Hello, I am planning a 7 day trip to Paris March 29 - April 5th with my husband. We are staying in an apartment in Quartier Cherche-Midi (6th Arr. west of Jardin du Luxembourg) I have been working on an itinerary which is a bit overwhelming!. I have booked a few sties already.
We would like to see some museums, some of the main sites, & also wonder around some beautiful neighbourhoods away from the main streets, stop at cafe's etc. We don't mind walking a lot, & we don't mind figuring out public transportation when needed. We are experienced travellers in Europe but have not been to Paris for a very long time.

Day 1 (the day after I land from Canada) 9am Louvre tickets already booked, then walk through Tuileries, Place de Concorde, Champs Elysees. Timed tickets for Galerie Dior at 1:30pm booked, then timed tickets up the Arc de Triomphe at 4:10pm (this is a long day so just a relaxed dinner in the evening!)
Day 2: Sainte-Chapelle, Notre-Dame a.m., walk toward Marais, explore Marais and Bastille area this afternoon (perhaps Seine riverside walk?)
Day 3: Walk to Left Bank: Champs de Mars, explore area (need to do more research on what we would like to see in this area besides Eiffel Tower, I don't think we will go up), late afternoon tickets to Musee d'Orsay. Perhaps Seine cruise in the evening to see the lights
Day 4: Trip to Versailles (this is a Thursday, I was trying to avoid visiting on the weekend which is Easter weekend), already have tickets for 10am
Day 5: Monet's House in Giverny (public transportation, I think the holiday schedule due to Good Friday).
Day 6: Montmartre. This is Saturday of Easter. I am sure it will be busy but we at least can avoid the major ticketed sites today. I may look up a cooking class or food tour in Montmartre. There may be time today to add other places to see.

I very much appreciate any comments or suggestions (too much? too little?).
thank you,
Liz

Near to Giverny is the rather dramatic village of La Roche Guyon. As long as you are out that way, I highly recommend a visit. Also near there is the troglydite Church of the Annunciation.

Louvre:
Hardly anyone seems to know about the Porte des Lions entrance to the Louvre. It is very close to the Italian Galleries, just in case you want to visit La Gioconda.
The view from the second floor cafe balcony is superb.

Montmartre:
My favorite activity is to climb the spiral staircase and walk along the rooftop of Sacre Coeur. Montmartre is gorgeous in the early evening when the crowds have dissipated.

The Michelin Green Guide has self-guided walking tours. The Marais is the beginnings of Paris, so that should be a priority.

Wow! You are definitely energetic. The only thing I would recommend is a small group tour to Giverny. Through Get Your Guide, my friends and I did the "Paris Guided Day Trip to Monet's Garden" in an eight-passenger van, and our guide was fantastic -- we bypassed a line that was a block long, were steered away from congestion in the gardens, heard a wonderful narrative, and made a fascinating side trip to the cemetery to see the graves of Monet and his family, as well as airmen shot down by Nazis. It was a wonderful day!

Shelemm, thank you so much for all of that wonderful information. Perhaps it would be a good idea to visit Montmartre in the early evening on Day 2 or Day 3, and on Day 6 spend the day in Marais and take our time.

Abbydog, thank you, I will look into that idea. Sometimes there is something to be said for having someone else take care of the logistics.

Days 1 and 2 cannot be done. This is just another "I want to do and see everything" plan guaranteed to fail. Two big things per day is the maximum practical itinerary.

The rest seems mostly fine but I honestly think Day 1 is really (really) difficult

Thanks for the honesty, if we just get to the Louvre, a nice lunch out, and the Galerie Dior it will still be a great day.

I agree that Day 1 is way too much. Also consider that if you exhaust yourself on the first day, it will carry over to subsequent days (at least it would for me).

I agree Day 1 seems too busy but perhaps nothing can be done about that. I hesitate to add to your plan but always feel I must mention visiting the Musee de l'Orangerie, particularly since you have an interest in Monet. The museum doesn't take long to see and Monet's waterlily paintings there are stunning. I think a timed ticket there is now required. https://www.musee-orangerie.fr/en

Hmmm. I am wondering if the OP has wandered into my old way of doing Paris.

For each day I would list 8-10 possible things to do. Some would be good only for nice weather, some were indoor things, and so forth. We'd eat some breakfast, then choose from the list. Lunch, and choose again.

Tuesday's list would not include things closed on Tuesday, etc. Things missed on Monday (most of that day's list) could be added to Wednesday or Thursday. Without a hard list for any day, there was no compulsion to stick to predetermined itinerary. Maybe Mrs. P would declare a shopping day. Maybe I'd opt for a chocolate store crawl or a walk along the elevated park.

This is harder to do these days due to needing timed tickets, but the concept succeeds.

The line for Sainte Chapelle can be very long, even if you purchased tickets in advance. Which also makes Sainte Chapelle very crowded inside. We had tickets for our last two trips to Paris (June and November 2025) but the lines were so long we just skipped it. I mourn our past visits there with only a handful of people in the Chapelle at any given time and no lines to get in.

Two alternatives: the beautifully restored and generally line- and crowd-free St. Germain des Pres church. One of our favorite places in Paris. The other one is the luminescence show at Saint Eustache (no dates for March posted yet)

There is a show along a similar theme at a church in Basel. We've got tickets for that one, fingers crossed it's as good as the promos!

Thank you all so much. I did get into the 'plan everything' mindset when I posted as there is so much to see in Paris and I was reading about the advanced tickets. I will take the experienced advice though and maybe not schedule so much and leave out what seems too rushed when we are there. I like AJPeabody's philosophy (the way I used to travel when I was younger!). That's too bad about Saint Chapelle, WeisserTee, even with timed tickets you had to skip it. I really do love gorgeous churches (and stained glass) and will try to get in. Thanks for the alternatives just in case. KTtravel, I will definitely have the Musee d'Orangerie in mind when we go, I would love to see that too.

-I would walk off to the left of Sacre Coeur and down to the small and lovely museum Montmartre if the Place du Tertre is too crowded. (Were there last Xmas and it was all too mobbed).
-From ND and SC, I would go up to the Carnavalet Museum which is FREE and fabulous -- not much art, but everything from the beginning of Paris to current day, fascinating, and it is so near the Marais.
-If weather is inclement, try to get to a few of the passages (Vivienne our favorite) kinda above Palais Royale. Charming shops, They kind of run from the 2d to 9th arr on right bank.

You'll have time after Giverny outing I would think. We were only in Paris once in March, and it was cold and rainy -- had to go to Galerie Laf for a woolen base layer. Be sure and pack base layers! All our other trips were Fall and last '24 Christmas.

St. Germain de Pres Church which another fodorite mentioned is lovely, and soooo ancient -- look for the Roman ruins! That is our favorite arr. of Paris.

I guess I'm the outlier, I don't think Day 1 is impossible at all. But it all depends how much time you spendin the Louvre, mainly. I don't spend hours in any museum, I just can't do that. Besides, I go to Paris enough that I don't need to see every single thing in the Louvre when I go, I just go to my particular interests.

Depends how tired you are, but of course you can just have ideas and then go with the flow as to what you feel like. If you've been to Paris, you must have some reason for wanting to walk along the Champs-Elysees just to see it as it is so iconic. It's just a main business street, not that interesting in itself except for its history and it does have a magnificent plan and view (looking uphill to the Arc). But the Galerie Dior isn't that far along it from the Louvre direction. But walking from the Louvre to the Galerie Dior is only a bit over 2 km, after all. If you detour to traverse a lot of the Champs Elysees for some reason, that will take time. Anyway, so if you did Louvre 9-11 am, then walked west in that direction, that wouldn't take more than an hour at most. Your appt isn't until 1:30 pm at the Galerie Dior and then the Arc at 4:30 which is 3 whole hours later. The Arc is another 1.5 km from the Galerie Dior which isn't that far.

Just makes it a bit tight to have a bite for lunch, that's all. And depends how much energy you have, of course, but you said you were arriving the day before in the am, actually.

The Sainte Chapelle is not really a church, it is a chapel and was actually built mainly as a reliquary as a place to hold the believed crown of thorns and display it. Those have been moved a long time ago to the treasury of Notre Dame. The windows etc have significance in terms of what they mean. It was used for services for the king and his staff at lower level but hasn't been used for that since the Revolution. It was never a regular church that anyone could go to. If you want to see a church with good stained glass, of course you can go to Notre Dame and St Severin is nice, also. I like more of a variety but that's your call (meaning I wouldn't visit both Ste Chapelle and Notre Dame same day probably, although they are close, of course). For example, you could see one in the morning, then do the Marais stuff, then visit ND on your way back to your accommodations later on. That's a lot of walking actually, but depending where your Apt is, you could take metro line 4 from the Cité stop to St Placide or something.

Your itinerary is a lot of touristy stuff, of course, but you don't have any time for the wandering beautiful neighborhoods not near the main streets idea. There just isn't time for that kind of thing when you have major stuff you want to see. I'd forget the cooking class but admit I have zero interest in doing that kind of thing on a vacation to a European city when I could be out in the city actually doing and seeing things. That would eat up a half day at least, I imagine. Iff I want French cuisine or pastry, I buy it at a specialty shop or dine in a French restaurant.

Your itinerary actually looks very well balanced. You’ve mixed major sights with time to wander, which is the best way to enjoy Paris.

Day 1 is full but it flows well geographically. Just keep in mind the Louvre can take longer than expected, especially after a flight, so stay flexible if you feel tired.

Day 2 and 3 look great. In the Marais you might add Place des Vosges, and near the Eiffel Tower it’s worth crossing to Trocadéro for the view. Musée d’Orsay in the afternoon is a good choice, and a Seine cruise that evening would fit nicely.

Versailles on Thursday is smart to avoid weekend crowds. For Giverny, just note the gardens will still be early in the season, but it’s still lovely.

Montmartre on Saturday will be busy, but if you go in the morning and explore the smaller streets it’s still very enjoyable.

Since you mentioned a cooking class or food activity, that’s a nice idea to break up the museums. There are some great artisan or cooking workshops in Paris, and platforms like Wecandoo list quite a few if you want something a bit different during the trip.

I think your itinerary looks great! (Yes, the first day is heavy so as long as you allow yourself to skip some of those stops - like maybe the Arc de Triomphe - if you're tired, you'll be ok.)

For the day you go to see the Tour Eiffel, it might be nice to walk along Rue Cler, a delightful market street, and pick up provisions for a picnic.
Then you could have a picnic on the Champs de Mars (park underneath the Eiffel Tower) or along the banks of the Seine before your Musee D'Orsay visit.
Also, if you have more time to explore the left bank at another time, don't forget that the Latin Quarter and Rue Mouffetard areas are wonderfully charming, and the Luxembourg Gardens is a must-see for me every time I go!

If you love fashion, there's a simply marvelous exhibit on at the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa in the Marais - a full display of vintage Dior dresses and Alaia's own creations that were inspired by them. Only takes about half hour to 45 minutes to walk through, but it is stunning. You could add to your Marais day?

For Montmartre, I always love to do a tour with Emmanuel's Hidden Gems - he's a fantastic tour guide who grew up in Montmartre and weaves in stories of his own personal experience growing up in this bohemian neighborhood (back then) with it's history. Not a food tour, but you could request he make stops at his favorite bakeries. You can reach him only by Facebook messenger - just search Emmanuel's Hidden Gems - and tell him Rosie sent you (we've become friends now, as I love to do all his tours!)