Tips for Paris please

[bendmeoverbackwards]

Off to Paris for 3 nights with my 22 year old daughter next week.

So far we have booked Musee D'Osay for the afternoon after we arrive. We also want to book the Louvre - can you do both in one day?

Booked Moulin Rouge show (at great expense), they only have the 11pm show available so that will be one late night.

What are the other must sees? I've been to Paris before but dd hasn't. She wants to do the Eiffel Tower and I want to go to Angelina's for hot chocolate!

be really careful around the Eiffel Tower

best place to get a photo is across the river at palais de chaillot

We ate in lovely restaurants and shopped all over the place

DD bought some great vintage items

We were so lucky though with glorious weather last July

You have gone full on tourist mode with no time to just explore properly from the sounds of what you've pre booked

Bât-o-bus is great for hop on-hop off.
Musée de l'Orangerie if you love Monet's waterlilies.
Musée de Cluny (near Panthéon and Jardins de Luxembourg) if you'd like to see the original unicorn tapestries.
Arc de Triomphe for a great view and often an interesting exhibit in the room at the top.
Stroll down the Champs Elysées (not up! it's steep)
Outside of Notre-Dame and wander on Ile de France
Eiffel Tower will be fine at night - beautiful twinkly lights to see and also the tower itself is illuminated.
Nearby to Eiffel Tower is Rue Cler which has lots of cafés and restaurants (and a market in the daytime) if you want dinner before you go up.

Last time, I enjoyed Versailles for the first time and Les Invalides (huge military museum with loads of antique uniforms) but these are both all day marathons and there are so many other things to do on a first visit.

Following as I want to take my older teen dd to Paris this year.

Op can I ask where you are staying?

MOULIN ROUGE:
For Moulin Rouge, as it's just the 2 of you I'd advise arriving just before the time they tell you doors open. Most people are seated at tables of 6, but there are a few tables for 2 dotted about. They fill those first, then after that pairs get added to tables.

It's a very camp show, and yes it's topless dancing but the boobs are all very small and dainty and not distracting at all. It's an absolute cheese-fest, and children as young as 6 go to the show as well.

TRANSPORT:
I'd also recommend travelling by metro as much as possible. Traffic is horrendous and you'll save yourself a lot of time. Buy a Navigo card and get a Carnet of 10 tickets to start you off. You can do it on a self service machine, they will be under the 'discount' sections.

Shakespeare and Co is great. DD and I love to read and pick up books wherever we go. This place is such a great spot with a lovely history behind it with allowing aspiring writers to stay there while working

Get a Navigo card when you arrive, you do have to queue which is annoying but worth it.

Get the IDF mobilities app and use it, don't be afraid to get buses as often perfectly quick and the app will help you get off at the right stop.

As in London it's often not worth going down into the metro but better off just walking for small distances.

Personally never found Paris dangerous or pickpockety but it is a big city so obviously you get weirdos on the metro etc etc.

Go to the Louvre the minute it opens, go straight to see the Mona Lisa if you want to, it really fills up as the day goes on but is reasonably quiet first thing.

Ha! I went to the London Moulin Rouge 2 weeks ago and sat next to a US air steward on a layover. He had done the Paris Moulin Rouge the month before and said it was awful - “just tits”. He much preferred the west end show.

There's a huge department store (a bit like Liberty) called galleries Lafayette, you can go to the rooftop and the views are great. There's also a coffee shops and restaurant up there.

There's a very trendy store called 'Merci' which dd may like.

Climb the Scare coeur steps and watch the sunset.

I would go and see sacre coeur after dinner and before the show. The views are lovely at night

Dd and I stayed near sacre court so we often wondered up there before bed

it was only during the day that a man offered to buy her off me 🙄

I love Paris but did feel a little less comfortable this time than in the past

I should probably add, be careful of some of the scams that happen in tourist areas - they might have changed since I lived there, but I only got caught out by one of them. If a young African man approaches you with some decorative string and you offer your wrist, you'll be stuck until they finish weaving a bracelet around it, and will then ask for an exorbitant amount. This one happened to me, and he went from super friendly to mean the moment money was mentioned. He wanted 20 euros, I gave him about 3 - obviously he wasn't happy. At least by wearing it, subsequent men who went in for the same scam, noticed my wrist and then walked away. :)

I was also near Notre Dame when a lady bent down, picked up a gold ring and asked if I dropped it. I said no, but she forced it into my hand, and said it might be valuable, I should keep it. I insisted on not having it,, and told them they should hand it over to the police. I then twigged that I was being set up,and the lady was most likely Romanian. After much insistence that I kept it, they started to walk away and then asked if I had some money for food. I said I didn't, but I have this ring that might be valuable, and handed it back - if looks could kill!! :D

If someone asks if you speak English, pretend to be German and reply Nein, and that will throw them off. Don't sign any fake petitions.

We did went down to look at the original castle walls when we first got in, partly because we like old stuff and also because DD1 is autistic and it was rammed and we needed to go somewhere less packed. Then spent ages in the Egyptian and classical collection because DD2 is an ancient history nut. We also spent a while looking at the European paintings collection although we couldn't even get in the gallery with the Mona Lisa because it was so packed. The building itself is a work of art. I really wanted to see the Islamic art but we ran out of steam and I wanted to keep the teens happy, they were very tolerant of the crowds and walking (it's massive).

@Girliefriendlikespuppies We’re staying here

https://www.apostrophe-hotel.com/

I used to work in Paris a fair bit before having kids & I would recommend walking around as much as possible - especially along the river. Parisian architecture is so stunning. You should try and visit Sacré-Coeur & Montmartre which are just so beautiful. I took my mum a few years ago and we loved the day we went to visit Versailles. You can get the metro right from Paris city centre out to Versailles Château Rive Gauche. Have an amazing time!

Hope you don't mind me asking on this thread, I'm also taking my dd to Paris in October, our first time going. Does anyone know if you can you buy the Navigo Easy pass on the Eurostar?

We had limited time at the Louvre and DD found the Jay-Z & Beyoncé trail. Saw some of the classics and introduced us to some new works. We didn't follow it blindly and did make some sidetracks but was a good way to see a fair bit in a few hours.

https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/visitor-trails/beyonce-and-jay-z-s-louvre-highlights

We also liked Montparnasse Tower at night.

I would personally avoid both the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur up close due to the sheer number of petition girls and other scammers after your money/wallet/phone etc. Also the Eiffel Tower base is surrounded by a security fence. Its far better overall to see both from a distance.

No, but you can buy them at a machine. Just select English, then select the option of ‘don’t have a navigo’, and then select the tickets that say ‘discount’, those are the one you’ll want, there are options like ‘one week’ etc, I suggest buying a Carnet (book) of 10 journeys. The machine will issue the card there. I stayed for 3 days and only used 8.

Luxembourg gardens 😍.
Galleries Lafayette!
Per Lachaise cemetery.
The catacombs
(When we went last time DD was very much into Gothic)

We always stay in St Germain. Lots of nice bars and restaurants nearby and good location for getting to places.

The Dior exhibition is really worth seeing if you can get tickets
La Galerie Dior

Last August you could still use paper carnet tickets (packs of 10 metro tickets) on the metro and you could buy those on the Eurostar. I am pretty sure the paper tickets are still usable as I checked they could be used for a long time before buying them.

The Catacombs. Utterly fascinating and entirely different from the usual tourist sights.

The Orangerie is always a must for me.