Paris In Four Days
I’ve recently just come back from a three and a half week trip to Europe, which was a whirlwind of an adventure as I visited six different cities within that timeframe. For anyone who works a full-time job and is limited to a certain amount of annual leave per year, it’s most likely that like me, you’ll want to make the very most of your precious time off and fit in as much as you possibly can.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll be working on a few travel posts that I hope can be helpful to anyone visiting the cities included on my European jaunt; the first being Paris.
DAY ONE
After arriving at Aeroport Charles de Gaulle at 8am, we took the train from the airport to Chatelet which is one of Paris’ main stations. From there, a quick metro line switch and we found ourselves in Bastille, which is where our apartment was located. After arriving at our tiny (which is by no means, an exaggeration) Parisian apartment that would be home for the next 5 days and catching up on a bit of sleep, we headed out to dinner at a French bistro styled restaurant, Chez Paul (more on what to eat below).
DAY TWO
While days two and three of our trip was technically spent in London (stay peeled for a quick guide to London), our second day in Paris was actually our fourth all up.
We started the day with French breakfast at a cafe in the Marais (a short walk from our apartment in Bastille) then, hired a couple of bicycles through Velib. Velib is Paris’ bike sharing service that has over 1,800 bike stations located every 300m in the city. We ended up cycling for 6 hours, starting south of the river, moving clockwise across the city and over the river. The Velib is one of the best ways to see the city – I would definitely recommend it, especially for those who are only spending a few days in Paris. You’re able to cover a lot more ground and see a majority of the main sites in a day (everything from the Notre Dame, Jardin de Tuileries, Louvre, Champ de Mars and Tour de Eiffel), and most (not all) of the streets include bicycle lanes as well.
Needless to say, a 6 hour ride absolutely exhausted us (combined with an overnight jaunt to London the previous day), and we managed to fall asleep as soon as we got back to our apartment (from 6:30pm until 5am the next day!).
View the Tour de Eiffel from the east side, through the backstreets of the city – it’s much less crowded!
Place des Vosges – the oldest planned square in Paris
La Basilique du Sacré Cœur de Montmartre
The streets of the Marais
Pont des Arts
On one of the bridges along the River Seine
Enjoy the beautiful parks like the Parisians, especially the Jardin du Luxembourg and Jardin du Tuileries
Baked goods in the Marais
The River Seine
L’as du Fallafel in the Marais – and it was worth the wait!
Fresh, delicious and very filling! The best falafel I have ever eaten.
Bric-a-brac markets in Bastille
You’ll find all sorts of old knick knacks at Bastille market, open from 9am until 1pm
Notre Dame
Visit Notre Dame early in the morning (around 9am) – you’ll pretty much have the place to yourself!
Entry to the Notre Dame is free however, you may make an offering by purchasing a candle
Remember to remain silent when visiting any basilique (church)
DAY THREE
After seeing a good part of the city by bicycle, it was time to delve deeper and explore the City of Light by foot. Starting off with the Notre Dame was a great choice as it was fairly quiet in the morning. The majority of tourists seem to be up after 10-11am, so making the most of the mornings is something that I’m glad we were able to do.
After walking through the Notre Dame, we headed up along the River Seine and towards Saint Germain. If you have a sweet tooth, then Saint Germain is the place for you – there are patisseries and bakeries on pretty much every corner. We tried Gerard Mulot on this particular day and let me tell you – the salted caramel macarons were to die for.
After our mid-morning dose of sugar, we continued our day by taking the metro from Saint Germain to Madeline before walking from Madeline up Champs-Élysées. To be honest, I was more impressed with the Champs-Élysées the last time I was in Paris – this time around, it really didn’t do much for me. The highlight was probably watching the craziness that was the traffic around the Arc de Triomphe – what happens when there are no drawn lines on a gigantic roundabout? Chaos. Utter chaos.
We made our way to the metro to get to Pigalle where we would walk through Montmarte and up to the La Basilique du Sacré Cœur de Montmartre. The view from the top overlooking the city was great to take in, especially after the hike up the hill.
From there, we caught the metro to Concorde to check out some shopping in Chatelet. Highlights were a visit to the flagship Chanel store (where the magic started), and visiting Colette store.
Our final stop for the day was a walk through the Jardin du Tuileries where we stopped to soak up a bit of sun around a fountain… until it started to rain. With no umbrella in hand, we headed off towards the Louvre en route back to our apartment.
DAY FOUR
Started off our last day in Paris with a visit to the Bastille market. It’s a market where the locals shop for fresh fruit and vegetables however, there was also a bric-a-brac style market there as well. Definitely one of the highlights of our time in Paris.
While we had already visited the Marais briefly by bike and foot, it was an arrondissement that had caught our eye that we wanted to explore it even further. After wandering the cobblestone streets, we stopped for a bite to eat in the area where there were a few falafel eateries. The one we chose in particular was L’as du Fallafel and it was honestly, the best falafel I have ever had.
After our feed, it was time to burn off some more calories with a walk to the Jardin du Luxembourg. This park was one of my favourite places on the entire trip – I could easily spend a whole day there with a picnic basket in hand (next time). After spending the afternoon soaking up some sunshine, we headed back to Bastille (via Pierre Herme’s patisserie) before enjoying our last French meal at another local brasserie.
Where we stayed: A cute little Parisian apartment in the heart of Bastille
Must-Eats: Onion Soup, Onion Tarts from a boulangerie (bakery), Nutella crepes, Escargots (snails), Four cheese panini, Salted Caramel Macarons
Must-Sees: The Marais, Place des Vosges, Jardin du Luxembourg, Notre Dame, Bastille market
Now, obviously as my stay was just for a few days I didn’t get to see and do everything, so if you have any additional recommendations, please feel free to leave them in the comments below!
Stay tuned for the next in this travel guide series: London!
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