Paris In March--Which day for Versailles? Help me make sense of my list of "must-sees"!
 

We'll arrive in Paris Wednesday afternoon March 21st, leaving mid day Tuesday the 27th. I'm trying to preplan some of our key activities, such as a ballet performance on Friday at Palais Garnier, in order to work around these fixed dates.

This is a 4th Paris trip, so there are key things on our "must-do" list that I also want to fill in. We will most likely buy the 6 day museum pass, as the cost averages out to 10 euro/day, and we can stretch out our visits over the entire six days. In addition to a couple of visits to the Louvre, we want to visit the Pompidou, Musee Carnavalet, L'Orangerie, Musee' du Mode et du Textile, Sainte Chapelle, the Conciergerie, the Cluny, the Pantheon, Nissim de Camondo, Musee Cognac-Jay, and the Lalique exhibit which will be at Palais du Luxembourg.

One must see is Versailles, since we have never been. Since the date is too early for the fountains, does it matter which day we go? I am thinking Friday might be good, as we can go first thing in the AM, tour for a couple of hours, have lunch, spend another hour or two, then come home for a rest before going to the ballet, then dinner. The other thought was to go on Sunday, but we're also thinking of having brunch and visiting the Musee Jacquemart-Andre.

This is obviously a lot to cover, but having a fair amount of familiarity with the city and the transportation, I think with planning, we can fit in most of these places, as some are likely to be short visits. We will buy the Carte Orange on arrival, which will cover all our transportation needs from Wednesday-Sunday except for the RER to Versailles.

Please help with your scheduling ideas. Thanks, Barb

At that time of year i don't think the day of the week would matter. Of course it's closed on Mon and perhaps weekends see more French come here but i don't think it would be much of a factor in March, unless easter comes early - the week before and after Easter is the launch of the European tourist season as many schools and workers have two weeks off.

IF you have a choice, I would always choose a weekday over weekend for Versailles, to have less people there. It won't matter so much for the Jacquemart-Andre because it doesn't get that crowded.

I made a calendar and physically wrote down the days that certain museums were closed. Then I got out a map to see what was close to what. For example, the Cluny is near Notre Dame, which is near Sainte Chappelle and the Conciergerie. The Pompidou is fairly near the Carnavelet. If I had a day with only a couple of main destinations, I looked in the Eyewitness Guides to see what was in the general neighborhood of the main destination. Also, if a location has the potential for a good view, think about whether you want to see the view at day time, dusk or night time.

Missypie has a good method... group your sights geographically with a nod to the 'closed' days. I wouldn't do more than two museums in the same day. Leave plenty of time for walking and looking.

Musee Carnavalet and Musée Cognacq-Jay are free so consider that when organizing your museum/pass days.