Friday Evening — Arrive & Get on the Seine
Don't waste your first evening settling in. Drop your bags and walk straight to the Trocadéro esplanade for the best first view of the Eiffel Tower — better than standing underneath it, and free. The tower sparkles for five minutes on the hour after dark, every night of the year.
Walk down across the Pont d'Iéna and along the Champ de Mars, then head into Saint-Germain-des-Prés or Le Marais for dinner. If you have the energy, a evening boat cruise on the Seine (Bateaux Parisiens or Vedettes du Pont Neuf) is a genuinely good way to see Notre-Dame, the Louvre, and the bridges lit up — book the last departure of the night.
End the evening with a glass of wine at a Marais bar — Le Mary Celeste or Candelaria (the mezcal bar hidden behind a taqueria) both set the tone for the weekend.
Saturday — The Big Hits
Morning: Start early at the Louvre (book timed tickets online — the queue without one can eat an hour). You don't need the whole museum; the Denon wing covers the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory in about ninety minutes. Then walk through the Tuileries Garden toward Place de la Concorde.
Lunch: Somewhere in the Palais-Royal arcades — the covered galleries are quiet, elegant, and a world away from the Louvre crowds outside.
Afternoon: Cross to Île de la Cité. Sainte-Chapelle's stained glass is the single best fifteen-euro purchase in Paris — go on a sunny afternoon. Notre-Dame's exterior and the surrounding square are worth a slow walk even with the interior still under long-term restoration works.
Evening: Head to Montmartre. Climb to Sacré-Cœur for sunset views over the whole city, then eat dinner on the quieter eastern slope around Rue des Trois Frères, away from the Place du Tertre tourist trap.
Sunday — Markets, the Left Bank & Departure
Morning: A Parisian market is the best way to spend a Sunday morning. Marché Bastille (Boulevard Richard-Lenoir) or Marché d'Aligre are both real, working markets — cheese, produce, olives, and coffee among locals doing their weekly shop.
Brunch: Find a café on Rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter, then walk into the Luxembourg Gardens. Rent a chair by the fountain, watch the toy sailboats, and let the pace drop.
If you have time before your flight or train: cross to the Left Bank bookstalls (the bouquinistes) along the Seine, and duck into Shakespeare and Company opposite Notre-Dame — one of the most-loved bookshops in the world.
Head to the airport or station with one final croissant, eaten standing up, no plate needed.