PARIS | A Weekend In Paris
STAY
Airbnb near Bastille
EAT
Baguettes
Croissants
Cafe creme
Crepes
A glass of rosé
Macaroons
PRO TIPS
Citymapper App
Paris visite card
ROUTE OVERVIEW
The Louvre
Notre Dame
Arc De Triumph
Shopping on Champs Elysee's
Eiffel Tower
In order not to offend anyone I feel like I should preface this post by stating the obvious, you can't see and experience all of Paris in a weekend, you can only try. That is what we did, we crammed as much into a weekend as humanly possible, and to be honest it still satisfied my Paris dream. So if you only have time to fit it into a weekend, do it! It's worth it.
Without further ado, here are my tips on how to see Paris in a weekend!
DAY 1: Arrive in Paris
At the airport be sure to get yourself a Paris Visité card. It will save you some money and make your life so much easier. You should note, its a little tiny sliver of paper like a really skinny concert ticket, so don't lose it! It was very hard to keep up with!
Now, the first order of business upon arriving is figuring out how to get from the airport to the city. We flew into Paris-Orly,(not CDG) so we opted to take the ORLY bus to the RER line. Let me just tell you, don't expect air condition and do expect it to be stinky. It was a really crowded bus but the people at the tourist booth selling the Paris Visité cards helped us get tickets and pointed us in the right direction. It was an adventure. So be sure to travel light or spend a little extra and take a taxi.
Once we arrived we made our way to our super cute Airbnb, in Bastille, and were greeted by our sweetest host. I would recommend Julie's apartment for sure!
We then ventured to the main area of bastille and ate dinner and explored before calling it a night.
DAY 2: See all the sights
You have a weekend so you better get up early and make the most of it. Thats what we did. The Louvre opens at 9am (closed on Tuesdays, also from october-march the first Sunday of every month the museum is free...its normally 15-17 euro) so get up before that and find a nice cafe near the louvre and enjoy a croissant and cafe creme. We learned that if you book your tickets in advance its saves you a good bit of time not waiting in line so we did that real quick at our cafe before we headed to the museum.
PRO TIP: Don't stop for anyone outside! I read about scammers but be careful people are good. Even though I was prepared a nice lady just outside the entrance tricked me into listening to her, luckily I escaped before I was pick-pocketed or scammed in anyway (Shout out to Laura for not falling for it!)
After the Louvre, we headed towards Notre Dame by walking along the river (its only 2km). It was a beautiful day and we wanted to take it all in. We got to see our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower and the cute victorian buildings, worth it! Use google maps to help with all the directions! We got hungry along the way and stopped along the way at a great little cafe, for real the street food in Paris really is amazing!
We stood in line for a while at Notre Dame but it was 100% worth it when we stepped inside!
After Notre Dame, we decided to head to the Arc de Triomphe by way of the M1 line. It was one of those “saw it” moments, but the best part is walking from the Arc down Champs-Élysées street back towards the Louvre. Its filled with all the shops, all the treats, all the people. Take it slow, have some ice cream along the way and when your feet start to hurt have a seat at one of the million cafes for an afternoon coffee and croissant. (We seriously had so many coffee and croissants breaks this day because our feet got so tired!)