You found that steal of a deal for a weekend in Paris. Problem is... you only have the weekend. Two days, maybe three. Either way, you only have one, maybe two nights in the City of Lights.
What to do, what to do...
You second-guess your decision. The airline gave you a 24-hour cancellation window and you haven't even looked at hotels yet... maybe you should just cancel!
But you've always wanted to go... or go back.
Either way, you have that gnawing feeling that you'll regret it if you don't go. But, you have to wonder, is there really a way to actually visit Paris in such a short amount of time?
The answer, good friends, is YES. A loud, resounding YES!
Paris is a big city with a rich history and culture and is one of the most-visted cities on the planet. It has something for everyone, even the weekend traveler.
Here we present the perfect way to spend one, or two nights, in this magical city.
In this post, we'll go over a plan for what you can do with two nights in Paris, and in another, when you only have one night (which is daunting AF, but definitely doable!).
For the two-night option, we actually recommend looking at hotels just outside the city where you'll save a decent amount of money, especially if it's close to a Métro station. When we spent two nights in Paris in October 2018, we stayed at Hôtel Espace Champerret, right outside city limits but sitting right on top of a Métro station that led us right into the city. This option saves you money since hotels in the center of town are going to cost you twice as much, and given the proximity to public transportation, you don't have to worry about how to get there (thought Paris Métro comes with its own problems, but the locals are usually perfectly willing to help!). This hotel in particular also has a café right across the street that we were able to eat breakfast at on Saturday morning at half the price of any hotel breakfast.
If you only have one night and care for a splurge, we recommend the Moxy Bastille. Located a few blocks from the Bastille monument, it's in a perfect location for walking around the center of Paris if you don't have much time and want to see as much as you can without spending too much time worrying about getting from A to B. It's a member of the Marriott chain of hotels and has a bunch of other branches in cities around the world and is geared towards younger 30-somethings and older 20-somethings, so there's a very youthful environment if that's your gig. It's in a slightly higher price range and is a great splurge if you don't have much time and are okay spending a bit more for the location.
If you arrive during the day and don't want to drop your bags off at the hotel before exploring Paris, we recommend using a service such as Nanny Bag that allows you to leave your bags with a trusted service while you go out exploring. Ideally, since you only have a few days, you don't have your entire closet with you, maybe only a backpack or a small carry-on, which makes this option easier. Nanny Bag is insured by AXA, so if anything happens, they will be able to assist you. We used one of the Quartier Latin locations since we got off the train right outside Notre Dame and wanted to explore from there, making it easier to pick up our bags when we were done.
Now that you're free of baggage and anything extra that you don't want to lug around Paris with you, you're free to explore the city. After the fire in April 2019 entry into Notre Dame is very restricted now, but you may still have an option to visit if you're reading this anytime after 2021! Depending on how physically active you are, or want to be, you have a few options for exploring the city: either walking (our personal preference) or public transportation. As mentioned earlier, Paris has a metro/subway system that connects most of the city but it can be confusing to ride if you don't have a good sense of direction, no internet (international cellphone plans are expensive, amirite?) for Google Maps, or just otherwise have an aversion to public transportation. Which is totally fair. We mainly use public transportation to get to and from the hotel to the city center or to a major transportation hub depending on our hotel location, but if you're up for it, it's a great way to explore a city quickly and like the locals do.
If you're up for walking, Paris is a great city for that. Strolling along the lower paths of the Seine are a very Parisian thing to do, especially near Notre Dame and the Île de la Cité, where you get incredibly romantic views and experiences.
A recommendation of ours is to spend your first afternoon/evening walking along the Seine. Follow it for as long, or as short, as your heart desires. When you get hungry, you can stop at any café or restaurant.as most don't require reservations since there are so many of them. Our general rule of thumb for restaurants is to find a place with poorly translated menus. The worse the English, the better the experience. Either that, or find a place that has hardly any people in it. The staff are usually more attentive and helpful, and are often much friendlier than if you go during peak hours.
Some of our favorite restaurants in Paris (not necessarily along the Seine) are the following:
Pink Mamma & East Mamma - Italian restaurants with a modern flair, they don't take reservations. For Pink Mamma, we actually waited in line for about 20 minutes as it's incredibly popular and it's first-come-first-served. The menu is seasonal, with specialty drinks, and the ambiance and location (near Montmartre and the old Red Light district) make it incredibly fascinating. When we went to Pink Mamma, we had a table on the top floor (each floor has different aesthetics and decorations, so you never know what your dining experience will look like!) with a glass ceiling and Art Deco/Art Nouveau design. At East Mamma, the experience is more "traditional", it being a one-floor location near the Bastille, but the menu is similar.
Café de l'Avenue - a classic French café we stopped at while walking along the Boulevard Haussman near the Champs-Élysées. It's a great place for a typical French lunch, with a great wine selection (we got ourselves a bottle of Bordeaux) and salads.
Le Bistro des Augustins - If you love cheese, this one's for you! They specialize in French cheese dishes, and you're also treated to gorgeous views of the Seine and Sainte-Chappelle (and Notre Dame!). As of writing it's closed, but it may reopen.
Café Dauphine - A block away from the Pont Neuf, this is another classic Parisian café. I'm a fan of the croque madame!
Now that you've eaten, what are some things to do during your short stay?
For 24-hour trips (arrive in the afternoon, leave then next afternoon or evening), a visit to the Eiffel Tower is certainly doable. Make sure to book tickets in advance if you want to ascend either to the very top or one of the other levels so you don't have to wait in line. Then, walk across the Seine to the Trocadéro gardens, where you can take in the sights of the Tower from below. Or, you can hang around the Champs de Mars while eating a croissant and drinking some coffee! For this, we recommend getting early tickets to the tower, finding a nearby café and get your food to go, then sit down in the grass (weather permitting, of course!) and enjoy the view.
If you choose to visit Trocadéro after the Champ de Mars, you can then walk to the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the Champs-Élysées. You can choose to visit the monument itself, or you can walk down the most famous street in Paris towards the Place de la Concorde, which is also right in front of the Tuileries Gardens which lead to the Louvre. The Place de la Concorde has the famous Egyptian Obelisk and beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. Bonus points if you stop in Ladurée for macarons! The Champs-Élysées location is housed in a beautiful Art Deco/Art Nouveau building with copper details (with the green patina) and even if you don't buy anything, just being able to enjoy the decorations is enough.
If you have time in the afternoon, we recommend taking the Métro up to Montmartre and spending time in the narrow, winding, streets that span outwards from the Sacre-Coeur at the top of the hill. You can easily spend an entire morning or afternoon here just wandering around if you so choose! From there, you can make your way down the hill to the Boulevard Haussman, where the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps are located. They are both shopping centers with luxury stores mostly, but they are world-famous due to the architecture, as they were constructed during the late 19th century and are perfect examples of Art Nouveau. We definitely recommend that you admire the stained glass ceilings in the Galéries Lafayette, as the main floor has shopping kiosks and people you will end up bumping into. So best step to the side so you don't get in anyone's way! At the Galéries Printemps you can go up to the top floor where there is a restaurant and bar that do require a reservation, especially during peak hours, but as it is expensive and not within most people's budget, you can still take pictures from there and get incredible views without paying for overpriced drinks and food (but the experience may be worth the price; we can't say for sure).
Closer to the city center, we recommend visiting Sainte-Chappelle, the 12th century chapel that's about two blocks away from Notre Dame. It's famous for the stained glass windows and beautiful Gothic arches. It's open to the public most of the day, and during the weekend, they often host chamber music concerts at twilight. We were gifted tickets by a friend, and highly highly recommend splurging, as the experience is well worth the price. Imagine listening to your favorite classical composers' work in the perfect acoustics of a medieval chapel! You can look at events and book tickets here. Once Notre Dame is open for visitors again, we also highly recommend a visit. We went in October 2018 and were so glad we did since not even six months later the roof was destroyed in the now famous fire.
And at night... another walk along the Seine, or a continuation of a current walk, is a must. The Eiffel Tower lights up at night in the most glorious way, and if you're there at a time of year when the evenings are not quite so cold (when we went in October, the weather was unseasonably warm and we were so grateful to have weather in the 70s F and low 20s C!) it's absolutely perfect. Paris at night can't be missed!
We don't recommend visiting any museums, as the vast majority will take you more than a few hours, not including any time spent waiting in line. If you're only in Paris for a few days, you're better off doing the least amount of waiting and spending time in the same place and instead exploring the sights, sounds, and smells of everything the city has to offer. On the other hand, we are the same people who went to Paris for 24 hours (literally!) just for an exhibition at the Bibliothèque nationale de France where we spent most of an afternoon so you don't have to take our advice. If you only want to go to Paris to visit the Louvre or the Musée d'Orsay or any other museum that Paris has to offer, go for it. We won't judge. Promise.
Are you planning on visiting any of these places? Let us know in the comments!
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