Sorry this is a bit long, but I would really love any feedback or advice regarding this itenerary. I also have two meals (dinner Sunday and Monday) that I still haven%26#39;t decided on and would welcome suggestions to round out that experience. Thanks again for all of the help, input, suggestions, information!
Day 1
1:00 pm Arrive in Paris via train from Amsterdam
1:45 pm Arrive at hotel
Hotel Apollon Montparnasse
91 Rue de l%26#39;Ouest, Paris 75014, France
2:00 pm Lunch (Parisian Café experience)
Boulevard de Montparnasse, 14e
3:00 pm Free day to get bearings and make plans
Purchase the Paris Museum Pass
7:00pm Dinner
Au Bon Accueil (7e)
Day 2
9:30 am Eiffel Tower
10:00 am Open (look for deli of shop to purchase picnic lunch)
12:00 pm Picnic on the Champ du Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower.
1:30 pm Hotel des Invalides (Napoleon’s Tomb) Musee de Armee
3:30 pm Continue down the Seine River to the Musee de Orsey
5:30 pm Shopping on the way back to the Hotel to change for Dinner
8:30 pm Dinner
Bonfinger
10:30 pm Bar Hopping in the 4th (See Night listing for suggested bars)
OR
Le Saint
Day 3
9:00 am Cathedral de Notre Dame
11:00 am Wander around/Shopping
12:00 pm Lunch - Georges(centre pompidou)
(Optional) Spend some time at the Museum of Modern Art at the Pompidou
1:30 pm (Salon de the )Berthillon – Ice Cream
2:00 pm The Lourve
4:00 pm Jarden des Tuilleries
4:30 pm Palais Royal
5:00 pm Open
7:30 pm Dinner le Café de l%26#39;Homme, 8e
10:30 pm Evening Cruise around Paris
Day 4
10:00 am Les Catacombes
12:00 pm Lunch La Coupole
1:00 pm Pantheon
3:00 pm Musee Picasso
5:00 pm Shopping in the 8th/Free time
7:00 pm Back to hotel to change for dinner
8:00 pm Dinner
Chez Les Fondue – Fondue 18e
11:00 pm Moulin Rouge
Day 5
8:00am Day Trip – Versailles
3:00 pm Return to Paris
4:00 pm Sainte Chapelle Concierge 1er
6:00 pm Arc de Triomphe Possibly do after dinner for a night
Or
After Dinner
8:00 pm Dinner
Day 6
9:00 am Pere-Lachaise Cemetery 20e
11:00 am Sacre-Cour 18e
1:00 pm Lunch
Le Moulin de la Galette 18e
3:00 pm Place de la Bastille
5:00 pm Open
8:00 pm Dinner
Day 7
8:00 am Breakfast
OPEN
12:00pm Flight departs
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Your days strike me as over booked. Particularly days 2, 3 and 5.
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I agree with phread. I don%26#39;t know when you are going but if you are going up the Arc it closes at 18h30 in the summer and 17h30 in the winter. Unless you mean to only look up at it. On day 5 at Ste-Chapelle in the afternoon the security lines and the Ste-Chapelle lines can be very long. Also to actually go into all the places you will have to be like a grasshopper-very quick.
And I don%26#39;t know how you plan to travel-foot/metro/taxi, but it can take 20+ minutes between to and from points on the metro and its correspondance. And taxi%26#39;s have to be engaged at a taxi stand, not hailed anywhere in the street, and then they too encounter a lot of traffic. So you need consider this time in getting to and fro.
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Sorry, but you did ask....
Way overscheduled. You have severly underestimated the time to get to/get in and get out of most places on your list. Unless you just to intend to photograph the exterior and then move on to the next - it just ain%26#39;t going to happen.
Also, what are you hoping to see at the Place de la Bastille? There%26#39;s nothing there.
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Thank you for the feedback. That is why I asked. I have been looking at guidebook suggestions regarding how long to spend at each site and that is what I have been basing the time line on. For the most part, I figure that the times are really just general guidelines and each day there are items that can be eliminated if we want to spend more time in certain areas.
It looks like I will certainly have to sit down and take a look at this again. Thanks again, I appreciate the information.
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Hey namesake! lol
I have 3 suggestions:
1. Totally agree with trying to schedule activities/sights for particular times of the day, but I would avoid trying to pin down a certain sight or experience for a certain time of day. Only reason saying this...whenI planned out my itinerary for Rome, I took a similar approach. We found ourselves hustling and looking at our watches so much that we lost perspective on where we actually were (Rome!!) and the wonderful things were were experiencing. So...schedule to visit a particular museum or area in a morning or afternoon, but be careful about assigning a time-table to your visit.
2. I would recommend taking a walking tour. It%26#39;s a great way to experience a particular area. The guides are (usually) very knowledgeable and super nice. I can recommend the walking tours by fat tire bike tours (they also do bike tours which look really fun!). In June, we did the Classic Walk and the Montmartre walk. Wonderful!! We%26#39;re going back in about a week and a half and are taking the Classic Walk tour again. People on TA also like Paris Walks. I%26#39;ve heard that Heather Stimmler Hall%26#39;s tours/walks are really good as well. By doing this, you can %26quot;cover a lot of ground%26quot; in a relatively short period of time, which provides more time for visiting museums, walking around on your own, etc, as well as have a great all-around experience by learning about some of the interesting nuances of the sights you%26#39;re seeing.
3. I%26#39;d scratch the Pompidou museum. If you%26#39;re a big fan of modern art, then reconsider. The outside is certainly worth taking a look at, but I wasn%26#39;t (and others) weren%26#39;t particulary %26quot;grabbed%26quot; by the art inside. I%26#39;m more of a %26quot;classics%26quot; kinda of gal!
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One more thing...you didn%26#39;t mention Musee D%26#39;Orsay!! To me, that%26#39;s a must!
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tcgirlie wrote:
%26gt;%26gt;One more thing...you didn%26#39;t mention Musee D%26#39;Orsay!! To me, that%26#39;s a must!%26lt;%26lt;
Oh yes she does - it%26#39;s squished in on day 2 at 3.30 precisely.
I would scrub:
the Bastille - nothing there to see
Pompidou - unless you are crazy about modern art
Pantheon - if you are going to Les Invalides
The Catacombes - it%26#39;s a novelty (if you like bones), but a big time consumer and really not very interesting.
I would add the Musee Carnavelet (Paris through the ages) and the Luxembourg Gardens (real life Parisiens at play), but scrub Pere LaChaise.
Do Notre Dame/ St Chappelle/Conciergerie on the same morning - they are almost next to each other.
You%26#39;ve left no room for just strolling along the Seine, exploring that little alleyway or popping into that little Bistro you passed this morning - trust me, those are the memories you will cling to years from now - allow time for them. Where is the time for grabbing a nutella crepe on the street, a cafe creme on an outside terrace? For sitting on the quays watching the river traffic? You%26#39;ve even scheduled your Ice Cream!
And if you think you are going to arrive, check in, get settled and be sat down for lunch at a restaurant all within 15 minutes, I%26#39;ve got a bridge in London you might like to buy ;)
Paris is a city best enjoyed at a leisurely pace - it will enchant you and surprise you - allow time for it to do so - don%26#39;t think of it as a scorecard.
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I%26#39;m going in June for 10 days with my 18 year old daughter. We have no plans other than to get up each day and explore. The flea market on the weekend is the only thing that we are pre-planning to do. She wants to explore the side streets.....the bistros.....the little boutiques. If we sleep until 9 then we%26#39;ll explore until midnight. I think I%26#39;ll print out your schedule and tell her I%26#39;ve had a change of mind that we need to really plan our days better.....the look on her face might be the first picture in her travel journal!!! smile
Dana in VA
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Hi again labjessie
IMO if you sleep till 9am, you%26#39;ll spend most of your days in queues.
Early morning is just glorious in Paris and you beat the ghastly queues. We started each day with something we thought would have a dreadful queue later. It seemed to work.
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Labjesse,
Can I come with you? I%26#39;ll pay for my own cafe cremes!
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