We spent 3 days and 4 nights in Paris during our honeymoon. We were able to check off many bucket list items, and also enjoy time sitting in cafes and wandering around the city. If you plan your trip carefully, we think 3 days in Paris is the perfect amount for a first-time visitor.

How to use this map:

Click the tab in the top left-hand corner to see the list of places included in the map.

You can also click on the icons to get more information about each point of interest. We recommend adding these places to your Google Maps account to help you plan your trip.

Things to Do in Paris

Eiffel Tower/ Tour Eiffel

If you want to visit the Eiffel Tower in summer, we recommend purchasing tickets ahead of time. We secured reservations for 8PM on our first night in Paris. We wanted to go up to the top and be there to watch the sun set. If you would like to do the same, you can find information about sunset timing using this site. The entire process was very organized and there are multiple entry points to access the tower. While this is seen as a "touristy" endeavor, it was a really beautiful summer night once we were through the elevator lines.

The tower also boasts restaurants, including a macaron bar, and gift shops. There is a post office on the first floor with a special Eiffel Tower postmark, if you want to mail a postcard home.

Cost: varies/ we spent 34 euros for two people

The Paris Catacombs / Catacombes de Paris

The lines for the catacombs are notoriously long. As we only had 3 days in Paris, we were keen to skip any lines that we could. After some research, we found Headout and ordered our tickets in advance for the catacombs. We picked them up at a nearby stand, and then simply walked to the shorter line on the right. While they were more expensive, saving hours was worth it. Order the audio guide. The stories were crucial to making the time in the catacombs meaningful. (Also, if you took some high school French, you may want to brush up before you visit the catacombs; the signs are all in French and they also add some meaning to the journey.)

Tips: The Catacombs are open from Tuesday to Sunday. Many museums are closed on Tuesday, so we recommend visiting the Catacombs in Paris on Tuesday.

The cost to skip the line at the catacombs was $74 for 2 people.

You will exit the catacombs in a different place than you entered; so if you have someone in your party who does not want to go underground to look at skulls and bones, just be prepared with a meet-up spot afterwards.

Luxembourg Gardens/ Jardin du Luxembourg

We always believe in leaving time to wander a city, and we stumbled upon Luxembourg Gardens on our walk from the catacombs to the Rodin museum. Luxembourg Gardens is a combination of beautiful English and French gardens and includes the famous pond where children float their boats.

The Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, and L'Orangerie

Each museum has its own draw and claim to fame. We spent about 2 hours in each over 2 days, though you could spend much more time in each museum.

Louvre: Famous for its beautiful pyramid entrance and the Mona Lisa. (However, it's tough to get close to the Mona Lisa, and it's a small painting, so I would spend time in other parts of the Louvre).

There are four ways to enter the Louvre, we chose the epic pyramid entrance. However, we only recommend this if you have purchased your tickets in advance or have the Paris Pass, because the lines can be long.

Musée de l'Orangerie: This small museum is easy to navigate and many visitors will be content with starring at the large panels of Claude Monet's Water lilles.

Musée D'Orsay: This museum is built in a former train station. We think it's worth visiting for the architecture alone! The museum has rotating exhibits and features art of all kinds (paintings, sculpture, furniture) from the late 1800s to early 1900s.

If you do want to spend a longer time in the museums and you don't know much about art, we recommend listening to free Rick Steves' audio tours. His story-telling makes the paintings come to life. You can download these at your hotel before heading out for the day.

The Rodin Museum

Musée Rodin: This Rodin museum consists mainly of a lovely sculpture garden which features many dynamic and impressive figures, including its most famous piece, The Thinker. It's a lovely place to wander on a sunny afternoon.

Cost: €12 adult/ children are free (We used the Paris Pass.)

The Arc de Triomphe

We visited the Arc de Triomphe after dinner one night with our Paris Pass. It was great to see the Eiffel Tower lit and to look out on the city down the Champs Elyssee.

Since the Arc de Triomphe is at the center of 12 intersecting avenues, you do not want to cross that traffic. You must use one of the two underground locations to visit the arc.

To access the top, you can climb 284 stairs, or take an elevator part way and then climb 64 stairs.

We visited the rooftop first. Then, on the way down we stopped in a room that housed soldiers' uniforms from different decades. The room was empty and it was a really interesting piece of history. Finally, at the bottom is the the tomb of the unknown soldier and the eternal flame.

Cost €13 for most adults / free for ages 18-25 from European Union

Notre Dame

We visited Paris in 2017, before the devastating fire of 2019. While we're not sure what the future will look like for Notre Dame, but when we visited you could go inside the building or you could get a ticket to walk up top to examine the gargoyles and step inside the bell tower. Even if you cannot visit Notre Dame, we still recommend visiting Ile de la Cité.

Each part of Paris has its own vibe, and the islands in the middle of the Seine are worth seeing if you have time.

The Paris Pass

Is the Paris Pass worth it?

We used the Paris Pass for The Louvre, L’Orangerie, Musée d’Orsay, the Rodin Museum, and The Arc de Triomphe.

As with any pricy purchase, we debated about the worth of the Paris Pass. In the end, we chose to buy it on site near our hotel in the 7th arrondissement. It took less than 5 minutes.

The main reason we chose to buy the pass is that we knew we would not feel bad for only engaging in short visits to the museums or attractions. Also, if it's raining wandering the museums is a great way to spend a day.

Tip: We did not buy ahead because there were added fees and required a specific pick-up place. We did not ship the Paris Pass to our home for the same reasons.

Shopping on the Champs-Elysees

The Champs-Elysees is one of the most famous shopping streets in the world. Since we were on our honey moon, we were on a budget. So, we only made two stops on this street. The first was to H & M to replace my purse which had fallen apart while we were traveling in Iceland the previous week.

The second was to the famous Ladurée for macarons. The macarons at Ladurée are so beautiful that you will feel bad eating them.

Shakespeare & Company: Independent Bookstore

This iconic English-language bookshop on the banks of the Seine has been open since 1951. Shakespeare & Company is a beautiful shop packed with literary classics. If you are a bookstore lover, we highly recommend a stop at this literary treasure. Shakespeare & Company is located across from Notre Dame.

Cafe Culture in Paris

Our days in Paris usually consisted of two touristy places a day, but we rarely spent more than an hour or two at these places. So, in between, we would pop into a cafe for coffee and or lunch. While some people research cafes, we honestly just walked around the city and whenever we were hungry, we found a place to eat. We were never disappointed by the food.

Accommodations in Paris

We enjoyed staying at the Hotel Relais Bosquet in the Rue Cler neighborhood in the 7th arrondissement.

Why we liked this:

- Every morning we could grab a croissant at the local bakery on Rue Cler.

- There were a handful of restaurants open for lunch and dinner nearby.

- We had only a 15-minute walk to the Eiffel Tower.

- It was an easy walk across the bridge to get to many museums, but we were far enough away from the touristy area to have some peace and quiet.

Transportation in Paris

We got around Paris by walking or by taking an Uber/Taxi. Since we stayed in the 7th arrondissement, it was easy to walk to major attractions.

We only used taxis to and from the airport and to the Catacombs.

If you're interested in using public transportation in Paris, here is a great site with more info.

3 days in Paris