no alt text

Bucket list trip:

Last updated: 04 April, 2024
Expert travel writer: Anna Brooke

Where to go and what to see in Paris – a 6-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Anna Brooke.

Editor’s note – Anna has not included specific recommendations of where to stay each day unless it’s necessary. Instead, see the ‘Where to stay’ section in our Paris destination guide.

Day 1

3

Reserve ahead for the Eiffel Tower. The views are unbeatable, but it’s always busy – so arrive between 9am and 11am when it’s quieter.

Hop on a boat cruise to see the glorious Les Invalides, Orsay Museum and Notre Dame Cathedral unfurl along the Seine. Then meander hilly cobbles around the Pantheon into Saint-Germain-des-Pres for dinner in quintessential La Cremerie (book in advance).

Eiffel Tower

Paris, Ile-de-France, United Kingdom (UK)

|
Bucket List Experience
Landscape view of the Eiffel Tower from across the river on a sunny blue day with large clouds

Gustave Eiffel’s eccentric, iron-clad tower built as a temporary exhibit for the World Fair in 1889, has views all over the city and has become iconic symbol of Paris.

Adult price: £23

Best for ages 4+

Boat tours of Paris

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

|
Bucket List Experience
Boat coming out from under bridge in front of La Conciergerie

Away from the crowds, boat cruises along the Seine are the best way to see the highlights of Paris. Options range from hop on, hop off, to full dining experiences.

Adult price: £15

Best for ages 4+

Duration: 1+ hour

The Pantheon of Paris

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

|
Bucket List Experience
Front view of The Panthéon building during a sunset

Originally an 18th-century church dedicated to Sainte Genevieve, now a grandiose mausoleum housing the tombs of France’s ‘great men and women’, including Voltaire, Hugo, and Marie Curie.

Adult price: £10

Best for ages 18+

Day 2

4

Spend the morning in the Louvre, admiring masterpieces galore including the world-famous Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. If you have time, walk a few minutes to the Orangerie Museum to see Monet’s Water Lilies.

Have lunch along rue Sainte-Anne in the Japanese Quarter, then wander up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe.

End your day with dinner and live music at hip Mondaine or grab a cab for dinner and a cabaret at the iconic Moulin Rouge.

Louvre Museum

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

|
Bucket List Experience
Landscape view of Louvre Museum outside building with the famous glass pyramid structure against a sunny blue day

The world’s most visited museum, a treasure trove of art from around the world. Admire the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and many, many more…

Adult price: £15

Best for ages 13+

Arc de Triomphe

Paris, Ile-de-France , France

|
Bucket List Experience
Aerial view of Arc de Triomphe surrounded by trees and the city of Paris

An ornate, 50m-high arch commissioned by Napoleon to honour fallen French soldiers. Now an iconic Paris landmark.

Best for ages 13+

Orangerie Museum

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

|
Bucket List Experience
A white, curved room with Monet's oversized Water Lilly canvases wrapping around the entire room

A world-class art museum in Napoleon III’s former citrus house, home to Impressionist and modernist artworks, including Monet’s iconic Water Lilies.

Adult price: £8

Best for ages 18+

Moulin Rouge

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

Front view of the Moulin Rouge on a evening with bright neon red lights and a long queue

A long-running, extravagant, colourful cabaret featuring dancers and courtesans has been thrilling Parisian audiences since 1889. See the incomparable Can Can – the enigmatic dance that’s its greatest claim to fame.

Adult price: £74

Min age 6

Best for ages 10+

Duration: 2-4 hours

When: Daily

Frequency: daily

Day 3

1

Rise early to take RER C to the magnificent Palace of Versailles. Reserve a guided tour and you’ll skip the waiting lines. Have lunch in Ore, famed chef Alain Ducasse’s café inside the palace.

Then spend the afternoon in the sweeping gardens. Its ornate fountains come alive with music during the warmer months.

Palace of Versailles

Versailles, Ile-de-France, France

|
Bucket List Experience
The Royal Court in front of Palace of Versailles with tourists on site and a striking half blue sky with white clouds

Ornate, opulent and entirely over-the-top, the Palace of Versailles is one of the world’s most lavish royal residences, with glorious gardens to explore alongside the gold-coated interiors.

Adult price: £18

Best for ages 13+

Day 4

4

Take the funicular up Montmartre’s hillside to the Sacre Coeur Basilica. The view from its base is stunning, but for wider cityscapes, climb to the top of its dome.

Stop by Le Coq & Fils for superb roast chicken, then wander through touristy Place du Tertre to Dali Paris for surrealist art without the crowds or the old-world Montmartre Museum.

End your day with dinner and can-can at the Moulin Rouge cabaret.

Montmartre & the Sacre-Coeur Basilica

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

|
Bucket List Experience
A street view of the different stalls along the road

Sitting atop Paris’s highest hill, this picturesque village-within-a-city has a long and rich artistic history, a wonderfully bohemian atmosphere and a striking Basilica.

Best for ages 13+

Duration: 1 day

Basilica of the Sacre-Coeur de Montmartre

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

View of the Sacre-Coeur from the bottom of the balcony on a sunny cloudy day

The sugary-white domed church of Sacre-Coeur crowns Montmartre. Built in 1914, the interior is a feast of glittering neo-Byzantine mosaics.

Best for ages 18+

Website >
More details >

Dali Museum, Paris

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

A front view of the entrance to Dali museum. The museum name is displayed on a black shop banner and there is a squared window with artwork displayed

Montmarte museum dedicated to the surrealist Salvador Dali, displaying over 300 of his works. Dali lived and painted in Paris for many years.

Adult price: £8

Best for ages 18+

Moulin Rouge

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

Front view of the Moulin Rouge on a evening with bright neon red lights and a long queue

A long-running, extravagant, colourful cabaret featuring dancers and courtesans has been thrilling Parisian audiences since 1889. See the incomparable Can Can – the enigmatic dance that’s its greatest claim to fame.

Adult price: £74

Min age 6

Best for ages 10+

Duration: 2-4 hours

When: Daily

Frequency: daily

Day 5

4

Begin your art-themed day with coffee amid the galleries of pink-bricked Place des Vosges in the Marais, home to Victor Hugo’s House.

Then choose the Picasso Museum, for iconic painting and sculpture, or 18th-century art in the chocolate-box Cognacq-Jay.

Finally, head to the modern art-filled Centre Pompidou, with dinner at Georges on the rooftop.

Picasso Museum, Paris

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

|
Bucket List Experience
A front view of the Picasso Museum building and entrance on a sunny blue day

One of the world’s most important Picasso museums, highlighting the artist’s prolific career and his own collection of art in a sumptuous 17th-century mansion.

Adult price: £12

Best for ages 18+

Cognacq-Jay Museum

Paris, IIe-de-France, France

Wagram Room at Musee Cognacq-Jay, filled with wooden polished furniture , paintings on each wall and a chandelier in the centre

Set in the old Hotel Donon, this museum houses a collection of 18th-century art and decorative arts collected by a department store mogul. An insight into the elegance and opulence of the French Enlightenment era.

Best for ages 18+

Website >
More details >

Day 6

3

Make this your history-themed day, with joint tickets to La Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle, dripping in Medieval and Revolutionary history (reserve a morning time slot). Next meander the winding Latin Quarter to the Museum of the Middle Ages, which also houses Roman ruins.

Dine on award-winning food at Auberge Nicolas Flamel, set in the house of a 15th-century alchemist (reserve ahead).

La Conciergerie

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

|
Bucket List Experience
Landscape view of La Conciergerie building from across the river on a sunny blue day

This vast Medieval palace was most famous as the ‘antechamber to the guillotine’ in the French Revolution. Three thousand prisoners were convicted here, including France’s last queen Marie Antoinette.

Adult price: £10

Best for ages 13+

Sainte-Chapelle

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

internal view showing extraordinary stained glass windows

Paris’ most exquisite Gothic monument was built by Louis IX in 1248 to house his collection of Passion relics, including Christ’s Crown of Thorns (now at Notre-Dame Cathedral). It has one of the most extensive 13th-century stained-glass collections anywhere in the world.

Min age 2

Best for ages 13+

Website >
More details >

Museum of the Middle Ages

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

Exterior view of a decorative building in golden stone

A museum dedicated to life in the Middle Ages, set in one of Paris’ oldest and finest medieval buildings. Home to the world-famous 15th-century La Dame a la Licorne tapestry.

Adult price: £4

Best for ages 13+