Much more reasonable plan which I think is probably doable. A few things:

1) You probably won't make it to your hotel until 11-12. Paris Airport is massive and slower post Covid. I was there last May and took forever to get out. Make sure you use the automated kiosks through customs as faster (available to Europeans and some other countries only). I think train is faster so time it vs. Taxi if you don't have too much luggage

2) Marche can be your lunch place which will save you time with a restaurant

3) If you can, one of the museums the day of arrival is doable IMO. D'Orsay would be much easier here than Louvre as it is much smaller and less crowded. This means you would need to visit the left bank twice but it is worth it. By far my favourite part of Paris. This would also help with your last day as it is too packed

4) One of the posters mentioned the entrance to the Louvre to avoid line ups. Use it as it saves time

5) Another good idea given to you was avoiding Paris on the holiday. Good day to go to Versaille. Still think you are way underestimating how long this will take. I got back to Paris around 5pm each time and I could have easily stayed longer. Go as early as possible. You will be able to do Moulin Rouge but doubt the rest. Enjoy Versaille as no other palace comes close to it (I have seen some of the biggest in Europe)

Paris is my favourite city to visit which is why I keep coming back to this thread lol. It is also much bigger than you expect. Most European cities I have been to have most of the sights packed close. Not the same for Paris as they are spread out and take time to get to

I was there this past May for 5 nights which was my first trip post Covid. Other than Louvre and d'Orsay (which I do every visit) we did not do any other sight seeing and we had a blast - eating and walking around. We came back to our hotel for 1-2 hour nap every day and we are in our early 40s. I don't see how you can do all that without some breaks. However, other than using Bateau Bus one day we walked everywhere as that is the most charming part of Paris. You will probably want to take transit to save time and legs

Since your trip is long, you may want to make a couple days empty days for relaxation and recovery.

I will see if I can find my list of restaurants and coffees - there were some good ones

One of my favourite things to do in Paris is to sit outside, drink coffee and watch the people go by. The crowds have been massive in Paris so be ready to queue up. It sounds like you're flexible so Plan B and C may be more needed than you think.

Travel To Eat (Love the name btw) - I was thinking about switching the Musee D’Orsay and the Louvre and doing it on the arrival day. We actually thought about doing Versailles on the 14th, but we are excited about spending the holiday in Paris and experiencing the party! I would love to see your list of restaurant recommendations! Thank you so much for the offer!

On our last trip to Paris just before the covid plague, we discovered that the Lion's Gate entrance to the Louvre was for tour groups only. I wonder if it is the same now. It is my favorite "secret" entrance. By the way, the gallery at that entrance has some wonders, including an Easter island monumental head.

Porte des Lions has reopened since the closures of the pandemic.

Need to switch out some venues from left bank to right: St Chappelle, Notre Dame & Ile St Louis -- The info boards along right side of Notre Dame tell of the reconstruction project, fascinating. Also Sainte-Sulpice under MAJOR renovation with whole block surrounded by high fencing. You can enter the construction site from southern side to walk through the church but it's very dark, dusty and noisy. Perhaps consider Musee Rodin or Invalides, by the gorgeous Pont Alexandre, do not miss this bridge in the 7th. . As to the Louvre, leave it up to the weather: we never ventured inside the Louvre till our 3-4th trip, weather was too pleasant to be indoors. But we did opt for the Orangerie.

Your new plan is much better.

""Consider adding the Palace of Fontainebleau to your itinerary, which is another beautiful chateau located about an hour's train ride from Paris.""

You will only be in Paris for 4 1/2 days, and you are already spending 2 of those days outside of Paris (Versailles will consume more of the day than you might think). I would not spend a 3rd day outside of Paris. It will "consume" 3 1/2 - 4 hours of travel/wait-in-line time just to get to Fontainebleau & back. We found Fontainebleau to be a very exhausting but worthwhile visit.

Stu Dudley

Luna, I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying this thread! I admire your enthusiasm, research and decisiveness and that you haven't disappeared from this forum in light of the barrage of replies you have received. All of us, including me, have tried to reshape your vacation, but with your extensive travel background, you know what has worked for you and what you enjoy. And all of these responses are providing great advice for future travelers.

Best line ever, "The itinerary is not a legal document." So true.
I notice you are on 2 other travel forums (I know, I need to get a life!) I thought you should drop Normandy, but saw that it is part of your family history, so enjoy, it is a very moving experience. I know many are WWII enthusiasts that recommend 1-3 days, but we took a half day tour and thought it was perfect for us. At the end of the day, if you can see the lowering of the flag and the playing of taps at the American cemetery, you will never forget it. If you can keep dry eyes during that, something is wrong with you. We did stay in Bayeux a couple of nights, which I recommend, but maybe next time.

@Coral 22 - I’m pretty thick skinned and I know everyone is trying to be helpful! Regarding Normandy, Can you tell me more about your half day tour?

Don't get me wrong, we could have spent, the whole day there and even half of the next day, but our first morning there we saw the Bayeux Tapestry, toured Bayeux, and we did sit down for a leisurely lunch. Our tour was with Bernard Sandreis, who is French and we really enjoyed his perspective. We saw Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc, toured the hedgerows and equipment and tanks, the German cemetery and the American cemetery. He gave an extensive verbal history and was very flexible with the schedule. We were traveling with another couple and the 1pm to 6pm tour cost $400. We had left the next morning open to see more sights if we felt so inclined but decided to head out to stop at Giverny instead. We had to get our car rental back to a Paris City location before it closed at 5:00 and it was a Friday, so that was the right choice for us.

I know some will say you really need a minimum of x amount of days to really experience a place, but I think a taste is still worthwhile. I will never forget the solemness, the moving lowering of the flag and playing of Taps, and the endless rows of immaculate white crosses. And to hear the experiences of these brave, naive young men and some of the strategic mishaps was heartbreaking and life changing.

Executive D-Day Tours / R.C.S. 521 534 040 - Home

Read most of the posts and know you have made changes, so these comments may no longer completely apply, but perhaps be helpful. We have been to Paris several times, but are kind of slow travelers, just picking a few things important to us and then adding as time permitted. We had young children with us once and teens another time. We took it slow with the little ones and raced around with the teens. On our own, we made whole different choices, but IMHO, Paris was actually best when we did not try to see as much.

We have been up in the Eiffel Tower and The Arc de Triomphe. It was just something to do, but we enjoyed Paris at night just as much from the area above Monte Montre.

The Seine just at sunset is lovely. You get a great sense of Paris.

Didn’t notice if you still have the HOHO bus listed. We did it once. Absolutely complete waste of time and not enjoyable.

Musee D’ Orsay is beautiful! Both the collections and the building are outstanding. We spent at least two hours, maybe three, inside.

*******Lots of discussion here about Versailles.*******
After doing it the usual way, as day trips from Paris, I was in charge of planning and booking a tour with 6 friends and their 4 teens. I changed tactics and it was the most wonderful experience of the trip. I booked our first night in Paris at a hotel in Versailles, directly across from the Chateau. On arrival in Paris, we traveled directly to Versailles and checked into the hotel, arriving around noon. We had lunch outside at a restaurant near the Chateau. We purchased tickets for the Chateau for first thing the next morning and spent the afternoon in the gardens. The Chateau gardens are really acres of planned gardens, a lake, fountains, parks, paths, roads and buildings. You can walk, bike or take a tram tour. We did it rather quickly and still took at least two hours. Friends rented a boat and took over three hours. We had dinner that night in Versailles. The town is charming with a beautiful food market, lovely shops and good restaurants. Most visitors rush right by the town and it is so worth a visit. I don’t remember exactly, but I think we spent about two hours touring the chateau itself first thing the next morning. We took taxis into Paris around noon.
Our friends all raved about arriving in Paris and starting the trip that way, and thought it was well worth changing hotels and having the first afternoon and night in Versailles. My thoughts are, you are traveling to Versailles at some point anyway. You want to make use of the first day without overdoing it. Consider using it to do the travel to Versailles, but save the tour until early the next morning. You have the rest of that day free for Paris. The difference between that and day trips to Versailles was night and day. It is actually an efficient use of time and a wonderful introduction to France.

@coral22 - Thank you so much. This is very helpful. I know it is going to be a long day. We are planning to take the train and have a guide meet us at the station. We will fit in as much as we can before heading back to Paris. I’m thinking we will have about 5-6 hours to see what we can. We have a grandfather who landed at Normandy. He passed a few years ago and we really feel the need to honor him as we have heard all of his stories.

I wish I could be a full time traveler and spend unlimited time everywhere, but it’s not a possibility and so seeing and getting the highlights is all we can do. Sightseeing is hard work! When we want to relax, we spend a week at the beach doing absolutely nothing.

Wow! That is a great idea! After a huge struggle, we ended up caving and changing Versaille to another day. I think I may have been arrested if I actually tried to do it on arrival day! LOL I may consider another change!

We already took off the HOHO bus as I understand the traffic is a hindrance and it is not a good idea. We aren’t planning to go up in the Eiffel Tower or the Arc, Will require time and lots of steps! Montmartre is in the plan for an evening so we will catch views from there.

Thanks so much for the comments. They are so helpful!

*******Lots of discussion here about Versailles.*******
After doing it the usual way, as day trips from Paris, I was in charge of planning and booking a tour with 6 friends and their 4 teens. I changed tactics and it was the most wonderful experience of the trip. I booked our first night in Paris at a hotel in Versailles, directly across from the Chateau. On arrival in Paris, we traveled directly to Versailles and checked into the hotel, arriving around noon. We had lunch outside at a restaurant near the Chateau. We purchased tickets for the Chateau for first thing the next morning and spent the afternoon in the gardens. The Chateau gardens are really acres of planned gardens, a lake, fountains, parks, paths, roads and buildings. You can walk, bike or take a tram tour. We did it rather quickly and still took at least two hours. Friends rented a boat and took over three hours. We had dinner that night in Versailles. The town is charming with a beautiful food market, lovely shops and good restaurants. Most visitors rush right by the town and it is so worth a visit. I don’t remember exactly, but I think we spent about two hours touring the chateau itself first thing the next morning. We took taxis into Paris around noon.
Our friends all raved about arriving in Paris and starting the trip that way, and thought it was well worth changing hotels and having the first afternoon and night in Versailles. My thoughts are, you are traveling to Versailles at some point anyway. You want to make use of the first day without overdoing it. Consider using it to do the travel to Versailles, but save the tour until early the next morning. You have the rest of that day free for Paris. The difference between that and day trips to Versailles was night and day. It is actually an efficient use of time and a wonderful introduction to France.”

This is a genius idea ~ talk about thinking outside the box!

NYSE, Thanks. Admittedly, I was optimistic, but still a little concerned beforehand that it was a good move. It was a bit pricey because I hired a 15 passenger van to meet us at the airport rather than deal with trains, etc., and we used three taxis into Paris from Versailles, but for a dozen people (10 had never been to Paris and 8 had never traveled out of the US), I needed it to be as simple and direct as possible. The taxis were door to door, hotel in Versailles to hotel in Paris. It all probably added $100.00 per person to a two week trip, but I had taken a couple of groups on other trips and found some people were really exhausted the first day, so that first day was crucial. After that we used the metro, buses, trains, etc.

Finally got around to finding my last itinerary for the restaurants. I will give you the best and worst of each place I went to. I have found that I like planning my restaurants ahead of time so the reviews help out a lot. However, I also like to walk around and and look up reviews of any place that seems packed by locals (they all speak French, menu on boards/walls...)

The good:
La Tour Montlhry – Chez Denise: near the Louvre. We went here for lunch. It is very traditional French cuisine (my fav) and it is one of the best restaurants I have ever been to especially considering the price. Large portions for very reasonable prices. I had the best rabbit dish ever! No paper menus and everything in French on the wall. I think everyone there except us were locals that day. They speak a little bit of English but enough to get food. I speak French so that was not an issue but my wife who does not was able to order on her own. Of the list, this is the one I would pick and intend to go back to anytime I visit Paris

La maison du jardin - near the Luxumbourg garden. Very nice and small restaurant. A bit pricy (I think?) and not traditional but worth it

Le Bistro du Périgord: this qualifies as a tourist trap in the sense it is very famous and basically the entire place was tourists. It was also the priciest place we have been to on the last visit. However, the food was really really good. A mix of traditional and new. The restaurant has been open and run by the same guy for decades. Hi son is the cook now if I remember correctly. The best duck confit I have ever had. We sat next to a lovely couple (American) who had been visiting Paris on the way to their summer residence in the country for decades and they have stopped by this place every year and could not stop raving about it

La Maison D’Isabelle - best croissants ever! This is a big deal (IMO lol) as I literally plan every Paris visit around bakeries and have been to many of the famous ones. Very famous with plenty of lineups so show up early. You won't find a better croissant and for a good price

The not so good:
Le Colimaçon - in the Marais so probably close to where you are staying. Has amazing reviews but to me it felt like a pure tourist trap. We did not enjoy it at all. Most disappointing restaurant given the reviews and the menu

24 Le Restaurant - near the Elysee. It was the priciest (or second to Perigord) and had really high reviews but was again very disappointing. It was one of those soulless restaurants that likes to pretend they are special given the number of servers that served us, their dress and their attitude (not a smile between them). Food is my fav thing so I have been to my share of high end restaurants but I hate when it comes off as pretentious. The food was not great either

Angelina Rivoli - fancy looking cafe which I finally got around to doing (after my 6th or 7th visit so not really a priority). It is worth doing if you have nothing else to do (I take food way too seriously). The breakfast was good but pricy and you have to line up to enter. The definition of a tourist trap lol

@Travel_To_Eat - THANK YOU so much! I am going to go through this carefully and look up your suggestions. I truly appreciate all of the suggestions and reviews!