What to do and where to stay in Paris

Author: Stephanie Tusler

First things first

What type of traveler are you? Do you want to fill up your daily itinerary with all the top activities suggested? Or do you want to go with the flow and decide day by what you’re feeling?

Based on our early morning google searches while in Paris, I can confidently say my husband Perry and I are definitely more of a go with the flow travel couple. We’ll take in all the great recommendations we receive from friends and family, and from there have ideas of where we’d like to go. In the end we pretty much decide what we want to do based on what we’re feeling in that moment.

I remember some of the nights before dinner we’d spend 30min on yelp looking at pictures of food and deciding if we were in the mood for it or not. And if not, whoever was more hangry at the moment would make the final decision and pull up directions to the train.

Quick Tips

Where to stay

The city of Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements (neighborhoods). Whether you plan to travel by train or uber + lyft they’re all pretty easy to get to. There’s a few arrondissements that the locals generally say to avoid as a tourist, and I found these articles here and here really helpful in figuring that out.

Perry and I love using Airbnb when we travel, and had some of our best ones in Paris! If hotels are more your style look into The Hoxton, Drawing Hotel, and Hôtel National Des Arts et Métiers. For something a little pricier Hostel Costes and Plaza Athenee are always highly rated.

Getting around

No rental car needed! Using the Metro in Paris is extremely easy. Pair it with Google maps and you’ll know exactly where to get on and off. It’s fast, organized, and saves you $.

Where to eat

An absolute must is Le”Relais de l’Entrecote”, the only thing on the menu is steak and frites, and it’s SO good. They’ll ask you how you’d like your steak cooked, and then serve bread + salad while you wait. The BEST thing about this spot, is they refill your plate with more when they see that you’re about finished. We went for a late dinner and didn’t have any issues getting in. Although I’ve heard there’s usually a line closer to 7pm when they open so plan to arrive early.

Coffee shops and Cafés

→ Cafe Kitsuné right next to Palais Royal is highly instagrammable, and has the best jazzy vibes playlist on repeat.

→ We stumbled on Baguett’s cafe one of the afternoons and loved the vibe in there, great coffee and sandwiches.

→ La Tarte Tropezienne is known for its pastries, but we loved the coffee there as well. We visited the flagship location in Saint-Tropez and spent hours people watching, drinking coffee, and trying their famous tarte.

→ For quick grab and go, there’s 100’s of boulangeries around Paris with fresh bread and pastries. We’d often stop mid-day to grab a quick coffee and baguette.

→ Condé Nast has a great round up the the top cafés in Paris here, and It’s pretty comprehensive. Lot’s of great spots, that come highly recommended.

Museums, Galleries, Monuments, and Gardens

I absolutely love art and try to spend at least one day a month in a museum, but on this trip all we wanted to do was wander around the city. Our must see list was the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Pont Neuf, The Louvre, and Notre Dame. Our next trip to Paris will definitely include more museum visits. But for this one, I’m so happy we spent our time exploring the !

Based on my list for our next trip, here are the spots I’d visit. The Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Musee de l’Orangerie, Petit Palais, Musee Rodin, Musee de Montmartre, Le Jardin du Luxembourg, Château de Versailles, and so many more.

Last few tips

We use Verizon for our cellphone service, and they have an option for $10/day international travel. They only charge you the days you use it, and it saves you so much in roaming fees.

Google translate was a lifesaver, we used it so much on this trip. You can hold it up to signs + menus to translate, speak into it and hear the french translation, or type in whatever phrase you need. We both tried learning some french beforehand using the babbel app but let’s be real, we could only order coffee and wine in french and then we were stuck.