Paris travel guide
Paris punishes improvisation at the big monuments and rewards it everywhere else. Book a time slot for the two or three places you refuse to miss, then keep your afternoons empty for the bridges, the parks and the cafés where the city actually happens.
How the city fits together
Inside the ring road Paris covers barely 105 square kilometres, so nearly everything you came for lies within a 40-minute walk of the Seine. The river divides the Right Bank, with the Louvre, the Marais and Montmartre, from the Left Bank, with the Latin Quarter, Saint-Germain and the Eiffel Tower. The twenty arrondissements spiral out from the Louvre, which means the number in an address tells you how far from the centre you are: 1 to 4 are the old core, 5 to 7 the Left Bank classics, 18 is Montmartre.
Distances fool you the other way too. From the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower along the river is about four kilometres, lovely at ten in the morning and miserable at five after a museum. Walk one leg of the day and ride the other.
How long to stay
- Two days cover the famous names if you book ahead and accept that you will skip the rest.
- Three days are the sweet spot: one for the islands and the Right Bank, one for the Left Bank, one for Montmartre and the Marais.
- Four or five days let you add Versailles or Giverny without hurrying, plus an afternoon with no list at all.
Three days, in order
Day 1: the islands and the Louvre
Be at the Sainte-Chapelle when it opens, while the glass is still empty, then cross the river to Notre-Dame and have lunch on the Île Saint-Louis. Walk west along the quays to the Louvre. On a Wednesday or Friday, go in for the evening: the museum stays open until 9 pm and the courtyard is calm. On other days, pick one wing and leave by 17:00.
Day 2: the Left Bank and the tower
Go to the Musée d'Orsay at opening and head straight up to the Impressionists. Spend the afternoon at the Rodin museum garden or the Luxembourg Gardens, whichever the weather allows. Book the Eiffel Tower for the hour before sunset, so that you see the city in daylight and then lit.
Day 3: Montmartre and the Marais
Climb to Sacré-Cœur early, when the steps are empty and the basilica is open from 6.30 am. Walk down through the lanes to a long lunch, then take the metro to the Marais for the free Carnavalet museum and an hour on the Place des Vosges. If you still have legs, finish at the Arc de Triomphe before it closes.
Rainy-day plan
A wet day in Paris wastes less time than you would expect, because the metro reaches every big museum and each one takes hours. What you should avoid is standing outside in a queue: a timed ticket turns a downpour into a minor event.
- Morning: the Sainte-Chapelle, where the glass does not need sun to work, then the Louvre by the underground Carrousel entrance next to the Palais Royal metro.
- Afternoon: the Musée d'Orsay, whose old station roof keeps the main hall bright on a grey day. It is closed on Mondays.
- Evening: the Louvre until 9 pm on Wednesday and Friday, the Orsay until 9.45 pm on Thursday.
- Any time: a café. Have a coffee at the bar if you are in a hurry and at a table if you are not; the table costs more, and nobody will move you on.
Which quarter to sleep in
- 1st to 4th, the Louvre to the Marais
- Central and priced like it. The Marais has the best mix of food, small streets and walking distance to Notre-Dame, and the blocks around the Louvre are quieter after dark than most visitors expect.
- 5th and 6th, Latin Quarter and Saint-Germain
- The Left Bank of the postcards: Luxembourg Gardens, bookshops, café terraces. Rooms are small, and the restaurants around the rue de la Huchette feed tourists rather than locals.
- 7th, Eiffel Tower and Invalides
- Calm, elegant and residential, a short walk from the Orsay and Rodin museums. There are fewer places to eat late than elsewhere in the centre.
- 9th and 10th, Gare du Nord and the canal
- Cheaper hotels, the airport train and the Eurostar on your doorstep, the Canal Saint-Martin a few minutes away. The streets directly around the station are loud and rough at night, so stay a few blocks south.
- 18th, Montmartre
- Steep, picturesque and full of views. The lanes behind the basilica turn quiet once the day visitors have gone, but bring a small bag for the stairs.
- 11th, Bastille and Oberkampf
- Where Parisians go out in the evening: bars and restaurants everywhere and no sights at all. Several metro lines reach the centre from here.