2 couples visiting Paris (first time for 3 of us). We arrive approx. noon on a Sunday and leave on train Wednesday 4 pm. Looking for suggestions on how much we should cram in and what you would suggest as must sees for this short a time. The only one of us who has been to Paris before would like to go to Versaille(would this be a full day trip?) but I am wondering if this will take away took much time from Paris sights. We thought it might be nice to do a bike tour(3.5 hrs) on the Monday morning to get the lay of the land, or would it be better to take a boat tour on the Seine with stops (or do both). Looking for suggestions anyone might have on what we should do and how to divide our time? We have a booked hotel but it is not very close to the main attractions (30 minutes by metro to the Eiffel Tower!) Thanks.

Other than saying, yes, Versailles is a day trip, your questions would be easier to answer if you told us:

Why are you going to Paris?

Surely there is some reason you chose it instead of Rome.

I would postpone the trip to Versaille for your return visit to Paris (you will return!!) because there is plenty to fill up your time in Paris. Also, I would consider looking for a hotel closer to the sights if you aren't locked into your current booking. There are lots of delightful 2 star hotels that won't require a second mortgage on your home.
Have a wonderful trip.
Judy

I agree with anotherjudy on both counts. With only a few days, you don't want to be wasting time commuting in to see the sights. Stay central and it will add to your experience.

30 minutes from Eiffel Tower is about where Versailles is, actually -- you aren't staying there, are you? Because if so, I can understand why you'd see it. Given the short time frame, I do sort of think maybe Versailles should be skipped as it sounds like only one person really has that as a top choice, anyway. If everyone did, I can see going, but it will take up all day (day time, anyway).

I think a boat cruise is a good idea, and it doesn't take too long. I've never done a bike tour, and it wouldn't occur to me to do that as a good way to get the lay of the land, but maybe it would to others. To me, it's the kind of thing you do for fun when you've done your main choices already.

I totally agree with the others about skipping Versailles and possibly moving closer to the sights. And unless you're a gluton for punishment, I would skip the Louvre too and maybe explore a smaller museum like the Cluny or Conciergerie. My personal preferences duing a short first-time visit would be Notre Dame, St. Chappelle, Eifel Tower and just plenty of time for wandering around. But as someone else said, what is it you want to do? Art? History? Shopping?
www.hereinfranklin.wordpress.com

Where are you actually booked? 30 minutes from the Eiffel tower could be absolutely anywhere - not necessarily anywhere near Versailles. Hotels often use distance from the Eiffel Tower as a marketing
"plus".

I would NOT stay in the far outskirts of Paris - especially for such a short and first-time visit. You want to be in the center of town so you don't waste half your days just getting back and forth. And w/ 4 of you traveling together - things take even longer.

Because you are there such a short time, Versailles is probably left to another trip.

Hi R,

With only 3 days, I recommend against any daytrips.

Is there a reason why you are staying out in the sticks?

We don't know they are staying in the "sticks." Montmartre is 30 minutes from the Eiffel Tower. But if a travel agent booked them there is a good chance they are in the sticks or La Defense.

That's why I asked where specifically they are staying.

Could be anywhere . . . . .

I also would skip Versailles.

You might consider a Fat Tire Bike Tour. We took the night one and loved it! You meet at the Eiffel Tower at 5:30 or 6 (so you could go earlier if you want to go up in the tower), walk as a group to get your bikes, and than take a tour from 6-10 or so that includes a Bateaux Mouches tour of the Seine. You leave your bikes, ride the boat for an hour, and then return to the Fat Tire office to turn in your bikes. It is a great way to see a good bit of Paris. Our tour guide was great--from the U.S., so was fluent in English but also knew lots of Paris history and trivia.

Hi raz,
Lucky you! Of course everyone is different, but I wanted to let you know how my husband and I spent 3.5 days in Paris. First of all, we stayed in a VERY centrally located apartment, which was key to getting so much done. I would definitley look into changing locations.

This is copied and pasted from my trip report. As you will see, we did a LOT, but we still didn't get to many of the "must sees." If I were to cut anything from our trip, it would be the Seine cruise and the Rodin Museum. Hope this helps!

Day .5 (half day):
Landed at CDG around 11 a.m. Luggage made it, immigrations was a snap. We took the RER to our apartment near Musee d'Orsay, with one transfer at Saint Michel. I believe we were able to use escalators to connect and exit the station at Musee d'Orsay.

Met up with apartment representative at our home for four nights. We loved this apartment. Great location, roomy enough for two people, washer and dryer worked great and the bed was super comfortable!! http://www.vrbo.com/129217 The only negative was that it was on the third floor (u.s.) with no elevator. Usually this was fine, but it wasn't ideal when taking our luggage up or down. All in all, great place.

We showered and hit the city. Our first stop was a corner bistro, where we sat outside and enjoyed a late lunch. I had a croque madame and an orangina. DH had a tuna club and a coke (he needed the caffeine!), and yes they gave us ice.

Then we were off to see the sights. We crossed the seine to the louvre to pick up our 4-day museum pass. Then we walked through the tuilleries to musee l'orangerie. Here, we saw many works by impressionists and post impressionists - monet, cezanne,gaugin... The highlight was two large white oval rooms showcasing huge canvases of monet's waterlillies that curved around the rooms.

Then we headed down the champs elysees for a bit - mostly tourists stuff and chain stores. We walked around a little in the 8th arron. and took a break at 6:00 at the American cathedral. We needed to sit for a while, and they had an English service. DH took the opportunity for a quick nap

Then it was dinner time. We lined up with several others at Relais de l'entrecote. We were seated and the restaurant quickly filled. We had delicious steak and French fries (the only meal they serve), a bottle of good wine and Crete brûlée. It was a great first dinner in Paris.

We then took the metro a couple of stops to the trocadero to get a great view of the eiffel tower. It stayed light until almost 10. We stuck around to watch the tower sparkle at 10 - stunning!! Then we walked all the way back to our apartment along the seine. A perfect day.

Day 1
Croissant and coffee at Bar Bac. Accidentally ordered citron press instead of orange press. Whoops!

DH and I met up for lunch after he went to the Louvre (I'd been before and didn't care to go again) and I wandered around the Saint Germain area and bought us some delicious Laduree macarons to enjoy later. I had never had these before, and they are fantastic! They are not the same thing as the coconutty macaroons we have at home - more like creamy cookie sandwiches with delicate, flaky cookie sides and rich, delicious fillings. I bought vanilla, chocolate, caramel, coffee and raspbery macarons to enjoy after lunch.

We met at a small lunch spot (Le Petite Vendôme) that was seemed to be very popular with Parisians, esp. bankers/businesmen. They formed a long line to get sandwiches to go. We got there earlier enough to be seated, and we had tasty, though unusual salads with ham, cheese, boiled eggs and potatoes. The restaurant was recommended by the guide for our afternoon tour.

We met up with our motorized bicycle tour (www.ParisCharmsSecrets.com) at Place Vendome. There were ten of us - a group of 5 friends from uk and Australia, a french couple, us and our guide, Olivier.

The ten of us zoomed through Paris traffic for about four hours, popping in and out of "off the beaten path" sights, such as an amazing old bank with stained glass ceiling and giant vault, a hidden mini-coliseum from the time of Roman rule (old men were playing bocce and kids were kicking around a soccer ball inside), a near empty courtyard in the Louvre and much more. It was crazy, and super fun, to zoom all over paris like that.

After that, we rushed home to grab an extra layer of clothes and head off to dinner at a place that was recommended on this board,Le Caveau de L'Isle. It was a tiny place on the Ille Saint-Louis. We both has salmon, which was delicious, and of course, wine and DH's creme brûlée!

After dinner, it was too late to take a Seine cruise (we had planned t do this tonight), so we walked around a bit and called it a night.

Day 2:
We were on a turbo track today. After breakfast, we went to the Rodin museum. It is in a beautiful old mansion and grounds where the artist lived during his later years. We enjoyed walking around and admiring the bronze sculptures. The most famous is "the Thinker."

Then we were off to Musee d'Orsay to see the loads and loads of famous impressionist works - Manet, monet, van gogh, Renoir, degas, etc., etc. The art was wonderful, and the building (a grand old train station) is fantastic.

Next, we took the metro to the marais neighborhood. This is interestingly home to both Paris' orthodox Jewish population and a thriving gay community. It's a vibrant area with lots of cool boutiques and galleries.

We has lunch at an Isreali restaurant called l'as du falafel. I had an awesome falafel special. DH had a chicken pita and totally missed out on the delicious falafel.

Then we wandered around the area and admired the art galleries around the tre elegant Place de Vosges.

We walked to Ille St. Louis from there to get DH some ice cream. On the way, I made him take a detour into Monoprix, a French Target-like store! Definitely a highlight for me DH's patience was rewarded with Berthillion ice cream on Ille St. Louis, and then we walked across the bridge to Ille de la Cite to Notre Dame, where DH got lots of pictures inside and out.

From there, we went to Ste. Chapelle, also on Ille de la Cite. We had to wait in line for about half an hour, but the upper chapel's breathtaking stained glass walls (with the afternoon sun shining through) made it worth it.

Well - phew! - we finished all that with about an hour to rest before dinner. Dinner was at Le Souffle. We had a nice bottle of wine and three souffles each! We both started with cheese souffles, then salads, then salmon souffles. DH had a grande marnier souffle for dessert and I had heaven. Oh wait, I mean a dark chocolate souffle with white chocolate sauce. It was the number one most amazing thing I have ever tasted. Oh my goodness, it was a good thing we walked so much during the day!

We closed out the night by strolling down Blvd St. Germain and stopping for a drink at a cafe. We sat at a table on the sidewalk out front and watched all the people walking down the street.

Day 3:
Breakfast at Le Comptoir Saints-Peres for the second day. I really liked that spot - yummy croissants, friendly staff and free wifi for my iPhone.

Then we took the RER out to Versailles. We used our Paris Museum Pass for entry, so we just bought train tickets and were on our way. The museum pass got us into all of the areas that the general ticket buyers could go - The chateau, king's and queen's apartments, hall of mirrors, dauphin's apartments, gardens, Marie Antoinette's hamlet, Grand Trinion (Petite Trinion is closed for renovations).

We spent the day there, exploring the extravagant palace and grounds of the various Louises and Marie Antoinette. We had nice weather and walked all over. That place was huge! I think my favorite part was Marie Antoinette's adorable little storybook-like village. Oh, and the Nutella crepe I had for lunch

Back in Paris, we had dinner reservations at the bistro below our apartment (Bistrot de Paris). We had good entrees and plats (amazing mashed potatoes, but DH wished he'd ordered his Tuna rare), and an incredibly delicious dessert (profiteroles). The chocolate sauce was out of this world.

After dinner, we took a Seine cruise with Vedettes du Pont Neuf. The ride was nice, though we had a loud group of partying Canadian students sitting near us. I think we heard more about their love lifes, favorite video games and parents' divorces than we heard the commentary.

We did enjoy seeing the illuminated city from the Seine, and after the cruise we walked back to our apartment to get ready for our flight to Nice in the morning.

Thanks all. The reason for our trip is just to see Paris. The first of our trip is in England and we end up back in London before we head back home to Canada.

The hotel is on rue de Malte, and yes, it was booked by a travel agent in England (when the other couple was visiting relatives there- it sounded like a good deal!). And I don't think it can be changed - it was a package deal with the Chunnel and was booked some months ago. Obviously, none of us realized how far it was from the center of things. Info on their website says it is 5 minutes to the Georges Pompidou Centre, Latin Quarter, 10 min. to Notre Dame, 15 min. to the Louvre & Garnier Opera, Champs Elysees, 30 min. to Eiffel Tower (all by metro)-I don't think we originally looked close enough to the details prior to booking. Does this help for location? Is it that bad riding the metro? We could just ride in in the morning to the area we want to be for that day...

You are just fine - most folks thought since you said 30 minutes from the ET - it meant 30 minutes in the "wrong direction"

IMO it is much better to be near the Latin Quarter and Notre Dame than to the Eiffel Tower. They are much more central to other places you will be visiting.

(I'd still skip Versailles BTW)

Thank you everyone for your suggestions/comments. Thank you lauraallais for your trip report. We were all along intending on doing a bike tour the morning of the first full day there, but now I am thinking the motorized bike might make more sense.

I will look forward to any further comments/suggestions anyone might have, however, I will have limited access to a computer the next couple weeks, so will be checking in occasionally as I can. Meanwhile, I will be doing my research from books.

Thanks all!

I disagree - I would go to Versailles if one of your group wants to go. If this person has been to Paris before and would like to see it that is a good enough reason to go.

It is easy getting there and well worth the short train ride. You can see a lot in Paris in one day if you plan it out.

I remember one trip to Italy and I wanted to see the tower in Pisa. One thought it was a tourist trap and didn't want to go so we didn't go. I always felt badly about not seeing it but I did get to see it eventually on a later trip.

We have been to Paris a few times - one of the things that stands out is the memorial to Princess Di at the Alma tunnel. They were still bringing fresh flowers.

Napoleons tomb was interesting as well as St Sulpice church and all the popular stops.

assuming you are all not connected at the hip - if one wants to go to versailles, s/he should do it. Just don't drag 3 others along. Paris is an easy place to maneuver on your own. My last 2 trips to Paris, my traveling companions (different ones on different visits) wanted to see Versailles. So they went. No big deal. But it will take a huge chunk out of your already very limited time in Paris.

The person who wants to go to Versaille could do so in a half day if he/she is willing to forego the grounds. Is it actually open on Monday? Do-able when the others are taking the bike tour perhaps.
Another poss is an evening bus tour that ends up at Eiffel Tower or Moulin Rouge for dinner. Too hokey?

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