Travel
Thurs, 4/5: PRS ? Be in line for Catacombes before they open; spend 2-3hrs there, ? Lunch at D?Orsay and explore museum ? afternoon: Eiffel Tower to Flr 12 (prebuy tix) ? stroll Champ elysees
Fri, 4/6: PRS/?? ? Arc De Triomph; ? Notre Dame, depart in afternoon
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Judge my Paris itinerary
Suggestions welcome. This is a rough schedule for the time we have in Paris. Is this practical/rushed or rushed but doable? We're still deciding on where to stay, but most likely it will be zone 6, 7 or north end of 14.
Can you suggest estimated times to spend at each (I know this depends on each person's interest, but maybe a rough time guess?). Are there any places here not worth seeing or any places not on the list that you suggest we see instead of something else.
We're interested in art, hiking/outdoors, architecture and museums (which is still pretty broad). TIA
Tues, 4/3: AMS/PRS (12 paris mistakes) ? Arrive at noon, locate accommodations (see below), drop off bags, ? Grab a bite to eat, ? 3-7pm: Fat Tire Bike Tour (it's 4 hours, my family took it and rec'd it. We plan on taking a tour on our first day in all of the cities we'll be visiting to learn the general layout and also see if there are places we'd like to add to our list to visit) ? Night: dinner, ? Eiffel Tower to Summit (prebuy tix) Wed, 4/4: PRS ? Lourve; be in line before it opens, spend morning there ? Afternoon: Sacre Couer ( take the #12 Metro line toward Porte de la Chapelle. Get off at Abbesses, in the center of Montmartre, and work way uphill to the Place du Tertre and Sacr?-Coeur) (or since the L is open late on Wed are we better off doing SC in the morning, and L in the afternoon/evening?)Thurs, 4/5: PRS ? Be in line for Catacombes before they open; spend 2-3hrs there, ? Lunch at D?Orsay and explore museum ? afternoon: Eiffel Tower to Flr 12 (prebuy tix) ? stroll Champ elysees
Fri, 4/6: PRS/?? ? Arc De Triomph; ? Notre Dame, depart in afternoon
Re: Judge my Paris itinerary
First of all, get the Paris Museum Pass, which will help with lines and costs. And this is how I'd organize things.
Wednesday: If you do the Louvre in the morning, just walk through the parks, down the Champs-Elysees, then do the Arc de Triomphe.
Thursday: I don't remember the Catacombs taking anywhere near 3 hours. Maybe two with travel time. Then I'd do the D'Orsay, then go to Notre Dame. Leave time to pop across to the Ile Saint Louis.
Friday: Sacre Coeur/Montmartre in the morning, then go back to whatever area you liked the most for lunch.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Mark Twain
My Travel Blog
love the bike tour idea!!
it took us a few hours to get out of the airport and into the city and to our accommodations - but we also had to deal with a rental car and driving (although we didn't get lost). I think landing at noon if you're on time might be a little rushed to do the tour by 3pm. But could be doable. I always wanted to shower the minute I got to the hotel and I deal with jet lag well.
not sure about timing for Sacre Couer - but we spent the better part of a day there and at Montmartre. SC took my breath away - so gorgeous!
Arc De Triomph - I don't think you need much time there at all.... I wasn't that impressed - but that's just me. I was in love with D'Orsay and our Eiffel Tower trip to the top didn't take long at all (we did not pre-buy tickets). I'm not sure if you really need to go to the Eiffel Tower twice - unless you want the night vs. day experience.
Have a fabulous time!!
Lourve: 14E each
Arc de Triumph: 5E each (youth rate)
D?Orsay: 5.5E each (youth rate)
From what I can tell online, Notre Dame and Sacre Couer are free. Eiffel Tower and Catacombs are not included for the Pass so regardless we have to pay for these places.
Therefore, for the above 3 places (included in pass) we'd spend just 19.5E each and the pass is 5x's more expensive 99E for just 2 days.
Besides lines, it seems like a much better deal to just pay for each?
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Thanks!
Maybe we could do Eiffel once and Arc De Triomph once and do one at night and one during the day to get the effect of viewing the city during both times? What do you think?
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Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Mark Twain
My Travel Blog
Thanks; my understanding is that there are still queue's for getting in if you have a Paris pass, you just avoid the purchasing tickets line? If we prebuy our tickets online (when possible); wouldn't this be similar?
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Even if you prebuy tickets, you still have to wait in the same queue to get IN as the people with the Museum pass. Get the pass. 2 lines for everything....1 to buy the tickets (which is what you want to skip) and 1 to get in. Get the pass.
Definitely do the Louvre on Wednesday evening!!! We did - got there about 4pm I think. OMG hardly any line to get in at all!
Get the pass. We got to the Louvre before it opened and the line was insane. Luckily, we had the pass and just walked right in. It also took us to the Arc de Triomphe, which is a great view of the Champs Elysees.
The pass is worth every.single.penny. Who knows when you'll be back in Paris? Do you really want to waste your time there in line?
GP buddy to blenderdance
Wednesday: If you do the Louvre in the morning, just walk through the parks, down the Champs-Elysees, then do the Arc de Triomphe.
I definitely agree with this advice or to do the opposite, stroll through the gardens and go to the arc then go to the Louvre. Every museum has a night that they are open later and I highly recommend this, I waited in line for the Louvre, but went to Orsay the night of their extended hours, I walked right in and there was hardly anyone there. The catacombs will not take a whole morning to do, I would recommend maybe have a day of "dead people" haha I cannot think of another term and try to hit Pere Lechaise. You are missing a few of my favorites: the left bank, do you like books, go to Shakespeare and Company, the Marais, my favorite neighborhood, St. Sulpice church. I also prefer the boulevard de St. Germain to Champs-Elysses.
I believe that for a two day pass, it's only 35E pp, not 99E (http://pmp.parisinfo.com/z5786e2x26827m466g2601_uk-tour-ticket-paris-museum-pass.aspx). The total for your three places above is 24.5 E, but the extra 9.5E would in my opinion be well worth the cost for not having to wait in the huge long lines. Additionally, while it is free to enter Notre-Dame, you can use this pass to visit the crypt, and also to visit another church called Sainte-Chapelle, which is located just around the corner from Notre-Dame. In my opinion, Sainte-Chapelle is one of the most beautiful churches in Paris with its gorgeous stained glass.
I agree with PP you should group things that are near each other together. (Arc and Louvre for example). I would also recommend trying to get in an evening river cruise...it's beautiful seeing all the monuments illuminated.
Depending how into art you are I would do Weds with the Louvre and then walk down the Champs (have lunch there) and visit the Arc. Then head to Sacre Coeur/Montmartre....it's a lovely area to have dinner. I know I can't spend more than 2 hours or so at the Louvre before I completely overwhelmed.
Agreed that Catacombs will be 2 hours at most......quite honestly once I got to a certain point it was all the same stuff...cool to see, but def not somewhere I was spending hours upon hours.
Friday you can see Notre Dame and then explore that area...it's a great place to pick-up last minute souvenirs. If you have a some extra time you can head over to the Hotel de Ville...it's a neat building to see. If you have a lot of extra time you could go over to Saint-Chapelle, which has some of the most beautiful stained glass I have ever seen.
Yes! We took one around sunset, and it was really great.
And the pass is worth the extra money, definitely. You don't even have to go near the main entrance at the Louvre- there's a side entrance for pass holders. Buy the pass at the d'Orsay or one of the other smaller museums so that you can use it for the Louvre.
And it's about an hour from the airport to the city center, so if your plane is delayed/baggage claim is backed up/whatever, you might be pushing it with the 3 pm tour.
I highly recommend building in the Jardin du Luxembourg at some point if you can. It's my favorite spot in all of Paris. Grab a sandwich, sit by the fountain, and relax. Also, if you make it to the Marais and like steak, Robert et Louise is a.mazing. It's meat cooked in an open flame. So delicious.
Oh, and this. The Champs Elysees is crowded and annoying, IMO. I'm from Boston - it was like Newbury Street on crack. We avoided it like the plague, and we stayed not far from there.
And Shakespeare and Company is awesome, if you like books. I could have spent hours there alone.
This. That is one of my most favorite memories of Paris.
GP buddy to blenderdance
It is easy to use the bathrooms in smaller museums if you have the museum pass. Don't under estimate the benefits of that -- Flash and Pee!
If you have some extra time in your schedule, think about some quickie things to squeeze in - like the Orangerie to see the Monets or Musee Rodin to wander the gardens.
I'd swap the second trip up the eiffel tower and the catacombs for the musee Rodin and the Orangerie. I'd also skip the Louvre and plan a good half day for the Musee d'Orsay. But that's my taste in art, I prefer the impressionists to the older stuff the louvre has, and I have spent hours in the water lilies room in the Orangerie.
Definitely don't underestimate the queues! Especially since you'll be there on the Easter vacation days! Last time I was in Paris it was a weekend in mid-February, and there were still some fairly impressive lines. Combining that experience with some things I picked up when I lived there, I put together a few tips that might save you some time.
http://blog.megdesk.com/avoiding-paris-museum-queues/
I would also skip the second visit to Tour Eiffel. Honestly, it doesn't have the best views of the city, because you can't see the tower when you're in it, so you could really be looking at any similar city! Instead, I would try to make sure you visit Notre Dame on a day that's not raining, so that you can climb up and enjoy the view from there. It's lovely, you can see the Eiffel Tower and the bridges along the Seine, and you have the very cool chimera and gargoyle sculptures in the foreground.
Also, ditto the PPs suggestions of doing a night cruise on the Seine. It's a very lovely view and something that's definitely worth doing after dark. It's actually better after dark because the buildings are all lit up, and you don't have the up-close view of how dirty the Seine really is!
Montmartre is also a very pleasant evening stop. When I had OOT visitors, I would try to time a visit to coincide with sunset for the best effect. Head up to the Basilica while it's still daylight, enjoy the sunset view from the steps, and then stroll the area just after dark when the little courtyards are lit up and the restaurants are just opening for dinner. The atmosphere makes up for the touristy slant of the dining options.
Personally, I would keep the Louvre in the morning, because that gives you the flexibility to see as much as you want. Chances are that you'll hit museum fatigue by early afternoon, but I would rather have plenty of time to see what you want, rather than worrying about getting there before closing. Also, if there are any areas that you particularly want to see, check the schedule, because
Also, what time does your flight get in on Tuesday? If you land at noon, you're going to be hard-pressed to make that 3pm tour, and you probably won't be able to do much for lunch. You'll need at least 30 minutes to deplane, collect your bags, and find your way to a taxi or to the RER. If you're flying into CDG, you'll likely need at least an hour to get to your hotel, and possibly more depending on where you're staying and how you're traveling. (And I really hope you're not flying RyanAir into Beauvais, because then you'll need around two hours just for the bus into Paris!)
Thanks for the insight, I was looking at the wrong website and had forgotten that I'd booked marked the one you'd link. That's definitely worth the difference.
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Add me to the list of people saying you really don't need to hit up the Eiffel Tower 2x. You can also spend a lot of time waiting here to go up (I think we waited 2 hours in the off-season) and honestly, its not worth the trip twice in one trip. Plus, if the weather sucks either time you will see nothing. Its cool to see, but SOOOOO not worth it twice.
And if you wanna 'beat' the lines at the Louvre, be there 1-2 hours BEFORE opening. Seriously - grab a to-go breakfast and eat in line.
For now, I like the idea of doing the Louvre Wed evening, but we'll see how the schedule pans out.
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I think that sounds good. Have a fabulous trip
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Where are you eating?
Why are there no restaurants listed?
It is Paris!
Oh trust me, we will eat! I'm still trying to figure out rough itineraries for each of the cities we're visiting, which is a job in itself.
I'm more than open to suggestions for resaurants though! If poss, also give me a price range too. TIA
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Ugh. Stupid Nest doesn't like Chrome.
The URL is right, but the link doesn't get formatted right. Here it is again, fixed in Firefox:
http://blog.megdesk.com/avoiding-paris-museum-queues/
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