Book these before anything else
Two tickets decide the shape of your three days. The Eiffel Tower summit sells out roughly sixty days ahead in summer and thirty in low season; released at 8:30 Paris time on the official site, never through a reseller if you want the real price of about €29 to the top. The Louvre requires a timed slot even with a museum pass, and Wednesday and Friday evenings until 21:45 are dramatically calmer than any morning. Add the Catacombs if that interests you, because walk-up entry means two hours in the street. Everything else in this itinerary — Sainte-Chapelle, Orsay, Montmartre, Versailles on a fourth day — can be booked the night before or entered with a short queue. Note that most national museums are free on the first Sunday of the month, which is a genuine saving but roughly doubles the crowd.
Day 1 — Île de la Cité, Latin Quarter, Saint-Germain
Start at 8:30 at Sainte-Chapelle before the coach groups: fifteen minutes of stained glass that will outclass anything else you see all week. Walk to Notre-Dame, reopened and free to enter but with a queue that dissolves if you arrive before 10:00 or after 17:00. Cross to the Latin Quarter for coffee on rue Mouffetard, then the Panthéon and a slow hour in the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is where Parisians actually spend Saturday. Lunch in Saint-Germain away from boulevard Saint-Germain itself, where a croque-monsieur can cost €19. Afternoon at the Musée d'Orsay, which is smaller and more digestible than the Louvre and holds the Impressionists everyone actually came for. Finish with the sunset from Pont Alexandre III or the tip of Île de la Cité. Roughly 12 km on foot.
Day 2 — Louvre, Tuileries, Champs-Élysées, Eiffel Tower
Take your timed Louvre slot at opening and follow one route rather than trying to cover the museum: Denon wing for the Italian paintings and Venus de Milo, then out through the Egyptian rooms, two and a half hours total. Walk the Tuileries to Place de la Concorde, then decide honestly whether the Champs-Élysées interests you — it is a shopping street, and many visitors prefer cutting north to the covered passages or Palais-Royal instead. Late afternoon, cross to Trocadéro for the classic Eiffel Tower view, then take your booked slot at the tower itself around sunset, which is the single best-value hour of the day for photographs. Dinner in the 7th around rue Cler, or take the métro to Canal Saint-Martin for something younger and cheaper.
Keep it handy while in Paris
- Add it to your home screen: works offline too
- Save your favourite spots
- Turn on ZFE Crit'Air alerts (free)
Day 3 — Montmartre, Marais and a slower pace
Morning in Montmartre, arriving by 8:30 at Sacré-Cœur while it belongs to residents rather than to the funicular queue. Walk down through rue Lepic and Place des Abbesses instead of the souvenir gauntlet on rue de Steinkerque, and ignore anyone who approaches you to tie a friendship bracelet on the steps. Métro to the Marais for lunch — falafel on rue des Rosiers, or the covered Marché des Enfants Rouges. Afternoon in Place des Vosges, the Musée Carnavalet, which is free and tells the story of the city itself, and the small independent shops in the 3rd. Finish with an apéro in a café with pavement tables, which is the actual Parisian ritual and costs €5 for a glass of wine if you stay away from the tourist axes.
Practical things that save money and temper
Tap water is safe and free everywhere; Paris also has around 1,200 public drinking fountains, including the green Wallace fountains, and several serve sparkling water. Ask for une carafe d'eau in restaurants and you will get free tap water, always. Métro single tickets are €2.50 but a carnet of ten on a Navigo Easy card is significantly cheaper, and the Navigo Jour day pass only pays off above five journeys. Public toilets in the street are free and self-cleaning but scarce in the centre, so learn to use department stores and museums; our public toilet map shows every verified one. Restaurants with photo menus and a host outside on a tourist square are the single reliable warning sign. Lastly, most museums close on either Monday or Tuesday, so check the day before rather than arriving to a locked door.