Paris tips please

[Wellknockmedown]

Any insider tips for Paris? We’re staying near Place de la Republique. The only thing booked so far is the Eiffel Tower.

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What time of year are you going? Are you going with kids and what kind of things are you interested in?

Next month. Three teenagers and it will be their first time in Paris. All very open minded. Probably want to see the obvious top tourist sights but also love a bit of quirky unusual stuff.

Select a few of the monuments you'd like to see. I'd say maybe don't climb un the Eiffel Tower but go to Montparnasse and up to the tower. You'll get one of the best views in Paris.
If you like museums, Pompidou is my favourite (modern art) and smaller queues than the obvious ones. If you have a rainy day, go to the Atelier des lumières. Totally worth it and very different kind of experience from the traditional art exhibition.
For food, I'd recommend to go to rue des rosiers (4th) and have a falafel. It's in a nice neighbourhood, not far from Place des Vosges (my favourite park in Paris). I also would go to La Durée (the one rue Royal). It's the Mecca of the macaroon and so pretty inside.
Depending on how active you feel, I'd recommend to get some Velib to travel around. You can get some electric ones. I'd try to plan the route first though.

Finally I would ask the teenagers what instagram places they would like to tick off. It'll make them research a little and make them more interested.

We loved the Eiffel Tower and spent longer there than we'd expected - also loved the view from Montparnasse, especially at night when the Eiffel Tower twinkles (needs to be dark so late on in the Summer).

A friend did a Segway tour of Paris, not sure how she found it. Also seen the Catacombs recommended, but not been there myself. If you go near the Notre Dame, there is a good ice cream shop (Berthillion) there.

Have fun, I love Paris!

The Musée D’Orsay is wonderful and free for u18s I think. Lots of amazing impressionist paintings and a fab building.

DD recalls the Saint-Chappelle as being wonderful. Bateaux Mouche boat trip is fun.

Lots of walking in Paris always. Arc de Triomophe is good, can climb up it (free for u18s maybe) and the view is great and of course includes the Eiffel Tower.

We went last month. DD had a list of places to go from Instagram/TikTok and I found loads of ideas from threads on MN.

Places we enjoyed -
Eiffel Tower at night - lit up, twinkles on the hour after 9pm I think
Versailles, short train ride away - booked tickets and went on musical fountain day - download app and take earphones so you don't have to pay for audio guide
Jardin des Tuileries - ate takeaway croissants etc for breakfast here and also Champs de Mars.
Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysee
Sacre Coeur and Montmatre
Bateau Mouche
Galleries Lafayette - free rooftop terrace and beautiful (Art Deco?) interior
Sainte-Chapelle - we had to queue a while for this - we should have prebooked

Food -
Pain Pain - Instagram - nice pastries/bread
Breizh cafe - Instagram - nice crepes but £
Carette - Instagram - hot chocolate - great but very £
Du pain et des idées - nice - think this is near where you are staying - Instagram - have the pistachio escargot pastries
Bouillon Pigalle - This was the best meal and good value but potential for a long queue
Bistrot Victoires - good meal, not a big place so maybe a queue - a bit disorganised but we enjoyed it and it wasn't too £
Berthillon - Great ice creams - may have to queue

Some places we didn't go but were on our list -
La Felicita
Le recamier
La Relais de l'entrecote
Musee d'Orsay (closed on Monday) 😭
Rue Cler - also not Monday
Catacombs
Pompidou
Montparnasse Tower

Top tip that I got from here if you are likely to use the metro, go to the ticket window (not machine) and buy a "Navigo Easy" card with 10 journeys - you'll need one for each person but as long as you are likely to use almost all of them then it will be cheaper and is definitely easier. If you download the Bonjour RATP app you can check how many journeys you have left on your card.

Have a lovely time 😀

Oooooo, I've just remembered. I loved the Bistro Saint-Dominique - near the Eiffel Tower - such a pretty little courtyard setting. Dreadfully slow service but great food - especially the croque-monsieur and rum baba!

Depending on which side of place de la République I'd recommend Holybelly 5 for breakfast (get there near opening as they don't take reservations).

I really enjoyed the catacombs and would have done as a teen.

The little funicular up to Sacre Coeur is fun.

I watched the big six video on YouTube before we went. Went to le George’s rooftop restaurant and it was so nice. The boat tour, Eiffel Tower, louvre, notre dame, climbed up all the steps to the high up one and it was so cloudy we couldn’t see anything

Thanks for the Navigo easy tip!

If you want to get a great view of Paris go to the Tour Montparnasse. The view from the Eiffel Tower is nice but missing the Eiffel Tower from the view.

Agree that the catacombs are fascinating. Musee D'Orsay was by far my favourite museum when I lived there. If you want to go to the Louvre, I'd suggest going to the shopping centre underneath, there's an entrance by the inverted pyramid that is much less busy than the entrance above ground. Look for a red sign for Carrousel du Louvre. To be honest, I think the grounds and garden were more interesting than the art inside 😳

”Deyrolle”
free exhibition of stuffed animals above a normal shop on the Rue de Bac is the most exotic thing to do in Paris!

Walking food/wine tour - 3 hours and was fantastic. Evening river cruise, dinner on the boat- again fantastic. The Louvre - be aware of the ticket touts hanging around. We bought our tickets online about 5 mins before we went in.

Thank you so much everyone, tons of ideas here - I will get Googling.