Paris Recommendations
I’ve been traveling back to Paris for the last 15 years, never getting enough. I love Paris, like I love New York, which is more like someone loves a good friend than how most people see a travel destination. I hope some people will know what I mean by that! I care for Paris. I miss Paris, and I crave Paris. I’ve been sharing this list of my favorite Paris recommendations for years, so I wanted to share it here for reference too. Enjoy!
The Best Things To Do in Paris:
-A Bateaux Mouches river cruise at night, best done when you first arrive! This is such a great way to see the city at first, and is so romantic. The night lights in Paris are just so warm and beautiful, lighting up the many sights you can see from this short river tour. It’s inexpensive, and you can buy champagne to enjoy onboard.
-Walk and/or stay in Saint-Germain-des-Prés (St. Germain for short, in the 6th). It’s beautiful during the day, and also has great nightlife. Some of the oldest shops, restaurants, etc. are here. Like much of Paris, wandering with no aim or destination is pure bliss. Eat: at Maison Sauvage.
-Avoid the touristy Champs Elysses, outside of quick peek if you must. I just find it too touristy, and not the best food but overpriced and feeling too “American.”
-Have drinks at Monsieur Bleu by Palais de Tokyo to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle. (The Eiffel tower sparkles on the hour, starting at 9 or 10pm and going until midnight, typically.)
-Rue de Montoguiel is such a cute street with amazing restaurants and many choices. It’s a great place to visit day or night, with a lively nightlife scene.
-Walk the I’lle St-Louis, and try the famous Berthillon ice cream. It’s also a great neighborhood to stay being central and pretty quiet at night. There is an amazing cafe on the corner for lunch or drinks called La Brasserie de I’lle St-Louis, which on a nice day, is truly my idea of heaven.
-Go up the Eiffel Tower in the early evening, watch the sunset, and the sparkle on the hour from atop it. I highly recommend taking the stairs for a workout, and no long lines (you can buy these stairs tickets online, often last minute).
-Pack a picnic and take it to Parc des Buttes-Chaumont to relax on the lawn and enjoy a slow afternoon. One of my favorite things about Paris is the quality of a bottle of wine you can get for 5 euros at a shop, and how you can (virtually) drink wine anywhere you want.
-Have dinner as the sun sets at Cafe Marley outside the Louvre. Sit outside on the balcony seats overlooking the Louvre’s iconic glass pyramids
-I am not religious, but still, seeing the inside of Notre Dame is not to be missed. It’s stunning, and one of my favorite places in Paris. There is a beautiful and moving WW2 memorial nearby.
-Picnic by the Seine. Bring wine and watch the sunset while sitting along the river. There are tons and tons of spots as this stretches through the city. Look for other Parisians gathered at the good spots.
-Visit the Musee d’Orsay, and have lunch at their nice restaurant (check the hours first). It’s really an incredible museum-like ambiance.
-Have dinner at Le Train Bleu – (fancy!) in a gorgeous historical train station where Hemmingway and the artists of the 20’s hung out.
-Sit outside at Cafe Ruc and have dinner (casual!)
-Go see the opera house’s interior, or better yet, see the Ballet if you can!
-Visit the Tuileries gardens, and day drink in these gardens outside of the Louvre.
-Sit and relax in the Luxembourg Gardens, or just walk through.
-Eat at Le Progres in la Marais
EAT: Escargot (YUM, like a chewy mushroom covered in garlic butter). Pate (French Country Pate is sooo good and so much better than in the states). Croissants, Macaroons, Fois Gras, & Baguettes here taste so much better, and make their US counterpart attempts feel like a terrible (and morally wrong) fraud. Parisian desserts are works of art, and I die for the fruit tarts. Somehow I never gain weight, eating everything in sight, adding substantially to the Parisian magic. (Back home, I gain weight just thinking about carbs.)
DRINK: French wines, duh! The values are so great. Bordeaux (red), Rose (pink, dry, and great for daytime!) and Sancerre (white) are my favorites, and you’ll find a lot of quality deals that aren’t exported, and taste 100 times better in France for some reason, as things do.
Other trips really close by:
-Versailles
-Monet’s house
-Reims (Champagne country!)
-Loire River Valley: land of incredible Chateaux’s, and Sancerre wine country
Tips:
Most people in Paris speak English, but it is polite to greet people when you walk in, in French. Really, all you need to know is Bonjour (hello for the daytime) and Bonsoir (Good evening). Parisians view their businesses as extensions of their home, so it’s polite to acknowledge them immediately with a hello vs. sneaking in silently, which is more commonplace in the US. (I didn’t even realize I had this habit!)
Try the subway. It’s easy to use because they show you all the stops along the line on the wall, so you can double check you’re going the right way. You’ll save a lot of money and it’s fast and efficient (unless there is a strike!)
Just remember, culturally, the French believe in relaxing and moving slowly. Walking slowly, eating and drinking slowly, just enjoying your time slowly. You will relax so much in Paris, if you can go with this vs. fight it. Your server isn’t being rude not rushing you to order or bringing your check when you’re finished, but rather is trying to be really polite in making you never feel rushed. They see it the other way around, that seeming like they’re rushing you, is very rude. You might want to sit there a few hours with just your espresso, and you’re allowed! It’s your right to exist and linger there without continually spending lots of money (how novel!)
Don’t get upset, but rather plan additional time for coffee, drinks, or food. If you have to rush, try to set expectations with your server when you speak with them, conveying you need to leave by a certain time and asking for your check as early as possible. Carry cash so you can just leave it on the table when you want to leave, if you’re in a rush.
Expecting this delay will make your experience in Paris so much more enjoyable. It is really nice to just sit, talk, and watch people, in a way that we rarely can get away with guilt-free in the US. I haven’t had people be more rude than any other city regularly dealing with massive crowds of international tourists, which can be frustrating. I’ve never had anyone in Paris be rude to me, in over 10 trips, but having some empathy for them dealing with millions of people who don’t speak their language or understand their manners can be a tough job… anywhere.
Try to sleep in and stay up late. It’s my personal opinion, that Paris is the most magicical at night, and it’s really enjoyable to have time to just wander along the streets and river at night. You don’t need to stay up until 3am, but give your day just a slight nighttime skew, if you can.
The Louvre takes days and days if you try to see it all, so if you do go, plan to just take a taste each trip. The building itself is such incredible art. More approachable is the Musee d’Orsay I mentioned above, and it’s wonderful. Please, please, don’t go to Paris to “see all the sights.” You go to Paris to feel alive, to relax, to just be… in beauty. It’s fine to go enjoy the Louvre, I often do, but if you’re packing all the “sights” into 3 days, rushing around… you’re doing it wrong.
The fireworks over the Eiffel Tower for Bastille Day should be a bucket list trip. It involves either arriving really early (and being low on public bathrooms for a long time), or finding a place with a great view from the balcony, but man, is it something special to experience. The neighborhoods all over Paris celebrate this national holiday in their own cute ways. I really recommend it!
Obviously, there is a LOT more to do in Paris, but if it’s your first time, this list shortlist is approachable and will give you the best taste of the magic, in my opinion.
Kids or no kids? Paris is very kid-friendly! I think it’s a great place for kids, and I actually even really enjoyed it while pregnant! The French were so kind to me and it’s world-class eating and lounging that’s perfect for a pregnant woman, haha! However, it’s also very romantic if you want to leave the kids at home and just adult. You can’t go wrong either way!
Where to stay:
Airbnb has more affordable options for stays, and you can get some really unique places, like an artist’s loft with a rooftop view (pictured below). I shared my favorite neighborhoods above, but really any of the 17 central districts is fine as long as you don’t mind using the subway. I do also absolutely love the quiet neighborhoods in the 17th near Parc Monceau.
If you want to splurge (maybe even just one night!) I highly recommend the Arch de Triomphe balcony view room at the Hotel Rafael. Compared to other Parisian uber-luxury hotels (which can really hit luxury, and even get up to 20,000 euros a night!) this suite gives a lot of luxury Parisian vibes for the money. It really feels like a good value in this otherwise fairly expensive city.
I hope you enjoy, let me know your recommendations as well!
-Terra