Paris, France – a city which many people dream of visiting! I am lucky I had the chance to go around this beautiful city for a few days last November 2022. In case you missed it, my friends and I went to Europe late last year for 3.5 weeks and visited France, Italy and Spain. I have just started sharing bits and pieces about this trip. This Paris blog is the 5th after posting about my Schengen Visa application with VIA Italy, my Emirates flight from Manila to Dubai, my Emirates flight from Dubai to Paris CDG and my hostel in Paris – Le Village Montmartre by Hiphophostels.
I will share with you today what my friends and I did on the first 2 days of our 5-day trip around the postcard-perfect city of Paris. To be honest, 5 days were not enough to see everything the city has to offer. We did not aim to see and visit everything; instead, we had a well-planned and relaxed itinerary. I will share into details our day-to-day happenings around Paris.
Accommodation
Given the high accommodation rates around the city, my friend and I decided to stay in Le Village Montmartre by Hiphophostels. We booked 2 beds in a 4-bed mixed dormitory room for 4 nights and paid €132 each including city tax. I wrote about the hostel, its amenities and our experience in the latest hostel of the day feature. Check it out here.
Going Around Paris
We opted for the Navigo Découverte Travel Card in our 5-day trip around Paris. We bought the week-long unlimited travel ticket for around €35 (including the card itself) and we had access to all RER trains, bus lines and city metro lines (in all of Paris’ 5 fare zones) until Sunday 23:59 that week. The ticket also included train lines to Paris Disneyland, Château de Versailles and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Tip: Please take note that the train card requires a photo of the card holder. You may bring your own photo or you can use the photo booths located near the train offices in CDG Airport and major train stations.
Tip 2: The Navigo travel card is valid for 10 years. You can use it again in your next trips to Paris. Also, the weekly pass validity starts 00:01 every Monday and ends 23:59 every Sunday. It is not advisable to get the weekly pass if you are arriving Paris on a Thursday or Friday.
Paris Museum Pass
We bought the 48-hour Paris Museum Pass for €52 (now €55). This pass allowed us fast-track entry to known museums and sites within Paris and the nearby region. Some museums and sites like Musée d’Orsay and Pantheon do not require reservations. The more famous ones like Musée du Louvre, Sainte-Chapelle and Château de Versailles require reservations prior entry.
Tip: Plan your itinerary well. The pass period count starts when the museum pass is scanned in the first museum or site.
Places Visited in Paris – Days 1 & 2
We went around Paris for 5 days (or 96 full hours) and went to a lot of famous spots. We did not aim to see all places and decided to take our time in every spot. The only planned itinerary we had was when we used the Paris Museum Pass for 48 hours. Allow me to share with you the first 2 days of our 5-day chill itinerary around Paris.
Day 1 – Hello Paris & Hello Eiffel Tower
After arriving at Paris CDG Airport, I met up with my friend, Leng, who arrived at the airport a few hours before. She bought our Paris Museum Pass for €52 each in one of the tourist information centers while I was waiting for my luggage. We met at Terminal 2C and headed to Billets Paris et Ile de France or the train ticket office. We purchased our Navigo Découverte Travel Cards, went to the station and waited for the next RER B service to the city.
We took the 30-minute RER B train to Gare du Nord and changed to Metro Line 2 (Blue Line) and took the 5-minute ride to Anvers Station. We checked-in at Le Village Montmartre, took a rest for a while and freshened up. After a little over an hour, we took the Metro Line 2 (Blue Line) and the Metro Line 6 (Green Line) to Trocadéro Station and went up to meet our friends at Carette. I got Quiche Lorraine, greens salad and their signature hot chocolate for dinner.
After the meal, we braved the rain and strong winds and walked to Place du Trocadéro to take photos and videos with Tour Eiffel or the Eiffel Tower. We then took the Metro Line 9 (Yellow Green Line) to Saint-Philippe-du-Roule Station. We went to our friend’s hotel and waited for the weather to improve. Unfortunately, it kept raining. We then braved the rain (again) and the strong winds and walked around Champs-Élysées then to the iconic Arc de Triomphe. We took our photos from the center islands of Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
After that, we took the Metro Line 2 (Blue Line) from Charles de Gaulle – Étoile Station back to Anvers Station and walked up to the hostel.
Note: Unfortunately, I cannot post a photo of the Eiffel Tower at night due to copyright laws.
Day 2 – Paris Walking Tour & Museum Day
Our 2nd day in Paris started with a metro trip on Line 2 (Magenta Line) from Barbès – Rochechouart Station to Saint-Michel Station. We dropped by Soc Parisienne Restauration Rapide SP2 to have some croissant breakfast before going to Saint-Chapelle.
We got inside Saint-Chapelle at 9:00am with our Paris Museum Pass and explored the royal Gothic chapel. This chapel was commissioned by King Louis IX to house important Christian relics including the Jesus Christ’s Crown of Thorns. The said relic was transferred to the Notre-Dame Cathedral. The chapel has been converted to a museum. It is honestly one of the must-see places in Paris!
Note: Saint-Chapelle requires timeslot bookings for Paris Museum Pass holders. Visitors can reserve their slots via the museum’s website. Regular tickets to Saint-Chapelle cost Є11,50 per person.
After an hour at Saint-Chapelle, my friend and I prepared for a 2.5-hour walking tour by getting a quick bite at Brasserie Les Deux Palais. We got Croque-Monsieur, frites maison, salade to share – it is toasted ham and cheese with homemade salad and French fries. We walked to Place Saint-Michel to join our walking tour group.
We joined SANDEMANs New Europe’s Free Walking Tour of Paris. We met Harry, our guide, in front of Fontaine Saint-Michel. We walked around Latin Quarter, an area that was spared from the transformation led by Baron Haussmann. We, then, crossed the River Seine and walked to the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris or more known as the Notre Dame Cathedral. The cathedral is currently closed and undergoing renovations after it caught fire back in 2019. We passed by Palais de Justice de Paris, Tour de l’Horloge du Palais de la Cité (Clock Tower) and Conciergerie (14th Century Royal Palace and Prison). We walked to Musée du Louvre (Louvre Museum) and finished the walking tour at Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries Gardens).
We learned about the history of Paris and of France during our tour with Harry. We also knew more about the stories of King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the French Revolution from our guide. I highly-recommend this tip-based tour under SANDEMANs New Europe. I took a few tours under them in the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic and Denmark and I have to say this Paris Walking Tour with Harry was one of, if not the best I have had with the company.
After the tour, we had our lunch at the nearby McDonalds store. Minutes before 3:00pm, we walked back to Musée du Louvre (Louvre Museum) and entered using our Paris Museum Pass. Musée du Louvre (Louvre Museum) is the world’s most famous and most-visited museum. It houses hundreds of thousands of objects and tens of thousands of artworks. It houses famous works such as Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Alexandros of Antioch’s Venus de Milo, Liberty Leading the People of Eugène Delacroix, The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault and a lot more. We roamed around the museum for 2.5 hours and we still did not see everything.
Note: Musée du Louvre requires a timeslot reservation for Paris Museum Pass holders. We booked our slots 2 weeks before the intended day of visit via the museum’s website. Guests can still book slots even if you do not have your Paris Museum Pass yet – in our case, we bought it upon arrival at Paris CDG. Regular tickets to the Louvre Museum cost Є17 per person.
Note: Unfortunately, I cannot post a photo of the Louvre’s Pyramid due to copyright laws.
We walked to the other side of River Seine and entered Musée d’Orsay using our Paris Museum Pass. This museum is located in the old Gare d’Orsay train station. It houses impressionist paintings and artwork by famous artists like Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Berthe Morisot.
Note: Musée d’Orsay does not require timeslot bookings for Paris Museum Pass holders. Visitors can directly go inside the museum using the special lane for pass holders. Regular tickets to the museum cost Є16 per person.
After Musée d’Orsay, we walked to Assemblée Nationale Station, took the Metro Line 12 (Dark Green Line) to Pigalle Station, then changed to the Line 2 (Blue Line) and got off at Anvers Station. We dropped by the supermarket to get food for dinner before heading back to the hostel.
This wraps up our first 2 days in Paris. We visited a lot of places but we made sure that we learned something about the city, its history and culture.
Have you been to Paris? If yes, may I know which landmark or museum mentioned above is your favorite and why? If not, which is the first place you would want to visit when you fly to Paris in the future? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Do you have questions about Paris or the itinerary above? Feel free to post them below or send them via email to contact@thewkndtravel.com.
Thank you for joining me in today’s Paris itinerary. We are just starting on this 3.5-week trip around France, Italy and Spain. Make sure to check out the previous posts about this trip; it’s all compiled under the N9 in Europe category. Stay tuned for Days 3 to 5 and the other adventures we had in this memorable trip!
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PS. Photos were taken using my OnePlus 9 Pro.