We're going to Italy with the extended family next year in the spring. I'm looking at taking the wife and kids (9-18) to Paris as an add on at the end. Wife and two oldest have zero interest in the art and history sadly.

I'm looking at thoughts for suggestions on if you had two days to spend in Paris, probably won't be back for a decade or so, how would you spend it?

Top items on the shared list:

• The Tower

Top on my list:

• Notre Dame
• Versailles
• The Louvre
• The catacombs

Top on wife's list:

• Champs shopping

Kids get little to no say on this. I understand that Versailles is basically and all day thing and that the Louvre should be a full day but could be half. Possible to get Versailles and the Louvre in and still have time for the Tower? Anything I should add to that list?

(Not a big impressionist fan and we have the Kimball which has had a ton of good ones come through, so Orsey is off the list)

We just did Paris…were there for 2 full days and two partial days.

Tower is going to depend on when you can get tickets, and you won't be able to do that until a couple of months in advance.

But, count on 3 hours to get there, stand in line, get to the top, enjoy the view, and get back down.

TakeWalks.com offers a two hour speed tour of the Louvre. It hits the highlights, and their guides are very good. I would recommend that.

We only walked by Notre Dame and didn't go inside.

Two things your kids might enjoy more are a bike tour (we used Fat Tire Bikes, which was great and took about 3 hours) and a cruise along the Seine (about 2 hours).

The good thing about Paris is a lot of these activities (Tower, Seine cruise) you can do at night. Makes for a long day, but gives you more time.

We skipped Versailles. With kids, I would NOT try to do Versailles and Louvre on the same day. That's a lot of travel time, and a lot of history/art.

I'm in Paris with my family now. I highly recommend coming here.

My wife and I came to Paris in 2007, before kids. I really did not want to go. I agreed to because she did an internship here. I really enjoyed it a lot more than I ever expected.

This time I am enjoying it just as much. I like it more than NYC (it feels like merely a big city) and the Euro train network blows away anything we have in the US.

The food is wonderful, getting around is really easy, and I don't speak a lick of French. I'm sure people have muttered rude things to us but if I can't understand it, who cares!?

Lastly, there's another poster on here who's a travel agent, I believe. She recommended a photographer in Paris that we used and they're outstanding!

https://www.floraandrianyphotography.com/

Convince your wife that Paris is worth a visit. She won't regret it!

I was in Paris a couple of months ago. For ND, Louvre, and Versailles, get tickets for the opening, and then arrive well before it opens. It is much more pleasant with fewer people.

For the Lourve and Versailles, by 11 am, it will be tough to move through the various rooms. If you're one of the first through the door, it's awesome.

I thought Paris was great before 11 am, after 11, way too crowded.

Going next year and the catacombs are high on my list too.

Take Walks has a catacombs tour, too. I can't recommend them enough. We've used them in multiple cities, and the guides are always excellent. You won't be disappointed.

Just got back from 2 days in Paris after 7 in Switzerland. We took the train into Paris and had Louvre tickets for a Friday night. It was a breeze and the crowds were not bad at all. We walked straight in and spent a few hours there. A guide on a boat tour mentioned "If you spent 3 seconds on every item in the Louvre it would take 3 days to get thru" so have your priorities in mind.

My son is a history nut and loved Napoleons tomb. We spent about 2 hours there on our way to the tower.

Regarding the tower, if you want to go to the top then make sure you get online as soon as those tickets open and buy them. My wife had the alarm set on her phone and was able to grab them. With those tickets, the entire process of getting thru security, waiting for our time and getting to the top took less than an hour. We spent about an hour between the top and second level.

We left on Bastille day so getting to the airport and thru security via train took about an hour and a half.

With only 2 days, I think you'd want to avoid things that involve standing in line. Sure, you want to see the Eiffel Tower, but there are other views in Paris that don't require as much standing in line, and give you a view that includes the Eiffel Tower. But, if you have to go up it, my advice is only go up to the second level, rather than all the way to the top. That's plenty high (in fact, its a better view).

Do look into when you need to buy timed tickets for these top sites.

Personally, if I was only going to one art museum in Paris, I'd go to see the impressionists at the Musee D'Orsay rather than fight the hordes at the Louvre. It's conveniently close to Les Invalides (the military museum and Napoleon's tomb), and the Eiffel Tower is not too far away. That might make for a better grouping.

How many cathedrals are you going to see in Italy? Post restoration, I understand that the crowds to see Notre Dame are much worse than they used to be. Seeing it from the outside, as part of looking around the Ile de la Cite, and Ile St. Louis (with a trip to Berthillion for ice cream) might be a better use of time than standing in line to see the interior. Go see Sainte-Chapelle instead.

Versailles would take a huge chunk out of one of your two days. It's impressive, but by the end of your trip, I think you might be underwhelmed given the ordeal that will be involved.

If your wife wants to shop on the Champs Elysee, give her a couple of hours to do that while you go to the top of the Arc De Triomphe at the head of the Champs. That's the best view in Paris, for my money.

While I don't disagree the views from the second level are just as good, if not better, if this is a once in a lifetime trip, try to get tickets to the top.

They release additional tickets 3 weeks out, and again a few days before your desired visit. We actually had reservations to the top for 2 different dates. I got tickets for a 9 am trip (right when they open) about 3 weeks out. I went back a few days before our trip (I don't think it was quite a week out) and got evening/sunset tickets. We wound up getting caught in a thunderstorm during the night reservation and the summit was closed. We went to the second level and they refunded the price difference automatically. We went back the next morning and did the summit.

You can do Versailles in half a day, just did it last week. Get there for 10am tour, you'll be out of there and having a great late lunch in a Versailles cafe by 1pm. Then train back to Paris and do whatever you want to do that afternoon/evening. We went to Montmarte that afternoon and stayed until 2am. Montmarte is a must-see. Kids love that area too.

Get Eiffel tickets for later evening. We got 9pm tickets and saw the sunset from the top at 9:55pm. Incredible. Limited lines too at that hour.

Louvre is 3 hours max unless you're into seeing and studying every piece. 3 hours is plenty, that was our guided tour.

Musee D'orsay a great way to cool off in the afternoon for an hour or so, we liked it as much if not more than Louvre.

The best part of Paris is just exploring. Metro super easy to use (feels like you're 20 minutes from everywhere at any time).

Pull up on as many cafes and just people watch and relax.

We are in Paris right now, after going through Italy first. We did the Louvre today, and Musee d'Orsay yesterday. For my family, d'Orsay was the winner hands down. If you're going to museums in Italy first, then I would say it's not even close. We did the Vatican, Academia Gallery, and Uffizi first, and by the time we made it to Paris, we were pretty sick of seeing paintings of "Madonna and Child." At the Louvre, we actually asked our guide to skip over that stuff, which she gladly did because she was also tired of them. The Louvre has so much stuff, it eventually gets to be pretty repetitive, especially if you did Italy museums first. The d'Orsay was completely different, though. It seemed to be primarily post-Renaissance, which at this point was a nice change. We all agreed it's the best Art Museum we've ever been to. Not that we've been to many.

Edit: Meant to add that we did the Louvre in 2:45, which feels about right. It's huge, and there is a ton of stuff, but it's pretty repetitive, so you can breeze through a lot. We saw all the major items. It did take about 20 minutes to get to the front of the Mona Lisa room. I was good seeing it from afar, but my daughter wanted to see it up close. Fighting your way to the front is like fighting your way to to the stage at a rock concert. It was kind of insane.

This was the scene in the Mona Lisa room when we were there a few weeks ago. My daughters were able to stealth sneak up to the front faster than we could.

Depending on where you're staying, traffic will royally suck, especially when trying to take a taxi or Uber. I suggest using the underground trains. download the Citymapper app to help you get around

Go to Notre Dame. Absolutely majestic

Arc de Triumph is a quick visit in center of Champ Elyses. Quick free visit

Versailles is great but it would take an hour to get there and an hour back. Tour itself would take about 3-4 hours, depending if you had a guide and crowds. Skip going to the gardens

Take a river cruise on the Seine. They have times that go late . This is the company I used
https://www.bateaux-mouches.fr/en

Quick desserts to eat (if nearby):

Pierre Herm (several locations) - pastry shop. Get the macaroons. Best you'll ever have

Angelina Paris - another famous pastry shop. Don't stand in long line to be seated. Skip line and walk inside to the to-go section. Hot chocolate is a must

We took our two kids (5 and 8) to Paris for a couple of days as a part of a longer trip last month. It was 102 degrees on one of the days we were there, so the top of the Eiffel Tower was closed... There are definitely other great views of the city, etc. but there's only one experience going up in the Eiffel Tower. Purely comes down to your preference.

For Notre Dame, the lines can get crazy and I'm not sure what the exterior restorations will be like next year, but you can really only get a good view of the front entrance while outside. They release reserved ticket times 2 days in advance, so if you really want to go, I'd suggest getting on there at midnight Paris local time 2 days before you want to visit. We went at 10 AM, which is after the morning mass so you get in before the crowds but after the timing of the early mass. We were in through the reserved line in less than 10 minutes. Highly suggest this route.

Because it was super hot, we went to the Galleries Lafayette for some AC and shopping. The kids really loved the top level terrace with a great view of the city. Maybe not somewhere to go out of the way, but fits a few different needs for shopping, views, etc.

We did a bike tour of Versailles before we had kids and I would also recommend this. It's a decent day trip, so depending on how your think your kids would enjoy it, I'd base my decision somewhat on that. It's a truly cool experience with so much to see, but if you can, do it in a way that isn't just going out there and walking through it. The full grounds are just too big to fully walk through easily.

Enjoy! And expect a strike of some sort... our return flight got cancelled due to Air Traffic Control strikes. Ha

Was in Paris in May. Would only spend max 3 hours in the Louvre. We actually really enjoyed walking down Champs and stepping in some stores, cafes. Notre Dame is pretty neat. I think you can do it without a tour guide. Cruise down the Seine at dusk was nice. We chose to not go up in the tower, but did see it up close. The big park near the Louvre (forget the name) was also nice. Have fun.

akaggie05 said:

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This was the scene in the Mona Lisa room when we were there a few weeks ago. My daughters were able to stealth sneak up to the front faster than we could.

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This right here…….does not appeal to me. Might be skipping it but maybe it's not as bad out of Summer season.