Paris

This is your free Paris City Guide!  It’s the world’s most romantic city and we love it. We go every couple of years for a few days and we always find something new to see or experience.  If you’ve never been before, it really is a must-see city.  Here are our personal recommendations to you…

WHAT TO DO IN PARIS

I’m listing these in order of preference, so you can start at the top and keep going until you run out of time!

The Eiffel Tower– The  icon of the city is great to go up just before sunset to see Paris in the daylight and at night.  The park around the tower is lovely to wander around too.  The tower is best viewed from over the river at the Trocadero. Nearest Metro stop is Bir Hakim, or RER C stop Tour Eiffel.

Notre Dame Cathedral– There’s always a great atmosphere, in the square outside the cathedral with loads of people around, but it’s well worth a trip inside and it’s free.  Join the queue to the left of the building to climb the towers (for a fee), but be aware it moves very slowly!  Our top tip is to arrive around 15 minutes before the towers open at 10am and see how many people are waiting.  They let around 20 people climb the steps every 10 minutes, so you can work out roughly how long you’ll have to wait. Metro stop Hôtel de Ville or Châtelet, or RER stop Notre Dame Saint Michel.

The Louvre (free-city-guides.com)

Arc De Triomphe – It’s the most bizarre traffic junction in Paris and we go as much to see the near accidents as we do to see the Arc!  Fortunately there are pedestrian underpasses to get you to it and you can climb to the top for a good view (small fee).

Champs Elysees– The city’s most famous street.  Essentially it’s just a combination of designer shops, chain stores, restaurants and car showrooms but the pavements are wide and tree lined so it’s pleasant to walk down even if you don’t like the shops. Anyway, you have to say you’ve been!  We’ve found it best to walk down the hill from the Arc De Triomphe.  If you’re feeling really energetic, you can then cross the Place de la Concorde with its beautiful water fountains and walk through the lovely linear Jardin de Tuileries park all the way to the Louvre museum.

Jardin du Luxembourg – This is the city’s most used park.  Great to wander through on a sunny day to sample Parisian life.  The flower beds are stunning at the right time of year too.

Monmartre artist's market

Montmartre – If you have the time to take a trip out to this hill, you’ll enjoy it.  Not least the Sacre Coeur church at the top, but also the artists square in the village centre surrounded by traditional cafes.  There’s a funicular to help with the steep steps in front of the church but bear in mind that Monmartre is particularly busy on Sundays.  There are lots of souvenir shops here too which detract a bit from the lovely setting, however if you’re in the market for this kind of thing, the prices here are much cheaper than those of the Champs Elysees.  Our favourite Metro stop is Lamark Caulincourt (which you might recognise from the film Amelie).  Then walk up the steps and keep climbing till you get there!

Opéra de Paris Garnier – Beautiful on the outside, despite the busy traffic that surrounds it and you can take tours to see how amazing it is on the inside!  Sometimes access to the actual auditorium is excluded from the tours so ask before buying your ticket.  The district around the Opera has some of the most exclusive shops.

Louvre– This museum is huge!  You’ll find the Mona Lisa inside and the glass pyramid featured in the DaVinci Code outside.  If you have a rainy day, you could easily spend most of it in here.

Musée d’Orsay – This museum was a former railway station and is well worth a look.  If you thought the outside was impressive, the architecture inside is really remarkable too and then there’s all the exhibits to enjoy on top.  For us, the building was the best exhibit here.

Saint Sulpice - If you like seeing churches, this one is certainly worth a visit.  It’s towers are visible on the city skyline from many of the viewing areas like the towers at Notre Dame and inside it’s both humble and huge.  If you’ve read The DaVinci Code you’ll know that the obelisk and brass line in the floor feature in the book. Nearest Metro stop is Saint Sulpice.

Centre Pompidou– If you like your modern art, you’ll love a visit inside, but it’s the outside that’s my favourite bit of this building.  All the functional bits like pipes, lifts, escalators etc are on the outside.  Great fun! Metro stop Châtelet.

The view from Notre Dame

Canal Saint Martin – If you have a spare few hours, this is a great way to see a different side of Paris.  You can walk the canal tow paths and visit the cafes on route, but we found the boat trip through the locks a better experience.  It does take quite a while to do though, so don’t miss out on the sites above in order to do this.  It’s also quite expensive.  You can take the trip from either the Musee D’Orsay quai or Parc de la Villette 

OUR TOP TIP IN PARIS

Walking is a great way to see the city.  You get a much better sense of it’s size and layout by spending time on the streets of Paris and most of them are full of beautiuful buildings.  

GETTING ABOUT PARIS

Walking as above, or for longer trips, use the Metro!  Don’t be put off by it – it’s part of the experience of Paris.  Buying tickets is easy and most of the Metro stations have staff who will speak enough English to get what you want.  You can buy travel cards that will last your whole stay or what we’ve done in the past is buy a carnet of 10 tickets to use whenever our legs get tired.  You’ll pick up the way the Metro works quite quickly as the various lines are numbered and colour coded but one thing to bear in mind – they’re signed in the direction of the final stop on the route, so you’ll need one of the free maps to work out which way to go.  The website Paris By Train is really helpful too.  Another way to get around now is by using the city’s rental bike system called Velib.  You can pick up and drop off the bikes at hundreds of locations and they’re used by tourists and Parisiens alike.

We’ve always found the easiest way to get from the airport (Charles De Gaulle) is to catch the Air France busses which drop you to the Arc De Triomphe.  They run very frequently.  If your hotel is elsewhere in Paris though, you might be better taking the RER B train from the airport stations which links into the Paris Metro.  We’ve tried it both ways and as the price and duration of journey are similar, it does depend on where your hotel is in Paris.

MORE ON PARIS

Paris.Org
Official Paris Website
ParisGuide.com