A quick trip to Paris
So you’ve got 72 hours in Paris, what do you do when time is limited yet you don’t want the trip to feel like you’re running a minute by minute schedule. Well…for us we decided to take the leisurely route of doing things at our own pace. Admittedly we’ve been to Paris before and have seen a fair few landmarks. Although I do highly recommend booking a boat tour along the river seine to see everything within a couple of hours, if time is of the essence.
Location, Location, Location
With that being said your hotel location is everything! We opted to stay at the Hotel Eiffel Turenne in the 7th Arrondissement, which I deffo recommend for a trendy hotel where the staff were super friendly and it was extremely clean! It was also a 5 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower and approx. 30 minute walk to the main landmarks. The 7th Arrondissement is definitely more expensive, but worth it and I can honestly say I felt extremely safe walking round there. Plus morning walks around the Eiffel Tower in the sunshine, with a coffee in one hand and a pastry in the other is pretty bliss.
Also we were minutes from a metro station, which was super handy for travelling to and from the Gare du Nord. An app I highly recommend for getting round Paris is CityMapper, it was honestly a lifesaver for travelling on the metro and gave handy tips on which exit to take at each station.
Embrace the Tourist landmarks
Yes be the classic tourist and visit an iconic landmark, the thought of doing this in a my home city makes me cringe, but I’m all about embracing it in a new city. The Lourve was top of the list for places to visit and boy this place gets busy! I’d recommend booking tickets online to avoid the queues, although do expect a queue upon the entrance. We visited around 11am and the gallery was pretty busy already, so beware.
Obviously the Lourve is famous for displaying the Mona Lisa, which again there was a decent size queue to see and take a selfie. *Although you could easily get a photo of it from the side of the queue. But besides from that the gallery rooms where truly incredible (see photo below), with some hosting Marie Antoinette artefacts. You could easily spend hours in there and is perfect for doing something on a rainy day.
Shopping
Shopping is always a must in Paris, but instead of opting to go to the famed Champs Elysees (next time), we actually decided to head north of the Lourve and within a 20 minute walk we were surrounded by small fashion boutiques of the 2nd Arrondissement. Rouje was top of my list to visit as I’m obsessed with everything from their Instagram to their clothing. It’s a shop which is definitely on the ‘pricer’ side (€100 min) but worth the visit for the Instagram! There was also an array of other shops and cafes in the area which are also worth a visit.
To conclude…
Paris is a city which I am now desperate to re-visit and explore further! There is still so much to explore and I truly feel as if I’ve only scratched the surface. With that being said I would love to spend a few more days there and maybe in an air bnb next time to live it like a local!
Top – Shein (link)* | Jeans – M&S (link) | Bag – Azurina (link) | Boots – M&S (Similar)
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*post features gifted items from Shein
[…] obvs.) or see it as another day for greeting card companies to make money, especially with being in Paris last week and the city renowned for being ‘love central’. With those two opinions aside […]