Plan me the perfect 48 hours in Paris

[myfearofeverythinginside]

im off in March!

Staying just outside of Paris technically, in a well connected hotel.

The only real bucket list items for me are the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.

I like walking and photography. Help!

You can’t do everything in 2 days and of all major cities abroad Paris is the easiest to reach so you don’t need to try to. We went in April for 10 days and that wasn’t long enough!

Louvre - long queue even with timed ticket. We only did the non-art half before we were museumed-out for that day, it’s huge.
The Orangerie is lovely but small - I’d recommend booking the earliest slot and arriving a bit early (that also had a queue even for timed tickets). It was reasonably quiet at first.

The Musee Monet-Marmotan is very good too if you want to see more Monet and there’s some other good stuff too. It’s not as central, we got the metro and then walked - a G7 taxi might be an idea if you want to go and are short on time. (G7 has an app and is recommended over Uber).

As others have said, the Musee d’Orsay is wonderful. That’s a whole day visit imo. It’s got a nice cafe.

We enjoyed the Rodin museum mostly because it’s a beautiful location with its garden … not so keen on most of his sculptures tbh, he was a bit overly obsessed with the Gates of Hell.😬

Honestly, if you’ve just got the weekend do that. If you’re an art lover you will be back for longer sometime. It’s almost impossible not to get a view of the Eiffel Tower, you don’t need to ‘do’ it.

They are! Must rebook. And over the road is Musee de la Liberation de Paris which was fab. We saw ET from the top of Notre Dame tower ...again excellent but prebooking essential. And again from Place de la Concorde...near enough for me

Can you explain why please? I honestly don’t understand why anyone would prefer catacombs over the wealth of wonderful art. But maybe I’m missing something!

OP might be ok. I went at the beginning of March this year and booked my Louvre ticket when I was standing outside and it wasn’t an issue at all. It was a weekday though. (A Monday - when lots of other museums are closed)

Agree Mona Lisa is overcrowded and overrated.

I love the Musée de Cluny (home of the lady and the unicorn tapestries). Don’t miss the Sainte-Chapelle either (incredible stained glass).

For the Louvre @myfearofeverythinginside there are four entrances, even with a ticket, the Pyramid entrance tends to have the longest queues, use any of the alternates.

I agree, although I have seen the Mona Lisa (or La Jaconde). I think it’s because fine art can be seen in many different cities worldwide, whereas places like the catacombs and the Sainte-Chapelle and all the other lovely buildings, are unique to Paris iyswim, and tell the history and stories of the capital and the French nation. I used to live near there and would often go in and just wonder around and look at this architecture and the people

I would recommend a river cruise as you get an overview of most of the important buildings )much like a cruise on the Thames) and then maybe you could decide which ones to see in more detail

But each piece of really fine art is also unique. I mean you don’t say, I won’t bother with the Orangerie because I’ve been to the Van Gogh museum do you?

OP likes art, so I think OP should go and look at some art. And as she likes walking too, the Louvre will be absolutely perfect because it is absolutely massive!

Cluny and Marais for me. The Louvre and other major art places are massive and I suppose a must do if you want to see art but you won’t see it all and it’s exhausting. I’ve never actually seen the Monet water lillies in Musee d’orsay but have seen them elsewhere.

So many things to do! I wish I was going for longer 🫪

Just make plans to return if you like it. And what you do this time you won’t need to do next time.

Oh I’m sure I’ll be back! It’s just such a bucket list trip for me

The Musée Cluny was my favourite museum when I lived there as a student, but it was shut for so long I still forget about it! Absolutely gorgeous.

Notre Dame is lovely, but if you only have time for one church then it has to be Sainte Chapelle. Absolutely breathtaking. You must book as far in advance as you can though. I went years ago when you could just rock up on the day, but last time we went tickets had sold out weeks in advance.

Following as I am doing Paris in 24h soon!

No but I was commenting why the poster you asked liked the catacombs and the musee de Cluny. Because they show the character of the city. I think a bit of variety is nice and art doesn’t just have to be paintings. The OP doesn’t have the luxury of time but it might be nice to get a flavour of what Paris means, as it were, and a bit of history too. Otherwise you could be anywhere looking at fine art 🤷‍♀️

Walk through Le Marais area to Place Des Vosges - stop along the way to visit Musee Carnavalet.
Visit Montmartre and go to Sacre Coeur

Make time to stop and drink delicious coffee and watch the world go by

Its such a fascinating part of the city's history! And I love anything weird! I love a lot of art....been to 20 galleries/ exhibitions this year but the Mona Lisa doesnt interest me

Echoing what pp said about coffees out but also ice cream and water. Paris is walkable (and metro) and it will be hot.

I’ve reserved the folllowing:

a Louvre guided tour ticket

a ticket for the L’Orangerie on the same day as the louvre

a brunch cruise on the Sunday, down the Seine. It feels wonderfully luxurious

Not in March I’d hope!

You will love the Orangerie. Am quite jealous! I would love to go back.

I can’t wait. I’ve always wanted to go

Agree - the Mona Lisa is hugely overrated and you’ll be miles away. Don’t miss the Musee d’Orsay if you love art, and you can get a combined ticket with the Rodin Museum. To get a great view of the Eiffel Tower, go to the Trocadero metro station - you get an awesome view of the ET from there as you come up out of the metro, and can then walk down through the gardens to the river. I’d suggest getting a ticket for the river bus there - stops at several places as far down as the Jardin des Plantes I think, and you can get on/off where you want.