zinfindel

I'm going with a friend to Paris & then Venice in May 2011. We've both always wanted to go, and finally have an opportunity. We'll be meeting at CDG on a Thursday morning, then leaving to go to Venice on Monday afternoon. We'll fly back into CDG for an over night before we leave the next morning to fly back to our respective destinations.

Not sure where we will be staying (I'm only in charge of activities *lol*) but I think the 8th arrond. (street - Rue d'Astorg). I am looking for suggestions of places that other travelers would consider "must see". We don't mind walking, we like photography, and we know we want to see Versailles and the other usual suspects - Notre Dame, Sacred Heart, Arc de Triomphe. I've been reading that some of the gardens are beautiful and I think we'll take a tour on the Seine - based on what I've been reading and seeing.

I've been reviewing travel guides but the volume of sites is overwhelming and I not entirely sure of the geography of the city and what combination of sites is a reasonable itinerary for 3.5 days -- or per day for that matter.

If anyone has suggestions for restaurants they really enjoyed, I'll be happy to take those as well.

Goldiept

Hi,

I am not a huge expert on Paris but just got back from 8 days there. The places you mention are landmarks and beautiful.

You didn't mention the Eiffel Tower. It is glorious especially at night with lights that blink. If you get there at night - 9PM, the lines are short and you can take a ride up.

You can take the Bateau Mouches, a boat ride, all around the Seine to see the city at night - gorgeous.

Nice views from the top of the store Printemps and it's free.

Lines for museums are long so if you want to go to some, be sure to buy a museum pass which permits entry to many museums and you don't have to waste time standing in lines. I think there is a 3 day pass.

There are great flea markets there over the week-end if you want to do that. (One of my own favorite things!)

There is a boat tour you can do during the day with hop on/hop off feature. I didn't do it but know it takes you to many of the landmarks.

It is an amazing city to walk in and glorious everywhere you go. Take a long walk from Arc de Triumphe down the Champs Elysee and you will end up in the Tuileries gardens which are filled with art and a calm, lovely place to stroll.

Have a ball. How could you not - it's Paris!

Ackislander

What you see depends on your interests and the weather. We have been lucky with May weather, but obviously if it is pouring you may want to spend more time in museums. It also depends a little bit on where you stay, but it is very easy to get around Paris. What you don't want to do is bounce from one end of the city to the other.

So, Cluster 1: Notre Dame, St Julien le Pauvre, Ile St Louis, Shakespeare and Company, Musee de Cluny (famous unicorn tapestries), Jardin de Luxembourg, Vedettes de Pont Neuf (tour boats that leave not far from this area, best taken after dark?).

Cluster 2: Musee d'Orsay, Invalides, exterior of Musee Granly, Tour Eiffel, Trocadero for views, bus to Musee Marmottan, a fabulous house museum with amazing Monets, OR Rodin Museum and garden (much closer and perfect for a nice day).

Cluster 3: Palais Royale, Opera Garnier, Grands Magasins (Printemps has a fabulous dome over their top floor restaurant and the clothes are displayed more like a museum than a department store), bus to Republic to see how the other half lives, ditto bus toward Bastille, take the Metro to Chemin Vert and explore the Place des Vosges and Marais, particularly the Rue des Francs Bourgeois for its boutiques. If it is pouring, the Carnavalet Museum (history of Paris) is very interesting. Sadly, the Picasso Museum is closed for renovations.

Cluster 1/2: it is going to take you at least two hours to get from CDG to your hotel and check in. This would be a good time to go to the Louvre, then maybe up to Sacre Coeur for sunset views.

avalon

Look at http://www.ourparisforum.com

All confimed Paris addicts that live or travel there several times a year. All questions will be answered truthfully and the trip reports with pictures are great. You can read without joining but to post you have to register

Ackislander

Shouild have been "OR Metro to Chemin Vert"

PatrickLondon

An option for Friday evening - see the rollerblade parade. It always starts round the back of Gare Montparnasse, but follows different routes each week, which aren't announced until the Thursday - keep an eye on their website for that week's route, which should pass much nicer cafés/restaurants elsewhere than around the starting point.

http://www.pari-roller.com/index.php?p=101
http://www.pari-roller.com/index.php?p=18

Christina

I'm going to refer you back to a guidebook, as I really think that is the best answer for your question. Guidebooks are written for people who may have never visited a place before, and list the major sites that first-timers would likely want to see. They show maps and may have itineraries exactly like you want. I know Frommers does a good job of giving you itineraries for those who have one day, 3 days, 5 days to spend. They are pretty good, I think. I don't know if FOdors does it exactly that way, they usually list top sites you'll want to see, which are pretty hard to go wrong for first-timers. They are usually the same.

Any guidebook is going to tell you the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, etc.

k9korps

Just a consideration: With only that amount of time, be aware that a trip to Versailles is going to kill just about a whole day (though you'll still have the evening). As a substitute, you could just visit Luxembourg Gardens and tour the building. If the weather is decent, the gardens are a nice place to have a quick picnic, too.

However, if Versailles is high on your list, go for it.

Michel_Paris

It may help to do as Christina says and get a preliminary swag at what you want to see.

With 3.5 days, Verailles would take up most of one day (need to be there first think in morning). So if it is a must, it will chew up time.

If you don't like museums, that takes out a chunk of time. If you read about the Cluny and it specifically appeals to you, add it in.

Some (at lot?) here don't recommend the Champs Elysee, since it does not quite match people's vision of what it should be. Yet every guide will recommend seeing it. But while at the Louvre, you could easily walk to Placede la Concorde (bottom of Champs) and take some photos of the Arc de triomphe in the distance.
The idea of breaking Paris into an areas for each day is good. You take the Metro to that area, walk and visit all day, eat there, back to hotel.

The Seine cruise is best at night, and Vedttes du Pont Neuf is a good one (board near Notre Dame).

zinfindel

Thank you all for your responses. The suggested clusters will be very helpful. We do really want to see Versailles - we have resigned ourselves to the fact that it will take up one of our days. However, we will meet up in CDG around mid-morning, so we anticipate seeing maybe Notre Dame or Sacred Heart by the time we settle for dinner, and we are debating the night river tour -- we'll do that for sure, just not sure if we've do it the first day or not.

Ackislander

Just don't try to do Sacre Coeur and Notre Dame in the same afternoon. They are a long way apart with changes on the metro.

The reason I suggested the boat for the first night is that you will be tired, and you can sit down. It will also give you an idea of where things are in relation to each other (Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel, etc) befcre you hit the ground seriously.

envoyage

I am also preparing for a 3 1/2 days visit to Paris in AUGUST , this is what I have posted on another forum, would appreciate your comments, critics for I need to finalize this itinerary soon, THANK YOU:
Wednesday August 15 = Day 1

• Airport arrival scheduled at 12:30 p.m
• After checking to the hotel hopefully 2 p.m. [I have no idea how we will get to it, any suggestions? Taxi for the 4 of us?]
• 3:30 p.m. we’ll go out visit possibly
• Head first to the Arc de Triomphe for a top great view.
• Walk from the Arc de Triomphe down the grand avenue des Champs-Elysées across Place de la Concorde and to Tuileries Garden and to the Vedettes du Pont Neuf for an evening boat tour of the Seine river.
• Diner : either at a Paris Bistro Chez Andre 12, Rue Marbeuf or at La Casa Alcalde Blvd de Grenelle Spanish cuisine.
• Back to the hotel then….

Thursday August 16 = Day 2
• Montmartre - Sacre Coeur- Place du Tertre - Le Moulin de la Galette- Le Bateau Lavoir [how would you go from Blvd de Grenelle ? metro? RER?Taxi? walk?]
• The louvre [closes at 9:45 p.m.] and those of us who don’t want to spend time too much time with Art may be could go to Galleries Lafayette it closes at 9 p.m on Thursdays & I think it is a short distance from The Louvre or another option to enjoy Jardin des tuileries….
• Diner at L’Ecluse 64, rue François 1er
• Back to the hotel then….


Friday August 17 = Day 3
• destination is Notre Dame Cathedral [it opens at 8 a.m.]
• Cross Pont Neuf to the Ile de la Cité , visit Sainte Chapelle.[it opens at 9:30 am ] .
• Head to the Latin Quarter. For a meal, may be Rue Mouffetard for lively atmosphere and plenty of choice.
Before or after quartier Latin , one could add Orsay museum if we want to see more art – or at The louvre we were not able to cover enough on day 2….and if not interested for more, some of us might just enjoy the Tuileries gardens .
• Walk to Trocadéro [I am not sure what route would be the best though?]
• Then to the Eiffel Tower for a ride up if possible [depends of the waiting line-if too long we might do the Tour Montparnasse instead]
• Walk to Boulevard Montparnasse for diner [Chez Bebert]
• If we did not go up Eiffel tower or if we feel like doing both, Tour Montparnasse closes at 23h45 for the view
• Back to the hotel then….

Saturday August 18 = Day 4
• Check out from the hotel Blvd de Grenelle [good idea annig we could ask the hotel to store our luggage ]
• Walk through the Marais (the medieval section of town)
• WHAT COULD WE ADD TO IT THAT WOULD NOT MAKE IT TOO LATE FOR US TO GET TO ANOTHER HOTEL BY THE AIRPORT ??, since it is a Saturday traffic will be heavy probably ! and if the hoel de Grenelle accept to store our luggage, we will need to pick them up….

uhoh_busted

envoyage -- you may have scheduled too much, too specifically. Get a good plastic covered fold-out map of Paris, preferably with metro stops included, so you can keep things grouped together and expand your activities to fit the mood of your group or the weather or your the condition of your feet. DO THIS NOW SO YOU CAN SEE THE FOLLY OF YOUR "PLAN"

Pick two or three things to do each day. It will be August and hot. You can fill in with other activities as your day progresses. If you are set on getting to "recommended restaurants" make sure you know where they are in relation to your plans and your hotel. I usually have a couple options, but also have found we've discovered some other places that were easier to get to based on where we were, and we've rarely made a bad choice. Make reservations if possible on busy nights,

Why are you getting to another hotel by the airport for your last night? You will waste having an evening in Paris. You can always wake up at 0 Dark.thirty to take a taxi to the airport to catch and early flight. Have the hotel give you wake up calls.

annhig

zinfindel,

usually we are the types who decide what we are going to do on the day as we go along, but this time, we booked our tickets for Versailles in advance on the net and were glad we did as we didn't have any of the trouble that others did about where to buy a ticket [turns out there's a scam with people directing you to a "ticket office" that isn't as you get off the train] and we just walked in.

but you can only do this if you are prepared to commit to the day that you are going to go, come what may.

envoyage

uhoh_busted : thanks for your ideas & comments. It is probably a good idea not to change hotel on the last night, but our choice was to better be safe than sorry , as we need to embark at 9 a.m. , so time needed for our ride from downtown Paris & to check in luggage....we rather miss the evening in Paris than miss our plane to a different journey. But thanks anyway.

annhig

envoyage - you've got me properly puzzled now.

do i understand that you actually depart on Sunday morning, but are going to be checking out of your hotel on saturday and spending the night near the airport?

even for a 9am departure I'm not convinced that this is strictly necessary, but it would probably have been a good idea to make that clear when you posted your query.

in this case you could do a lot of things - the Marais, a cruise on the canal st. Martin, even Versailles. do you want to have supper in Paris before you go to the airport?

envoyage

Sorry if I have confused someone outhere ! yes our depart is sunday morning, yes we will try to contact the IBIS hotel near airport to find out if checking in late will be OK, so that we can have dinner downtown.
Versailles is too far away , one extended full day would be necessary....
THANK YOU

Snowflake25

I would highly recommend doing a Hop on Hop off or guided city tour when you arrive. This will give you a great overview of the city, taking you to the main attractions. Then you can decide which places you want to go back to because you needed more time.

envoyage

Good idea Snowflake25, where do we get one?

Snowflake25

The Hop On Hop Off bus can be boarded at various locations in the city, just do a google search to find one that is convenient for you. I think they have 1 or 2 day passes. We have done a guided city bus tour twice (traveling with students) and I am sure you could find a 3 hour tour or something similar. There are also numerous companies that do walking tours and prices vary.