Itinerary for Paris in 3 days
taking the stairs to the 2 nd level, I did with my 14 yr last year, he enjoyed it, and the line was way shorter, he then took the elevator to thpatagonia sale kidse tpatagonia summer saleop level( you have to board the elevator to the top level from the second level)
Avoiding line up in Lourve is not too difficult, do not enter through the Pyramid entrance, instead, enter from the shopping mall entrance, which is off Rue Du Rivoli. I did twice last summer and line ups were very small, maybe 5 minutes to get through security. Buy your ticket from the machines, simple and quick. Your daughter and friend are free!!
1. Skip lunch on the Seine boat. Just take the tour, and if it is not warm and sunny dress warm. It can be chilly on the open deck of the boats and on the upper deck of the tour buses which is where you want to be. Maybe do this in the evening when the buildings are illuminated. With effectively only three days you need to save all your daylight hours for other things.
2. On your first morning I suggest a look at Notre Dame, close to your hotel, and a stroll round the islands rather than the bus tour. I a big fan of moving after a long flight and I think I probably fall asleep on the bus. Skip the climb up the towers. You don want to waste valuable time standing in the line, and you have plenty of other view opportunities. IMO the nearby Sainte Chapelle is an absolute must see perhaps the single mostpatagonia better sweater hydrangea beautiful building in France. A light lunch after you walked a bit. There a nice little place, Pom Canelle, on rue depatagonia better sweater jacket naturals Deux Ponts on the Ile St. Louis that does good quiches and salads and Berthillon ice cream so you can get your fix there.
3. (Might be out of your budget range though it is EXCELLENT value, and might be a bit sophisticated for the kids, depenwomen better sweater jacket patagonia1ding on their tastes. Check the menu.) Get an early night and an early start the next day.
4. I get to the Eiffel Tower early in the day, then cross the river and walk through the Trocadro to av. Kleber. Walk up av. Kleber to the Arc de Triomphe, about three quarters of a mile. is a must, I skip the climb to the top of the Arc. Now walk down the length of the Champs lyses to Place de la Concorde, about a mile. (Take the mtro if you get bored/tired.) That should make for a good morning.
5. After lunch take the mtro up to Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur and have a stroll round Montmartre. Perhaps have dinner on Place du Tertre, the big tourist square. Check ArrowCapet recent posts for a recommended restaurant there, I think called Eugne.
6. In the morning walk to the Louvre and visit following the excellent suggestions you have been given.
7. Then cross the Pont des Arts and walk through St. Germain des Prs to the Luxembourg Gardens. if you walk up rue de Seine you could have lunch at La Palette, one of my favorite Paris cafs. Farther up rue de Seine at the corner of rue Lobinau is Grard Mulot boulangerie/patisserie with windows to rival any jeweler. Perhaps get a macaroon or two or a fruit tart to eat in the park. (Hmmm. This is Sunday isn it? Might be closed.) Wander through the Gardens and then head past the Panthon to rue Mouffetard for a quick look. Have an early dinner here or perhaps walk back down the hill through the Latin Quarter to rue St. Andr des Arts for a dinner in a crperie along the street. I thnk Crperie St. Germain is probably the one you want. The kids should love both the street and the crperie.
8. If you not exhausted walk to the river and at the west end of the Ile dwomen better sweater jacket patagonia2e la Cit find the Vedettes Pont Neuf for an evening cruise on the Seine.
9. Don know how much time you have on Monday, but the only thing left on your list is the Bastille. I skip it. There really nothing to see there except a vast empty space with a column that has nothing to do with the Revolution and the new Opera building which is either ugly or boring depending on your point of view. if you do have time this morning, walk down to the river, cross the bridge behind Notre Dame cathedral, and then cross to the right bank. You are now in the 4th arrondissement. Wander through it finding rue des Archives then rue des Francs Bourgeois. (You do have a good street map do you not?) Make your way to Place des Vosges, one of the loveliest squares anywherwomen better sweater jacket patagoniae, and the oldest in Paris. You will pass the Carnavalet Museum (history of Paris) in a splendid old mansion with beautiful gardens. The museum is free so if you have time pop in even if only for a quickie. If you still have time find your way back to rue des Rosiers and have a falafel from L du Falafel (The Falafel Ace) for lunch before heading back to your hotel.
If you have the stamina I think I probably switch the Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon because places will be open in St. G. des P. on Saturday that might be closed on Sunday. and the Pl. du T.
This is a VERY full itinerary but the best I can do to get you round all the places you want to see in such a short time. BTW, if you do the Marais walk you only be a short distance from Place de la Bastille when you are at Place des Vosges if you REALLY want to see it.
As suggested, forget the museum pass. Waste of money in your case.
Feel free to ignore any and all of my suggestions.
I hope you won take offense at this, but PLEASE take at least a couple of hours to familiarize yourself with the layout of Paris, the mtro stations and lines covering the areas you want to visit and so on before you leave. Your itinerary as I outlined it is really very tight and you need to hit the ground running (so to speak.) almost from the moment you land at CDG. You can afford any time trying to figure out how to get from A to B. In any case an itinerary is only a starting point.
Second, my suggested itinerary really depends on fine weather which you certainly can count on in mid October. If the weather is cold and rainy and/or foggy, much of what I suggested would not be a lot of fun. for example if you can even see the ground when you get there.)
If I were you, in addition to doing a bit of homework yourself, I would have the kids thoroughly research the itinerary I gave you. After all they are missing a couple of days of school I asspatagonia discount code perotume, so this could be an excellent educational exercise for them. For example, you need to know the exact location of your hotel and how to get there fromm CDG by public transport, worth knowing even if you thpatagonia discount code x5mopink you might take a taxi. You need to know how to get from there to Notre Dame cathedral, where exactly the Sainte Chapelle is, what its opening hours are (It is closed at patagonia ebay giftlunchtime for security reasons but I not sure exactly when), where rue des Deux Ponts is, where to get the L Bus and how much it costs and so on. by mtro? When does it open? (You patagonia everlong review essaywant to be there a good half hour before it opens.) How long does it take to walk from there to the A. de T? And from the A. de T. but a couple of 16 year olds shouldn need any help from me in using the a Plan B for bad weather would be a REALLY good idea. There are literally over 100 museums in Paris, some of which they should surely find interesting. They can find all of them on the if they use their no doubt considerable search skills. (And of course there are always the bigpatagonia everlong review washing department stores. I have a hard time imagining two young American women who would have no interest in shopping while they are in Paris. If you walk the Marais (3rd/4th arrowomen better sweater jacket patagonia3ndissements) as I suggested they will pass many trendy small shops and boutiques in that area also.)
Last, despite the detailed itinerary I suggested, some flexibility will almost certainly be needed for all kinds of reasons including weather. If you have a general idea of where things are and how the mtro works and so on, it will make life a lot easier when you have to switch things around.
For carrying with you, the Knopf Mapguide to Paris ISBN 0 375 71098 1 would probably work very well for you. The kids might be persuaded to spend some of their allowance on a pocket map of Paris also, the StreetWise map being a good one. Get a (free) mtro map as soon as you arrive in Paris too. I would urge you to have them check a couple of guidebooks out of the library and spend some time getting an idea not just about where everything is but about the history of Paris and the places they will be visiting.
Hope you don mind all this advice. The two biggest mistakes most visitors, especially Americans, to Paris make is (1) trying to do too much and (2) not doing enough research and planning before they arrive. With your very short visit and packed itinerary the latter is REALLY crucial IMO.
BTW, I think the festival of the vendange (grape harvest) takes place in Montmartre on the second weekend in August. (women better sweater jacket patagonia0Yes there really IS a vineyard in Montmartre!) There will be parades and so on happening up the hill and no doubt a more than usually jolly atmosphere. Lucky you! Enjoy!
Day 3: Since it was Sunday, we hit the street market at the Bastille metro stop (really cool) and took the Rick Steves walk through the Marais. I have to say that my girls didn really like the Marais as much as some of the other areas. We wasted the rest of the day (kind of a dreary day) having their portrait drawn it was OK, not great, they split the 50 euro price between them and had a joint portrait drawn and sitting on the quay by the Seine before leaving that evening by train for Nice. When we returned to town at the end of our trip, we went to Sacre Couer and Montmartre, which they preferred to the Marais.
