here is their web site:

http://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/va/index.htm

You can print off a discount coupon from there. They don't say whether or not they are open on Easter Sunday, but there is an email address if you want to send them a note and ask.

Also, if I had to guess, I would think that the Marais neighborhood would have some activity that day, since it is a highly Jewish area of Paris.

According to the Louvre web site, they are indeed open on Easter Sunday and Monday. They may be crowded those days, but if seeing the Louvre interests you, you could certainly do it.

On the other hand, if you just want to get a "feel" for Paris, and if it's a nice day, you could do the boat ride, maybe go up the Eiffel Tower, or just take a walk near it to really feel its presence. You could spend some time sitting in Luxembourg Gardens watching the children play with their boats in the fountain, and wander through the Marais, eating your way around the neighborhood.

There's a lot to do in Paris, and one of the most wonderful is just walking around, soaking up the atmosphere. Enjoy!

Riffic

flygirl,

I'm not shallow...just trying to be light-hearted. You know as well as I do that when people ask a question, they more times than not get attacked for their 'rushed' travel. I'm certainly not trying to offend anyone.

Perhaps what I've said did something good for tgowen...no nasty replies so far

Riffic

OH, and by the way I'm off to the airpot (MUC) to CDG in just a few hours!

tgowen, another suggestion would be to grab the lonely planet paris book and check out the 3 walking tours. Since shops will be closed on Easter Sunday, strolling around looking at architecture might be a top choice. On the other hand, if you're just there for the day, you might benefit more by using the metro in order to get to points A to B quickly.

I plan to do at least two of the walking tours this weekend and I'll let you know what I think.

yawning

Just to get back to tgowen's original query. We're thinking of doing the same thing from London. Just as an fyi, we've been to Paris numerous times before, but we've never done a daytrip to the city from London.

If I may follow-up (excuse me if it looks like I'm hijacking your thread your thread, tgowen), what is the optimal way one can spend a full day in Paris from London? Train travel or airplane? How long does it take? How much are the fares? Are there very early departures from London and very late departures from Paris? TIA.

jenifer

yawning - I would guess that taking the Eurostar train would be the optimal way in terms of time, though it may be a little more expensive than flying. But it takes you from city center to city center, so no shuttles to/from airports. Also, you only need to arrive a minimum of 30 minutes before departure (or at least that's the way it was a year ago) rather than 1.5-2 hours ahead for security. Of course, the flight is faster, but all told I think most people prefer the train.

So, if you do a search here for "eurostar paris london" you should find abundant information on how to get the best fares, etc.

tgowen

Thank you for your help.
With the temp. being only in the 50's
is it still a good idea to take the boat tour?

ira

Here's the mandatory "Doing only one day in paris is not a good idea; you will be too rushed and won't get a proper feel for the city, it's better to at least stay overnight".

However, If you are visiting Paris for one day on Easter Sunday, I suggest just strolling the various districts of the city and listen to the church bells.

The eurostar leaves London Waterloo and arrives Paris Gare du Nord about 3 hr later. Paris is one hour ahead of London, so it appears to be a 4 hr trip.

You can still get 30GBP each way tickets at www.eurostar.com

From Gare du Nord, you can take the no. 4 Metro (dir Porte d'Orleans)to Chatelet, right on the Seine. The Louvre is to the West, Notre Dame to the South and the Marais to the East.

There is a Batobus stop not far from you. It is a hop on hop off boat ride that does a loop on the Seine.

See www.batobus.com.

Have fun.

yawning

If you are bent on doing the batobus, and would like to avoid the confusion and maze that Chatelet Metro station presents (especially if you're not used to the Paris subway travels), then get off at Saint Michel station, instead.

Not only are you at Notre Dame , but you are also much closer to the Notre Dame Batobus stop and won't have the need to cross the river from the Chatelet station.

Tyr23

We just took a daytrip to Paris from London via the Eurostar on the 24th. It was our first time in Paris, and while is is great to be able to say we've 'been there', it was an exhausting day and it wore us out for two days afterward. We arrived around 11am Paris time, took a taxi to Notre Dame, and waited in line for about an hour to climb the towers. Next, we took a taxi to the Louvre and proceeded commando-style through the Denon wing. Lastly, we went to the Eiffel Tower before catching a cab back to Gard du Nord for the 8:30pm train back to London. One thing I would strongly recommend is to find out what the weather is like in Paris - we had packed correctly for London, but were freezing in Paris! Please forgive any typos but we just got back from London last night and I'm extremely jet-lagged!

katk

Was wondering about the climbing of the towers at Notre Dame-300+ steps if I am reading right is it as bad as it sounds or really worth it? How long did that take?

Tyr23

It is definitely a challenge, however, they are doing some restoration on the church and I don't believe that we were able to climb all the way to the top. My husband was counting each step as we went up, but I was having a hard enough time as it was without his counting so I'm not sure how many steps we actually took. It's really worth doing though to get a close up look at the gargoyles and the bell.

yawning

Tyr23:

Thank you for your input regarding your daytrip to pairs. Looks like you covered a lot.
We need to convince ourselves (wife and I) if it's worth doing it. Question: Was it worth it for you? Would you do it again?
TIA.

jenifer

I'm not Tyr23, but I can think of 3 things you should really consider when deciding whether or not to do this day trip:

1) Do you think you'll have the opportunity to do a longer vacation to Paris in the not-too-distand future? If so, that might make a day trip less valuable.

2) What will you be giving up to take this day trip? Or in other words, what would you do if you didn't take it?

3) Consider that you don't have to do as much as Tyr23. Many people could not enjoy doing that much in so short a time (and many could - you know your travel style best). But you can really enjoy Paris for a day even at a much less hectic pace.

Tyr23

Yawning:

I would most definitely do it again. We managed to do quite a bit and we had our 11 year old son with us. I would say that you should research what you want to see/do ahead of time and have a game plan so you can maximize your time. Our game plan was to see certain sites so we did have a more hectic pace. Your priorities might be soaking in the atmosphere and seeing one major site. Whatever you decide, it is a wonderful city to experience however you choose to do so.

tgowen

Thank you so much for all the information. We are very excited about our day visit because we probably will not make it back for quite awhile.
I'm glad to hear your 11 year old enjoyed it. (my daughter is 14) Did you do an escorted tour or on your own?
I'm considering on doing the escorted just because of the short amount of time. Any pro's or con's to this?

Bambi

One day in Paris is better than no day in Paris. If you are taking the Eurostar into Paris then you can take the L'Opentour double decker sightseeing bus for a general overview of the sights. There is a stop by the Gare du Nord station.