Going to Paris for 2 days... what should we do there?

[Ponkyponk]

Looking for suggestions please. Just realised that I know practically nothing about what to do apart from visit the Eiffel Tower!

We'll arrive in Paris at about lunchtime on a Monday and leave about lunchtime on a Wednesday. Family of 4, kids are 15 and 18, staying in Le Marais.

What fabulous things should we see/do/eat and drink?

Really grateful for any suggestions!

Some good suggestions here! I took 16 year old DD last year and some of our highlights were:

Eating cheese and baguette by the fountains in the Jardins de Luxembourg

Evening cruise on the Seine with this company: https://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com

Shakespeare & Co Bookshop

Galettes for brunch. You have to go for La Complet - a buckwheat crepe with ham, Emmenthal and an egg

In August ALL the big museums will be heaving. I wouldn't recommend!

Have a fab time!

Terms might like a bike tour. There’s a company called something like fat wheels that is meant to be very good.

berthillon ice cream!

Go to the Galleries Lafayette shopping centre. The main one is known for its magnificent roof. There is a charge for the best view, but we took pictures from the side. Also, the Macarons!

Boat ride is essential. We booked in advance.

Agree Eiffel Tower is enormously busy and stressful. I wish we never bothered.

I don't know if it's been affected by the fire but there is a really cute garden behind the Notre Dame (by the flying buttresses) which is ideal for a sit down and a drink.

The memorial to the deportation behind notre dame is very effecting. Especially if you go in alone

The Orangerie, the Musee Rodin and the Pompidou if you like art

If I wanted to go to an art gallery I'd go to the Musée d'Orsay. I wasn't really into art until I saw the impressionsts' work, I found Renoir's a la moulin de la gallette to be incredible,I swore you could actually see people dancing in the background.

We did the Bateaux Mouche trip down the Seine

Mind you I was on a school trip and the restaurant was awful. They seemed to have 2 meals for schools, chicken and chips or sausage and sauerkraut. It was opposite the Moulin Rouge.

I’d like to know the answer to that one too, I’m going to have an afternoon & evening in Paris next month so reading this thread with interest.

https://www.businesstraveller.com/features/how-to-use-the-paris-metro/

i don’t believe contactless works and you need the equivalent of an Oyster card. When I went I tried to use the metro as little as possible as I hate it - I bought paper tickets

@Trolltrotters I googled and researched for days and I could not find anything that said you could tap in and out on the metro. When you leave the metro you don’t even put your ticket in the machine.

when we visited last year ticket inspectors checked the individual stubbs.

louvre needs to be pre-booked. but it's got good public toilets inside

The open top bus tour is a fab way to see lots of sights in a short amount of time plus they normally have commentary.

We do the open top bus in every place we visit. They are super for hopping on and off as well.

Sainte Chapelle is astounding but probably takes less than an hour to view. La Conciergerie is right next door and you can buy combo tickets. You get an iPad type thing that superimposes how it would have looked in the past. Great if your kids love assassins creed especially!

museum of the sewers is much more interesting then you’d think!

You should download the RATP app for really easy to follow instructions on getting to a to b using public transport.

This thread has been absolutely brilliant - thanks so much to everyone for your ideas! So much helpful info and advice here. Going to plan our itinerary now!