Destination OS · Timed tickets, long walks, café stops
Paris Paris
Paris rewards a slow rhythm: one big timed museum per morning, a long lunch, and the river or a park in the afternoon — book the Louvre, Sainte-Chapelle and the Eiffel Tower slots before you leave.
- Cash
- 1/5
- Heat
- 3/5
- Stroller
- 2/5
- Friction
- 50/100
Rules in force · 4
- France ↗France is in the Schengen area. Check the entry rules for your passport on official sources; the EU's Entry/Exit System registers non-EU visitors' fingerprints and photo at the first Schengen border, and further pre-travel authorisation rules are being introduced.
- France ↗TGV (including the low-cost Ouigo) and Intercités night trains need a seat reservation: a rail pass alone does not let you board.
- France ↗Paris, Lyon and other large cities run low-emission zones that require a Crit'Air sticker on cars; check before you drive a hire car or your own car into a city.
- France ↗Carry your passport or national ID card: police can ask for identification, and hotels register foreign guests.
Overview
Paris is dense and walkable, but the trips that go wrong are the ones that fight the ticket system and the calendar: arriving at the Louvre without a timed slot on a Tuesday when it is closed, queueing two hours at the Eiffel Tower in July, or hauling suitcases up metro stairs. Four clusters cover a first visit; Versailles and Giverny are day trips from one kept bed, and the airport rides are the first decision of the trip.
Fits
- First visits to Europe
- Museum and architecture trips
- Food trips (bakeries, bistros, markets)
- Short city breaks with a day trip to Versailles
Does not fit
- Strollers and wheelchairs on the metro (many stairs)
- Travellers who hate queues and crowds in summer
- Anyone who expects to walk between all four clusters in one day
- 2 days
- Île de la Cité + Louvre, Marais evening
- 3 days
- Four clusters, one big museum per morning
- 5 days
- Four clusters + Versailles day trip + one slow day
- Don't confuse
- Paris (the city, twenty arrondissements) and the Île-de-France region are different: the airports and Versailles are in the region, not in the city.
Decide
You will like
- Museums and monuments in one city
- Long café lunches
- Riverside walks
- Bakeries and markets
You will hate
- Queues at the Eiffel Tower and Louvre
- Pickpockets on the metro
- Closures on Sundays and Mondays
When
Paris: next 7 days
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Forecast: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), model data for this point.
Air quality
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Model estimate (CAMS via Open-Meteo), not a street-level station; readings near busy roads run higher.
Cold and grey; winter sales; short queues at museums.
Cold; fashion-week weeks raise hotel prices.
Cool, changeable; gardens waking up.
Mild; Easter weekend is busy; marathon closes streets.
Pleasant; several bank holidays close shops and museums.
Long evenings; Fête de la Musique on 21 June.
Hot and busy; Bastille Day closes roads.
Heat; many small shops and restaurants close for holidays.
Warm, fewer families; fashion week and heritage weekend crowds.
Mild and colourful; the best month for walking.
Grey and wet; museums are quiet.
Christmas lights and markets; cold; closures on 25 December and 1 January.
Money
- Budget
- €50–80 (≈ US$60–95) excl. bed / day
- Mid
- €80–160 (≈ US$95–190) excl. bed / day
- High
- €160 (≈ US$190)+ excl. bed / day
- IC card
- Metro tickets and the Navigo Easy card work on metro, RER, bus and tram; you can also tap some contactless cards and phones at gates. Buy tickets in the RATP or IDFM app or at machines.
- Cash rule
- Cards work almost everywhere; keep €20–40 (≈ US$25–50) in coins and small notes for bakeries with minimums, toilets and market stalls; use ATMs inside bank branches, not on the street.
What things cost
| Croissant or pain au chocolat | €1 (≈ US$2).30–2.50 |
| Espresso at the bar, sit-down café, and terrace | €2–3 (≈ US$3–4) bar, €4–7 (≈ US$5–9) terrace |
| Weekday lunch formule (starter + main or main + dessert) | €16–28 (≈ US$19–35) |
| Dinner main course in a bistro | €18–32 (≈ US$25–40) |
| Half-litre of beer on a terrace | €6–9 (≈ US$7–11) |
| Bottle of water, shop | €1–2 (≈ US$2–3) |
| Metro or bus single ticket | €2–3 (≈ US$3–4) |
| RER B or metro from the airport to the centre | €13–15 (≈ US$16–18) |
| Taxi from Charles de Gaulle to the centre (flat fare) | €55–70 (≈ US$65–85) |
| Louvre or Musée d'Orsay ticket | €15–25 (≈ US$18–30) |
| Eiffel Tower ticket, depending on level | €12–55 (≈ US$14–65) |
| Tourist eSIM, about a week of data | €8–25 (≈ US$10–30) |
| Mid-range hotel room, per night | €150–260 (≈ US$180–350) |
Arrive
CDG to the Marais or Latin Quarter: RER B every few minutes for about 40 minutes; the risk is not the ride but strikes and late-night gaps — keep the taxi flat fare as a fallback.
ORY to the Marais or Latin Quarter: metro line 14 to Châtelet in about 30 minutes; the risk is a disruption or the last train, so keep the taxi flat fare in mind.
Move
- Default
- Walk inside a cluster; metro between clusters; RER for the airports and Versailles.
- Passes
- Single tickets or a Navigo Easy card are simplest for two or three days; a Navigo Découverte weekly pass (Monday to Sunday) only pays back if you arrive early in the week and ride a lot. Check current prices on the IDFM or RATP site.
- Last trains
- Metro and RER run until roughly 01:00–02:00 (later on some weekend nights); night buses (Noctilien) run after that. Check the last train on the app before you leave a late dinner.
- Other modes
- Other modes (Rome2Rio)
Luggage
- Lockers
- Left-luggage is limited and staffed offices near major stations charge per bag; hotels hold bags after check-out.
- Forwarding
- No forwarding culture; keep the big bag at the Paris hotel and take a day pack to Versailles or Giverny.
- Dead zone
- Late-afternoon flights: ask the hotel to hold your bags, then take the RER B or the Roissybus from central Paris.
Essentials
- Paying
- Cards and contactless work almost everywhere; some ticket machines and small shops still need chip and PIN or have a minimum spend. Carry a few euros for public toilets and markets.
- Tipping
- Service is included in restaurant prices by law; leave a small extra (€1–5 (≈ US$2–6)) only for good service.
- SIM & data
- Install an eSIM before you fly, or buy a prepaid SIM at a shop or the airport (passport may be needed). EU roaming applies to EU SIMs.
- Plugs & power
- 230 V; two-pin sockets (types C and E). Bring an adapter if you use type A, B or G plugs.
- Drinking water
- Tap water is safe to drink; ask for a carafe d'eau in restaurants.
- Toilets
- Cafés (buy a drink first), department stores and museums; some street toilets are paid.
- Opening hours
- Many museums close one day a week (Monday or Tuesday); many small shops close on Sunday; restaurants stop lunch service around 14:30 and dinner starts around 19:00.
- Health
- Pharmacies (green cross) advise on minor ailments; pack for changeable weather and sore feet; travel insurance with medical cover.
- Accessibility
- Many metro stations have only stairs; buses and the newer tram lines are step-free; older museums have lifts but narrow queue lines.
- Laundry
- Self-service laundromats (laverie) and hotel laundry, priced by load or by weight.
- Emergency numbers
- 112 works everywhere; 17 police, 15 ambulance, 18 fire.
Pack
- Comfortable shoes for cobbles and stairs
- A light rain jacket in every season
- A day bag that zips, worn in front on the metro
- A reusable water bottle
Clusters
Morning cluster: Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle a few minutes apart on the island, then the Latin Quarter cafés; go at opening and book the timed slots.
rescue coverage 100% · max p90 4.2′ · half
Afternoon and evening cluster: Place des Vosges, Rue des Rosiers and small streets of shops and cafés; many shops open on Sundays when others close.
rescue coverage 100% · max p90 4.2′ · half
Museum morning: book a timed slot, enter at opening, leave at lunch; the Tuileries garden is the rest stop between the Louvre and the Orsay.
rescue coverage 100% · max p90 4.7′ · half
Sunrise or evening cluster: the tower at opening or after 19:00, Trocadéro terrace for the view; midday queues and heat are the failure mode.
rescue coverage 100% · max p90 4.7′ · half
Days
One big timed sight per morning, a long lunch, the river in the afternoon; the last day ends with the bags already at the hotel and the RER B a known ride.
Places
Book a timed slot for the first morning or after 18:00, choose the stairs or the lift, and skip the summit unless the sky is clear; see it from Trocadéro either way.
Book a timed slot, go in at opening and choose two or three wings: the Mona Lisa room is a crush after 10:30; the museum is closed on Tuesdays.
Impressionists in a former railway station: plan 90–120 minutes with a timed ticket; closed on Mondays.
Go at opening: the cathedral reopened after the 2019 fire, entry is free and you queue at the parvis; 30–45 minutes inside, then cross to Sainte-Chapelle.
The oldest planned square in Paris: a 15–30 minute stop for the brick arcades and a lunch or coffee under them; free and open all day.
Go on a bright morning for the upper chapel's stained glass; 30–45 minutes with a timed ticket. Bags are checked at security, which is slow.
Eat
Falafel sandwiches to take away on Rue des Rosiers; expect a queue at peak lunchtimes and eat on the pavement.
A café under the Louvre arcades overlooking the pyramid: coffee or lunch after a morning inside the museum.
Sleep
Walk to Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle and the Luxembourg Gardens; the RER B stops here, so the airport ride from CDG needs no change.
Desk: staffed 24h
First visit: walk to Place des Vosges and the Seine; choose a hotel with a lift and a desk staffed at night, as many are small buildings with steep stairs.
Desk: staffed 24h
Survive
Safety
- Pickpockets work the metro, the Louvre area and the Eiffel Tower crowds: keep your bag zipped in front of you.
- Cyclists and scooters share pavements and bus lanes: look before you step off the kerb.
- Heat: on hot summer days, museum galleries and metro cars can be stuffy; carry water.
- Emergency: 112 (EU number), 17 police, 15 ambulance, 18 fire.
Red lines
- Notre-Dame and other churches are places of worship: cover shoulders, keep voices low and skip photos during services.
- The Catacombs and some monuments require timed tickets and reject large bags.
- Do not buy 'skip-the-line' tickets from people outside the queue; buy on the official site.
Practical
- Toilets: cafés (buy a coffee first), department stores and museums; public paid toilets on main boulevards.
- Tap water is safe; ask for a carafe d'eau (free jug) in restaurants.
- Many restaurants close between about 14:30 and 19:00; bakeries and cafés stay open.
Nearby: Île-de-France trips
Phrases that do the work
Greeting
Hello (say it when you enter a shop)
Bonjour
bohn-ZHOOR
Thanks
Thank you
Merci
mair-SEE
Polite
Please
S'il vous plaît
seel voo PLAY
Polite
Excuse me / sorry
Excusez-moi
ex-koo-zay MWAH
Help
Do you speak English?
Parlez-vous anglais ?
par-lay voo ahn-GLAY
Shop
How much is this?
Combien ça coûte ?
kohm-bee-EN sah KOOT
Café
The bill, please
L'addition, s'il vous plaît
lah-dee-see-ON seel voo PLAY
Metro
Where is the metro station?
Où est la station de métro ?
oo eh lah stah-see-ON duh may-TROH
Scams and red flags
- Petition, 'found gold ring' and friendship-bracelet tricks near the Louvre, Sacré-Cœur and the Eiffel Tower: keep walking and say non.
- 'Skip-the-line' sellers outside the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower: buy the timed ticket on the official site.
- Unmarked or unlicensed taxis at the airports: use the taxi rank, where the flat fare to central Paris is posted.
- Restaurants near major sights that push fixed menus at inflated prices: check the menu board and prices before you sit.
Festivals and events that change the plan
| When | What | Effect on your plan |
|---|---|---|
| May 1 | Labour Day | Nearly everything closes, including many museums and shops. |
| Jun 21 | Fête de la Musique | Free concerts across the city; crowded and noisy in the evening. |
| Jul 14 | Bastille Day | Parade and fireworks; roads and some metro stations close. |
| Third weekend of September | Heritage Days (Journées du patrimoine) | Free entry to many monuments and ministries; long queues. |
| Late Dec–early Jan | Christmas and New Year | Lights and markets; closures on 25 December and 1 January. |
Day-trips from here
Palace of Versailles
goRER C to Versailles Château, about 45 min each way
Full day
Closed on Mondays; book a timed ticket; gardens and fountains have separate schedules.
Giverny (Monet's house and gardens)
goTrain to Vernon about 45 min, then shuttle or bike
Full day
Open roughly April to November; check the season before you plan.
Fontainebleau
goTrain from Gare de Lyon about 40 min, then bus
Full day
Palace and forest; quieter than Versailles.
Reims (champagne cellars)
goTGV about 45 min from Gare de l'Est
Full day
Book cellar visits ahead; return trains are reservation-based.
Sources
- Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau (official) (official)
- RATP (official)
- Wikivoyage — Paris (secondary)