5 Day Paris Itinerary

Paris is every bit of a dream as people say it is. The long summer nights, incredible art, buttery croissants, and cafe life are among my fondest memories. We spent 6 nights (5 full days with a half day on each end) in Paris and to be honest, if this is your first time in Paris I would recommend you spend no less than 5 days. Now, I am not one of those annoying people that say "If you're not going to stay some place for at least a week, than why bother?" I firmly believe that it is very possible to get the flavor of a place in just 3 days. In fact, when we went to Southeast Asia, we went to 6 towns in 17 days (not including travel) and as a first time traveler in Southeast Asia, it was the perfect way to do it. However there are a few reasons why I would not recommend a short stay in Paris for your first visit: (1) The city is huge! (2) The museums are amazing and should not be missed. (3) Cafe life, period. I recommend you read my post on Not The Paris I Imagined for more context, but without further ado, here is my 5 day Paris itinerary.

Important Info: Where We Stayed

We stayed in the Le Marais area and loved it. Its a very popular spot with winding small streets. The north of Le Marais is growing quickly among locals with hip cafes and bars, so it's a great place to be if you want to be nearer to the Canal Saint-Martin scene, which we thought we were going to spend a lot of time but did not even going to the canal besides from driving by in a cab (Read Not The Paris I Imagined for more context on that.) I would definitely stay in Le Marais again, or maybe in Saint Germain, but knowing Le Marais was our launchpad will help as I go through the itinerary.

Day 1: Intro to the Right Bank (Le Marais, 1st & 2nd Arrondissements, The Îles)

Morning:

If you're in Le Marais, begin by walking to Fragments for a coffee (and make sure to read my review of 7 Paris Coffee Shops, which includes a review of Fragments!) Enjoy a cappuccino on the benches out front and when you are done walk to Maison Landemaine, a boulangerie (no seating, where the locals go to pick up a baguette!) and fill up on some amazing croissants and quiches. You can walk past the Bastille while making your way over to Île Saint-Louis, but note that the Bastille itself no longer exists. It's just a monument. Stroll through quiet Île Saint-Louis in the morning and cross the bridge to Île de la Cité heading towards Notre-Dame. Both these islands have fascinating histories, so I recommend reading up on them beforehand.

Take a look at Notre-Dame's Gothic beauty and even get in line for a tour if you would like (we went to Notre-Dame for Sunday Mass, so we did not do a tour—no ticket needed for Mass). Continue your walk on the Seine side of the island all the way down to the Pont Neuf bridge at the end. This is the oldest bridge in Paris and is ironically named "New Bridge." From the Pont Neuf cross the street and make your way onto the grounds of the Louvre. The Louvre is closed on Tuesdays which makes it the perfect time to visit the Louvre Pyramids and take some photos with less crowds. Continue your walk down the Jardin des Tuileries and take a sear in the iconic green chairs at the fountain to rest your feet for a bit.

Noontime:

By now you are probably starving (a croissant can only get you so far, no matter how good!) Start heading north to the Colonne Vendôme, where there are many fancy shops and you'll see lots of business people walking around to grab lunch. But first stop at Ladurée, this is the flagship French macaron shop I just so happened to stumble past. I got the Marie Antoinette flavor and you should too! I just picked it out by chance and it was the best tasting macaron I have ever had. I expected to get another at some other Ladurée shop later on during my trip, but I learned that this is the only shop in Paris that has all the flavors, so get the Marie Antoinette blue one here! Just a little bit farther is a seemingly ordinary sandwich shop called Le Petit Vendôme. And it kind of is, but in the best way. The French keep their sandwiches simple. So look at the menu, take a guess, and enjoy your huge personal baguette with some meat on it (I asked for cheese too!) So simple. So good.

Now head over to the Palais-Royal and take some photos with the iconic black and white marble columns. Stroll through the Galerie Vivienne on your way back to Le Marais and make sure to stop in the kitchen store E.Dehillerin on the way. I passed it thinking I would go in another time but never made it back... sigh. Definitely on my list for whenever I am back in Paris. You can also walk by the crazy modern art museum called Le Centre Pompidou on your way back to Le Marais and take a look at its interesting architecture.

Back in Le Marais head to the Picasso Museum. This is one of the few museums in Paris open on Tuesday, which is why we chose to do it this day. The building is gorgeous and the art is extraordinary. We didn't spend as much time as I would have liked to there because we went at the end of the afternoon when it was closing, but we still got to see some amazing pieces and learn a bit more about Picasso himself.

Pro Tip: If you plan to do a bunch of museums (which you should) I highly recommend getting the Paris Museum Pass. You can get it at any of the museums included and it's good for either 2, 4, or 6 days. We did the 4 day option and I am so glad we did. It allowed us to be way more flexible on which museums to go to. If we were in an area of town with a cool museum, we would pop in for 30 minutes, just because we could. It was awesome not having to count pennies and pass on really cool galleries just because they weren't on our "must visit" list. The pass was also a lifesaver for me. I was so overwhelmed by awe and excitement when we went to the Musée d'Orsay that I somehow forgot to find my favorite work of art, that I had been DYING to see in person. We didn't realize this until the next day, and thanks to the pass we were able to go back and see it!

Night:

Have dinner at Le Bon Georges, make reservations in advance and take the Metro. It's a neo-bistro with an old vibe and expertly prepared food. After dinner walk down to the Palais Garnier (the Opera House) and see it all lit up at night. It's beautiful. There was even a milonga outside the day we went! So fun to watch and reminded us of our honeymoon in Buenos Aries . [Note: We arrived the afternoon before and spent the first night strolling around Le Marais. We had dinner at Les Philosophes, which is a typical French sidewalk cafe. The food was very good, but also very typical. I loved it for the experience and for sitting on a sidewalk cafe our first night. So this is another dinner option depending on what you're in the mood for.]

Day 2: Explore the Left Bank (Musée d'Orsay, Saint Germain, Luxembourg Gardens, Pre-Fix Dinner in the 7th)

Morning:

Grab a coffee at Cuppa Salon de Café right by the Musée d'Orsay (read all about the cafe in my Paris Coffee post). Get to the Musée d'Orsay early when it opens at 9am and head straight to the top floor to take a silhouette photo in front of the famous clock! Do this right away before it gets too crowded. [Pro Tip: There are two clocks, one in the restaurant (don't be shy to walk right in and up to it) and one on the other side of the museum through the impressionists gallery.] After snapping some photos continue your visit through the impressionists gallery on the top floor. Be prepared to be blown away! It's amazing. This will take you about an hour or so, and then I would recommend going to the ground floor as there are some amazing pieces there as well, including Manet's Olympia—my favorite! Which is the one I somehow forgot to see when I was there, so thank goodness I had the Museum Pass to go back the next day and see her!

Noontime:

Leave the museum and explore the Left Bank. Walk to Place de Furstenberg, a lovely square, and if you have a Museum Pass pop into the Musée Eugene Delacroix, a house converted to a museum where Delacroix lived and worked (should take about 30 minutes to walk around quickly). If you do go to the museum, stop in Saint-Sulpice Catholic Church quickly to see the huge wall paintings by Delacroix, the studies of which you will have seen in the museum. Backtrack a few blocks and have lunch at Café de Flore, which I wrote about extensively in my Paris Coffee post! Walk towards Luxembourg Gardens but first stop in at La Cave du Sénat wine shop and pick up a bottle of rosé or chardonnay before heading into the garden (ask the shop to cork it for you and for a few plastic cups!) Spend an hour or so relaxing on one of the iconic green chairs around the gardens and watch the kids play with the toy sailboats in the fountain. Sitting in the gardens drinking wine is one of my favorite memories of Paris. On your way back to your hotel stop by the Pantheon (if you have the Museum Pass, or apparently it's often free to go in, so just look up when it is). A few steps away you can pass the "Midnight in Paris Steps" at Place De L'arbé Basset, the stairs that Woody Allen made famous in his movie Midnight in Paris where Gil is picked up by Ernest Hemingway at midnight. Then head to the original Diptique shop at 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain and smell all the amazing candles and pick one up to take home! This would also be a fine time to poke around the famous Shakespeare & Company where Hemingway and Fitzgerald would buy books written in English. My book-loving-husband and I browsed the shelves for over an hour multiple nights before dinner. It's a must visit.

Night:

That night we had a fancy dinner at a fantastic little French restaurant called Chez L'Ami Jean. We had reservations for 8:30pm, ordered the tasting menu, had the waiter recommend a bottle of wine (which ended up being one of the most fantastic wines I have ever had!), shared laughs with the staff and diners around us (it's a small place, you'll be in close quarters!), and didn't leave until well after midnight, and by that time the Metro was closed and we had to hunt down a cab to get back to our hotel! It was a fantastic dining experience!

Day 3: Take it Slow (Famous Pastry Shop, Hip Hotel, The Louvre, & Cruise Along the Seine)

Morning:

If you Google "where to get a pastry in Paris," you'll most likely find Du Pain et Des Idées (closed weekends). Metro or walk up that way to start your day and pick up a croissant and something different as well to expand your Parisian pastry profile! You can then head to The Hoxton Hotel and grab a cappuccino there while watching the best dressed hotel guests ever walk in and out. Make sure you're fueled up (if not, grab a bite to eat on the way!) to head to the Louvre Museum, which is an undertaking for sure but oh so worth it.

Noontime:

It's time to explore The Louvre Museum! My biggest pieces of advice are:

Take your time!
Don't be afraid to get lost.
Have a few pieces of art you definitely want to see, and read up on them before you go!
Don't forget to stop and look at some random pieces on the way, because even the nothing pieces in the Louvre are masterpieces.

You can learn so much about art and history just walking through this museum, and while overwhelming at times it's one of those places you just have to experience. Try to think about what it was like to be an artist coming in through the doors to copy the renaissance paintings on the walls in hopes of making a name for themselves. It's a truely magical place. Here is my short list of must-see's that you can build off of:

"The Raft of the Medusa" | Théodore Géricault |As real as it gets. Very moving.
"Liberty Leading the People" | Eugène Delacroix | View this one after the Raft of the Medusa if you can. It will be quite clear that Delacroix studied Géricault.
"The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne" | Leonardo da Vinci | It's outside of the room with the Mona Lisa and in my opinion far more interesting and you will get it all to yourself! Pay attention to the composition. Leonardo da Vinci understood and commanded form. His paintings are structurally sound, creating visually pleasing compositions no matter the subject. But his true greatness is in his ability to soften academic art through sfumato, as seen in the Mona Lisa as well.
"St. John the Baptist" | Leonardo da Vinci | Oil on walnut wood, right next to The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne.
"Wedding Feast at Cana" | Paolo Veronese | It's on the other side of the room of the Mona Lisa and simply mind-blowing. The colossal painting has been torn & restored many times. It depicts Jesus’ first miracle, but places the historical figures in modern-day (1563) Venice with symbolic butchered meat (a lamb?) above Jesus’ head.
"Death of Sardanapalus" | Eugène Delacroix | If you visit the Musée Eugene Delacroix near the Place de Furstenberg you'll see the study for this painting. It's very cool to see studies and shows how much thought goes into composing a painting of this size and detail.
"The Coronation of Napoleon" | Jacques-Louis David | Huge. So many faces. A momentous historical painting.
"Grande Odalisque" | Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres | This painting not only romanticizes the female figure with her elongated back and impossible positioning, but also the convention of the harem in the Orient. Ingres was trained as a neoclassicist, he sacrifices perfect proportioning to pursue a more exotic beauty.
"Oath of the Horatii" | Jacques-Louis David | Form form form in ever figure represented.
"The Astronomer" | Johannes Vermeer | Explanatory Dutch painting.
"The Winged Victory of Samothrace" | Unknown | You won't miss her. She is on the main staircase. It is one of the few statues from the Hellenistic period that is not a Roman copy.

The list could go on and on and on and you're interests may be different than my own, but even if you see just the 11 pieces I list above it will be well worth it.

Night:

After walking miles around the Louvre we were exhausted and hungry so we headed back to our hotel. On the way we stopped at Miznon for the internet-famous cauliflower. It was pretty basic. Just chard cauliflower. Very confused on why everyone recommends this place so I'm here to tell you it is fine to pass on it. We rested up for a bit at our hotel and then went back out in the neighborhood on the hunt for some wine, cheese, meats, veggies, and a fresh baguette! We strolled around Le Marais and walked in and out of local artisanal shops until we had enough for a picnic dinner on our balcony. So simple and one of my favorite memories. It felt so Parisian! Afterwards we grabbed an artisanal ice cream from Une Glace a Paris (opt for the fruit flavors) and went on a Vedettes du Pont Neuf cruise of the Seine, which was included in our hotel stay. I would have thought it was way too touristy to do but we had free tickets and thought it would be a good way to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night, and it was surprisingly a highlight! I highly recommend doing one. [Pro Tip: Summer days in Paris are very long and it doesn't get fully dark until 11pm! Keep this in mind if you want to do the boat cruise at night and show up early so you are first in line to grab seats on the upper deck. We were running a little bit late and weren't able to sit together, but it was still awesome!]

Day 4: Take In the Sites (Rodin Museum, Fancy Shopping, Sainte Chapelle, Eiffel Tower Day & Night, Our Favorite 'Oh-So-Parisian' Bar)

Morning:

After we had breakfast on our balcony we headed back to the quiet streets of Saint Germain on the Left Bank and made our way to the Rodin Museum. I was original planning to skip this museum but since we had the Museum Pass, why not go? It was a wonderful little museum that is easy to do and has a beautiful garden. We then walked to the Champs de Mars to get up close and personal with the Eiffel Tower. Honestly I could have skipped this, but you really can't go to Paris without going right up to the Eiffel Tower... can you? The grounds were icky and I felt uncomfortable with all the people trying to sell me miniature Eiffel Towers. We did't make it to the Right Bank for the view of the Tower from the stairs over there and I'm wondering if that would have been a better bet. Unsure.

Noontime:

After we saw the Tower and before we got super hangry we walked to Café Constant right near by. I always have a difficult time deciding if I want to recommend a place or not because it's not like this place was out of this world, but it was absolutely perfect for what we needed—something close to the Eiffel Tour, not touristy, with good food and atmosphere. It checked all the boxes. [Pro Tip: If you go, make sure to sit down stairs. It has way more charm than the upstairs.] After lunch we made our way over to the Right Bank towards the fancy shopping streets (Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent, Hermès, etc.) close to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées. I bought myself a little something I had been saving up for and it was so fun! We then hoped on the Metro to go to the Sainte Chapelle before our 4 day Museum Pass expired. We had planned to do this earlier in the week when we were over that way but the hours go by faster than you think in Paris! Especially when you want to spend time just relaxing with a glass of wine every day like we did. The Chapelle is gorgeous and it is important you go on a sunny day to get the full effect of the stained glass. It will be a quick visit well worth your time.

Night:

Before our typical wine on the hotel room balcony (this is Paris after all) we stopped in at Le Centre Pompidou, the modern art museum with the controversial facade, for a specific work of art I had been hoping to see (Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain") but unfortunately it was on loan. Again, the Museum Pass made it easy to go in and out quickly without any second guessing. Later we walked back to Île Saint-Louis for dinner at St. Regis but only had a drink because we were not feeling it. I would instead recommend Les Philosophes, which I mention in my notes for Day 1. We then browsed the bookshelves once more at Shakespeare & Company and strolled around Cathédrale Notre-Dame as the sun set before spontaneously hopping on the Metro and running to the Pont de l'Alma bridge to see the Eiffel Tower glisten on the hour (11pm!) once more. I know everybody says it, but its truly magical every time. We metroed back to Le Marais and again made the spur-the-moment decision to sit at Au Petit Fer à Cheval and share a carafe of Sancerre. We absolutely loved this little sidewalk café bar and quickly made friends with the bartenders. We felt that it had become 'our spot' and wished we had gone there for a glass of wine every night!

Day 5: What's Left? (Montmartre, Musée de l'Orangerie, Classic Parisian Dinner, Natural Wine in the 11th)

Morning:

Our actual last morning in Paris was a Sunday so we woke up early and went to Mass at Notre-Dame before heading to the airport. But on our last full day we took the Metro up to Montmartre. I went to Paris while I was in high school and I remember loving Montmartre, but I was very young and it was my first time in Europe so the experience was quite different. I'm glad we walked around the area but two hours is more than enough. It was far too congested for my liking and the charm is more in meandering the side streets. We got off the Metro at Abbesse and walked by Van Gogh's Appartment, which is still just an apartment but has is a sunflower painted out front as an ode to the artist. We wound up the hill in less touristy spots and stumbled across a Saturday flea market nearby before checking out the street artists on the top of the hill. We walked past Sacré-Cœur and caught a peep of the Eiffel Tower in the distance from Square Nadar before making our way down to the Anvers Metro stop. As everyone says about Montmartre, beware of pick pockets! [Pro Tip: Walk down the side staircases from the church back down. It's so much more quaint and pleasant.]

Noontime:

We saved the Musée de l'Orangerie for the last day because our hotel gave us complementary tickets. This allowed us to utilize the 4 day Museum Pass on other museums and still let us to do a museum on our last day. The Musée de l'Orangerie is my parents' favorite Parisian museum and I can see why. It is small and easy to manage, plus Monet's Water Lilies are truly incredible. They are definitely the main attraction and cover two large oval rooms. I think we sat in front of them for 45 minutes just taking in all the colors. When done we headed back to Le Marais, got coffee at Boot Café, and then crêpes for lunch at Breizh Café.

Night:

For dinner we headed back to Saint Germain, which has by now become my favorite neighborhood (along with Le Marais). We had dinner at Les Deux Magots, one of Ernest Hemingway's favorite watering holes. As I explain in my post on "Not The Paris I Had Imagined," I thought I would have wanted to go someplace more modern and trendy, but nope! Every part of me was longing for another leisurely dinner on a sidewalk cafe and I didn't care one bit that it was regarded as a bit touristy, because it was also so perfect. After dinner we did head back to the 11th to a very trendy, local spot called Clown Bar. Don't let the name fool you, its very classy and the food is supposedly great too. It was midnight by this time and we just ordered some red wine (I asked for something funky!) and they brought me an amazing glass on natural wine whose flavor I will not forget. And since it was our last night, we even stopped by 'our bar,' Au Petit Fer à Cheval, for one last nightcap in the City of Light.

Last few pieces of advice:

Paris is a modern city full of life and real people. It is beautiful in its realness and the old blends with the new so well, if you allow it to. Don't go crazy thinking about where you will eat. Have a list of places and walk by whichever is closest when you are hungry and see if it looks good (ambiance and food) and if not, find something else, there are plenty! Spend time at the museums. Do the touristy things (they are touristy for a reason). Drink wine! Have a balcony in your hotel room if you can. Relax in the parks. Relax at the sidewalk cafes. Be prepared but be spontaneous and eat as many croissants as you can and don't search for the best. It's a Parisian croissant after all, they're all the best.

Extra: Here are some other places that were very high on my list but I wasn't able to get to. Next time!

*An asterisk means I am actually sad I didn't get to try this place!

Croissants: