Two nights, 1 full day in Paris. What are the must sees?

[LowLevelWhingeing]

Me and a mate are having a little jolly to Paris to see a gig. We'll arrive at lunch time on the Monday and leave Wednesday morning.

So any recommendations of what to squeeze in?

We've already seen:

Eiffel Tower
Montmartre
Notre Dame

We've never done the Louvre, is it any good?

I love the Louvre could spend hours there. I also really enjoyed a beautiful day at Versaille.

I wouldn't bother going inside a museum if you've only got one full day - walk around outside instead! Or take the Batobus down the Seine, jumping off at all the highlights.

You lucky thing! I wouldn't bother with Museums either. Find a lovely cafe and watch the world go by. The left bank area around Notre Dame is beautiful. Champs Elyses is worth seeing as is Arc the Triomph.

You could easily spend all day in the Louvre.
I would reccomend the Musee D'Orsay, it's just been renovated as well.

well, it will be November, so we may appreciate some inside time, but I take your point about people watching!

Any recommendations of cool cafes/areas to aim for? We're staying in the 11th arrondissment as that's where the gig is.

thanks for your replies!

actually, are some museums shut on Mondays/Tuesday?

I'd head to Le Bon Marche (dept store) and go mad window shop

the Musee Rodin is absolutely lovely, amazing sculptures, gorgeous building and garden, culture but a limited dose.

The Louvre is huge, may not be a good idea as you can end up wandering around there for days.

My favourite area for cafes is the Place des Vosges in the Le Marais area, or else around St Germain is lovely for a walk around, then walking to the two islands, Isle de Cite and the Isle de St Louis is really, really lovely. Lots of nice cafes (and ice cream shops. Not useful in November)

Louvre closed Tuesdays. Musee d'Orsay closed Mondays.

great thanks. I like the sound of these, and maybe the louvre is a bit much for a flying visit.

Is there a 'cool' area (for want of a better word)? I'd like to find interesting shops rather than designer boutiques.

Le Marais has quite an eclectic selection of shops - they have your higher end high street stuff (Ted Baker, Comptoir des Cottoniers, Zadig and Voltaire) but also lots of small, more interesting shops and vintage clothing places, a rather nice homeware store. Apparently Pigalle is quite trendy (used to have a bad rep for being seedy and red lighty, still a bit, but becoming cooler) though I've never shopped around there.

We have just had 5 days in Paris :) (Stayed in Montmartre too)

Would recommend the Red Open-Top Buses - you see loads! The ticket lasts 2 days and you can get on & off as you like.

The D'Orsay Museum is smaller, can see Picasso's etc and great sculptures in a shorter time.

Arc de Triomph was great!

A Hot chocolate in Angelina's is worth the money for the experience.