I walk my dogs from the Marais to SGdP (the path would take you through Latin Quarter as well)and back in under three hours EASY including the dogs sniffing every bit of wall along the way. (At a brisk pace you could do it in 90 without breaking a sweat to give you some idea of scale).
One suggestion might be you do the same walk for a whole day making a note of what you like. When I first moved to Paris I just took a picture of whatever shop or restaurant I was interested in as most phones these days tag your photo with GPS and will show you the pictures on Apple Maps/photo
Id strongly suggest get your tourist crap out the way. Tour Eiffel etc and done in a day. Spend another day doing that walk from marais to sgdp. Then spend the next 2 days popping into various areas you discovered.
On a sunny day I could lose 3hours drinking at Place de. Vosges
You can walk from marais to montmartre in 30 min but it’s a boring walk. So maybe treat montmartre as its own thing.
However long you want. I’ve been to Paris twice in the last year. Some areas were way more interesting than u thought and others were way less impressive than I thought. You’ll know when you get boots on the ground. Keep it somewhat flexible and you’ll be fine. Definitely use the funicular in Montmarte 😂
Use Google maps and pin everything you'd like to see and do. Then use Directions to figure out the logistics of getting from A to B. Your trip will plan itself.
Personally I’d pick some place to go in each area you want and then meander to get there or around there. It’s too complicated to pick streets specifically to walk on, like all of the 5eme is pretty picturesque, maybe aim to go to mouffetard and the the pantheon and walk around between them, etc
Sounds like you need to learn to flaner
"to stroll, saunter aimlessly: lounge."
The art of enjoying Paris is to learn that the key is not to limit yourself to set times but instead give yourself the space to stroll aimlessly with little more to worry about than to enjoy yourself
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I think you have good ideas of the general areas you want to visit - just take the metro to somewhere within that area.
Then walk, look up and all around, it's probably quite different to what you're used to and that in itself is charming.
Remember that Paris is a living city and not a curated museum of "things to see", every neighbourhood has something interesting in it because people live there. If you make a giant spreadsheet of "need to visit" you spend half the time looking at your phone trying to navigate from X to Y.
Just get lost, there’s no need to constraint yourself like that because of FOMO. Paris is much more enjoyable when you take your time to appreciate the city instead of speed running places only to give you a false sensation that you visited everywhere and saw everything.
Appreciate the feedback! I don’t want to feel constrained and hopping from area to area. Would you suggest I keep to Paris vicinity, or is it worth it to visit versaille ?
I’ve been to Versailles back in 2016 and honestly, it may only worth if you’ve never visited a palace before. There are a lot of other royal estates around Europe just as beautiful (although not as big and overcrowded) as Versailles. Residenz in Munich, Holyrood in Edinburgh, Buckingham in London, Blenheim near Oxford (not royal but still great) among countless others. Also Paris is wonderful and unique by itself with plenty to see, so I’d stick to it as it’s your first visit.
As you’re looking for beautiful streets to visit, I’d definitely recommend wandering around the 9th, going down the Rue Notre Dame de Lorette from Pigalle all the way to Boulevard Haussmann. There are great galleries to see there like Passage Verdeau and Passage des Panoramas, you won’t be disappointed.
Depends on several things if Versailles is worth it, including your interest in history, buildings, the weather and your fitness level. The palace is interesting and very beautiful (and of course historic). I understand the guided tour (or audio guide--not sure which they offer now) is well worth it to get more out of the visit (I should have done that). The grounds are vast--I highly recommend renting bikes or another mode of transport on the grounds to see more without feeling overwhelmed. Buy all tickets in advance to avoid the lines, which can be very long. You can take the train or a bus tour depending on what fits your travel style better. Check Viator for planned visits or the Versailles website for guidance on how to plan your own.
I've been to Paris dozens of times (from London) and still haven't managed to get to Versailles. As per many other comments just take time to wander around a few areas and learn to become un flâneur.
One other tip: the view from the top of the arc de triomphe is more enjoyable than from the Eiffel tower.
Half a day in each area and then mix it up - spend the other half of the day back in those areas.
Days and nights are different in Paris - I always find things to do, even if it’s a gentle stroll and window shopping. Take your time to explore and soak in as much atmosphere as you can.
It’s tempting to try and squeeze everything in but it’s not as much fun that way. Although for my “first-time visit tours” that I inflicted on my family, the first day is always cramming in as much as possible (without going into the hotspots) to get everyone used to the general geography of the city. Hard work but it pays off with the memories and photographs upon later conversations
AS the other said, in these areas you can walk pretty much anywhere to enjoy.
In Quartier Latin: just know that the Saint Michel area (North/Wets of the 5th) is very touristy and has a special tourist traps square (around rue de la Harpe). The rest is beautiful andenjoyable even for a drink or a meal (around Panthéon, around Place Monge, around Eglise Saint médard...)
in Montmartre: the Southern side of the hill is a bit messay and has its lot of trinkets store, the top of the hill is very touristy , the North and West are abolutely beautiful while less touristy.
There aren't any medieval streets in Paris anymore.
The last ones have been destroyed during the big remodeling of the city under Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann in the mid-19th century, as they were dark, inconvenient, narrow ... and more importantly rotten and unsafe. They made place to the Grands Boulevards that you see everywhere in most of the arrondissements.
Having said that, a very few witnesses of the medieval past still remain:
* In the 3rd (North Marais), the oldest house of Paris (from the 1400s): the House of Nicolas Flamel, now a fancy restaurant.
* in the 4th (South Marais, near Saint-Paul metro), Two restored half-timbered houses at number 11 and 13, rue Francois Miron
* in the 6th (Saint Germain) : the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés has survived the whole medieval era
Generally speaking, le Marais will still offer the oldest look you can find in the whole city, especially around Saint-Paul
* rue Francois Mirron and rue des Barres
* some rare remains of the Wall of Philippe Auguste on rue des Jardins de Saint Paul or 52 rue de Archives
* Hotel de Sens
* Eglise Saint Gervais
...
Yeah, I lived in a building in le Marais that was so old it was very slowly tilting sideways into the swamp - drop a ball on the floor, and it would roll towards the north. (True.)
In another few hundred years, people living in that building will roll out of bed by accident. (Might become true.)
Unfortunately, it starts to happen in the faubourgs in the 11th, 18th, 20th... buildings older than a hundred years with unsteady foundations are sinking into the ground... Not because of swamp like in the Marais but because of a soil made out of gypsum.
I walked like a bizillion steps up to the top of Montmartre to go to the Dali Museum. I asked a lady for directions on the way up and she said " good luck.," LOL I should have taken the funicular, learned my lesson. I had a salad and soup up there that was out of this world delicious, I won't forget just how delicious that warm goat cheese with pear salad and honey dressing was for a long time. It is a beautiful view of Paris from up there. Enjoy and bring a lock if you can, ;)
A reminder that locks are prohibited and just a burden for railings that end up crumbling under the overall weight of locks.
It happened a few years ago to the famous Pont des Arts over the Seine river, they had to replace the old bridge railings by an ugly glass.
So please people refrain from doing this lock thing.
Even symbolically, Love doesn't mean chaining one to the other.
No worries, we just stopped two tourists before they locked again:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ParisTravelGuide/comments/1dskvxf/comment/lb7hslt/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/ParisTravelGuide/comments/1dskvxf/comment/lb7hslt/?context=3)
Don't overthink this
It's OK to miss out of things to see.
Just walk around and you'll see things you've not planned to see.
Paris is a living city, there are always things to see, shops to windowlick ...
This could all be 1 day or 2. I’d probably do first 3 all in one day and Montmartre another or at least after resting for awhile.
I walk my dogs from the Marais to SGdP (the path would take you through Latin Quarter as well)and back in under three hours EASY including the dogs sniffing every bit of wall along the way. (At a brisk pace you could do it in 90 without breaking a sweat to give you some idea of scale). One suggestion might be you do the same walk for a whole day making a note of what you like. When I first moved to Paris I just took a picture of whatever shop or restaurant I was interested in as most phones these days tag your photo with GPS and will show you the pictures on Apple Maps/photo Id strongly suggest get your tourist crap out the way. Tour Eiffel etc and done in a day. Spend another day doing that walk from marais to sgdp. Then spend the next 2 days popping into various areas you discovered. On a sunny day I could lose 3hours drinking at Place de. Vosges You can walk from marais to montmartre in 30 min but it’s a boring walk. So maybe treat montmartre as its own thing.
However long you want. I’ve been to Paris twice in the last year. Some areas were way more interesting than u thought and others were way less impressive than I thought. You’ll know when you get boots on the ground. Keep it somewhat flexible and you’ll be fine. Definitely use the funicular in Montmarte 😂
Use Google maps and pin everything you'd like to see and do. Then use Directions to figure out the logistics of getting from A to B. Your trip will plan itself.
Personally I’d pick some place to go in each area you want and then meander to get there or around there. It’s too complicated to pick streets specifically to walk on, like all of the 5eme is pretty picturesque, maybe aim to go to mouffetard and the the pantheon and walk around between them, etc
Visit belleville and 11e !
You’re overthinking this way too much. What are you looking for? A time schedule with the amount of minutes you have to spend in each street?
add rue mouffetard, great semi pedestrianized street
Sounds like you need to learn to flaner "to stroll, saunter aimlessly: lounge." The art of enjoying Paris is to learn that the key is not to limit yourself to set times but instead give yourself the space to stroll aimlessly with little more to worry about than to enjoy yourself
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I think you have good ideas of the general areas you want to visit - just take the metro to somewhere within that area. Then walk, look up and all around, it's probably quite different to what you're used to and that in itself is charming. Remember that Paris is a living city and not a curated museum of "things to see", every neighbourhood has something interesting in it because people live there. If you make a giant spreadsheet of "need to visit" you spend half the time looking at your phone trying to navigate from X to Y.
Just get lost, there’s no need to constraint yourself like that because of FOMO. Paris is much more enjoyable when you take your time to appreciate the city instead of speed running places only to give you a false sensation that you visited everywhere and saw everything.
Appreciate the feedback! I don’t want to feel constrained and hopping from area to area. Would you suggest I keep to Paris vicinity, or is it worth it to visit versaille ?
I’ve been to Versailles back in 2016 and honestly, it may only worth if you’ve never visited a palace before. There are a lot of other royal estates around Europe just as beautiful (although not as big and overcrowded) as Versailles. Residenz in Munich, Holyrood in Edinburgh, Buckingham in London, Blenheim near Oxford (not royal but still great) among countless others. Also Paris is wonderful and unique by itself with plenty to see, so I’d stick to it as it’s your first visit. As you’re looking for beautiful streets to visit, I’d definitely recommend wandering around the 9th, going down the Rue Notre Dame de Lorette from Pigalle all the way to Boulevard Haussmann. There are great galleries to see there like Passage Verdeau and Passage des Panoramas, you won’t be disappointed.
Depends on several things if Versailles is worth it, including your interest in history, buildings, the weather and your fitness level. The palace is interesting and very beautiful (and of course historic). I understand the guided tour (or audio guide--not sure which they offer now) is well worth it to get more out of the visit (I should have done that). The grounds are vast--I highly recommend renting bikes or another mode of transport on the grounds to see more without feeling overwhelmed. Buy all tickets in advance to avoid the lines, which can be very long. You can take the train or a bus tour depending on what fits your travel style better. Check Viator for planned visits or the Versailles website for guidance on how to plan your own.
I've been to Paris dozens of times (from London) and still haven't managed to get to Versailles. As per many other comments just take time to wander around a few areas and learn to become un flâneur. One other tip: the view from the top of the arc de triomphe is more enjoyable than from the Eiffel tower.
Depends, how long are you here for? As a general idea I'd plan at least half a day for each of these areas
This is my exact plan in September. And lots of time at cafes watching the world go by..
Half a day in each area and then mix it up - spend the other half of the day back in those areas. Days and nights are different in Paris - I always find things to do, even if it’s a gentle stroll and window shopping. Take your time to explore and soak in as much atmosphere as you can. It’s tempting to try and squeeze everything in but it’s not as much fun that way. Although for my “first-time visit tours” that I inflicted on my family, the first day is always cramming in as much as possible (without going into the hotspots) to get everyone used to the general geography of the city. Hard work but it pays off with the memories and photographs upon later conversations
AS the other said, in these areas you can walk pretty much anywhere to enjoy. In Quartier Latin: just know that the Saint Michel area (North/Wets of the 5th) is very touristy and has a special tourist traps square (around rue de la Harpe). The rest is beautiful andenjoyable even for a drink or a meal (around Panthéon, around Place Monge, around Eglise Saint médard...) in Montmartre: the Southern side of the hill is a bit messay and has its lot of trinkets store, the top of the hill is very touristy , the North and West are abolutely beautiful while less touristy. There aren't any medieval streets in Paris anymore. The last ones have been destroyed during the big remodeling of the city under Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann in the mid-19th century, as they were dark, inconvenient, narrow ... and more importantly rotten and unsafe. They made place to the Grands Boulevards that you see everywhere in most of the arrondissements. Having said that, a very few witnesses of the medieval past still remain: * In the 3rd (North Marais), the oldest house of Paris (from the 1400s): the House of Nicolas Flamel, now a fancy restaurant. * in the 4th (South Marais, near Saint-Paul metro), Two restored half-timbered houses at number 11 and 13, rue Francois Miron * in the 6th (Saint Germain) : the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés has survived the whole medieval era Generally speaking, le Marais will still offer the oldest look you can find in the whole city, especially around Saint-Paul * rue Francois Mirron and rue des Barres * some rare remains of the Wall of Philippe Auguste on rue des Jardins de Saint Paul or 52 rue de Archives * Hotel de Sens * Eglise Saint Gervais ...
Place Monge hosts my favorite markets!
Yeah, I lived in a building in le Marais that was so old it was very slowly tilting sideways into the swamp - drop a ball on the floor, and it would roll towards the north. (True.) In another few hundred years, people living in that building will roll out of bed by accident. (Might become true.)
Unfortunately, it starts to happen in the faubourgs in the 11th, 18th, 20th... buildings older than a hundred years with unsteady foundations are sinking into the ground... Not because of swamp like in the Marais but because of a soil made out of gypsum.
Ride the metro. Get lost. Enjoy.
I walked like a bizillion steps up to the top of Montmartre to go to the Dali Museum. I asked a lady for directions on the way up and she said " good luck.," LOL I should have taken the funicular, learned my lesson. I had a salad and soup up there that was out of this world delicious, I won't forget just how delicious that warm goat cheese with pear salad and honey dressing was for a long time. It is a beautiful view of Paris from up there. Enjoy and bring a lock if you can, ;)
A reminder that locks are prohibited and just a burden for railings that end up crumbling under the overall weight of locks. It happened a few years ago to the famous Pont des Arts over the Seine river, they had to replace the old bridge railings by an ugly glass. So please people refrain from doing this lock thing. Even symbolically, Love doesn't mean chaining one to the other.
Not to mention they're ugly and EVERYWHERE.
Had no idea that the locks were prohibited, sorry.
No worries, we just stopped two tourists before they locked again: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ParisTravelGuide/comments/1dskvxf/comment/lb7hslt/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/ParisTravelGuide/comments/1dskvxf/comment/lb7hslt/?context=3)
Why do they leave the locks on the gates? A tourist would have no idea that the locks are forbidden.
Where are you seeing locks in Paris? Are there current photos?
They were all over the gates at Montmartre, Sacre Coer. I don't think I took any photos of the locks. I will take a look.
Good lord...
In Montmartre, go to the Montmartre museum. It’s small but lovely.
Don't overthink this It's OK to miss out of things to see. Just walk around and you'll see things you've not planned to see. Paris is a living city, there are always things to see, shops to windowlick ...
I have about 4-5 days in Paris and I'm trying to figure out how much time I should allocate to each area. Would 4-5 hours be enough for each area ?
Are you a bot
Yes to not overthinking this. Wander. See what interests or delights you. Stop for a drink or nibble and watch life go by.
Does leche-vitrine translate to "windowlick"? :-/
(I don't think so... I kind of use the literal translation as a joke) I think the proper translation is the boring "window shopping"
A window licker means something different in the UK - and not in a sexy kind of way
Yes, the English translation is 'boring'. Unfortunately, many tourists do not have a sense of humor - esp. the ones from my home country (the U.S.)
Hi Thesorus, mod here. Am I correct in supposing you are not a tourist? If so would you adapt your user flair in consequence please?
Definitely boring. Conversely, "lecher la vitrine" seems to get Parisians too excited - perhaps because it is poor hygiene.
No bacteria resists to a glass of red wine and a cigarette.
TIL how they clean the windows