Are you planning a trip to Paris? Do you have three days to visit the city of lights? I will tell you what we did in three days when we visited Paris on our last trip to France. Perhaps give you some ideas of what to include in your itinerary.
We woke up at my friend’s flat (read my previous post, Fontainebleau) and had breakfast with them before going out for the day.
We were travelling independently in France with a car as we are confident travellers and speak a bit of the language. However, if you prefer to be part of a tour and to have everything organised for you, I advise you to book a complete tour with Tourradar.
Tourradar has different kinds of tours that will fit your time and budget. If you book it via my links you can get a discount by using this code: RoseG50.
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My friends live next to Châtillon Metro Station, and we left our car in their garage for the entire three days, having used only the metro.
The first thing we did when we left the flat was to stop at the station to buy a three-day pass to use the metro while we were there.
With our tickets in hand, we set out for our first visit of the day: the Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. For that, we had to get off at “Invalides”, the station closest to the monument.
Below is a map of Paris showing the places we visited on Day 1:
Before telling you about that, let me tell you a bit about Paris, this spectacular city that never runs out of things to do and visit.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT PARIS
Paris, the capital of France, is a city that captivates the hearts of millions with its timeless beauty, rich history, and undeniable charm. From the iconic Eiffel Tower to the cobblestone streets of Montmartre, every corner of Paris tells a story.
History & Culture
Paris is home to some of the world’s most famous landmarks. The Louvre Museum, housing masterpieces like the Mona Lisa, is a paradise for art lovers. The Notre Dame Cathedral, despite its tragic fire in 2019, remains a symbol of French Gothic architecture, not forgetting the Champs-Élysées, leading to the majestic Arc de Triomphe.
Culinary Wonderland
Parisian cuisine is an experience in itself. Savour a freshly baked croissant at a local café, indulge in French wine and cheese or treat yourself to the delicate flavours of a macaron from “Ladurée”. Whether it’s a cosy bistro or a Michelin-starred restaurant, Paris is a dream for food lovers.
Romance & Inspiration
Known as the City of Love, Paris has been the backdrop for countless romantic stories. A sunset cruise along the Seine River, a stroll through the artistic streets of Montmartre, or simply sitting at a café watching the world go by—there’s an undeniable magic in the air.
Fashion Capital of the World
Paris is synonymous with high fashion. Home to legendary designers like Chanel, Dior, and Louis Vuitton, it’s a paradise for fashionistas. The city’s elegant boutiques and the grand “Galeries Lafayette” offer the ultimate shopping experience.
Whether it’s your first time or your tenth, Paris always has something new to offer. Spring and autumn bring perfect weather, while winter is magical with Christmas markets. From hidden cafés to world-class museums, there’s no shortage of adventures waiting for you.
VISITING PARIS – DAY 1
Our first visit of the day was to see the Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. We went there many years ago, so we wanted to go back to refresh our memories and take some nice pictures for the blog.
The Tomb is at “The Hôtel National des Invalides” and within the “Musée de l’Armée”. When we arrived at the entrance, it was closed, and we were told that it was going to open only at 2 pm on that day. The website says that it opens every day between 10 am and 10 pm. They might have had something going on there, and that was why it was not going to open in the morning.
You can book this walking tour that will take you to many places in Paris and will end up at Les Invalides with skip the line ticket to see the tomb and the museum.
So, we couldn’t get in and went to our next visit, which was the “Conciergerie” and the “Sainte-Chapelle”. To visit those two attractions, we had to get off at Saint-Michel metro station.
When we came out of the train station, I lost my metro 3-day pass. I used it to get off the station, but soon after that, I don’t know what happened to it, but I lost it. I didn’t even use it that much, and it was gone. The metro tickets are quite small and very easy to lose. I had to buy another one, very annoying.
From the station, we walked via “Quai des Grands Augustins” and crossed “Pont Neuf” to the “Île de la Cité”. We looked at “Square du Vert-Galant”, which is located at the very end point of the island.
We passed “Place Dauphine” and continued via the “Quai de l’Horloge” until we arrived at “Boulevard du Palais” and at the corner where the beautiful and restored “Horloge de la Conciergerie” (Conciergerie Clock) is.
The Conciergerie clock has an important historical significance; it was the first public clock in France. The clock is in the tower of the Conciergerie and was built between 1350 and 1353. It is a stunning clock, golden and decorated with golden flowers on a blue background and various other ornaments.
At the Conciergerie, there was a bit of a queue, but it was moving very fast, and we managed to buy the tickets and get in very quickly. We bought combined tickets to visit the Conciergerie and the Sainte Chapelle. We had been to both monuments before but wanted to revisit them after many years.
The Conciergerie was originally a royal palace that included the Sainte Chapelle, but after Charles V decided to move his residence to the Louvre Castle, the old palace was given to the Parliament of Paris and transformed into a prison. One of the most famous prisoners was Marie Antoinette. It is listed as a UNESCO Heritage site.
When the prisoners from other prisons in Paris and some provincial prisons had to appear in court, they were transferred to the Conciergerie. It had a reputation for being a “living hell”. At its worst time, more than six hundred men and women were crammed into dirty and overcrowded cells.
In 1793, Marie Antoinette, the former queen, was transferred to the Conciergerie and held in a cell isolated from other prisoners. She was accused of treason, squandering of national funds and incest with her son, the young Louis XVII. She was executed on October 16 at 12:15 pm on the “Place de la Révolution “(now the “Place de la Concorde”).
The Conciergerie was classified as a historic monument in 1862, and part was open to the public in 1914. Prison activity was suspended for good in 1934.
We looked everywhere, and when finished, we went next door to the “Saint-Chapelle”. By the time we arrived there, it was very busy, full of people visiting the chapel.
The “Sainte-Chapelle” is very beautiful, but the finest feature of the Gothic chapel is the fifteen stained-glass windows from the 13th century in the King’s Chapel. They are stunning and very impressive. Together with the Conciergerie, it is one of the earliest surviving buildings from the Capetian royal palace. It was damaged during the French Revolution but was restored in the 19th century.
Both visits were excellent, very informative and interesting.
You can book a guided tour to the Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie with pre-reserved tickets. This tour also includes Notre Dame from the outside. Book this one HERE.
If you don’t want a tour, you can get the combined tickets only in advance by clicking HERE.
We left the chapel and walked in the direction of the “Marché aux Fleurs de Paris” (Flower Market of Paris). This market is beautiful, and the plants and flowers displayed there are exquisite. We loved to walk around this market admiring the delightful flowers.
From the market, we went in the direction of “Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris”, but at that time (June/24) it was still closed to the public. It is now open for visits since December/24.
We were very close to the famous café/restaurant “Au Vieux Paris” on Rue Chanoinesse and decided to check it out and perhaps have lunch there. We didn’t have a reservation, but they had tables available inside, so we entered for lunch. The restaurant is very well decorated and charming, but the food was a bit disappointing.
After lunch, we walked to the Louvre Museum as we had a guided tour booked for 2:30 pm. Again, we had been to the Louvre before, but a long time ago, and a second visit was long overdue.
The Louvre is enormous, and it is impossible to see everything in a day, let alone in an afternoon. With the tour, the guide will take you to the best parts of the museum and show you the most important paintings with the added information that comes with it. So, I think a tour is a must for big museums such as the Louvre.
If you want to book a guided tour of the Louvre, this is the tour we booked ourselves “Louvre Museum Masterpieces”. Book it HERE.
If you just want the skip the line ticket to visit the museum, you can book it HERE.
The Louvre is the world’s largest and most visited museum, housing around 35,000 works of art, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. Originally a medieval fortress, it became a royal palace before transforming into a public museum during the French Revolution in 1793.
Its glass pyramid entrance, designed by I. M. Pei in 1989, was controversial but is now iconic. The museum’s collection spans from ancient civilizations to the 19th century, making it a central institution for art and history.
The tour included skip-the-line tickets, and the guide took us directly through the entrance dedicated to guided tours. The museum was very busy on that day, but she managed to take us through each part and explain the artworks we were seeing in a very patient and informative way.
The Mona Lisa from Leonardo da Vinci was the busiest room, and it was very difficult to get in front of it, but I managed to sneak through the people and took various photos of the famous picture.
The Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1503 and 1519, is the most famous portrait in the world. It’s renowned for its subject’s enigmatic expression, sfumato technique, and optical illusions in perspective. It became legendary after being stolen in 1911 and recovered in 1913.
The painting’s fame is also fuelled by theories about the sitter’s identity—widely believed to be Lisa Gherardini—and speculation about hidden meanings. Some argue its fame is overblown.
Other important artwork we saw on this tour was the “Venus de Milo”, the “Winged Victory of Samothrace”, and many paintings from Eugène Delacroix and other famous painters. We spent two and a half hours inside the museum, and we only scraped the surface, having left lots of other rooms to see on another visit.
We left the museum at 5 pm and strolled through the “Jardin du Carrousel” passing in front of the “Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel”. They were doing some kind of work around it, maybe in preparation for the Olympics. We then decided to walk all the way to 57 Rue de Turbigo to see an angel.
The angel at 57 Rue de Turbigo is a sculptural ornament adorning the facade of a 19th-century Haussmannian building in Paris. This angelic figure, with outstretched wings and a solemn expression, is part of the rich architectural embellishments common in the Second Empire style, which often included mythological and allegorical motifs.
I read about this angel and made a note to see it on our next visit to Paris. This time, we did manage to see it and thought it was a very nice piece of decoration in front of the building. I also read that the owner of the building won a lot of money after he dreamed of an angel and decided to incorporate its image into the façade when constructing the building.
We had a dinner reservation for 6:45 pm at “Libertino Restaurant” (part of the Big Mamma chain of restaurants). This restaurant, together with another five restaurants in Paris from the group, is a very popular venue, and reservations need to be made well in advance. It is Italian cuisine serving pizza and pasta in a very charming ambience.
We headed to the restaurant and arrived in time for our reservation. We sat in a nice dining room and ordered our dishes. The service was very good, and our waiter was very attentive and nice. The food doesn’t match the hype, though. All the dishes we ordered were very bland and lacked “je ne sais quoi” (I don’t know what). In general, it was a nice dinner, and I would give it a 7 out of 10, mainly due to the food having been nothing special.
After dinner, we took the metro back to Châtillon as we were very tired of exploring Paris the whole day but looking forward to the plans for the next day.
Below is a reel from The Travelling Surveyor Instagram account showing photos of our visit to Paris Day 1. Check it out and follow me on Instagram as well.
For more ideas on what to visit in Paris, read my other posts, Paris Day 1, Paris Day 2 and Paris Day 3, from a previous trip.
I hope this post will give you some idea of what can be done in a day in Paris and will help you plan your own visit there.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR VISIT TO PARIS
Below you will find a list of what to visit, where to stay and where to eat in Paris. I classified each place as follows:
BOLD – Visited, tried and recommended
NOT BOLD – Not visited or tried, but planning to visit or try and heard very good reviews
RED – Visited and tried but do not recommend, avoid or be cautious
*** – Excellent
** – Good
* – OK
£££ – Expensive
££ – Fair and affordable
£ – Cheap
PLEASE NOTE: Every hotel, restaurants and attractions I mention on my blogs are not sponsored reviews and we always paid the full price when visiting. We give our own opinion of the place and detail our experience, good or bad.
THINGS TO DO IN PARIS
ATTRACTIONS IN PARIS – DAY 1
1 – Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte
2 – Conciergerie – ***
3 – Sainte-Chapelle – ***
4 – Flower Market of Paris – ***
6 – Louvre Museum – ***
7 – The Angel at 57 Rue Turbigo – ***
WHERE TO STAY
ACCOMMODATION IN PARIS – DAY 1
1 – Maison Souquet, Hotel & Spa – 5* – £££
2 – Hotel La Villa Saint Germain Des Prés – 5* – £££
3 – Grand Hotel Lafayette – 4* – £££
4 – Hotel Grand Coeur Latin – 4* – £££
5 – Hotel Relais Bosquet by Malone – 3* – ££
6 – Hotel Eugénie – 3* – ££
If you prefer to look for your own accommodation, search and book via the below widget:
I use affiliate links such as the links above for Booking.com, Get your Guide, Viator and others. It means that if you use any of my links to make a booking, I will get a small commission from the partners I’m affiliated with without any additional cost to you. Please, use the links provided when making a booking, this is a way of supporting blogs like this so we can continue writing informative and interesting posts. I’m very thankful for that.
BEST PLACES TO EAT IN PARIS
RESTAURANTS IN PARIS
1 – Libertino’s – ** – ££
2 – Au Vieux Paris – ** – ££
3 – Bouillon République – £
4 – Hestia – £££
5 – Signature – ££
6 – Boutary – ££
If you tried any of my recommendations above, please send me a message and tell me about your experience good or bad, so I can update the list accordingly. Thanks!
If you enjoyed reading this post you might also like to read:
On this trip to France:
1 – Lyon – Day 1
2 – Lyon – Day 2
6 – Saint-Tropez/Port Grimaud/Grimaud
7 – Monaco
8 – Cannes
10 – Camargue and Arles
11 – Avignon
12 – Dijon
13 – Fontainebleau
14 – Paris – Day 1
15 – Paris – Day 2 – Coming Soon
16 – Paris – Day 3 – Coming Soon
USEFUL SITES
2 – Paris Je t’aime
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