Can you visit Paris in only 3 days?
I will say no at first but then I’ll say yes…with a twist. It all started when my dad got me 3 books for my 14th birthday. One of them is Anna and the French kiss. I particularly liked reading that book as its story was really captivating and the descriptions of the places in Paris were lovely. Check this map to see the exact locations. And when my dad asked me where we should travel this year, you can guess what I said. We first went to Bulgaria for a week, and now we were heading to Paris for 3 days. Fast forward to the time of the vacation, we visited multiple iconic streets, cafés, places and monuments such as:
Arc de Triomphe
The entrance was wonderfully organized, with multiple entrances, one of them being a tunnel that would go under the boulevard. If you think the Arc de Triomphe looks big from the outside, I assure you, it will seem even more massive when you’re visiting the inside. The stairs were going up like spirals so when you’d look up, it seemed never ending. And the only elevator was only used for staff members. So when you visit it, make sure that you’re in a good physical condition. As for the view, it was excellent, it was also overseeing Champs Élysées. We were there during the day, but if you have the chance, I recommend that you visit it at night so you can see all the city lights from above. I think the ticket was around 12 euros.
Atelier des Lumières
It was a very profound experience with a “chill” and lonely atmosphere. Not to mention that the music choice was great. When we went, it was a Van Gogh exposition. His paintings were all projected on the walls, ceiling and floor by a light projector and they would constantly change. It lasted for about 30 minutes. After that we went into a small studio/room that was in the same building. It was the same principle but on the universe and the planets instead ex: complex explosions… It was an overall very charming and special experience 🙂
Eiffel Tower
The tower had 3 floors and the bottom of it, there was a vintage carousel and a big water fountain. To go to the top, you could take the stairs or the elevator. At the summit, it was surprisingly very chilly and windy but the view was fabulous. It was everything I imagined and more. While being there, they gave out small glasses of champagne for 15 euros. There was also a restaurant on the second floor and some souvenir shops. We bought a few keychains and magnets for the fridge since they were really cute. To get to the tower, there were some pretty big waiting lines (even if you had the “skip the line” ticket, which we did, you still had to wait in line) and it was very crowded inside the tower. Eiffel Tower was a people magnet but it truly was a must see.
The Louvre Museum
We stayed at least one hour in line even though we had the “skip the line” ticket. There was an infernal line dedicated to people who also bought the same ticket as us. Someone from the staff told us that the museum has 17 kilometres of corridors. And when you went in, there was another massive line to go see La Jaconde. When we finally got to the painting, we had a few seconds and then we were being rushed again to move as the line had to keep going forward hahaha. But apart from the wait times, this museum was absolutely fabulous. I was fascinated by all the beautiful art and history so cautiously kept ex: paintings, statues, especially when I saw some paintings that I had seen before hand in my history books at school.
Luxembourg gardens
We had lunch there (from La Brioche Dorée) : baguette sandwiches with macaroons. It was gorgeous. There were so many cute groups of pigeons. There was an immense water fountain and a pond, so much green space with benches and so many beautiful flowers. We also saw some ponies, I think it was an activity for kids or something 😀 The gardens had a very peaceful atmosphere with people chilling on the grass and benches while reading, eating or simply hanging out with friends
Montparnasse Tower
We first thought that this tower was situated on Montmartre because of its name but we later realized that we got mixed. But the view was non the less superb. What we could have done since we had already seen Paris from above (I’m talking about our time at Arc De Triomphe and Eiffel Tower), was to go to this tower at night, so we could experience Paris from the heights, when it’s dark. I’m sure that would be even more charming.
Cathedral Notre Dame
Sadly because of the fire, there were thick fences that weren’t see through all around the Cathedral as it was and still is in construction. I was heartbroken when I found out that I couldn’t make a wish on “Point Zero”, the point where it all started, which is at the steps of Notre Dame aka: unreachable at the moment being. Putting that aside, we walked around it, and the view from la Seine was marvellous, especially with the sunset. In five years, when the constructions will hopefully be over, it will definitely be worth seeing again, and from the inside this time 🙂
Opéra Garnier
The architecture of this building, both inside and outside was breathtaking. From ancient books and scripts to old paintings and statues, this opera truly lived up to its name. When you went in, the entry was grandiose and there was an audio guide that you could borrow, in English and French that explained the history behind this building’s masterpieces. There were many rooms ex. for: the opera, the theatre… and there were so many balconies overseeing everything. There were old and beautiful chandeliers which really added to the mood with their soft dim light. It was magical. Next time I visit, it would be nice to see an opera or a theatre piece 🙂
The Pantheon
It was impressive and the columns were so grandiose. All the sculptures and carvings and details were lovely. When we saw it, we were just passing by as we were hurrying to go see the Eiffel Tower because we had a ticket, and the gates around it were also closed so we couldn’t visit the crypts where it is said that great men in history are resting. The Pantheon is absolutely worth seeing especially for it’s architecture and history when it’s open to the public. You cannot miss it when you pass by as you can feel it’s presence.
Le Pont des Arts
The lovers bridge. It’s ambiance is like no other, very melancholic and friendly with a romantic atmosphere. There are benches you can sit on while listening to musicians play love songs on the guitar and while admiring La Seine River. Sadly, I believe that they started removing the love locks from the bridge as they were probably too heavy and would have made the bridge collapse around 2015. I really wished to see that iconic aspect before it was removed but non the less, the bridge was fantastic. Now you can find some locks in other places, like on street lanterns, hanging by lock cables from bikes, and some close to the Eiffel Tower also.
La Seine River
We went on a “Bateau Mouche”. We chose to go to the back of the boat and we were very lucky to have gone while it was the sunset because everything looked much more charming and it was not crowded at all in the back, since everyone was on the second level of the boat, which was so pleasing. While passing under different bridges, facts and information about each one were shared from the speakers on the boat. With our ticket, two sandwiches and one drink were included. We also passed by the Louvre Museum, Pont des Arts, Pont Alexandre III, and the Eiffel Tower, which was extraordinary to see at night. I think the promenade lasted for about an hour 🙂
Fly over Paris 360*
For this, you would stand in a sort of metal structure that would represent a jet pack and you’d wear virtual glasses. Then the “jet pack” would start moving and you’d see a recording made by a drone as if you were the one flying. Although the video wasn’t always the clearest, some details were really nice to see from above, like the top of the Eiffel Tower. When we went, there was a power outage in the whole building, so we had to go back the next day. At the end, there was a kind of photo booth where you could add Paris attractions like Notre Dame Cathedral in the background, and it was really fun.
Catacombs
We arrived late for our visit but we had the “skip the line” ticket and the staff was so nice that they literally let us skip the whole extremely long line and go right in. It was pretty chilly being so underground, and it was definitely overwhelming to say the least when seeing all those skulls from numerous different cemeteries and prisons, especially considering that the pathway was quite long, so just take a moment to imagine. There was also an audio guide headset that explained everything on our path so it was captivating to hear about what was going on back then. It was a very dark and profound yet interesting experience.
I truly loved this trip. So much that I even tried to convince my dad to move there hahah so I can visit Paris more often. *Still working on it 😉 * The people there, that I interacted with in French were so nice and helpful and a majority of them knew English as well.
I must say that at times it was very crowded. Every time we were trying to take a picture, everyone would walk into the shot, talking on the phone hahaha it was a bit of madness. The metro stations were absolutely beautiful. Never in my life did I think that I would enjoy taking the metro this much, mainly because of all the art ex: statues, paintings that were exposed in the stations. One con was that you couldn’t pay with the phone to buy a ticket so you had to have cash on you at all times. But it was very cheap. Pro tip: when leaving the airport to go to your hotel, don’t take those busses that cost like 36 euros and use the RER instead (we only learned about RERs when it was time to leave), it’s much much cheaper. I think it was around 2 euros per person :).
My intelligent watch showed me that me and my dad I both made around 22 km each day. We had planned to visit numerous locations, and I must admit that we had managed to see a lot of them. It was exhausting but it was more than worth it! For the locations that we didn’t have time to go to, it’s okay, next time we’ll see them for sure, be ready dad ;D
But to answer the question at the beginning: No you definitely can’t see absolutely everything in Paris in only 3 days, but don’t let them discourage you because yes, you can still see quite a number of things that you had in your initial plan 🙂 So go for it!
