Hi!
i%26#39;ll be staying in paris 4 days (arrival thursday morning and departure sunday afternoon).
bougth paris amex guide and made a plan grouped by areas (arrondissements) with places worth a visit.
my problem is to arrange those groups in order to profit the best time visiting those places and waste the less time in transportation.
also i don%26#39;t know if a day/time is the ideal to visit that specific region and attractions. any help would be appreciated :)
note: hotel location= place d%26#39;italie
so here goes my plan.
thursday afternoon %26amp; night: ILE DE LA CITE
friday morning: JARDINS LUXEMBOURG
friday afternoon: SG GERMAIN DES PRES
friday night: INVALIDES ET EIFFEL
saturday morning: TUILERIES
saturday afternoon: OPERA
saturday night: CHAMPS ELYSEES
sunday morning: MARAIS
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Thursday:
Ile de la Cité + Ile St.Louis. Ice cream at Berthillon. Maybe a rivercruise in the evening. Try %26quot;Vedettes du Pont Neuf%26quot; - they go from Square du Vert Galant on Ile de la Cité.
Friday:
If you want to see the Dôme d%26#39;Invalides where Napoleon is buried, I would do that in the afternoon, and then save St.Germain des Près and the Latin Quarter for later in the afternoon+the evening.
Remember that the Eiffel Tower is all lit up and %26quot;blinking%26quot; like a Christmas tree every full hour after dark. It is a must-see, if you haven%26#39;t been to Paris before.
Saturday:
Tuileries - remember to walk through the courtyards of Louvre, even if you don%26#39;t enter the museum. Louvre is such a magnificent palace.
I am not sure if I would spend a whole afternoon in the %26quot;Opéra%26quot; quarter if I had never been to Paris before ? But if so, I would take some time to explore the covered Passages: Passage Jouffroy and Passage des Panoramas which are both close to Les Grands Boulevards. You can also go shopping in Galeries Lafayette, they are open untill 19:30.
You would NOT want to spend a Saturday night in Champs Elysées - bad tourist food and rip-off prices. The Champs Elysées is highly overrated. I always avoid it when in Paris - it feels like %26quot;nothing but%26quot; burger-bars and car-showrooms. I come there to buy museum-tickets in FNAC and to buy books in English in Virgin Megastore, but that%26#39;s it. I know I am being injust, but apart from the grand view up to the Arc de Triomphe - and maybe climbing the stairs up to the roof of the Arc for a terrific view - it has no charm, IMO.
I would spend Saturday night in the Marais instead - find some really good food and then cruise around sniffing in the atmosphere, grabbing a few drinks here and there.
Sunday:
If you MUST go to Champs Elysées - then you could do it on Sunday.
Have a nice trip !
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I just returned from the Marais, where I stayed. I would say that because the place is chock full of boutiques, restaurants, museums, antique stores, and the like, that Sunday morning might not be a good time for that visit, as those stores will be closed.
Why not switch it with the Tuileries, whose grounds are just as nice to visit on a Sunday as a Saturday?
Do not forget to stop by the Georges Pompidou Center at the edge of the Marais, which is such a treat! You will not see another building like it in the world. And the Ile St. Louis, which is next to the Ile de la Cite and easily reached by a small walking bridge, is smaller and equally as charming. Expect a throng of crowds at Notre Dame that time in the evening.
Also keep in mind the weather. Apparently, this is the rainy season in Paris. Good luck. You%26#39;ve crammed a lot into your four days. It is doable, because I just did something similar in five days (I added Montmartre and Versailles to my schedule).
One thing I found about Paris: sometimes your best laid plans get switched around because something you planned to do is not available. Just be aware of the possibility.
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I agree with GitteK about the Champs Elysees. I was very disappointed to see it, and thought it dirty, messy, and touristy. You can see it from the bus as you ride toward the Arc d%26#39;Triomphe.
The walk up the Arc is worthwhile. The entire process of walking up and down it and seeing Paris from the top took me an hour.
Be careful riding up the Eiffel Tower. Riding the 3 sets of elevators all the way to the top can take from 1 - 3 hours, depending on the time of day. Once you are up the top, you have no choice but to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait to get down. I found it very frustrating.
The Eiffel Tower lights blink for about 20 minutes after sunset. The sky is still fairly light then, so don%26#39;t wait until dark.
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first,let me thank you guys (Gittek and wanderlusting2) for your tips! they were valuable! thanks!
i%26#39;ve never been in paris before so,for some of the regions i mentioned, i don%26#39;t have a clue if place X is worth a visit in the morning,afternoon...of course the classical ones (like the eiffel tower,louvre...) it%26#39;s kinda common sense...but others...
when i posted this topic, i tried to simplify a bit, writting only the regions that i pretended to visit..but i think it would be much easier for you guys to get the whole picture of my stay if i post the places that i%26#39;m considering to visit in each region,after reading the amex guide and some googling...so here it goes...
ile de la cite - nottre damme + sainte chapelle
marais - place des vosges + maison victor hugo + musee picasso + opera paris bastille + hotel de ville
tuileries - louvre + rue de rivoli + jardin des tuileries + place de la concorde + place vendome
st germain des pres - les deux magots + cafe de flore + brasserie lipp + boulevard st germain + le procope + musee d%26#39;orsay
luxembourg - jardins du luxembourg + st. suplice
invalides et eiffel - dome des invalides + rue cler + tour eiffel
champs elysees - pont alexandre III + av.montaigne + av. champs elysees + arc du triomphe
opera - la madeleine + les grands boulevards + opera national + sacre coeur
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Hi again
Be careful not to pack too many museums into your visit. In fact I would say: skip museums, they will be there for the next 100 years. You live a stone%26#39;s throw from Paris (in Portugal), so popping up to Paris for some art-gazing can always be done. First visit is important to be relaxed, letting yourself be overwhelmed just by being there. Trust me, you will go on %26quot;overload%26quot; and big time frustration if you try to do it all in 4 days.
I always recommend the very illustrative guidebook DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Paris, as it has many colour photos from the different areas and it gives a really good and useful overview of what are the characteristics of the different areas. Also it gives you the sights and museums etc of each area.
it is a little too heavy to carry around once you are in Paris, but for a firsttimer it is invaluable as a tool for planning.
You can buy it at www.amazon.com:
amazon.com/s/…
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You%26#39;ll have a wonderful time whatever you decide to do, just thought I%26#39;d add a few comments.
1) We walked from the Louvre through the Tuilleries and along the Champs Elysees when we first arrived in Paris. I thought it was a great introduction to the city, seeing all the hussle and bussle. During our stay we had a picnic lunch on a bench under the trees of the Tuilleries overlooking the Place de la Concorde. Highly recommended!
2) The Pompidou Centre might not be to everyone%26#39;s taste, but if nothing else, drinking coffee at the Cafe Beaubourg watching the coming and going is good fun. (Shame on anyone who goes to the nearby Starbucks!).
3) Endorse previous comments about the Eiffel Tower. The queuing for the tickets is very orderly, but then waiting to get onto the lift is a bit of a free for all. Only go up to the third stage if you%26#39;ve got nothing else to do......
4) Saint Chapelle. We found this the worse place to get into - the queues were always long and hardly moved! Even when the place was closed for an hour for lunch, people were still there! Certainly going along at the crack of dawn seems the best solution.
5) Loved the Marais area.
And finally, not sure about there being a rainy season in Paris! Like most places in northern Europe at this time of year, you have to expect it to rain now and then, but nothing that an umbrella won%26#39;t solve.
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