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Paris On your Own in Half a Day


Pet72Vet
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We recently cruised to Le Havre where the cruise line offered bus transport to and from Paris such that, once in Paris, you were on your own. We came up with the following itinerary (a combination of walking and metro) which allowed us to visit the major tourist attractions in Paris. This itinerary requires 3 1/2-4 hours during which time you will be "on the move." It does not allow for any inside visits, but rather just photo stops. Wanted to share for anyone else who might be interested. Since this might have been our one and only opportunity to see Paris, we wanted to fit in as many tourist attractions possible in the least amount of time. We saw Place de la Concorde, Hotel de Ville, Notre Dame, Saint Sulpice, Les Invalides (Location of Tomb of Napoleon), Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysses, Louvre and Jardin de Tuileries. This is Paris "on the fly" in a "nutshell" and will only be enjoyed by others who are "like-minded."

 









METRO OPTION FOR PARIS


 

[10 Ticket (carnet “stack” of tickets) Metro Purchase ≈ 14.50€ available for purchase near turnstiles in Metro stations – exactly the right number of tickets for two for the following metro itinerary. You will also need a street map of Paris which identifies the location of the metro stops. This option worked perfectly to view major tourist attractions in an approximate 4 hour time span provided you are “on the move”]

 

1. From Cours la Reine to Notre Dame, get on M1 at either Champs-Elysses-Clemenceau OR Place de la Concorde. Get off at Hotel de Ville station and walk across bridge to Notre Dame Cathedral.

 

2. After Notre Dame, walk back away from the Notre Dame a short distance to get on M4 line at Saint- Michel-Notre-Dame toward Odeon and Saint-Sulpice.

 

3. Get off M4 at Saint-Sulpice

 

4. After Saint-Sulpice, walk to M10 line at Sevres-Babylone Station. Get on M10 at Sevres-Babylone Station toward Duroc Station

 

5. Change to M13 line at Duroc Station toward Saint-Francois-Xavier station

 

6. Get off at Saint-Francois-Xavier station and walk north on Boulevard des Invalides to Les Invalides (Military Museum and Napoleon’s Tomb)

 

7. Walk from Les Invalides to Eiffel Tower

 

8. Leave Eiffel Tower via Quai Branly to the Bir Hakeim M6 station on Boulevard de Grenelle. The station is just south of Quai Branly (away from the River Seine)

 

9. Get on M6 at Bir Hakeim station and get off at Charles de Gaulle Etoile for Arc de Triumphe.

 

10. Get on M1 at Charles de Gaulle and get off M1 at Champs-Elysses-Clemenceau to return on foot to Cours la Reine. Alternatively, get off M1 at Tuileries to view the gardens next to the Louvre and return on foot to Cours la Reine.

 

 

Hope others find this "on your own" itinerary to be helpful with their planning. Kind regards.




 

 

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Thanks for sharing your "do it yourself" half day Paris metro sightseeing tour, it's wonderful! I've spent I don't know how many days/weeks in Paris and don't think I could have come up with something this easy myself but then I've not been under this much of a time constraint. You've proven it can be done PLUS you used the local transit which helps give the experience of what it's like to spend more time in Paris being among the locals etc rather than just seeing it all perched from a sightseeing bus (absolutely nothing wrong with that - I've done it in Berlin and London) which I think maybe doesn't offer the best opportunity to see Paris.

 

There's just something to being on the metro, walking around the streets to and from the stations and viewing the landmarks - don't forget to maybe pop into a boulangerie and grab some bread to nibble on along the way - that makes one feel and experience Paris in a way that gives one a sense what all the painters, writers, and the world have all been drawn to for centuries.

 

It's great to hear you had a seamless and pleasant experience using the metro and got to see so many of the best attractions in Paris, thank you again for sharing your itinerary with everyone here on our France board. :)

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  • 1 month later...

You missed Sacre Coeur. And I did almost the same in the same amount of time but just with walking and without taking any Metro.

 

Started at Montparnasse and went up the Tower, walked trough the "Jardin (Garden) of Luxembourg", across the Notre-Dame and the City-Hall (Hotel de Ville), went for a short dinner, came across the Centre Pompidou and walked into the courtyard of the Louvre and the Tuileries, Place de Concorde and finally along the River Seine to the Eiffel Tower and back to Gare Montparnasse. And all that also within less than 4 hours. Probably with a 30 min detour I could have made it to the Arc de Triomphe as well.

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You missed Sacre Coeur. And I did almost the same in the same amount of time but just with walking and without taking any Metro.

 

Started at Montparnasse and went up the Tower, walked trough the "Jardin (Garden) of Luxembourg", across the Notre-Dame and the City-Hall (Hotel de Ville), went for a short dinner, came across the Centre Pompidou and walked into the courtyard of the Louvre and the Tuileries, Place de Concorde and finally along the River Seine to the Eiffel Tower and back to Gare Montparnasse. And all that also within less than 4 hours. Probably with a 30 min detour I could have made it to the Arc de Triomphe as well.

Ambitious walk...but you missed Arc de Triomphe, Saint Sulpice and Les Invalides (where Napoleon's Tomb is located). One definitely has to limit sights and choose carefully what to include in a 4 hour sight-seeing adventure.

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Thanks for sharing this.

 

Just came home a couple of weeks ago from a week in Paris.

 

Keith

Envious of your week in Paris...you didn't have to take in the sights "on the fly." Hope you had a wonderful time!

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Thank you for sharing this detailed information.

You are most welcome. Hope you find it to be a useful itinerary...you can certainly choose to modify it to fit the sights you might choose to visit. Happy travels!

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  • 7 months later...

Reading the OP's post made me a bit sad. Paris is DW's favorite city in the world and in my own top 5. I cannot imagine running through Paris to take photos (there are millions of photos of Paris in books and on the web) while missing Paris! Seeing Paris through a viewfinder will get you the same as looking at a picture book. I say this having spent many weeks in Paris. I started thinking what we love about Paris and it probably has to do more with the overall atmosphere, amazing food, good wine, some of the best museums on earth, and a lot more. Sure, you can take a picture of the Musee d'Orsay from the outside and you will have a picture of an old train station converted to a fantastic museum. But unless you go inside you are not going to see the Monets, Manets, Degas, and even Whistlers Mother! The Louvre is a huge building from the outside (you would need an aerial photo to get a shot of the entire outside, but inside resided one of the best art collections on earth. Notre Dame is beautiful from outside, but you can only see the flying buttresses if you go inside and start climbing :). Monet's Water Lilly murals in the Orangerie are unique (and a wonder of the art world) and you cannot possibly photograph this from the park outside (I guess you could borrow an art book from your local library and photograph the appropriate pages. And you could walk by cafes and take pictures of people relaxing with wonderful food and drink....but that would be a darn shame.

 

I guess you could do the same with Europe and take a bus tour where you never leave the bus. Just press your lens up against the window and photograph Europe as you drive through multiple countries. That will get you many more "shots" then walking :(.

 

Hank

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Reading the OP's post made me a bit sad. Paris is DW's favorite city in the world and in my own top 5. I cannot imagine running through Paris to take photos (there are millions of photos of Paris in books and on the web) while missing Paris! Seeing Paris through a viewfinder will get you the same as looking at a picture book. I say this having spent many weeks in Paris. I started thinking what we love about Paris and it probably has to do more with the overall atmosphere, amazing food, good wine, some of the best museums on earth, and a lot more. Sure, you can take a picture of the Musee d'Orsay from the outside and you will have a picture of an old train station converted to a fantastic museum. But unless you go inside you are not going to see the Monets, Manets, Degas, and even Whistlers Mother! The Louvre is a huge building from the outside (you would need an aerial photo to get a shot of the entire outside, but inside resided one of the best art collections on earth. Notre Dame is beautiful from outside, but you can only see the flying buttresses if you go inside and start climbing :). Monet's Water Lilly murals in the Orangerie are unique (and a wonder of the art world) and you cannot possibly photograph this from the park outside (I guess you could borrow an art book from your local library and photograph the appropriate pages. And you could walk by cafes and take pictures of people relaxing with wonderful food and drink....but that would be a darn shame.

 

I guess you could do the same with Europe and take a bus tour where you never leave the bus. Just press your lens up against the window and photograph Europe as you drive through multiple countries. That will get you many more "shots" then walking :(.

 

Hank

We are visiting Paris this summer for the first time in almost 25 years, we were just teens when we visited the first time and we can’t wait to return and appreciate it with a little more maturity 😱.

Hank would it be possible to email you to ask you a couple of questions about this and some other advice based on your amazing experience?

My email is

Jamesamcauliffe at gmaildotcom No spaces

Kind regards

James

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Reading the OP's post made me a bit sad. Paris is DW's favorite city in the world and in my own top 5. I cannot imagine running through Paris to take photos (there are millions of photos of Paris in books and on the web) while missing Paris! Seeing Paris through a viewfinder will get you the same as looking at a picture book. I say this having spent many weeks in Paris. I started thinking what we love about Paris and it probably has to do more with the overall atmosphere, amazing food, good wine, some of the best museums on earth, and a lot more. Sure, you can take a picture of the Musee d'Orsay from the outside and you will have a picture of an old train station converted to a fantastic museum. But unless you go inside you are not going to see the Monets, Manets, Degas, and even Whistlers Mother! The Louvre is a huge building from the outside (you would need an aerial photo to get a shot of the entire outside, but inside resided one of the best art collections on earth. Notre Dame is beautiful from outside, but you can only see the flying buttresses if you go inside and start climbing :). Monet's Water Lilly murals in the Orangerie are unique (and a wonder of the art world) and you cannot possibly photograph this from the park outside (I guess you could borrow an art book from your local library and photograph the appropriate pages. And you could walk by cafes and take pictures of people relaxing with wonderful food and drink....but that would be a darn shame.

 

I guess you could do the same with Europe and take a bus tour where you never leave the bus. Just press your lens up against the window and photograph Europe as you drive through multiple countries. That will get you many more "shots" then walking :(.

 

Hank

 

 

 

Sorry Hank I just realised I gave you the wrong email address, it should read

Jamesamcauliffe74 at gmaildotcom

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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Thank you Pet72Vet for such a detailed tour of Paris. Thank you for your time in posting. Great information.

 

Sandra

You are most welcome, Sandra. Some seem to have misinterpreted the intent of my post in this thread. We were limited to 4 hours in Paris for an on your own cruise ship excursion...and, yes, while we would love to have had a more in depth experience with inside visits to museums, cathedrals, cultural centers, etc., we recognized it was simply not a possibility with the limited time available. For our purposes, the best we could do was make the most of our time by at least seeing, in person for ourselves, as many attractions as possible in that half day time slot. Is it the best way to see Paris? Absolutely not; but we may never get to Paris, again, and we wanted to at least see the attractions listed in my original post. If we do get to Paris again, it will, hopefully, be for several days or even a week or more to enjoy a more in depth experience. However, with a half day time constraint, one cannot do justice to even a single Paris attraction, in depth....so yes, Paris was a series of photo ops, but the results are our photos, with our composition, and not photos taken by others. Yes, anyone can look at picture books, photos on the web, and tour the world on YouTube; but that is not the same as being there and seeing the sights with your own eyes. The post was simply intended to help others navigate Paris and some of its attractions without having to do the research; and I stand by my original post for anyone with similar time constraints who wish to see Paris attractions on their own in half a day. Hope it will continue to be helpful to you and others whose circumstances might be similar to ours. Kindest regards.

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Sorry Hank I just realised I gave you the wrong email address, it should read

Jamesamcauliffe74 at gmaildotcom

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Appreciate your comments. But rather than trying to help folks via private e-mails we believe on airing out all kinds of issues here on CC (guess you could say I am a big fan of CC). The reason is two fold. If I give you bad advice, others here on CC will keep me honest :). And the other more important reason is that if you post your questions and concerns you should get several different responses which go to giving you a very balanced view point. For example, if I were to post that we do not like using Hop on Hop off buses...there would be plenty of others who would take us to task and say how much they love using HoHo buses. or...if I said that the Musee d'Orsay is our favorite and the best museum in Paris we would quickly get "beat up" by others who would want to talk about The Louvre, Rodin, Pompidou, etc.

 

The beauty of the CC format is that the Mods allow for a free exchange of information. I even love being proven wrong....and it has happened here on CC many times :). For example, I have often given credit to "Euro Cruiser" for having changed my mind about Naples, Italy. And as to Paris, it was because of a post here on CC (many years ago), that DW and I decided to rent a Paris apartment in St Germain des Pres...instead of our old favorite area near the Latin Quarter.

 

Hank

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Pet72Vet, I did not mean to come off as being critical...which is why I started my post with the comment that your plans made me a "bit sad." We would definitely agree that 4 hours in Paris (doing just about anything) is better then not having 4 hours in Paris :). If my post encourages a few others to re think their plans and somehow spend more time in this wonderful city, then that would make me smile :). Like you, my first visit to Paris happened (about thirty years ago) on a 1 day cruise excursion from Le Havre. It turned out to be a game changer for DW and myself as we realized that as much as we loved European cruises (we still do) it was not a very good way to see and experience much of Europe. This has led to more than 3 decades of extensive travel (both land and sea) including lots of quality time in France.

 

One suggestion we have posted (several times) is that cruisers that have Le Havre near the end of their cruise (this is common with cruises that end in England) consider disembarking a day early (you can get permission from most cruise lines for this) and then take the train to Paris for a few days (or longer). There are lots of possibilities for combining a cruise with some land (either pre or post cruise) and it is a great way to take advantage of the fact that one happens to be in Europe...so why not enjoy some quality time on land. Or course this has to be reconciled with budget and time restrictions....but its fruit for thought.

 

Hank

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Appreciate your comments. But rather than trying to help folks via private e-mails we believe on airing out all kinds of issues here on CC (guess you could say I am a big fan of CC). The reason is two fold. If I give you bad advice, others here on CC will keep me honest :). And the other more important reason is that if you post your questions and concerns you should get several different responses which go to giving you a very balanced view point. For example, if I were to post that we do not like using Hop on Hop off buses...there would be plenty of others who would take us to task and say how much they love using HoHo buses. or...if I said that the Musee d'Orsay is our favorite and the best museum in Paris we would quickly get "beat up" by others who would want to talk about The Louvre, Rodin, Pompidou, etc.

 

 

 

The beauty of the CC format is that the Mods allow for a free exchange of information. I even love being proven wrong....and it has happened here on CC many times :). For example, I have often given credit to "Euro Cruiser" for having changed my mind about Naples, Italy. And as to Paris, it was because of a post here on CC (many years ago), that DW and I decided to rent a Paris apartment in St Germain des Pres...instead of our old favorite area near the Latin Quarter.

 

 

 

Hank

 

 

 

Completely understand Hank, I will come back with questions on Paris specifically. My other questions were around TA’s. I have seen you mention how many cruises you have taken and sometimes prices so I did want to compare notes on TA’s especially as we not American. My understanding is this is against forum rules. If you are happy to share that knowledge please email but if not I completely understand.

Regards

James

 

 

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Yep, you are right about TAs and we do follow the rules :). We do have our own favorite Cruise Agencies but they all have a few things in common. They are very reputable high volume cruise agencies with decent web sites and phone numbers that are actually answered :). Over the decades we have learned that things are always changing....and so are cruise agencies. My suggestion (posted many times) is that cruisers do a little on line due diligence, and then register their e-mail (or create a new e-mail just for this purpose) with multiple agencies so you get access to their special deals...which cannot always be advertised on the web. If you know a cruise you want to book, spend an hour shopping around among a few of these reputable agencies as everyone usually has their own deals. As a rule we book with whoever gives us the best overall deal.

 

I would add that we only deal with reputable agencies where cruise payments are processed by the cruise line (this is now the norm). We generally expect to save 7-10% (versus what it costs by booking directly with a line) by shopping around....when factoring-in amenities such as On Board Credits (OBCs). We know that there are some fans of the various "big box" stores...but we have never tried using any of those companies. But they certainly are an option one can explore and use for price comparisons.

 

Over the years we have gotten into some online "discussions" with those who believe there are advantages to booking direct with a cruise line. Personally, having booked far more than 100 cruises (some quite long and expensive) we have never, ever...found an advantage to booking direct with one exception. There is sometimes a good reason to book a future cruise (while aboard a cruise) and later transfer the booking to a cruise agent. The few times we have done this we have actually shopping our reservation around (among a few of our favorite cruise agencies) to see who would give us the best financial "enchancements" to our existing booking. We recently did this with a 38 day HAL cruise, and saved over $1000 by simply transferring our reservation to one of our favorite cruise agents. We booked that particular cruise, while aboard another HAL cruise, because of a special promotion offered by the cruise line (at the time).

 

Hank

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Thanks Hank,

Appreciate your advice on how you shop for cruises. I will try and your follow your advice, not sure what a black box is - I assume a non specific cruise site.

Is there some way of knowing which agencies payments are processed by the cruise line? In Australia it is a completely different system.

 

 

 

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In 2013 we sailed on the Spirit from Venice to Barcelona and loved it immensely. It gave us the opportunity to see where we would like to come back for a more in-depth stay. We capped our trip off with two weeks in Paris because I have always dreamed of going there. It did not disappoint, and remains my favorite city on earth. This summer we will return to spend more time in Rome, explore more cruise ports in the Adriatic, and yes we will return to Paris for a week because we cannot bear to be so close and not go. Any time you can spend there is time well spent, and you will likely find that you will return because it is indeed that magical.

 

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-AL00 using Forums mobile app

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You are most welcome, Sandra. Some seem to have misinterpreted the intent of my post in this thread. We were limited to 4 hours in Paris for an on your own cruise ship excursion...and, yes, while we would love to have had a more in depth experience with inside visits to museums, cathedrals, cultural centers, etc., we recognized it was simply not a possibility with the limited time available. For our purposes, the best we could do was make the most of our time by at least seeing, in person for ourselves, as many attractions as possible in that half day time slot. Is it the best way to see Paris? Absolutely not; but we may never get to Paris, again, and we wanted to at least see the attractions listed in my original post. If we do get to Paris again, it will, hopefully, be for several days or even a week or more to enjoy a more in depth experience. However, with a half day time constraint, one cannot do justice to even a single Paris attraction, in depth....so yes, Paris was a series of photo ops, but the results are our photos, with our composition, and not photos taken by others. Yes, anyone can look at picture books, photos on the web, and tour the world on YouTube; but that is not the same as being there and seeing the sights with your own eyes. The post was simply intended to help others navigate Paris and some of its attractions without having to do the research; and I stand by my original post for anyone with similar time constraints who wish to see Paris attractions on their own in half a day. Hope it will continue to be helpful to you and others whose circumstances might be similar to ours. Kindest regards.

 

I also want to thank you for the time and effort you took to detail your visit. It was clearly meant to benefit others. Some just feel the need to criticize. I took notes for my visit to Paris. Merci! :)

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  • 3 weeks later...
I also want to thank you for the time and effort you took to detail your visit. It was clearly meant to benefit others. Some just feel the need to criticize. I took notes for my visit to Paris. Merci! :)

You are most welcome!

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Thanks for sharing! I’ll use this information for my upcoming cruise. While I’ve been to Paris before and visited all the major attractions, my parents will be seeing Paris for the first time. This guide will help maximize our short time in the city.

You are welcome. Pleased the information will be if benefit to you and your parents. Have a great cruise!

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