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The Eiffel Tower, seen from the Palais de Chaillot across the Seine.
Photo: Andyxox / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)Paris travel guide
Paris is arrived at through one of several grand 19th-century terminus stations rather than a single central hub - Gare de Lyon from Switzerland and southern France, Gare du Nord from London, Brussels and Amsterdam - each feeding directly into the metro a few minutes from the Seine. Its historic centre is dense enough that the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the Eiffel Tower all sit within a few metro stops of each other, but each now runs enough of a timed-entry or advance-booking system that a spontaneous, unplanned day rarely covers more than one or two of them properly.
Neighborhoods
Le Marais
A dense, largely unmodernised medieval-to-17th-century district straddling the 3rd and 4th arrondissements, home to the Place des Vosges, the Picasso Museum and one of Paris's more concentrated restaurant-and-boutique scenes, plus the historic Jewish quarter around Rue des Rosiers. Popular enough that its narrow streets get genuinely crowded on weekend afternoons.
Montmartre
The hilltop district in the 18th arrondissement, crowned by the Sacre-Coeur basilica, with steep cobbled streets, the Place du Tertre artists' square, and the Moulin Rouge at its base on Boulevard de Clichy - still evokes its 19th- and early-20th-century bohemian-artist reputation, though today it's heavily geared toward tourism.
Saint-Germain-des-Pres / Latin Quarter
The Left Bank's intellectual and cafe-culture heartland, anchored by the Saint-Germain-des-Pres abbey church and, further east, the Sorbonne and the Pantheon. Historic literary cafes (Les Deux Magots, Cafe de Flore) sit alongside the Luxembourg Gardens, one of the city's most-used green spaces.
Eiffel Tower / Trocadero (7th/16th)
The grand, formal district around the Champ de Mars and the Eiffel Tower itself, with the Trocadero esplanade across the Seine offering the classic postcard view of the tower. More residential and spread-out than the Marais or Montmartre, with wide 19th-century boulevards rather than narrow medieval streets.
Top attractions
Eiffel Tower
Gustave Eiffel's 1889 iron tower, built for that year's World's Fair as a temporary structure and never taken down, remains Paris's most-visited paid monument - summit and second-floor tickets are sold in timed slots online, and same-day walk-up queues for the stairs or lifts can run well over an hour in high season.
The Louvre
The world's most-visited museum, housed in a former royal palace and entered through I.M. Pei's 1989 glass pyramid - its collection is large enough that a single visit realistically covers only a fraction of it, so picking a wing (Egyptian antiquities, Italian Renaissance, French painting) in advance is more useful than trying to see everything.
Notre-Dame Cathedral
The Gothic cathedral on the Ile de la Cite reopened to the public in December 2024 after a five-year restoration following the catastrophic April 2019 fire that destroyed its spire and roof - the rebuilt interior and spire are now open again, drawing large crowds since reopening.
Musee d'Orsay
A former Belle Epoque railway station (Gare d'Orsay) converted into a museum, now home to one of the world's largest Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections (Monet, Degas, Van Gogh) - smaller and more manageable in a single visit than the Louvre.
Sacre-Coeur and Montmartre
The white-domed basilica atop Montmartre's hill offers one of the best free panoramic views over Paris, reached either by a steep climb or the Montmartre funicular (covered by standard metro tickets) - the surrounding artists' square and steep lanes are as much the draw as the basilica itself.
Food
Paris runs on a rhythm that surprises visitors used to Spain or Italy's later dinners: French kitchens typically serve dinner from around 19:30, noticeably earlier than the 21:00-plus start common further south, and many restaurants close on Sundays and/or Mondays. A proper bakery (boulangerie) selling fresh baguette and croissant each morning is a genuine daily institution rather than a tourist stop, and the difference between an industrial and an artisanal baguette is real enough that Paris runs an annual competition (the Grand Prix de la Baguette) for the city's best. Classic bistro cooking - steak-frites, French onion soup, coq au vin, a cheese course before or instead of dessert - remains the backbone of a sit-down meal, typically with a fixed-price lunch menu (formule) offering better value than ordering a la carte. Paris's open-air markets, including Marche Bastille (Thursdays and Sundays) and the historic Rue Mouffetard street market near the Latin Quarter, are worth a visit even just to browse the cheese, charcuterie and produce stalls rather than to buy - a useful contrast to a restaurant meal and a cheaper way to assemble a picnic lunch for the Luxembourg Gardens or the Champ de Mars.
How long to stay
If you only have one day
For a day arriving at Gare de Lyon (from Geneva or the south) or Gare du Nord (from London or Amsterdam), head first to whichever major sight you pre-booked a timed slot for - the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre are the two that most reward advance booking. Fill the rest of the day on foot: the Ile de la Cite and Notre-Dame's exterior (and interior, now reopened since December 2024), a walk along the Seine, and either the Marais or Saint-Germain-des-Pres for lunch and an afternoon wander. Skip trying to add Montmartre on the same day unless your onward train is in the evening - it's a genuinely separate trip across town.
If you have two or more
A second day makes room for Montmartre and the Sacre-Coeur in the morning before the crowds build, plus the Musee d'Orsay as a smaller, calmer alternative to a second Louvre visit. A third day opens up a half-day trip to Versailles (about 45 minutes by RER C from central Paris), or a slower exploration of the Marais's boutiques and the Marche Bastille market on a Thursday or Sunday morning.
Getting around
Paris has no single arrival station: trains from Geneva and Switzerland (TGV Lyria) arrive at Gare de Lyon in the 12th arrondissement, while Eurostar services from London and Amsterdam use Gare du Nord in the 10th - both are major Metro and RER interchanges (Gare de Lyon: Metro 1 and 14, RER A and D; Gare du Nord: five metro lines plus RER B and D), so which station you land at matters for planning your first move into the city. Within Paris, the Metro is the fastest way to cover distance - a carnet of t+ tickets or a Navigo Easy card covers any single metro, bus or RER-within-Paris journey, and central Paris is compact enough that many trips between neighbouring arrondissements are just as fast on foot.
Practical tips
- Notre-Dame reopened to visitors in December 2024 after its 2019 fire and five-year restoration - check current entry arrangements, as they may still differ from the pre-fire routine.
- Many restaurants and small shops close on Sundays and/or Mondays, and August sees a wave of closures as owners take their own summer holiday (fermeture annuelle) - check specific opening days if a particular restaurant matters to your plans.
- Pickpocketing is a well-documented risk on the Metro (particularly line 1, which serves major tourist stops) and around the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Montmartre - keep bags zipped and to the front in crowds.
- Tipping is not expected the way it is in the US - a service charge is included by law in restaurant prices, though rounding up or leaving small change for good service is common.
- The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre both benefit strongly from timed-entry tickets booked online in advance, especially May-September - walk-up queues in high season can run over an hour.