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Paris was never on our list of places to visit, but when we were looking for places to visit overseas that did not have strict COVID rules, Paris was one of the international cities that had more lenient guidelines.

We always avoided Paris because we heard from so many of our friends who traveled there that Parisians were borderline rude to Americans and not very friendly.

On the other hand, we also heard that if Americans attempted to speak a little French, the Parisians would be more friendly. So we started learning French through Duolingo a couple of months before our trip and we think it definitely helped.

We did not experience the rudeness that everyone spoke of. In fact, we experienced the exact opposite. All the Parisians we encountered were extremely nice and courteous. We’re not sure if it was our very basic French that helped or if the locals missed the tourism after years of lockdown, but we appreciated the Parisians welcoming us to their beautiful city.

Since this was our first time in Paris, we had so much to see and do within three days. We could have easily spent a week in Paris because there is so much to do, but we were also traveling to London and spending a few days there afterward.

We tried to visit the most iconic spots of Paris and think this is the perfect three-day itinerary for first-timers.

WHERE TO STAY

We booked our stay in the 9th Arrondissement (district) of Paris, near the Opera house at the Hotel Indigo Paris Opera and this location worked out perfectly for us. We were traveling with our friend, Kathy, and finding accommodation for three people in the middle of peak summer was quite challenging.

Initially, we wanted to stay in a hotel near the Eiffel Tower so that we could have a balcony view, but it was nearly impossible to find a room with three beds. The prices were also outrageous and not really worth it in our opinion.

Luckily, we found a fantastic room with plenty of space for three people and we were within walking distance of many attractions. The staff was friendly and our loft room was spacious. Plus, our stay came with a complimentary breakfast which was excellent.

PARIS 3-DAY ITINERARY

We arrived in Paris on a Saturday afternoon and checked out a couple of places nearby before we started our first full day, so technically this itinerary is for 3.5 days. As we mentioned earlier, our location was superb and we were near many shops and restaurants.

If we were in a more remote location or had to take the metro, we probably would have just stayed in since we were all still tired from traveling with jet lag.

DAY OF ARRIVAL

5 PM Galeries Lafayette
40 Bd Haussmann (MAP)

Just a short walk from our hotel is a famous department store, but this one, in particular, has a stunning interior that was inspired by the Paris Opera House. The famous glass dome is spectacular and can be seen from across the city.

We also went to the rooftop terrace to get more breathtaking views of the capital and were able to see the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre district in the distance. If you want a panoramic view of Paris, this is a great spot and it’s free.

Galeries Lafayette is split into three separate buildings and one of them is a marketplace with a bakery and some food booths where you can get a variety of cuisines. We bought bottles of water here since we knew we would need some for the next few days.

7 PM Café Le Bex
18 Rue De Mogador (MAP)

We could have grabbed some food at Galeries Lafayette, but we wanted to sit down at a restaurant and enjoy a meal, so we walked around near our hotel for options. Café Le Bex seemed to be busy compared to the other restaurants, so we decided to try it on a whim.

We were kindly greeted and luckily there was an empty table. We also noticed that all the male servers working here were extremely good-looking. They all looked like models! Ok, back to the food.

The food was fantastic and we didn’t have to wait long which was a huge plus because we were starving. This was a true French restaurant and they didn’t have any menus in English, but luckily, we were able to use our phones to translate text from images. Plus, the servers were extremely helpful.

DAY 1

7:00 AM Eiffel Tower
Place du Trocadero (MAP)

We wanted to arrive at the Eiffel Tower first thing in the morning at sunrise (which is at 6 AM in the summer), but the weather was gloomy and forecasted to rain, so we left our hotel a little bit later than we originally planned.

When we arrived, there were already a handful of photography sessions taking place. We also were a bit disappointed that parts of the area were under construction, but thankfully there are a lot of beautiful angles to view the tower.

We walked around the surrounding neighborhoods of the tower and found some unique spots to take more pictures of the tower in the distance. We ended up spending a couple of hours walking around and taking photos.

9 AM Breakfast at Kozy Bosquetr
79 Avenue Bosquet (MAP)

Crystal found a restaurant that was near the Rue Cler market that had amazing reviews. They serve brunch all day and the service was not only fast but outstanding. We arrived just in time and scored the last table before a line started to form outside.

The cafe is small, but the menu is quite the opposite and offered a variety of dishes including vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options.

12 PM Rue Cler
Rue Cler, 7th Arrondissement (MAP)

After breakfast, we walked over to Rue Cler, which was just a few blocks away. Rue Cler is an eclectic cobblestoned street that is a true Parisian market. There are a number of cafes and it’s a great place to buy baguettes, pastries, and sandwiches.

If you are going to visit a market, this is THE one as it’s the most famous market street in Paris. We walked up and down the market and settled on buying a baguette. There were so many yummy-looking pastries and food that we wanted to try, but we were pretty full from breakfast.

2PM Cafe Joyeux
23 Rue Saint Augustin Passage Choiseul (MAP)

We wanted to sit and relax at an outdoor cafe Parisian style, so we decided to head back towards our hotel. Near our hotel was a cafe called Cafe Joyeux that has a great mission to employ people with cognitive disabilities such as Down syndrome or autism.

The cafe is bright, airy, and quite large compared to the other cafes around Paris. We ordered some drinks and dessert and sat outside and enjoyed watching the busy streets of Paris in front of us.

3:30 PM Pierre Hermé
39 Av. de l’Opéra (MAP)

We couldn’t leave Paris without trying their famous macaron, so we had to get it from the best. Again, this location was nearby so we simply walked over to Pierre Herme’s store and it couldn’t be missed as there was a line forming outside.

It’s a super cute dessert shop with seasonal and limited edition macaron flavors. Crystal tried the Ispahan, which is a rose and raspberry flavor, and Kathy got the pistachio-flavored macaron. Kathy enjoyed hers, but Crystal did not. To be fair, we aren’t fans of macarons but thought we’d give it a try in Paris.

4 PM Musée du Parfum Fragonard
9 Rue Scribe (MAP)

Right around the corner from our hotel was the perfume museum. This museum is free and also offers a free guided tour that unveils the history and secrets of perfume manufacturing. It’s also a very central location so we were surrounded by many boutique shops and the Opéra Garnier.

We learned some interesting facts about how to apply perfume and enjoyed learning the history of perfume making. It was also fascinating to view the collection of ancient perfume bottles from Ancient Egypt.

It’s a fairly small museum and at the end, you can shop at their boutique store. Our hotel toiletries were actually from this family-owned business (Maison Fragonard) and the scent was lovely.

7 PM Dinner at East Mama
133 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine (MAP)

Ok, you’re probably wondering why we chose to dine at an Italian restaurant instead of a French one. Well, this Big Mama restaurant group is VERY popular and has amazing reviews, so we had to give it a try.

Initially, we wanted to dine at their most popular one called Pink Mama, but they were booked for days so we settled on East Mama. We made reservations and upon arrival, we were seated immediately. The service was super friendly and our food was served really fast.

We thoroughly enjoyed our dishes and appreciated that the pasta was fresh and cooked to order. If we ever get a chance to go again, next time we want to order one of their pizzas because it looked amazing.

RELATED POST: What To Wear and Pack for Paris in June

DAY 2

7 AM Montmartre

Montmartre is an adorable authentic village in the heart of Paris. The atmosphere is super charming and you can witness one of the most amazing views of the city from the top of Montmartre at Sacré Cœur.

We definitely made it a point to start our morning early before the crowds of people ushered in. Every inch of this charming village is picturesque and filled with cute cafes. We walked around for a few hours and stopped at a handful of points of interest.

Moulin Rouge
82 Boulevard de Clichy (MAP)

Moulin Rouge is a great starting point to work your way up the hill to Montmartre. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Moulin Rouge, it was hard to get a nice look at it as there were multiple trucks parked right in front of the building.

There was a ton of street cleaning and garbage removal going on and it was not quite the scene we had imagined. We took a quick picture and started our way up the hill to Montmartre.

Le Grenier a Pain
38 rue des Abbesses, 75018 Paris France (MAP)

The pastries here are amazing and very reasonably priced. We grabbed some croissants here that were less than $2 which also tasted way better than croissants we would have to pay $6 for in the US.

Le Vrai Paris
33 Rue des Abbesses (MAP)

Right across the street from the bakery was a lovely cafe that had plenty of seating, so we decided to enjoy a cup of coffee before we worked our way further up the hill. It’s quite the trek so be prepared for lots of stairs and hills.

Wall of Love
Square Jehan Rictus, Pl. des Abbesses (MAP)

The Wall of Love is a love-themed wall in the Jehan Rictus garden square of Montmartre. It’s a good thing we had google maps to guide us because we almost missed it as it’s tucked away in a cute little garden.

La Maison Rose - AKA “The Pink House”
2 rue de I Abreuvoir (MAP)

We honestly couldn’t figure out why this cafe was so popular. The food has average reviews and the building is cute, but we saw plenty of other cafes that had way more curb appeal.

Afterward, we looked up the history of La Maison Rose and it used to be a house that was frequented by Dali and Picasso. But it’s mainly famous for Utrillo’s paintings who was one of the few famous painters of Montmartre.

Sacré-Coeur
35 rue du Chevalier de la Barre (MAP)

This Roman Catholic church stands on top of the hill of Montmartre and is a great place to get a beautiful panoramic view of Paris. You can also get a photo here of the Sinking House, an optical illusion from the Sacre-Coeur stairs.

12 PM Café Cassette
73 Rue De Rennes (MAP)

After Montmartre, we were getting hungry and wanted to eat at a cute cafe decorated with flowers in another district of Paris. Initially, we were looking at La Favorite Café, which is an Instagram-famous cafe with the most beautiful exterior, but it has terrible reviews when it comes to dining there.

So we looked up other flower cafes in Paris and after reading a ton of Yelp reviews, we settled on Café Cassette in the 6th arrondissement. The decor both outside and indoors was adorable but the food was quite average. It seems like a lot of these cute flower cafes have pretty average food reviews, but at least we were immediately seated and served our food.

3 PM The Louvre
Rue de Rivoli (MAP)

After lunch, we took a break and rested bit at our hotel before heading out again to the Louvre. We booked our tickets online a couple of weeks prior to our trip, which we highly recommend since it’s an extremely popular museum.

We knew it was going to be busy, but we were still stunned by the amount of people at this museum. After all, it is the world’s most-visited museum.

On top of the crowds, it was very hot inside as well because the air conditioning was being used at a bare minimum. If you are going to visit this museum in the summer, make sure to dress light.

The most famous art piece inside the Louvre is the Mona Lisa painting. There is always a ridiculous line for this painting because visitors want to take a picture with it up-close. We did not wait in this line. You can still get a picture of the Mona Lisa from afar on the side.

We honestly do not know why people get so excited about the Mona Lisa painting. There is a far more interesting painting right across from the Mona Lisa called Les Noces de Cana by Véronèse painted in 1563. This is the Louvre’s largest painting and it portrays the biblical wedding scene at Cana in the Galilee where Christ performs the miracle of turning water into wine.

Another magnificent sculpture at the Louvre is Victoire de Samothrace, also known as the winged Goddess of Victory, which is over 2000 years old.

There were many other paintings and art pieces we wanted to see, but we were unable to find them because the museum is like a maze and even when we asked for help, the staff could not tell us exactly where to find the piece we were looking for.

We would have loved to see the Vénus de Milo sculpture, Psyché Ranimée par le Baiser de l'Amour sculpture, the Louis XIV painting by Hyacinthe Rigaud, and so much more.

DAY 3

7 AM The Louvre - photoshoot

We went back to the Louvre first thing in the morning so that we could take pictures of the iconic glass pyramid without the crowd. We actually showed up at 6:30 AM, but the security told us that we cannot take pictures there until 7 AM, so that’s something to note if you plan to do this as well.

12 PM Versailles
78000 Versailes (MAP)

We were so excited to visit Versailles and couldn’t wait to wear our pretty dresses and feel like royals in this stunning palace. Our plans were to book a 9 AM slot, but by the time we booked (we booked two weeks in advance), the first available slot was at 12 PM.

Despite losing a few hours, we had a fantastic time and explored the museum indoors and the gardens outdoors. We could have spent another day here as we only covered a fraction of the gardens and there was still so much more we wanted to see.

We highly recommend booking your tickets as soon as possible and renting a golf cart for the gardens. Most people only tour the main palace, but there are several other estates beyond the palace that are just as intriguing (Petit Trianon, The Grand Trianon, etc.).

6 PM Kibo No Ki
14 rue Vignon, 75009 Paris France (MAP)

Once we got back to Paris, we were starving. Luckily, we found a Japanese restaurant called Kibo no Ki that was right around the corner from our hotel and their ramen was delicious.

This was actually the first restaurant where we had to make more of an effort to speak some French as the waitress did not speak English. She was understanding and we were able to communicate what we wanted just fine.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We are so glad we made this trip to Paris because now we understand why everyone loves this city so much and come back to visit over and over again. The art, the culture, the food, the history, and everything in between is just exquisite in Paris.

TIPS

• The metro system is great; however, the tickets are not. We purchased individual tickets since the travel pass did not work for us (pass options started on a Monday, but we arrived on a Saturday). In any case, make sure you always have your ticket and do not throw them away until you fully exit the station. We got randomly searched one time and unfortunately, our friend threw away her ticket, and she was fined a whopping $50. We tried our best to explain the situation, but they weren’t budging at all.

• Another thing about the individual tickets is that they get demagnetized VERY easily. We had to visit the station booth several times to get our tickets reissued. Don’t put your ticket near a credit card or phone because 99% of the time, it will get demagnetized.

• Wear comfortable shoes; you will do a ton of walking and parts of it are cobblestone.

• Dress light and/or carry a portable fan with you around Paris; especially if you are visiting museums. Paris does not like to use A/C, so it is extremely hot in many places.

• Duolingo is a great free app to learn some French.

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