What to do in Paris for 5 days?

.. disneyland is a must

Day 1?
Day 2 ?
Day 3 ?
….
…. 5?

Since disneyland is a must, presume you have kids – how old? Does make a difference to what you aim to see.

Search the other threads on here 😉

What time of year and what are you interested in ?

If your kids are into Disney would can do 2 days in the parks (Annie Oakley show with dinner is fun too)

museums (Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Picasso, Pompidou centre- not my favourite but popular)
walk around (and take a walking tour) you always see more of a city on foot (watch for pickpockets much worse than London)
Notre Damn, Ile de la citie
Tower (walk up to first level)
Arc Triomphe go to top for view
Place Concorde, Grand Palais and Pont Alenxandre III
Invalides
cemetry Pere Lachaise (Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, etc etc – best with a tour)
Boat trip on Seine perhaps with lunch or dinner
download la forchette app and save lots on restaurant bookings – do some research and book a couple of places in advance

Versailles, Chantilly (esp if you like horses, very nice chateau)

Disneyland for me, i always wants to see what that castle looks like in real since i was a kid. .. My kid already been there on their school trip ages ago.

Thanks jambalaya.. Will google those

We went in May and loved the place, can highly recommend this trip
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g187147-d1488792-Reviews-City_Free_Tour-Paris_Ile_de_France.html
And when done go and visit this little restaurant
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d814619-Reviews-Babalou-Paris_Ile_de_France.html
Can also recommend this place for a spot of healthy lunch
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d786719-Reviews-Chez_Sesame-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

Also go and visit the Place of Versailles, but make sure you go past the lake and visit the residence of Marie Antoinette.
Buy the Museum pass as it will get you into loads of places and save quite a lot of money.
We very much enjoyed the towers of Notre Dame and the grotesques.
If your in Paris on a Friday the Louvre is open until late.
We used both the metro (with a metro pass) and the Velo bikes, extensively and enjoyed cycling up the Champs élysées.
Finally seeing the Arc de triumphe and Eiffel Tower illuminated of a night is fantastic. The tower twinkles on the hour.
And take compatible walking shoes, we walked for miles and miles even using the bikes and metro.

Free entrance to The Louvre…

From October to March: access to the permanent collections is free for all visitors on the first Sunday of each month.

Having just been myself for 3 days with two boys aged 9 and 10. Here’s what I recommend.

Palace of Versailles – a must. We spend two of the three days there.

Go to the top of the Arc de Triumph
Stroll down the Champs elysees
Eiffel tower – We didn’t go up as the queues were massive and felt that seeing it from the outside was sufficient. p.s. definitely go there at night for the illuminations.
Pompidou centre – for a bit of art and culture
Notre dam –
Latin quarter.
That’s pretty much what we managed to cram in.
Would liked to have done the Louvre and Disneyland but being a single dad with a tight budget had to watch the pennies.
Hope you have a great time. We certainly did.
p.s. Note of Caution – be careful not to trip over your tongue – The Parisian women are unbelievably stunning!!!!!

Ohh, and invest in a Time Out guide and hunt out some of the restaurants they recommend – it is too easy to get really crap food in Paris otherwise.

I went in August with my kids (5 & 7) – there are plenty of online articles about paris with younger kids and books of course.

this is very true and gives some great ideas – we neded up spending a day in Montmartre:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/may/10/paris-with-kids-family-friendly

Dont forget kids are going to enjoy the real touristy things likew riding on little trains, up the eifel tower etc..

Couple of places to eat – the sunken chip & Pink Flamingo pizzas

http://www.coquelicot-montmartre.com/en/ will kepp you fueled for a day – esp if you go for the (bowl of) hot chocolate!

this was also a great book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fodors-Around-Paris-Travel-Guide/dp/089141973X

and so were these – loads of walks around paris tailored around things for the kidsto see and find too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paris-City-Walks-Natasha-Edwards/dp/0811861708/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411463790&sr=1-3&keywords=paris+kids

actually gave the kids something to do while wandering, and add in I Spy Paris (book) and theyve got more to do than you

oh and the catacombs are spooky and great fun!

Really enjoyed the Latin Quarter and the Sorbonne at night, and was much amused to find an English bar next to it. Champs Elysees too busy for my liking – best head into the park and wander down to the Louvre area that way.

another good area is the canal over to the east of paris – 5 minutes walk from Gare Du Nord, and where we stayed – lovely area

Maybe not your thing, but Shakespeare bookstore also worth a potter

If I give you the address of our Paris office could you arrange a “tactical” reduction in staff?

😈

Parc de le Villette – cutting edge (87) architecture, a huge park, huge museums, walk back along the canal then head south to Parc des Buttes-chaumont then head back towards the centre and pick up the Metro.
Depends what you want….

Cool thread, I’m in Paris the last weekend of October so all this is very helpful. I’m really looking forward to it. 😀

Go to Montmartre and see how many places you can spot from the movie Amelie?

http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/a/amelie.html

Sacre Coeur climb to the top up the spiral staircase, the view is the awsomes.

Boat trip +1

Montmartre +1

Canal +1

Obvious really.
Got to the Fontainebleau forest 50km south and spend 5 days at the best bouldering venue on the planet.

I’ve spent around 120 days within 60km of Paris, and only one of them was wasted within the boundary of the city itself.

Seconded ‘Bleau. Paris smells of wee and is falling apart and the tourist hotspots are a nightmare with con artists. Hold onto your kids at the Eiffel tower.

Go to Charles De Gaulle airport and go somewhere with fewer Parisiens instead? 😀

For the best places to eat and drink use this site:

http://parisbymouth.com/

We only had a couple of days, staying in the Latin quarter, and enjoyed the walking tours in the Lonely Planet guide.

Le quartier Lapin.

just come back from Paris (with kids)

apart from the usual highlights were

Catacombs – Underground Paris
Montpernasse skyscraper – higher, cheaper and no waiting
Pompidou Centre –
City de Science – Parc La Villette – the original Interactive science museum.

Dine here –
http://www.leclosbourguignon.com/

Do not expect gourmet, but do expect a genuine French bistro, with wonderfully Gallic hosts and excellent wine. It’s a regular haunt of mine when in Paris.

Also, how about dinner at Le Train Bleu?

Yes, it really does look like that!

go to Lisbon instead

if you must stay

Disneyland, better for 2 days and Buffalo Bill show is good
Saceur Couer and cemetry Pere Lachaise
Montmarte and walk around for the evening, sit on the steps and listen to the world music
Lourve but go and see the foundations
Pompidou centre Watch the tourists and the world
walk down the champs elysee and to the tower

but really go to Lisbon instead…………..I am not a fan of paris apart from montmarte

What to do in Paris for 5 days?

go to Lisbon instead

😀

Lots of great things suggested already, but to add one not mentioned ..

Montparnasse Tower (http://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/en/), in an evening to watch the illuminations on the Eiffel Tower. Pictures look proper french with the tower in them.

Also, the Eiffel Tower only queues for the lifts, stairs are normally pretty easy to get into. Took my 6 and 10 year old up without any issue to the second tier, can then just get a lift to the top.

Oh, and Jardin de Luxembourg for the kids playgrounds.

Thanks all, loads of suggestions, i dont know if i can fit all these in 5 days lol .. Appreciate all and will google all suggested locations to go .

Dinner in le train bleu looks nice flasheart

Just got back, I’ve been a few times and the river boat cruise evening dinner on a glass panoramic boat is amazing. Upgrade 130 Euro each for better seats. The best night I’ve had in Paris.

Eiffel Tower – when we were there in August, we got there about 8.30 and were all the way up and down easily before lunch. Arrive later and it’ll take all day. The queues were horrendous by the time we got back down.
Worse at the catacombs. Even at 9am the queue was already about 2 hours long. Bit cheeky, but my wife and I took it in turns to have breakfast in a nearby cafe while one of us held the place in the queue.
If you like street markets, there’s a nice one at Bastille some days of the week. Stock up on smelly cheese etc.
If you need to relax after this, Place des Voges is a lovely little park nearby.
Sacre Coure is great if you like cathedrals. Again, get there early. Personally, I would give the rest of Montmarte a miss.
Oh, and download a map of the metro onto your phone. I used the Ulmon Paris iphone app a lot. (Other telephones are available).