Paris 7-Day Itinerary

Settle in slowly. Walk to the Trocadéro esplanade for the best first view of the Eiffel Tower, then cross the river and, if you've booked ahead, go up to the second floor for the city panorama. The Champ de Mars below is a good spot to sit once the light starts to fade.

Evening: a Seine boat cruise (Bateaux Parisiens or Vedettes du Pont Neuf) is touristy but genuinely worthwhile on the first night — it's the fastest way to orient yourself to the river, the bridges, and Notre-Dame. Dinner in Saint-Germain-des-Prés or the Marais afterward.

Book the Louvre for 9am. Rather than attempting the whole museum, cover the Denon wing thoroughly — the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Italian Renaissance galleries — and treat the rest as a bonus if energy allows. The building itself, a former royal fortress and palace, deserves attention alongside the art.

Afternoon: walk through the Tuileries Garden to Place de la Concorde, then to Île de la Cité. Sainte-Chapelle's stained glass windows are extraordinary on a sunny afternoon and the chapel rarely gets as crowded as the Louvre. Notre-Dame's plaza and flying buttresses are worth the stop even with the interior still under restoration.

Evening: dinner on Île Saint-Louis, ice cream at Berthillon, then a walk along the Left Bank quays past the bouquinistes.

A slower day on the Left Bank. The Musée d'Orsay, in a former railway station on the river, holds the world's best collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting — Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Cézanne — and for most visitors it's a more enjoyable two hours than the Louvre.

Afterward, wander Saint-Germain-des-Prés: the historic cafés Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots, the small commercial galleries around Rue de Seine, and the bookshops that made this the centre of literary Paris for a century. In the afternoon, walk to the Musée Rodin for The Thinker and The Kiss in a genuinely peaceful garden setting.

Evening: dinner in the 6th or 7th arrondissement, then an early night before the day trip ahead.

The Palace of Versailles is 30 minutes from central Paris via RER C — go early on a Tuesday or Wednesday to avoid the worst crowds (the palace is closed Mondays). The Hall of Mirrors is the headline attraction, but the gardens, the Grand Canal, and the Marie-Antoinette estate with the Petit Trianon are, for many visitors, the more memorable part of the visit and are free to explore once you're through the gates.

Bring a picnic rather than relying on the on-site restaurants. Return to Paris by early evening; keep dinner simple in whichever neighbourhood you're staying.

Morning in Le Marais (3rd–4th arrondissements): Place des Vosges, the free Musée Carnavalet for the history of the city, and Rue des Rosiers for falafel. The neighbourhood's mix of medieval streets and contemporary galleries makes it Paris's most walkable district.

Afternoon: cross to the Latin Quarter around the Sorbonne. Shakespeare and Company, opposite Notre-Dame, is one of the most-loved bookshops in the world. Climb the Panthéon's dome for a rooftop view that rivals the Eiffel Tower's, then rent a chair in the Luxembourg Gardens and do nothing for an hour.

Evening: dinner on Rue Mouffetard, then a natural wine bar back in the Marais — Le Mary Celeste or Le Barav.

Morning: Montmartre before the crowds build. Sacré-Cœur for the panorama, then the quieter streets — Rue Lepic, the Montmartre vineyard, the residential lanes once home to Picasso, Dalí, and Van Gogh. Skip Place du Tertre's overpriced portrait artists.

If you'd rather spend the day outside Paris instead, Giverny — Claude Monet's house and water-lily garden, the direct inspiration for his most famous paintings — is about an hour and fifteen minutes away by train to Vernon plus a short shuttle. It's open April through November and best in May and June when the garden is at its peak; many visitors swap this day with Day 4 to combine both excursions into one dedicated day-trip stretch.

Evening: dinner in Montmartre's eastern streets, away from the tourist strip.

A slow last day. Spend the morning at Canal Saint-Martin — iron footbridges, secondhand bookshops, and a run of natural wine bars where Parisians spend their Sundays. It's the coolest, least manicured side of the city and a good contrast to the grand boulevards.

Afternoon: revisit whichever neighbourhood you liked best, or fill in any gaps — the covered passages (Galerie Vivienne, Passage des Panoramas) near the Grands Boulevards are an easy, atmospheric couple of hours if you haven't seen them yet.

Final evening: book a proper table. Paris's bistro scene rewards a splurge on the last night — steak frites at Le Relais de l'Entrecôte if you want a sure thing, or a reservation somewhere with a wine list if you've been building up to it. Finish with a walk along the Seine to see the monuments lit one last time.