Paris Map and planner Guide Routes ENFR

Paris in five days

A fuller first visit: the island, the Louvre, the Left Bank, Montmartre and Versailles.

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Square du Vert-Galant
Photograph: Inocybe - Piero d'Houin / CC BY-SA 3.0

Day 1

Starts from Central Paris (Châtelet) · 6h 40m at the sights, 35m travelling · 3.7 km

Areas: Île de la Cité, 1st arrondissement

  1. Square du Vert-Galant — The willow-shaded prow at the western tip of the island (25m)
  2. Sainte-Chapelle — Fifteen windows of thirteenth-century glass in a single upper room (45m)
  3. Conciergerie — The medieval royal palace that became the Revolution's prison (1h)
  4. Notre-Dame de Paris — The Gothic cathedral on the Île de la Cité, reopened after the 2019 fire (1h)
  5. Louvre — The largest art museum on earth, in a palace, behind a glass pyramid (3h 30m)

Day 2

Starts from Central Paris (Châtelet) · 6h 30m at the sights, 44m travelling · 4.6 km

Areas: 1st arrondissement, Tuileries, 7th arrondissement

  1. Tuileries Garden — The formal garden between the Louvre and the Concorde (45m)
  2. Place de la Concorde — The largest square in Paris, with an Egyptian obelisk at its centre (30m)
  3. Musée de l'Orangerie — Monet's Water Lilies in two oval rooms built for them (1h 15m)
  4. Musée d'Orsay — Impressionism in a converted railway station, under the great clock (2h 30m)
  5. Musée Rodin — The Thinker and the Gates of Hell in a mansion with a sculpture garden (1h 30m)

Day 3

Starts from Central Paris (Châtelet) · 6h 45m at the sights, 1h 24m travelling · 19 km

Areas: 7th arrondissement, Champ-de-Mars, 16th arrondissement, 14th arrondissement, Montmartre

  1. Les Invalides — The gilded dome over Napoleon's tomb, and the army museum beneath (2h)
  2. Eiffel Tower — Gustave Eiffel's 330-metre iron tower, the one unmistakable thing on the skyline (2h)
  3. Place du Trocadéro — The terrace that frames the Eiffel Tower across the river (30m)
  4. Catacombs of Paris — Twenty metres down, the bones of six million Parisians, stacked (1h 15m)
  5. Sacré-Cœur, Paris — The white basilica on the butte, and the best free view in the city (1h)

Day 4

Starts from Central Paris (Châtelet) · 7h 15m at the sights, 1h 03m travelling · 10 km

Areas: Montmartre, Pigalle, Opéra, Beaubourg, Le Marais

  1. Place du Tertre — The small square behind Sacré-Cœur, full of portrait painters (30m)
  2. Moulin Rouge — The red windmill on the Boulevard de Clichy, open since 1889 (30m)
  3. Palais Garnier — Garnier's opera house, all marble staircase, gold and Chagall ceiling (1h 15m)
  4. Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann — A department store under a 1912 stained-glass dome (1h)
  5. Centre Pompidou — Modern art behind the inside-out pipes of Rogers and Piano (2h)
  6. Musée Carnavalet — The history of Paris itself, free, in two Marais mansions (2h)

Day 5

Starts from Central Paris (Châtelet) · 6h 30m at the sights, 1h 13m travelling · 25 km

Areas: Le Marais, 4th arrondissement, Versailles

  1. Musée Picasso — The largest Picasso collection anywhere, in a Marais mansion (1h 30m)
  2. Place des Vosges — The oldest planned square in Paris, arcaded in red brick (30m)
  3. Hôtel de Ville, Paris — The city hall, rebuilt after the Commune in exuberant Renaissance revival (30m)
  4. Palace of Versailles — Louis XIV's palace, the Hall of Mirrors and the gardens behind it (4h)