I believe there have been some posts on this several years ago, but I'm looking for current ideas. A co-worker and her husband will have exactly 4 hours of free time in Paris next month. They have never been to Paris and other than wanting to see the Eifel Tower have no notions about what they should do. I have some ideas, but want to hear yours as well. They like to eat, love the theater and enjoy wine and beer... so there you have it - bring on the ideas ... just 4 hours (transport time to and from is already accounted for outside of the 4 hours) - thanks - seafox

What is most important to you?
If you have always wanted to see Mona, then see her..
If you have always wanted to see St Chapelle stained glass..
If you have always wanted to eat at.....

Maybe a boat trip on the Seine -- they'll see a few different neighborhoods from the water, see the Eiffel tower from a distance, etc. Then a nice lunch in good bistro, maybe a short stroll afterwards, and they're done. So you might pick a restaurant in a neighborhood they'd like to see. Frankly I'd avoid trying to get up the Eiffel tower. There are usually long waits and they simply haven't got the time. However, there are restaurants in the tower which have reasonable reputations and they could combine two activities that way (plus get immediate access to the tower). Unfortunately, the neighborhood is not particularly scenic.

As stated above, it may depend on their interests. As a swag...

I might change a visit to Eiffel tower, which could involve eating up time in line to get up, to be a nice view of the tower. Plus, apart from the Tower, they would probably need to leave that area to go see other sites anyways. I’d skip a sit down lunch for this amount of time.

One idea is to make their start and stop point Notre Dame on Ile de la Cite. From there they could see two of France's nicest churches: Notre Dame and Ste Chapelle( stained glass windows). Over the bridge to Ile St Louis for a nice walk down a small main street with interesting shops, some mansions. There will be shops selling Berthillon ice cream, and sandwich shops. Perhaps a couple of hours to do this.

Walk from there over bridge to the Left Bank and then either walk above or below street level along Seine. Very nice views of cathedral and river. There will be the bouquinistes with their stalls to look at.

Goal is to make Seine river cruise (last item) so depending on time, may skip to that…they could go down Blvd St Germain to go to the Musee du Moyen Age (aka Cluny) to see a small collection of medieval items, in a building built over remains of roman baths, later incorporated into an abbey. If they did not have lunch, plenty of places to for takeout food, maybe a crepe?

Back to Seine. Keep going until Pont Neuf, western tip of Ile de la Cite. At that point go down to the river at Square du Vert Galant. A very nice, lush, small park with views of seine, Louvre, etc. Also here is the embarkation point for the Vedettes du Pont Neuf Seine cruise. Take a cruise; see buildings, Eiffel and back.

This may be ambitious for 4 hrs, but all in same area.


Could do same for Place de la Concorde as their starting point. Here you could have a quick (!) visit to Louvre (Mona Lisa, Venus d M?), see Tuileries gardens, look up Champs Elysee, Place Vendome, Palais Royale, Rue Rivoli, Rue Faubourg St Honore..and then end with metro to Trocadero for one of the nicest views there is of the Eiffel Tower.

I wouldn't attempt the Tour Eiffel, assuming their time is in the middle of the day. It could well take 2+ hours to do that. I would tell them to get on the nearest Batobus and wend their way up and down the Seine, getting off at whatever interests them, then back to the airport. The Batobus stops at just about everything "major" one would want to see.

Yes, but it wouldn't really allow the time to visit the "major" things. In four hours, one would love time on the Batobus.

Well, IMO, walking would lose more, no?

I agree - no going up the tower - they just need to se and take a photo

A quick visit to the Louvre? I am in Paris right now - and just attempted to do a quick visit to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. My thought was to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the Slaves. We walked with the crowds- and were told it wasn't that crowded... and just seeing those three it took us 1.5 hours. For 4 hours in Paris - I'd skip the inside of the Louvre. It's just too big.

Jeez, the v and the s are not even next to each other on my keyboard!

I agree with the Seine River cruise idea. It gives you a real sense of the city. BatoBus does let you get on & off at will but IMO it is still a "bus". Much nicer, I'd do the "Vendettes" cruise from the Pont Neuf(order the tickets on line) then I'd walk to Notre Dame just to see the outside, mabe a stroll down Ile St. Louis with lunch by the bridge, and if time allows, a short stroll on the left bank(maybe through "The Buci").

Now, of course, that can be done in good weather----if it's gray and raining I'd go to The D'Orsay(much easier than The Louvre)then to a great lunch with a view of the Eiffel Tower(ask this site for suggestions).

And never forget that it is the Orsay and not the D'Orsay, unless you call the other big museum the Du Louvre.

Sorry, kerouac
So many of the brochures and books say D'Orsay, I didn't mean to offend ,thanks for the correction.

The name of the museum is Musée d'Orsay. "D'" or "de" in French means of. So when you are saying the D'Orsay, you are essentially saying, "the of Orsay."