As the summer came to an end, it was time for another short vacation to help me out with the fall nostalgia. The city of love awaited for me with the perfect weather and the most beautiful sightseeing, Audrey Hepburn couldn’t be more right when saying that “Paris is always a good idea”.
I flew to the smaller airport called Beauvais, this is around 90km away from Paris, but the buses are leaving every 20 minutes and the drive was around 1h and 15 minutes. The bus stopped at Porte Maillot, from where we took the metro to get to our accommodation. The public transport is very well connected, so make sure you purchase the correct type of pass. I did a little bit of documentation before going and I found out that I can make a regular pass for a week for all lines and zones with 27euros + 5 euros for the photo taken in the photo booth(careful with that, it receives money but it doesn’t give change and I ended up losing 5 euros). If you choose to go for the tourist pass, you will end up paying around 68 euros for 5 days on all lines and zones.
Paris has 5 zones, from 1, that is the center, to the 5th zone that is the external area with the Versailles Palace and Disney Land. So make sure you have the correct type of pass when traveling since you will be allowed to get on the train, but might get a fee or will not be allowed to exit.
As for the accommodation, for this trip, I was lucky enough to have my boyfriends cousin in Paris, so we both stayed with him for 5 days. But if you are planning on staying in the city, I would once again recommend Airbnb and a place around the metro, so that you don’t need to walk a lot.
Since we had around 4 and a half days, I had them split as follows: the first day we walked around the Louvre Museum park, Luxembourg Gardens and went to dinner in a place in the Latin Neighborhood. I don’t have the name of the place, but if you want to grab a bit, I would recommend you to go in that area, where you will see a lot of small pubs and restaurants that are offering amazing food. I choose a stake with pepper sauce and potatoes that was amazing. Please take note, that in Paris most of the parks are closed at night, so make sure you go in before 7pm.
Second day was dedicated to the Paris main attraction, we visited Notre Dame Cathedral (free access), the Eiffel Tour (14 euros to climb all the way to the top), walked on Seine, went to see the Arc De Triomphe and walked on the famous street Champs De Elysees, visited the Basilica Sacre Coeur (free access), from where you get to have one of the best views of the city and lastly we saw the Moulin Rouge nightclub. In the evening we went on a cruise on Seine(14 euros) where we heard the history of the city and saw most of the bridges from Paris, this cruise is a must do!
The third day will have a post of it’s one since it was as Disneyland Park and I couldn’t possibly fit the whole description here :D. But later on that day, we made time to go to Versailles Palace, unfortunately, the line was huge, so we ended up taking the small train through the gardens, that are absolutely amazing.
The fourth day was dedicated to the Catacombs of Paris, where we stayed in line for almost 3 hours, so make sure you purchase your ticket online to skip the line. The price of the online ticket is 29 euros, if you decide to stay and wait in the line, the ticket is only 13 euros, but trust me, you want to pay extra. Also on this day, we went to the Les Jardins de Tuileries, Pont des Arts, although now you no longer can put a lock on it, there is a small bridge nearby where you can do so. La Défense is the new neighborhood, design in a modern way, for me it was not something that I liked, especially because Paris is an “old” style type of city, but for some, it might be a place nice to visit. In the night, we went to the Eiffel Tour to see it light up at the beginning of each hour.
In the last day, we only had time to add our own lock on the bridge, have breakfast and head to the airport, especially after 4 full days. We managed to walk up to 24km a day, but we definitely do not regret any of it.
Paris is one of these amazing places where you can definitely lose your heart in. It is the capital of fashion, so be prepared to see some amazing outfits and also fashionable attitudes. Parisians are laid back people, that love good wines and having a picnic on the Seine shore or under the Eiffel tour. If you are into dancing you can go to the Seine stages and practice along the locals, also if you want to grab a drink with the locals, step away from the touristic center and go to the Latin neighborhood, where you can grab a drink and enjoy the Parisian life.
In the end, I would like to add that 5 days are not enough to see this amazing city and I am definitely thinking about returning here. For my next time, I would like to see the Louvre Museum and also the Versailles Palace, a ticket to a Moulin Rouge show, another day at Disney Studios, but the most important, mixed with the locals and go for a dance night on The Seine. Paris is the city that should be on any travelers bucket list and if you have the opportunity to go with your loved one, then your experience will be a unique one.
P.S.: Stay tuned for the Disneyland Park post that will soon follow.
XOXO,
Bittersweet
Bitter Sweet est. 2017 