Help me do Paris right!
June 20, 2015 8:13 AM Subscribe
What are your tips and tricks for saving money and reducing wait times for the various popular sites and attractions in Paris? Are there tickets that are smart to buy ahead online?
Mr. just_ducky and are I headed on our 3rd annual honeymoon in two weeks, yay! We will be in Paris from July 15 - 22, and it will be our first time there.
What are your tips and tricks for saving money and reducing wait times for the various popular sites and attractions? Are there tickets that are smart to buy ahead online?
Things we definitely want to do:
-Eiffel Tower (we want to walk up)
-Louvre
-Musee d'Orsay
-Notre Dame
For the bonus round, we will have an opportunity to see the Tour de France go by for Stage 8: Saturday July 11, Rennes – Mûr-de-Bretagne (we will be coming in from St. Malo). What is the best way to watch a stage of the tour? Just on the side of the road somewhere? We won't have a car, so will be relying on transit/walking.
If it makes a difference to know, Mr. just_ducky is fluent in French (the Quebec kind though).
Merci!
Mr. just_ducky and are I headed on our 3rd annual honeymoon in two weeks, yay! We will be in Paris from July 15 - 22, and it will be our first time there.
What are your tips and tricks for saving money and reducing wait times for the various popular sites and attractions? Are there tickets that are smart to buy ahead online?
Things we definitely want to do:
-Eiffel Tower (we want to walk up)
-Louvre
-Musee d'Orsay
-Notre Dame
For the bonus round, we will have an opportunity to see the Tour de France go by for Stage 8: Saturday July 11, Rennes – Mûr-de-Bretagne (we will be coming in from St. Malo). What is the best way to watch a stage of the tour? Just on the side of the road somewhere? We won't have a car, so will be relying on transit/walking.
If it makes a difference to know, Mr. just_ducky is fluent in French (the Quebec kind though).
Merci!
Metro tickets are cheaper in packs of ten (a "carnet").
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:56 AM on June 20, 2015
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:56 AM on June 20, 2015
A Paris Visite card will cost about 6 euros a day and let you ride the metro unlimited. You can buy them at metro stations. This is in my opinion a better option that hop-on-hop-off tourbuses, because it lets you engage with Paris residents.
posted by mejicat at 9:06 AM on June 20, 2015
posted by mejicat at 9:06 AM on June 20, 2015
Do yourself a favor and see a movie there. "V.O.S.T.F" means English language with French subtitles. There are mega-mall sized theaters on the Champs-Elysees, but ask a local or a concierge what they recommend. If memory serves there is a Gaumont theater in the 13th arrondissement that starts each film with a laser light show. They give discounts to students. Got a student ID and can you pass? Say "etudiant" and flash said ID, get discount.
Nobody says "cafe au lait." It's "cafe creme." Same with "Merci beaucoup!" It's "Merci bien!"
Amusez-vous bien...j'en suis jaloux!
posted by Mr. Fig at 9:39 AM on June 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Nobody says "cafe au lait." It's "cafe creme." Same with "Merci beaucoup!" It's "Merci bien!"
Amusez-vous bien...j'en suis jaloux!
posted by Mr. Fig at 9:39 AM on June 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
My favorite secret entrance to the Louvre is the Port des Lions, toward the far (western) end of the wing closest to the Seine. Maybe I've got lucky, but I've never had to wait in line there. For Notre Dame, go absolutely first thing in the morning when it opens, or even before. I'll also Nth the above that the Metro is by far the best way to travel around the city.
posted by The Michael The at 9:58 AM on June 20, 2015
posted by The Michael The at 9:58 AM on June 20, 2015
For Paris first-timers, I can't recommend one of Sandeman's tours enough. I did the Free Tour and the Versailles one, and they were both absolutely brilliant. Run by native English speakers who've spent years in France and really, really know their shit. Try and get a tour with Alex, if you can- he's a real hoot.
For saving money on food, there's no better lunch than a fresh baguette, a wedge of good cheese, and a couple of tomatoes from the farmer's market. Heck, even the Monoprix stuff is miles better than the overprocessed crap you get in American supermarkets.
posted by Tamanna at 10:43 AM on June 20, 2015
For saving money on food, there's no better lunch than a fresh baguette, a wedge of good cheese, and a couple of tomatoes from the farmer's market. Heck, even the Monoprix stuff is miles better than the overprocessed crap you get in American supermarkets.
posted by Tamanna at 10:43 AM on June 20, 2015
I did the Navigo Découverte pass, it was great. The card itself is sturdy, and I'm told you can keep recharging it for ten years, so you might even be able to store purchases on the same card during a future trip. You can even get clever and have other train tickets loaded into it, I had my RER-B trip from the airport placed on it as soon as I bought it. Only potential downside is that the Navigo weekly purchases run Monday to Monday, so it can be weird or difficult to try to get one going in the middle of the week. It sounds like you're arriving on a Wednesday, so you might choose the Paris Visite pass, which is also just fine.
Museum Pass will get you in the Louvre, the d'Orsay, and a whole bunch of other places. It's a must have. Not only did it let me skip long ticket lines, but it makes leaving and entering places non-controversial. Want to give the Louvre a break for 45 minutes and grab a sandwich? No problem.
Louvre is huge, of course, lots of online help and even entire printed books to help you plan your visit. It's worth it to "study ahead" even just a little for strategy and planning. I spent all day there, 9 a.m. to 6:30 or so p.m., with a lunch break saw about 80% of it.
Musée d'Orsay is 2-3 hours, maybe more if you want to linger over stuff.
For the Eiffel Tower, you have the choice of buying a ticket online in advance. The ticket will be for a specific time, so you have to be there at that time. When I did this, the website was somewhat uncooperative, but eventually it let me buy a printable, scannable ticket with my name and a time slot 3 days in the future.
When I showed up at the correct time, there was an unimaginably long line of people waiting in the hot sun to buy tickets, and nobody in the line for people who had advance tickets. I was escorted all the way to the entrance where the metal detectors are, ahead of hundreds of tired, sweating scowling people who were wondering what sort of special person I was. It was fantastic. (I can't guarantee that you'll have the same experience....but I love telling that story.)
That said, my guess is that you won't face the same crush of people if you want to climb the whole way up. I'd still recommend the online purchase.
When I was there, the champagne bar at the top opened at 5:45 p.m., if you really want to time it well.
Notre Dame: the main church is free, but there can be very long tourist lines to get in. Try to get there early. Note that there's a much shorter line for parishioners, I'm trusting that you won't be a bad person who uses that to skip the tourist line. (An acquaintance of mine did that in Pisa once, and got a well-deserved purse-beating from an elderly Italian woman when he started snapping photos.)
Bell tower is run by the Centre de Monuments Nationaux, there's a separate small charge to climb the bell tower, and a separate longish line if you want to do that. There's a separate archaeological museum that's okay, with a separate ticket, but maybe not a "must see". And there are the Treasures of the Cathedral, supposedly including some holy relics, but the actual old "treasures" were scattered in the 1790s, I didn't think this was a great use of my time. Overall I'd budget a morning for Notre Dame, and if you're done early, there will be lots of other things to do.
BTW, a quick, fun, touristy thing to do after going to Notre Dame is to get ice cream at Berthillon, a fairly easy walk from there.
posted by gimonca at 11:03 AM on June 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Museum Pass will get you in the Louvre, the d'Orsay, and a whole bunch of other places. It's a must have. Not only did it let me skip long ticket lines, but it makes leaving and entering places non-controversial. Want to give the Louvre a break for 45 minutes and grab a sandwich? No problem.
Louvre is huge, of course, lots of online help and even entire printed books to help you plan your visit. It's worth it to "study ahead" even just a little for strategy and planning. I spent all day there, 9 a.m. to 6:30 or so p.m., with a lunch break saw about 80% of it.
Musée d'Orsay is 2-3 hours, maybe more if you want to linger over stuff.
For the Eiffel Tower, you have the choice of buying a ticket online in advance. The ticket will be for a specific time, so you have to be there at that time. When I did this, the website was somewhat uncooperative, but eventually it let me buy a printable, scannable ticket with my name and a time slot 3 days in the future.
When I showed up at the correct time, there was an unimaginably long line of people waiting in the hot sun to buy tickets, and nobody in the line for people who had advance tickets. I was escorted all the way to the entrance where the metal detectors are, ahead of hundreds of tired, sweating scowling people who were wondering what sort of special person I was. It was fantastic. (I can't guarantee that you'll have the same experience....but I love telling that story.)
That said, my guess is that you won't face the same crush of people if you want to climb the whole way up. I'd still recommend the online purchase.
When I was there, the champagne bar at the top opened at 5:45 p.m., if you really want to time it well.
Notre Dame: the main church is free, but there can be very long tourist lines to get in. Try to get there early. Note that there's a much shorter line for parishioners, I'm trusting that you won't be a bad person who uses that to skip the tourist line. (An acquaintance of mine did that in Pisa once, and got a well-deserved purse-beating from an elderly Italian woman when he started snapping photos.)
Bell tower is run by the Centre de Monuments Nationaux, there's a separate small charge to climb the bell tower, and a separate longish line if you want to do that. There's a separate archaeological museum that's okay, with a separate ticket, but maybe not a "must see". And there are the Treasures of the Cathedral, supposedly including some holy relics, but the actual old "treasures" were scattered in the 1790s, I didn't think this was a great use of my time. Overall I'd budget a morning for Notre Dame, and if you're done early, there will be lots of other things to do.
BTW, a quick, fun, touristy thing to do after going to Notre Dame is to get ice cream at Berthillon, a fairly easy walk from there.
posted by gimonca at 11:03 AM on June 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
--If you haven't booked your hotel yet, look for one in the 5th, 6th, 7th arr, or Marais. That way you can walk almost everywhere in see the big museum in the city, Paris itself. A carnet of Metro tickets should suffice for any trips out of those areas. Look up good walking tours that surround some of the main sites you plan to see. Cluster your outings so you don't wear yourself out.
--To avoid lines, go to the Louvre and Musée D'Orsay a few hours before they close or during evening hours. Yes, go in through the Carrousel entrance of the Louvre where the lines are shorter. You can walk to the Pyramide from there so you don't miss it. So many parts of the Louvre aren't mobbed the way the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo galleries are--Etruscan, Ancient Egypt, sculpture, etc.. Seek out at least a couple of galleries other than the popular ones. Louvre is closed on Mondays, so everybody goes to Musée D'Orsay on Mondays and Louvre on Tuesdays. Don't do that because the open one will be mobbed. Oh, go to the amazing new river side park across from the Mussée D'Orsay and watch the boats go by after you see the museum.
--To save money, eat at lovely restaurants at lunchtime and order the formule meal. Then go have a little nap and see your museums in the later afternoon or evening when they're open. Or look up some good wine bars and have small plates with great wines. Cheaper than a restaurant and lots of fun.
--If you're going up to the Eiffel Tower, the lines late at night are short, and the view is spectacular. However, la Tour is incredible just walking underneath. So have a picnic in the Champs de Mars while taking in the tower without actually dealing with the crowds. You can get your picnic on from rue Cler in the 7th, just a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower.
--Don't miss the Jardins Luxembourg and the Maria de Medici foundation. Sigh. Free/priceless.
Have a beautiful time!
posted by Elsie at 1:20 PM on June 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
--To avoid lines, go to the Louvre and Musée D'Orsay a few hours before they close or during evening hours. Yes, go in through the Carrousel entrance of the Louvre where the lines are shorter. You can walk to the Pyramide from there so you don't miss it. So many parts of the Louvre aren't mobbed the way the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo galleries are--Etruscan, Ancient Egypt, sculpture, etc.. Seek out at least a couple of galleries other than the popular ones. Louvre is closed on Mondays, so everybody goes to Musée D'Orsay on Mondays and Louvre on Tuesdays. Don't do that because the open one will be mobbed. Oh, go to the amazing new river side park across from the Mussée D'Orsay and watch the boats go by after you see the museum.
--To save money, eat at lovely restaurants at lunchtime and order the formule meal. Then go have a little nap and see your museums in the later afternoon or evening when they're open. Or look up some good wine bars and have small plates with great wines. Cheaper than a restaurant and lots of fun.
--If you're going up to the Eiffel Tower, the lines late at night are short, and the view is spectacular. However, la Tour is incredible just walking underneath. So have a picnic in the Champs de Mars while taking in the tower without actually dealing with the crowds. You can get your picnic on from rue Cler in the 7th, just a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower.
--Don't miss the Jardins Luxembourg and the Maria de Medici foundation. Sigh. Free/priceless.
Have a beautiful time!
posted by Elsie at 1:20 PM on June 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
If memory serves there is a Gaumont theater in the 13th arrondissement that starts each film with a laser light show.
Unfortunately it was closed down in 2006. If the OP wants to go to see a movie and save time and money, several theater chains such as MK2 offer morning shows at reduced price, so you can watch a movie in a large, comfortable auditorium (nearly empty in the morning) for cheap.
posted by elgilito at 2:09 PM on June 20, 2015
Unfortunately it was closed down in 2006. If the OP wants to go to see a movie and save time and money, several theater chains such as MK2 offer morning shows at reduced price, so you can watch a movie in a large, comfortable auditorium (nearly empty in the morning) for cheap.
posted by elgilito at 2:09 PM on June 20, 2015
Another alternative to getting faster louvre admission besides those described above is to go to fnac to buy the tickets. Here's the website but I understand that you can just go into the store and purchase (I haven't exactly done this myself because when I was last in Paris, it was recommended to go to virgin records for the same sort of thing and that's what we did...but now I guess virgin is closed and so you go to fnac)
posted by Tandem Affinity at 9:02 PM on June 20, 2015
posted by Tandem Affinity at 9:02 PM on June 20, 2015
For the Tour de France stage, the official site has a schedule for when the peloton is likely to arrive at each spot along the route, depending on the average speed. I would look at that and try to figure out what would be the easiest to do from your departure in St. Malo, arrive with a fair amount of lead time, and stake out a spot on the side of the road. The only time that I watched the Tour on a stage was the final entry into Paris in the summer of 2004, when I was living in an apartment near the Place des Vosges and happened to wander down to the Rue St.-Antoine at just the right time (I had forgotten that the tour would be wrapping up). The entire peloton was past in under a minute. It wasn't that exciting per se, but the crowd had a lot of energy.
The intermediate sprint ending at La Gare de Moncontour might be exciting. However, it's not clear how easy it would be to get there. Despite its name, there is no train service to Moncontour. Loudéac is on a regional SNCF bus line and the Tour schedule for the day. So are Quédillac and Broons, which would be easier to get to from St. Malo, as long as you were willing to walk a few km from the station to the Tour route. However, to get to either by the time the Tour passes, you'd have to be on a TER that leaves St. Malo for Rennes at 6:30 am. You could also take the TER to Rennes and rent a car for the day from the Avis rental agency at the SNCF station, which would be a lot easier. Or you could watch the departure from Rennes, in which case you'd want to be there fairly early to get a spot.
posted by brianogilvie at 12:10 PM on June 21, 2015
The intermediate sprint ending at La Gare de Moncontour might be exciting. However, it's not clear how easy it would be to get there. Despite its name, there is no train service to Moncontour. Loudéac is on a regional SNCF bus line and the Tour schedule for the day. So are Quédillac and Broons, which would be easier to get to from St. Malo, as long as you were willing to walk a few km from the station to the Tour route. However, to get to either by the time the Tour passes, you'd have to be on a TER that leaves St. Malo for Rennes at 6:30 am. You could also take the TER to Rennes and rent a car for the day from the Avis rental agency at the SNCF station, which would be a lot easier. Or you could watch the departure from Rennes, in which case you'd want to be there fairly early to get a spot.
posted by brianogilvie at 12:10 PM on June 21, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by humboldt32 at 8:54 AM on June 20, 2015 [4 favorites]