Last Spring, we took a week-long vacation to France. We spent three days in Paris, and three days in the South of France. It was truly a trip to remember, and with so little time and so much to do, our itinerary was jam-packed. Thus, I am splitting this France Travel Guide into two parts. That’s how much we managed to get done on this trip!
Major Takeaways:
Buy tickets for attractions online ahead of time, preferably for a timed entry so you do not wait on line. This will save you lots of time.
Breakfast in Paris is bread, juice, and coffee. Do not expect to sit down at most restaurants in the morning for a full meal! We found a nearby Starbucks to be our reliable breakfast joint.
Plan for little details: sunset restaurant reservations, etc.
Day 1:
We began our trip taking an overnight flight from New York to Paris. This enabled us to get more out of our first day, sort of. We arrived around 1:00pm and went straight to our hotel to check in. As a quick note,taking an Uber in Paris was a breeze, and very affordable! We stayed at the Hotel Bienvenue, which had a cute breakfast room and courtyard. After settling in, we took the metro to the Trocadero stop. It was very easy to figure out the train system here, for which we were grateful, and took maybe 15-20 minutes.
We spent some time wandering the Jardins du Trocadero and enjoying our first evening in France. Months before our trip, I booked us a reservation at Cafe de l’Homme, which has stunning views of the Eiffel Tower. This cafe is pricey, but after hours of travel, we knew we’d want to celebrate our first night of vacation
somewhere special. Book ahead of time to ensure a good table outside if you want the best views, and to make it extra spectacular, check what time sunset will be that day. If you can book your reservation 15-30 minutes before sunset, you’re in for a real treat!
Day 2:
Our second day was spent seeing historic sights: Versailles and the Parisian Catacombs. An important thing to remember when traveling abroad: always check what days/times attractions are open, and how that affects your itinerary. Versailles and the Catacombs were both closed on Mondays, which happened to make Day 2 the only possible day we could do them!
If you do one thing when you go to Paris, make a trip to Versailles. This was our absolute favorite part of the trip, and we did not spend enough time here. Seriously, we would go back to France just to visit Versailles again. It is about a half an hour ride outside the city, but as I mentioned, ubers were very affordable. There were also several bussing/tour options that left from Paris at various times, but returned at set times as well, often at the time Versailles closed for the day. Since we were on a tight schedule and needed more flexibility, we opted for Uber. But the buses would have been cheaper, so if your schedule allows, check some of those options out!
When you do go to Versailles, expect LONG lines to get in. I recommend purchasing your tickets ahead of time, and maybe considering springing for a timed tour ticket. This will ensure you entry at the stated time on the ticket. Even if you don’t want to stay with the tour, this is a surefire way to avoid long lines if you are on a tight schedule (hello, hi, that would be me!). Since we had tickets for the Catacombs at 6:00pm, we knew we had to be on our way back to Paris a little after 5:00, which made waiting in line scary. It all worked out, and we got to spend about three hours at Versailles - this sounds like a lot, but we still missed SO much of the grounds, particularly the gardens and fountains.
The Catacombs are another attraction you should absolutely buy timed tickets for. They are a bit more expensive, but it saves you so much valuable time. The line was wrapped around the street to get in, and thanks to purchasing a timed slot in advance, we didn’t have to worry about not getting in before closing. The Catacombs ask that you not take photos, but I can tell you it was a very unique experience. If you decide to go, you will be walking down 130 stairs! And when you reach the end and come up to street level, you’re looking at an 83 stair climb. The spiral staircases are a bit dizzying, but it was worth it!
Day 3:
On our last day in Paris, we experienced the city on foot, our preferred method of exploring. If this is accessible to you, I highly recommend charting your own walking tour around all of the major sights you want to see and just make your way through the city for the day! For us, these included the Place de la Concorde, Ponte Alexandre III, Champs Elysee, and the Arc de Triomphe.
We did have time on our last full day in Paris to visit the Louvre, but it wasn’t high priority for us. I had been once before on a previous trip, and the weather was so gorgeous we wanted to take full advantage of exploring the city. If you’re following a similar itinerary as this one we did, it's fair to note you could probably do a bus tour for all the sites we visited on foot, and still have time for The Louvre.
To wrap up our Parisian leg of our trip, we took a night time river cruise on the Seine, departing from the base of the Eiffel tower, and lasting about an hour. There are a few options you can do for something like this, the most economical being a simple boat cruise/tour that offers indoor and outdoor seating. For this activity you’ll want to be a bit flexible in terms of planning as it is much more enjoyable to sit on the top of the boat in the open air to sight see as opposed to sitting inside the boat. Now, there are of course dinner cruises that run in the evening and anchor on the river for a bit, then make their way back. But this is, in my opinion, less desirable than opting for the shorter cruise and heading to a local restaurant afterward. If you time the cruise right, say right at sunset, when you return to the dock below the Eiffel Tower, you’ll experience it lit up and sparkling. It was, truly, the best way to end our time in Paris.
There is a LOT to see and do in Paris, and we feel like we got all of our high priority things done, along with a good amount of down time to just enjoy vacation and exploring a new city. Make sure you get the best out of your vacation by planning ahead of time and thinking about the little details now so you don’t sweat them later!
Part Two of the France Travel Guide: Nice and Monaco coming soon!
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