PARIS
PARIS: USEFUL TIPS AND PRACTICAL INFORMATION ON HOW TO ORGANISE A TRIP TO PARIS
Hello travellers! Today we fly to Paris, the city of love and lights, of the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, of the Seine, Notre Dame and the Champs-Elysées, to which we have returned over and over again in recent years fascinated by the number of attractions it has to offer, to offer you a mini-guide made up of tips and information (rather than an itinerary) to help you plan a trip to Paris.
What to see in Paris in 7 days: practical information and tips
Which airport to choose
Let's start organising your trip to Paris by choosing an airport. In fact, the French capital has no less than 3 airports:
Beauvais Tillé, terminal for Ryanair flights and about 107 km from the city;
Orly, terminal for Transavia and EasyJet flights and approximately 18 km away;
Charles de Gaulle, terminal of AirFrance and Alitalia flights and about 30 km away.
In the two times I have travelled to Paris I have landed in Beauvais and Orly; of the two the most convenient to reach the centre is Orly Airport. Outside the terminal, in fact, is the Orlybus stop, the shuttle bus that takes passengers in 30 minutes to the Denfert-Rochereau interchange station in the 14th arrondissement, from where it is easy to reach nerve centres of the city via metro lines 4 and 6.
Getting around in the Ville Lumiere
Paris is vast and dispersed, the distances between individual attractions can be enormous and it is (almost) unthinkable to get around on foot alone. The almost is a must because, I must admit, we have tried; it may sound crazy but walking and getting lost in the streets of a city you don't know is the best way to visit it and immerse yourself in its reality. The Paris metro network, with its 14 lines, is one of the best in Europe and allows, together with the RER (the urban rail network), to reach the various parts of the French capital in no time. The first thing to do when embarking on a trip to Paris is to consider how many days you will be in the city in order to assess which ticket or season ticket to buy:
1 ticket = €1.90
Carnet 10 tickets = 14,90 € adults, 7,45 € children under 10 years old
Zone 1-2 Weekly Navigo Pass = 22,80 € valid from Monday to Sunday and purchasable until Thursday of the same week. The pass is nominal, allows unlimited rides and requires a passport photo.
NB. Fares updated to April 2020.
Paris districts and arrondissements, how to get around
The city of Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements, administrative districts arranged in a spiral that do not necessarily correspond to as many districts. The ones not to be missed, attractions included, are 7:
Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysées,
Sacré-Coeur and Montmartre,
Louvre-Tuileries-Opéra,
Centre Pompidou and Marais,
Notre-Dame and the islands,
Musée d'Orsay and St-Germain des Pres,
Tour Eiffel.
Both times I have been to Paris, I stayed in the city for almost a week and although 7 days is usually more than enough time to visit a capital city, given the amount of museums, monuments, churches, gardens, cemeteries and neighbourhoods not to be missed... It was a marathon! So, what to see on a trip to Paris?
The most beautiful museums in Paris
The museums in Paris, unless you are under 26 years of age or happen to be in town on the first Sunday of the month, are all chargeable; prices range between €12.00 and €15.00 per person.
Le Musée du Louvre
The Louvre is the largest museum in the world. It would take nine months to admire the 35,000 works it houses, so it is impossible to go there unprepared and without a map. Don't worry, they give you one at the ticket office that indicates the main attractions and where they are located in the museum. Don't miss Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Nike of Samothrace, Géricault's Raft of the Medusa, the mummy and statue of Ramses IV in Pharaonic Egypt, and Canova's Amore e Psiche.
The Musée de l'Orangerie
A short distance from the Louvre, crossing the Jardin des Tuileries, you arrive at the Musée de l'Orangerie, a greenhouse used as a museum housing Monet's Nymphéas (8 paintings arranged in a circular fashion in two adjoining rooms) as well as paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, Gaugain, Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani.
Le Musée d'Orsay
Located in the St-Germain des Prés district, once the haunt of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beavoir, Hemingway and F.S. Fitzgerald, the Musée d'Orsay was carved out of an old railway station (the Gare d'Orsay) and is a masterpiece of Art Nouveau housing Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings including Manet's Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, Renoir's Bal au Moulin de La Galette, Van Gogh's Self-Portrait and Degas' Dance Class.
Le Centre Pompidou
For lovers of contemporary art, the museum designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers is a must-see. Located in the heart of the Marais, it is impossible not to notice it thanks to the pipes, vents and cables that make up its façade. Inside, the MNAM - Musée National d'Art Moderne - houses works by Picasso, Dali, Magritte, Miró, Man Ray, Kandinsky and Andy Warhol.
Paris' churches and monuments
The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is the undisputed symbol of the city of love, a wrought-iron Art Nouveau masterpiece built in 1899 for the Universal Exhibition. Fascinating by day and even more magical by night, when it casts two beams of light over the city; at the stroke of every hour it glows gold for 10 minutes.
The Arc de Triomphe
Majestic and imposing, the Arc de Triomphe stands at the centre of Europe's largest roundabout, l'Etoile, from which no fewer than 12 avenues branch off, including the Champs-Elysée, the avenue of Parisian shopping and glitz.
Monrmartre and the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur
Montmartre is the most romantic and atmospheric district in Paris: a maze of narrow streets and steep stairways, it was once dotted with mills that supplied the city with flour - there are now two left and both appear in Renoir's painting 'Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette' in the Musée d'Orsay - and a meeting place for artists, poets and writers. You might, for example, happen to pass Van Gogh's house at Rue Lepic 54 or have a coffee at Les Deux Moulins, where Amélie worked as a waitress in the film of the same name.
Le Sacré Coeur
The Basilica of the Sacré Coeur sits atop the hill of Montmartre, 103 metres above sea level, and offers a breathtaking view of the French capital, dazzling visitors with the milky white of the travertine of which it is made; which becomes even brighter when it rains.
Inspired by Romanesque-Byzantine architecture, Sacre Coeur was built in the late 19th century and consecrated after the First World War. As with Notre-Dame, the interior can be visited free of charge while access to the dome is for a fee. The climb, however, will give you a breathtaking view of Paris and its surroundings; on a clear day you can see as far as 30 km away!
Click here to discover the most beautiful viewpoints in Paris
L'Ile de la Cité and Notre dame
The Ile de la Cité is the beating heart of Paris, home to the Cathédrale Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, undisputed masterpieces of French Gothic architecture and landmarks of important historical events, the Conciergerie, the Palais Royal, first a prison and then a place of torture during the French Revolution, Pont-Neuf and the iconic restaurant Au Vieux Paris d'Arcole.
Notre-Dame de Paris is the Cathedral of Quasimodo and the Gargouilles, one of the must-see attractions on a trip to Paris; although it has been inaccessible for a few years now due to the sad fire that hit it in 2019. Enjoy its charms from the outside and return to Paris as soon as it reopens; entry to the Church is free, while the climb up the Towers (422 steps to admire Paris and its UNESCO World Heritage rooftops from above) is for a fee and usually crowded.
Jardin des Tuileries
The Jardin des Tuileries is located between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde. Once the haunt of Parisian aristocrats, it is a public park commissioned by Catherine of the Medicis and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also a great place to stroll and, on a sunny day, relax sitting on the chairs surrounding statues and ponds.