How to plan your own trip to Paris. We calculate expenses and the total budget. How to travel to Paris cheaply: personal experience Traveling around Paris
So, from Warsaw to Toulouse, a city in the southern part of France, you can find very cheap tickets (about 1000 rubles). If there is a good offer, then you can safely go here, and then to Paris (bus tickets from 20 euros). You can also get to the capital of France from Toulouse by train or plane (but this is more expensive than by bus). You can even try your luck with hitchhiking, but the road is not close (but this option will be the most budget-friendly). Now you know how you can get to Paris cheaper. But these are not all the secrets of saving for tourists:
It is not at all necessary to rent an apartment or pay for a hotel or hostel. You can live for free. But for this you will have to spend time searching for options on services for travelers, such as couchsurfing. However, we advise you to always have a plan B just in case. It’s rare, but it happens when, having found an option for temporary housing, a tourist is left without it. If the once hospitable host does not get in touch, then in this case it is better to have money for the most modest hostel. You can also contact the church if you need to spend one night (this is also a real option).
You can go to Disneyland for free. In this case, it's not about the generosity of the world's most famous amusement park, but about luck. But why not try (by the way, there are people who actually managed not to pay for the entrance ticket). You can hitchhike to Disneyland and then try your luck there. Sometimes people who have already gone to the park and are planning to leave can give the ticket for free. If you're not too shy, you can save 80 euros.
You can also save on food. If instead of going to a cafe you choose local food markets. There are about 80 of them in Paris. They sell excellent and fresh products. In general, of course, I would like to go to a cafe. In this case, we advise you to choose a cafe away from the city center. Will be cheaper. In addition, we recommend going to establishments at lunchtime. All restaurants offer visitors set lunches (2 or 3 courses). Therefore, going to a restaurant will cost less than in the evening or in the morning (from 10 to 20 euros).
You can even save money on the metro in Paris. Or rather, do not save, and do not pay. Some craftsmen pass through broken doors. In addition, they save money by passing through doors that are designed for people with disabilities. Of course, the methods described are questionable and not the safest legally. If you don’t want problems and unnecessary worries, then buy travel cards - this will also help you save on public transport in Paris. For example, by buying 10 tickets at once, a tourist saves 3 euros.
When moving between cities, you can save on travel by hitchhiking. Not very fast and reliable (you can stand waiting for a car for more than one hour), but it’s free.
If public transport is not too attractive for you, then you can do it even easier - rent a bicycle. One day – 1.7 euros (this is like a one-time trip on the metro).
You can also save money on attractions. Many museums accept visitors on certain days. Thus, you can visit the most famous art museum in the world, the Louvre, for free from October to March every first Sunday of the month. And if you are lucky enough to go to Paris in May, check the date of “Night at the Museum”. Perhaps you will be able to attend exhibitions in any museums for free.
In Paris, the water is of high quality, even in the taps, and you can drink it. There are also many drinking fountains around the city. Therefore, you can completely forget about bottled water.
Don't buy a lot of souvenirs. In Paris, prices are steep, it’s better to keep beautiful and free photos for yourself
Thus, it is quite possible to fit into a budget of 100 euros when visiting Paris. The main thing is to have the desire, to know English or French and not to be afraid to ask people for help, using every opportunity!
Some time ago, I sent out a letter to our blog subscribers offering help in organizing an independent trip to the country of their dreams. Of course, the help offered was not material :)). I was interested in simply providing information based on which you can safely begin planning your vacation. In one of the letters that I received in response, reader Natalya asked for help in organizing a trip to - the specific place and season were not important. In this article we decided to tell you how to go to Paris on your own.
In my deep conviction, you should start getting acquainted with France from Paris. Impressions of Paris can be completely different - someone falls in love with this city forever, while others remember only the many tourists and emigrants on the city streets. Be that as it may, it’s worth trying to get to know this city at least a little.
Since I myself was also wondering how much it costs to go to Paris on my own, and not through a travel agency, I was happy to sketch out a small plan.
So, let's go to Paris!
Let's start with air tickets. I found great flight options to Paris in less than 9 thousand rubles(round trip from November 6 to November 13) per person with one transfer.
two air tickets to Paris for 16.5 thousand with one transfer in Amsterdam
This, I think, is just a great price! Even with one transfer, but fly with the National Airlines of the Netherlands to Paris and back for 8.5 thousand rubles- simply fantastic!
Yes, and another important note - do not buy tickets with a transfer if the connection time is less than 2 hours— there is a big risk of not catching the second plane! Do not forget that it is in the Netherlands that you will need to go through customs control, and not in Paris. Just in case, you need to print out and take with you the map of Schiphol airport so as not to get lost when transferring.
Where to live in Paris
Now let's decide on housing. First of all, I started looking for hotels in Paris on my favorite booking.com. But here he let me down... Of course, I know that Paris is not cheap, but not so much! Having set quite acceptable criteria - a 3-star hotel at a price up to 4 4oo rubles per day I did not receive a single offer... The minimum hotel cost for the entire trip of 8 days (and even then with a big discount) was about 35 thousand rubles.
Of course, if you reduce your requirements to two stars and the rating is not particularly good, then you can find offers for 18-20 thousand rubles (8 days), but when reading reviews about these hotels, any desire to go anywhere disappears, even to Paris!
I continued my search on my second favorite site, Airbnb (we wrote about it, and I wrote about our experience). What great options I found here!
And apartments with a view of Montmartre, and a 10-minute drive from the Eiffel Tower, and even a barge on the Seine River (fully suitable for a comfortable stay), but my choice was this amazing apartment with its own garden.
I imagined that in the evening, after a walk around Paris, I could sit in this courtyard with a bottle of French wine and cheese and macarons from Laduree... mmmmmm.... Just a delight! Moreover, for the same period this wonderful apartment costs only 25 thousand rubles, which for Paris is simply cheap.
By the way, when you register on Airbnb, you will receive a €28 discount on your first booking!
Medical insurance
required to be presented when applying for a Schengen visa. Everything is very simple here - you can buy insurance online, and voila - the cost of insurance from the Zurich insurance company for two people is only 1,240 rubles. And you don’t have to go anywhere!
Visa to France on your own
Now you can submit documents for a visa (confirmation of air tickets, accommodation and insurance are required when applying for a visa. The official website of the French Embassy is.
List of required documents, rules for filling them out and submitting them -.
That's it, the visa documents have been submitted, the next stage is
Paris itinerary planning
and exploring transport links in Paris. The Internet can help us all, information about this sea, these are just a few resources.
Guide to Paris.
Many people dream of visiting Paris, and almost everyone remains enchanted. This city, imbued with romance, drives millions of girls from all over the world crazy. Traveling around the world and not visiting Paris is a real failure. But before you go on an exciting trip to the capital of France, it’s worth getting a little familiar with the sights of Paris, remembering the history, studying the city map and learning a few simple phrases in French, which will certainly make the natives of France smile. In general, an independent trip to Paris is no joke; you need to approach the matter responsibly and, at a minimum, read several travel reports. Which I want to introduce you to in this article.
What attracts everyone to Paris?
People come to Paris for romance, architecture, world-famous culinary delights and cabarets. All this goodness in Paris is enough for everyone. Architectural monuments are at every step here. The Eiffel Tower as a symbol of Paris. The most beautiful Catholic churches are Notre-Dame de Paris and the snow-white Sacré-Coeur Basilica, standing on Montmartre hill. The modern La Défense district, surrounded by skyscrapers. One of the largest museums in the world is the Louvre. You can walk around Paris all day long and still come across something new and interesting.
Tired of walking, want to have a snack? At your service are hundreds of a wide variety of cheeses and excellent young wines, the cost of which starts from only 3 euros. Isn't it a fairy tale for independent travelers? Well, in the evening, walking along the Champs-Elysees, you will meet dozens of street actors entertaining the leisurely strolling public. Opera Garnier, Moulin Rouge cabaret, Cirque du Soleil. There is a world-class cultural program here to suit every taste and budget.
Best time to visit Paris.
The flow of tourists to France does not dry out all year round. Winter, summer, spring or autumn, the place is always full of travelers. There is almost never snow here, and in summer it is not very hot. I visited Paris in the spring and I think it was a very good decision. Warm days, cool evenings. Everything is blooming and coming to life, the air is filled with aromas. Although there are no problems with smells in France at all. In a bakery, on the street or in a store, intoxicating aromas follow you everywhere. Therefore, when planning an independent trip to France, you can choose any month to suit your taste, you will not be disappointed.
Visa to France. Schengen.
To visit France, CIS citizens require a visa. France is part of the Schengen area and in order to travel to Paris, you must obtain a visa in advance from any of the embassies of the Schengen countries. I received a visa at the French consulate in Almaty, etc. I myself am from Bishkek, so as a foreign citizen I was given a visa in one day. Although not without problems. It is worth noting that to obtain a Schengen visa you will need a complete list of a wide variety of documents. The minimum list of documents includes: ticket reservations, hotel reservations, a certificate from the place of work, a bank account statement, photographs of a certain format, as well as a completed application form.
Sometimes it happens that there is not always Internet and you can use a navigator. In this case, a saved tourist map of the city will help you. I would like to present to your attention the most complete and convenient versions of maps of Paris sights, which will help you navigate the area in an emergency.
Flights to Paris.
As usual, I advise you to use the convenient search from AviaSales to compare and select the optimal flight route. Everything is very convenient and you can easily find a good flight option to either Paris or Barbados. The service aggregates offers from a huge number of air carriers of various classes of service. And, by the way, ticket prices are often lower than on official airline websites.
Need cheap flights to Paris?
Where to stay in Paris. Hotels and hostels.
Hotels in Paris are very expensive. Quite recently, my friend went to Paris and did not find anything cheaper than $100 per night. The popularity of the capital leaves its mark. Alternatively, you can look for apartments on French forums, perhaps it will be a little cheaper, but given real estate prices it is also unlikely. I stayed with a friend and it cost me very little. But if you don’t have loved ones in France, then I advise you to look for options on the HotelLook website. All hotels from Booking, Agoda and other popular booking services are collected here. HotelLuk allows you to compare prices and choose the best ones. If you do a little research in advance, you can find some good options at very affordable prices.
Transport in Paris.
In terms of transport, Paris is covered by a widespread metro network, which you can access directly from the arrivals hall of Charles de Gaulle Airport. Almost any attraction can be easily reached by metro. By the way, the metro is two-level, under the regular metro there is a network of high-speed trains RER, using which you can quickly get to the opposite end of the city, and then take a simple metro to the desired location. This trick is a great time saver. It is also worth noting the fact that the city divides the metro network into zones, the transitions between which are equipped with turnstiles. The most convenient way is to purchase a travel ticket and not bother with prices for travel between stations. It's both cheaper and more comfortable. You can always view the current metro map using this link. In principle, I never used buses or taxis during the trip; the metro coped well with my tasks. The only thing is that if you need to get to the secondary low-cost Orly airport, it is better to do it by a special taxi, which can be ordered on the Internet. The car drives around the city, collects everyone who is traveling along the way and thus significantly saves the cost of travel.
Below I post a list of reports that I wrote about my trip to Paris. I hope you will get a lot of useful and relevant information from there, using which you can plan your trip.
Paris trip report! How I conquered Europe.
Paris, Paris...
How to get a Schengen visa.
Sheremetyevo airport.
Charles de Gaulle Airport.
How to get from Charles de Gaulle airport to Paris.
Trocadéro Square. Eiffel Tower.
Field of Mars.
Wall of Peace
Report about a trip to Paris. Second day.
French ghetto.
What's the cheapest way to get around Paris?
Defense.
Great Arch of Defense.
Monument to the thumb.
Tuileries Park.
Small Arc de Triomphe.
Louvre.
Paris. Day 3. Along the central axis.
Place de la Concorde.
Boulevard des Capucines and Opera Garnier.
Triumphal Arch.
Champs Elysees.
Alexander Bridge 3.
House of Invalids.
Big and small palaces.
Report about a trip to Paris. Temples.
How to get to Montmartre.
Montmartre.
Basilica of Sacré-Coeur.
How to get to Notre-Dame de Paris.
Notre Dame de Paris.
Latin Quarter.
Pantheon.
Luxembourg Garden.
Public toilets in Paris.
Observation deck of the Eiffel Tower.
Walk along the Seine.
Don't ask me to tell you about Paris -
How can I convey the aroma?
Love's kiss from Nina Ricci
And Van Gogh's red sunset?
poets and writers, ancient and modern, romantic and pragmatic? You can read all the books about it, but only a trip to Paris will help you understand what kind of city it is and make you fall in love with it for the rest of your life.
Independently or “under supervision”?
You can go on a trip to Paris, first of all, by purchasing from an agency. This option is suitable for first-time travelers, as well as for those who are very busy and cannot organize a trip to Paris on their own. For those who already have travel experience and are not afraid to make decisions, taking such an independent tour will not be difficult, and such a trip has much more advantages, compared to a holiday on a package from a tour operator.
What are the advantages? Let's list it point by point:
1. You decide for yourself when and what type of transport you will travel or fly.
2. Nothing limits your length of stay in France except the visa date.
3. You are free to choose where you will live: in a hostel, hotel or rent an apartment.
4. With an open Schengen multiple visa, you can go for several days, for example, to Italy or Spain.
5. By completing all the documents, booking tickets and accommodation yourself, you can reduce the cost of your trip several times. For example, he offers to spend a romantic weekend together in Paris for 77,000 rubles. This amount includes accommodation in a 4-star hotel and flights. Additional costs for a visa, medical insurance and aviation fuel tax will amount to another 10,000 rubles. Thus, a romantic weekend in the French capital will cost 87,000 rubles per person. Experienced travelers have calculated that by applying for a visa on their own, choosing cheaper tickets (flights with transfers or early morning) and a less star hotel, you can save from 9,000 to 20,000 rubles per person. Impressive?
About the positive aspects that an independent trip to Paris will bring , We've talked, now about what actions
you need to take steps so that everything goes as planned, and the trip leaves only wonderful memories and emotions.
When is the best time to go?
At any time of the year, the French capital can surprise you, enchant you and make you fall in love with it. However, if you organize a trip to Paris yourself and want to save money, then it is better to hit the road after the New Year and before mid-March or at the end of September and make it before Christmas. At this time, the French capital is in low season, which means prices for air travel and hotel rooms fall.
Collecting documents
Before booking tickets and booking a hotel, you need to find out what official papers you need to collect to obtain a visa and check the validity of your foreign passport. Detailed information about what documents are needed, where and how to submit them to obtain a French visa can be found on the Embassy’s website. The requirements for documents are the same as when registering for any country: air tickets or reservations, a valid foreign passport with a validity period of 3 months and mandatory three blank pages, documents confirming financial capabilities (work certificate or bank account statement). Medical insurance and confirmation of hotel reservation are required. Now let's talk about everything in order.
Booking accommodation
Before you begin this stage, no matter whether you are planning a weekend trip to Paris or a whole month, decide in which area of this big city you would like to live. Accommodation prices in the French capital vary greatly: from 15 euros per bed in a hostel in a suburban area to very large sums in luxury hotels.
If you plan to walk a lot and also visit the suburbs of Paris, then it is worth considering the options of hotels located near the Gare de l'Est or Gare de Lyon. For example, the Helvetia or Hôtel de l’Aveyron hotels, located near the Gare de Lyon, will cost about 80 euros per night.
Despite the fairly low prices, you should not book hotels located in the rather crime-ridden Parisian Gare du Nord area, near the North and West stations.
If you are planning a trip to Paris to Disneyland, then it is better to focus on hotels near this huge amusement park. The cost of rooms in such hotels, located within walking distance, starts from 100-110 euros.
Where and how is insurance obtained?
The list of documents required to obtain a visa to France must include a medical insurance policy for foreign trips. It is quite easy to buy such a policy, and the French Embassy has a list of insurance companies with consular accreditation.
If you are planning a trip to Paris for two, you can buy it either at the representative office of the insurance operator, or use the web resources of well-known insurance companies or accredited by the French Consulate and issue a policy online.
You must have the received insurance policy with you at all times. In addition, before the trip, you should scan it and save it in your email inbox, so that in case of force majeure you can easily access it.
How to get to Paris?
Today, you can get to the capital of France by bus or train, which is quite long and tiring, or fly to Paris by plane. Regardless of which mode of travel you choose, this is the most expensive part of your upcoming trip. For most tourists, a trip to Paris begins with a flight.
We will not dwell on how to buy a bus tour around Europe with a visit to France and get to Paris by train. By plane, although more expensive, it is much faster. You should select your departure date in advance and book a ticket for one of the regular flights. There are direct and connecting (one transfer) flights to Paris from many Russian cities, primarily from Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as from Rostov-on-Don, Tyumen and many others.
To save some money on excursions and other pleasant entertainment, when organizing an independent trip to Paris, it is better to immediately buy tickets both there and back. The final cost of travel documents will be lower.
When searching and booking tickets, you should pay attention to the airport of arrival. It is important that it is within the city limits, since public transport in Paris is not cheap. Charles de Gaulle International Airport is the most conveniently located.
Transport in Paris
An independent trip to Paris will most likely not be complete without moving around the city. Of course you can rent
car or take a taxi, but both options are quite expensive. And, in addition, the public transport system in the French capital is very well developed. For buses, trams and metro there are the same type of tickets, which are divided only by the number of uses. You can buy them both at the box office and from the driver. The latter option will cost a little more.
According to Parisians themselves, the most convenient transport in the capital is the metro, which is connected to the RER commuter train network. On the metro map they are marked with letters from A to E.
Another convenient mode of transport for travelers is buses. In Paris, in addition to the usual city routes, there are special tourist routes that pass through the historical part of the city and cover most of the attractions.
If you are planning a budget trip to Paris, the cost of travel on such tourist buses will please you - it is one of the cheapest! You can save on single tickets: for example, one ticket for a trip costs 1.70 €, but a set of 10 will cost only 13.70 €.
The tram service in the French capital is not very developed - only four lines. Moreover, only tram number 3 runs around the city, all the others serve the suburbs.
Where to go and what to see?
For someone who has dreamed of a trip to Paris for most of his life, such a question does not arise: Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Versailles, Fontainebleau and Montmartre. Everyone has their own list of attractions!
If you want to see everything at once, but it’s difficult to decide on the order, then you can use the services of various travel agencies and Russian-speaking guides.
Holidays with children at Disneyland Paris
For those traveling with children, a trip to Paris to Disneyland will give the kids a fairy tale, and adults some time
time to feel like children. Before heading there, be sure to research the attractions and their locations, and be sure to buy your tickets online at least five days in advance. This kind of forethought will help you save up to 30 euros per person.
In general, the price of tickets to the amusement park varies, and they can cost from 55 € to 145 €. However, it should be noted that their validity period ranges from 6 months to a year.
If you want to further reduce the cost of a trip to Disneyland Paris, then it is better to plan it for the end of September - mid-December, and also book a hotel near this entertainment center in advance. If you live in the center, you will have to spend time and money on travel, since Disneyland is located in a small Parisian suburb - Marne-la-Vallee, located 35 kilometers from the capital.
So, if you go to Disneyland Paris on your own, you will have to spend 250-300 € on a flight, 75-100 € for a night in a hotel, 55 € on the cheapest ticket to the park. The total looks like 400-450 € without a visa and insurance. The price may increase slightly, but only due to the location of the hotel, since you will have to pay for travel if you stay away from Disneyland. Tourist operators offer to pay for such a vacation from 700 €, excluding the cost of a visa, health insurance and various additional duties.
It is worth visiting Paris at least once in your life to feel the romantic atmosphere of its narrow streets, the beauty of the Seine and its bridges, and understand all the writers, artists and poets who sang the praises of this beautiful city. And how much to pay for all this is up to you to decide!
Of course, 5-7 days is only time for a quick acquaintance with the city. However, if you happen to find time to visit Paris, even for such a short period of time, try to prepare in advance so as not to waste precious hours in this beautiful city in order to get the necessary information.
There are probably no such number of stereotypes about any other city in the world: Paris is considered a city of legends, a city of romance and love, the capital of world fashion and culture, etc.
I would like to make a reservation right away that if this trip had taken place in the summer, and not in December, the program would have been somewhat different, for example, in the summer we would definitely have set aside a day and definitely would have gone (to admire the magnificent garden that the famous artist Claude Monet built around his house and which he immortalized in his creations), or maybe . And so, I had to focus on visiting Parisian museums, and instead of the aroma of roses in the Luxembourg Gardens, I had to be content with the aromas of roasted chestnuts and mulled wine, sold everywhere in the city. But, looking ahead, I can say that the trip did not disappoint us in any way, and the beauty of the city, which, moreover, appeared before us in Christmas decoration, beckons us to return there again and continue to get to know it.
And one more thing: we compiled our routes, which will be discussed below, not according to the principle of “see all the sights of Paris and die right there,” but in such a way that, if you want, you have the opportunity to deviate from the chosen route, without “driving” yourself into a strict schedule so that you have the mood and strength to just slowly walk around the city, sit at a cafe table, drink coffee or freshly squeezed juice, in general, if possible, feel the taste, aromas and mood of this city.
Like most of our compatriots, the “gateway to Paris” for us was the largest in France and one of the largest airports in the world - Roissy-Charles de Gaulle (Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport). Here I wrote in detail how we got to the center of Paris from the airport, as well as how to get to Paris if you arrive at another airport - Orly:
Text navigator
Evening after arrival
On the first evening, immediately after checking into the hotel, we walked to Notre Dame Cathedral (Notre Dame de Paris), fortunately the walk there from our hotel took only 15 minutes. Impressive. Preparations for Christmas were in full swing in Paris, so the Cathedral appeared before us in all its splendor. In the following days, we tried, if possible, to lay out our routes so that we could look here several more times and admire this majestic structure and piece of architecture! 
The first day
Actually, we didn’t want to plan anything specific for the first day: on the first day it’s much more pleasant to just wander the streets of a new city and feel its atmosphere. But this time I had to change my habit, as it was raining in Paris. A walk around the city had to be replaced with a trip to the Louvre.
Louvre
One of the greatest and most famous treasuries in the world, located in the stunning interiors of a real royal palace. A definite must-see. Perhaps the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, is kept here, as well as magnificent statues, including the Venus de Milo, Nike of Samothrace, etc. And the collection of paintings by Italian and French masters of the Renaissance, not to mention the interiors of the Louvre itself, is simply amazing!
Also, if you are going to visit museums a lot, it makes sense to purchase Paris Museum Pass, then entry to the Louvre will be free for you and without a queue. Price Paris Museum Pass:
for 2 days: €42
for 4 days: €56
for 6 days: €69
What does it include Paris Museum Pass, – free and queue-free entry to many museums in Paris and the surrounding area. Full list . If there is a search at the entrance to the museum for security purposes, then you will still have to stand in line, just like everyone else.
Let's return to information about the Louvre. They say that sometimes there are simply gigantic queues at the main entrance. To avoid them, it makes sense to either purchase a Paris Museum Pass in advance, or try to enter the Louvre through other less popular entrances. Here list of entrances to the Louvre:
- Inputs Pyramid(Pyramid of the Louvre) andGalerie du Carrousel: open daily (except Tuesdays): Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays - from 9:00 to 19:30; on Wednesdays and Fridays – from 9:00 to 22:00.
- Entrance Passage Richelieu: open daily (except Tuesdays) from 9:00 to 17:30 (and until 18:30 on Wednesdays and Fridays)
- Entrance Porte des Lions: sometimes closed for technical reasons.
You can easily spend a whole day in the Louvre, but you still won’t have time to see the entire exhibition in one day. Therefore, read the website in advance and decide what exactly you would like to see first. For connoisseurs, tickets are available for 2 days or more, but it seems they can only be purchased at the box office of the Louvre itself.
The Louvre has an excellent audio guide, however, recently Russian has been missing from the languages that can be selected on the audio guide. Rumor has it that the lobby of Russian-speaking guides in Paris tried to do this.
In the evening, when the rain stopped and we were pretty tired from walking through the endless halls of the museum, we went out for a walk around the city. And here Paris appeared before us in all its pre-Christmas splendor.
The route of our walk that evening was as follows: Louvre – Tuileries Garden – Place Vendôme – Place de la Concorde – Champs Elysees. All this is located quite compactly, and if you are in good physical shape, you can endure such a walk even after a day at the Louvre.
Second day. Rodin Museum, Les Invalides, Champ de Mars, Eiffel Tower
I chose the hotel in Paris in such a way that most attractions could be easily reached on foot. It turned out very cool: from a cozy hotel located in the Saint-Germain area, we only had to cross the bridge over the Seine to the Louvre, and to implement the route planned for the second day, we also did not have to use public transport.
After a walk along the beautiful Boulevard Saint-Germain and through charming Parisian alleys, we came to the Rodin Museum.
Rodin Museum
Address: Musée Rodin, 79 rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris, France
Metro: Varenne (line 13) or Invalides (line 13, line 8)
R.E.R.: Invalides (line C)
Buses: 69, 82, 87, 92
Working hours: open every day except Monday (closed), from 9:00 to 17:45, on Wednesdays - until 20:45.
Price: €8.30
The museum includes an elegant palace, called The Hotel Biron, a park building called "The Chapel", in memory of the neo-Gothic chapel built on the site in the late 19th century and stood here until the 1960s, when it was planned to reconstruct the museum , giving it a modern look. The palace is surrounded by a small but very cozy garden, where perhaps the main exhibit of the museum is located, a magnificent statue - Rodin’s “The Thinker”:
Home for the Invalids
A magnificent building built in the 1670s by order of King Louis XIV as a hospital and home for disabled people and war veterans. The king was touched by the pitiful appearance of his soldiers, doomed to survive on alms and to do this, flaunting their injuries on the New Bridge. Social services and institutions dealing with the issues of the disabled are located here to this day, however, for us as tourists, the museums located in the building complex are primarily of interest - located in the very heart of the Invalides House, the Army Museum (collections of artillery pieces in the front yard, weapons and armor of the XIII-XVII centuries, the section of the New Age (from Louis XIV to Napoleon III, 1643-1870), the section of the two world wars and the history of the army from 1871 to 1945, Historic of Charles de Gaulle), Museum of relief plans (about 100 models of fortresses and fortified cities of France on a scale of 1/600) and, perhaps, the most “iconic” landmark - the Cathedral of the Invalides, under the main dome of which, in a monumental sarcophagus made of red Finnish porphyry, rests the ashes of Napoleon Bonaparte, brought to Paris by Prince Joinville in 1840 from Saint Helena.
Information on the official website - in Russian - almost full version: http://www.musee-armee.fr/ru/home.html
Address: 129, Rue de Grenelle, 75 007, Paris, France
Nearest metro stations: La Tour Maubourg, Invalides, Varennes
Opening hours: from April to October - from 10:00 to 18:00, from November to March - from 10:00 to 17:00. Admission to visitors ends, traditionally, 30 minutes before the museum closes.
Cost: full price – €9.50, reduced price – €7.50. There are categories of visitors for whom admission is free, please check.
After visiting the Invalides' Home, we moved past the military school building towards Field of Mars(at the foot of the Eiffel Tower).
The Champ de Mars itself does not make an impression in winter, I hope it looks better in summer... View from above:
Eiffel Tower
We couldn't come to Paris for the first time and not climb the Eiffel Tower. Still, it is she who is now the main symbol of Paris, and of France in general. The queue, despite the frightening length, moved quite quickly, and after 20-30 minutes we received the coveted tickets. Unfortunately, on this day access to the very top (3rd level, or Summit) was closed, either for technical or weather reasons. In the end, we had to settle for a visit to the 2nd level, tickets there are almost half the price.
How to get there: There are many ways, which you can read about in detail. However, the most spectacular way to get to the Eiffel Tower is to take the metro to Bir-Hakeim station (line 6), as this line is above ground, and when approaching the station, you will be able to enjoy one of the best views of the Eiffel Tower tower. Another metro station nearby is “Trocadero” (line 9).
Working hours varies depending on the season and the method of ascent (by elevator/by stairs), check on the website.
To avoid queues at the box office, you can buy tickets online no later than 24 hours in advance, here.
Price:
Level 2 (Adults / Youth (12-24 years old) / Children 4-11 years old): €9 / €7 / €4.5
Level 3, or Summit (Adults / Youth (12-24 years old) / Children 4-11 years old): €15.5 / €13.5 / €11
This price is for tickets with an elevator. There is also a cheaper option - to climb the tower on foot, but such tickets (cost €5 / €4 / €3.5, respectively) can only be purchased at the box office; they are not available for online purchase.
The only slight difficulty is that for such advance purchase of tickets you need to clearly decide on the time of your visit and arrive early, because if there is a queue of people with the same tickets at the entrance, and in the end you will arrive at the control for 30 minutes ( or more) later than the time indicated on the ticket, you may not be allowed in (as written on their official website).
If you want to extend your acquaintance with the Eiffel Tower, you can stay in one of the bars or restaurants located right on it. – information about them. Indeed, why not have a glass of champagne at the bar at the very top of the tower?
Batobus waterbuses in Paris
Having completed our program for this day, we decided to take a ride along the Seine on the Batobus river bus. For us, living in the center, this type of transport has become a good alternative to the metro and buses. The eight Batobus berths are located very conveniently, close to all central attractions. As a result, we took tickets for Batobus for 5 days and enjoyed using these trams every day, since the stop called Saint-Germain-des-Pres is located a 5-minute walk from our hotel. (Now I’m looking at the official website (http://www.batobus.com/en.html) - the only options left are for 1 (€16) or 2 days (€19), or an annual subscription (€60)).
Day 3. Latin Quarter: Sorbonne, Hotel Cluny, Pantheon of Glory, Luxembourg Gardens and much more. The true spirit of Paris
This quarter most accurately preserved the spirit of Paris, which we all read about, for example, in the novels of A. Dumas, V. Hugo or Hemingway. It is here that you can try to find the real Paris, which is often greatly missed by tourists who have “been to Paris, but never seen it”... The Latin Quarter is named due to the fact that students and teachers of the large number of educational institutions located here previously communicated in Latin. In Paris, the name “Latin Quarter” is unofficially given to the area that partially covers the 5th and 6th arrondissements of Paris.
Sorbonne
Here is the famous Sorbonne(or the University of Paris), consisting of 13 educational institutions, the buildings of which today occupy almost the entire quarter. The Sorbonne in the world ranking of universities today may be inferior to educational institutions in the UK and the USA, but in Europe it is still very popular.
However, we arrived in this quarter exactly on Christmas Eve, so we were not able to appreciate how student life was bustling at the university and the adjacent cafés. But no one stopped us from walking along picturesque alleys and looking into equally picturesque courtyards.
Abbey of Cluny
In the heart of the Latin Quarter is the Abbey of Cluny. The Gallo-Roman baths built in the 2nd-3rd centuries are adjacent to the medieval hotel of Cluny, a rare monument of secular architecture of the Middle Ages. The entire complex of buildings is part of the National Museum, created in 1843. In the premises of the Cluny Hotel (built in 1485-1510) works of medieval art are stored, but the baths can be interesting in themselves (in the sense, like ancient baths) with mosaics that are well preserved for their age on the walls and as evidence the capital that was already emerging here at that time.
Pantheon
The Pantheon building is actually the Church of St. Genevieve, built on the initiative of Louis XV in 1790. A year later, the French Revolution turned it into the tomb of “great people” - the Pantheon. In 1806, Napoleon returned the church building, but in 1830 Louis-Philippe turned the building into the Pantheon, which in 1848 was named the Temple of Human Fraternity, and in 1853 - the National Cathedral of St. Genevieve. In 1885, the building finally became the Pantheon again, in connection with the burial of Victor Hugo (this was during the Third Republic).
The cathedral is very beautiful outside and inside. On the pediment of the portico on the outside is inscribed in gold letters: “To great people, a grateful Fatherland.” The dome inside the building is decorated with a fresco by Antoine-Jean Gros glorifying Saint Genevieve.
In 1851, Foucault conducted experiments here with his pendulum. The pendulum can still be seen here today.
In the tomb (as it should be according to Christian tradition, below ground level) rests the ashes of about sixty famous personalities, including: Emile Zola, Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Pierre and Marie Curie, etc.
To the left of the cathedral, slightly behind, stands the Basilica of St-Etienne du Mont:
Luxembourg Gardens
From the Pantheon along Rue Soufflot we walked to one of the most luxurious Parisian parks - the Luxembourg Gardens. The building of the Petit Luxembourg Palace located here today, after its acquisition in 1570, was given its name by Prince Tengri, Francois de Luxembourg. And in 1612, the palace, along with the surrounding lands, was bought by Maria de Medici, who ordered the construction of a palace worthy of her, but at the same time preserving the old mansion. Also, at the direction of Mary, a French-style garden was laid out here, which today is decorated with fountains and fifty statues. Over the next almost two centuries, the palace changed hands many times, until in 1800 Bonaparte transferred the building to the Senate. The Senate is located in the palace to this day.
Confectionery Dalloyau
Since it was the eve of Catholic Christmas, we, of course, could not miss this event and decided to celebrate it (even though we are not Catholics). To do this, we went to the first pastry shop we liked, located directly opposite the gates of the Luxembourg Gardens, at place Edmond Rostand - 75006 Paris, (Luxembourg metro station) and bought a traditional French Christmas treat - boucher, taking with it several other types of cakes, “to try”. And also a bottle of pink brut Taittinger champagne. Having bought all this at the market on the way to the hotel, fruits, nuts, cheese with delicious (still hot) bread, we received our “Christmas” menu.
The expensive wrapping and boxes, as well as the quite “boutique” bags in which our purchases at the confectionery store were packed, intrigued me, and I decided to look on the Internet. It turned out that this is one of the most famous confectionery shops in Paris, which, together with its competitor Ladurée, has largely determined the fashion in confectionery art in Paris since the Middle Ages. It turned out that the history of Dalloyau confectioneries dates back to the time of Louis XIV. In 1682, the Sun King hired Charles Daloyo as court baker and pastry chef. The family dynasty of royal confectioners has not been interrupted since then; just after the French Revolution, the Daloyo family moved to Paris, where they opened their first tea salon on the rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The Daloyos came up with the recipes for several world-famous French cakes, in particular the delicious Opera cake. They were also the ones who came up with the idea of selling baked goods and ready-made takeaway meals. Like Ladurée, Daloyo has many boutiques in Paris, as well as in Japan, the Republic of Korea and Dubai.
I have absolutely no sweet tooth, at home I don’t look at pastry shops (or the “Desserts” section in the restaurant menu), but it’s true that it’s impossible to resist Dalloyau’s masterpieces! As a result, all the cakes were eaten faster than it occurred to us to capture them in a photo.
Day 4. Ile de la Cité. Marais quarter. Place de la Bastille
Isle of Site or Cite(French - Ole de la Cité) - one of two surviving islands of the Seine River in the center of Paris, which is, at the same time, the oldest part of Paris. Back in ancient times (at least from the 1st century BC), the island of Cite in Paris (then, by the way, called Lutetia in the Roman manner) was inhabited by one of the Celtic tribes - the Parisians. And in the 6th century, after Clovis I moved the capital of the Frankish kingdom to Paris, it was here, on the island of Cité, that the first Christian basilica in Paris was built - the Church of St. Stephen, on the site of which Notre Dame Cathedral was erected several centuries later.
The Ile de la Cité is connected to both banks of the Seine and the neighboring Ile Saint-Louis by nine bridges, the oldest of which today, in a strange twist of fate, is called the Pont Neuf and crosses the island.
By the beginning of the 11th century, a royal palace was built for Robert II on the Ile de la Cité, which remained the residence of French kings until the 14th century. In 1244-1248, the palace complex was supplemented with a real pearl of medieval architecture - the Sainte-Chapelle chapel, conceived as a repository of relics taken by Louis IX from Constantinople in 1239. Since the Louvre Palace, built for Philip II Augustus, could no longer accommodate the increasingly growing royal court and was too small to receive guests, by order of Philip IV the Fair, the royal palace on the island was rebuilt in 1302-1313. However, the new palace did not serve as the residence of the king for long - during the largest peasant anti-feudal uprising in the history of France in 1358, it became clear that the palace could not provide reliable protection for the ruler, so the royal family was forced to move first to the Hotel Saint-Paul near the Bastille, and then to the rebuilt Louvre. Charles V gave the palace complex partially into the possession of Parliament, which then performed the functions of a judicial body. The Palace of Justice exists on the island to this day, in a new building. The remaining premises were given to the manager of the palace, the concierge, from whom the name came Conciergerie:
Before the revolution, in addition to Notre Dame Cathedral, there were up to 20 churches and 15,000 inhabitants on Cite. In the 19th century, the architecture of the Ile de la Cité changed greatly: regardless of the historical and architectural value of the buildings, the town planner Baron Haussmann demolished all the buildings between the royal palace and the cathedral. In their place, the buildings of the police prefecture and the commercial tribunal were built. Three straight streets were laid between the new buildings, turning into bridges.
However, even today there is something to see in Cite. Moreover, perhaps no other place in Paris can boast so many attractions per unit area.
We were happy to devote a whole day in Paris to walking around Cite and getting to know its main attractions and museums, which deserve the closest attention and time spent getting to know them:
Notre Dame Cathedral
The second most important landmark of Paris, according to some classifications, is the cathedral, the construction of which began back in 1163 - Notre Dame, which also bears the unofficial title of “the most recognizable Gothic cathedral in the world.” Climbing up the cathedral tower, where 387 steps lead up, you will get a unique opportunity to look at one of the most famous panoramas of Paris in the company of chimeras and gargoyles.
Inside the cathedral - here she is, Our Lady of Paris, in person:
Ancient gothic chapel Sainte Chapelle:
Inside Sainte Chapelle:
Clock on the wall of the Conciergerie:
Palace of Justice:
Marais Quarter
The romantic name “Marais” translated from French simply means “swamp”. However, it was here, on the right bank of the Seine, in the area of the Place des Vosges, that many noble nobles settled already from the 15th century. By the way, there was a swamp here, but already in the 13th century it was drained by representatives of the Templar Order.
By the way, on the Place des Vosges itself, which is considered the oldest and, according to some, the most beautiful square in Paris, until the 14th century stood the Tournelle Palace - the residence of the French kings before moving to the Louvre.
The quarter is located between Place de la République and Place de la Bastille. The boundaries of the quarter are: in the north - Boulevard du Temple, in the west - Sevastopol Boulevard, in the east - Beaumarchais Boulevard, and in the south - the Seine River.
The quarter is famous and interesting for tourists because it survived Osman’s “urban planning frenzy”, remaining almost untouched, and now here you can admire many magnificent palaces and mansions, adjacent to very ancient dwellings of artisans. And the royal family itself in the 14th century, while the Louvre was being reconstructed, lived in this area, in the “hotel” (mansion) of Saint-Paul. Today, here, on the right bank of the Seine, is the Parisian town hall, a beautiful palace Hotel de Ville(fr. Hotel de Ville), where the Parisian municipal authorities have been located since 1357. The Hôtel de Ville, with its graceful 110 m long façade, is located on the former medieval Place de Grève ( place de Greve), now the Hôtel de Ville square.
On New Year's Eve, when we found ourselves in Paris, life in the square was in full swing: there was an outdoor skating rink, music and a Christmas market. Fun and beautiful.
At the western border of the Marais quarter is the world famous Pompidou Center, built in the 70s based on an innovative design by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, selected from 680 competition entries. The Center for Contemporary Art, one of the best in the world, was named after French President Georges Pompidou, who, alas, did not live to see the project realized. The Pompidou Center is the third most visited attraction in Paris, after the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.
Official website of the Pompidou Center: https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en
Cost: €14 (adult); You can buy it on the website, for a specific date, here.
Place de la Bastille
On the Place de la Bastille in Paris was the famous Bastille prison, captured on July 14, 1789 and completely destroyed during the French Revolution by July 14, 1790. The Bastille fortress was built in 1370-1383 as part of the defenses of Paris. It is believed that it was converted into a prison in the 17th century by King Charles VI. At that time, the Bastille held mainly political prisoners, as well as religious prisoners and "seditious" authors. The fortress-prison acquired a bad reputation when it became the main prison for prisoners arrested by order of the King of France, although the conditions in the Bastille were not the worst: there were many more terrible prisons in France at that time. The destruction of the Bastille became an expression of the struggle of the common people against the ruling regime, and the day of the storming of the Bastille is to this day the main national holiday of France (although, according to official data, it is not the storming of the Bastille itself that is celebrated, but the reconciliation of the king and the deputies that occurred exactly a year later). The outline of the Bastille fortress, marked on the pavement with stones of contrasting color, can be seen at the end of the street of the modern Rue Saint-Antoine. Some of the stones remaining after dismantling the walls of the fortress were used for the construction of a new bridge over the Seine - the Concorde Bridge, the other part was used to make souvenirs.
These days, Place de la Bastille is a busy transport hub where more than a dozen Parisian streets converge. The metro station of the same name is also located here. Until 1984, the Bastille railway station stood on the site of the modern opera house.
The square contains a number of attractions.
In the center of the square stands the July Column - bronze, 80 meters high, dedicated to the events of the July Revolution of 1830. The Bastille Opera, an ultra-modern building built to commemorate the bicentenary of the storming of the Bastille (1789-1989), is a significant concert venue. In fact, it is on this stage that most opera productions take place in Paris today, while ballet performances are increasingly taking place on the stage of the Opéra Garnier. Part of the fortress's former moat was rebuilt into a port, now known as Port Arsenal, used for pleasure boats. Here you can also see a section of the Canal Saint-Martin.
The square often hosts concerts and various public events, including political demonstrations. The north-eastern part of this area, with its numerous cafes, bars, nightclubs and concert halls, becomes especially crowded at night.
Day 5. Montmartre. Opera Garnier. Champs Elysees. Triumphal Arch. A little shopping
Of course, we could not ignore Montmartre hill(the literal translation of the name is Mount of Martyrs), which is the highest point of Paris, with its famous basilica of Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart, or Heart of Christ). You can climb the hill using the famous stairs or using the funicular (you can pay for the journey with a metro ticket).
Sacré-Coeur is one of the most famous Catholic churches in Paris, it is very photogenic, both outside and inside, but is quite young, it is only a century old (built in 1875-1914). By the way, it was built “in memory” of the liberation of Paris from the commune, after the bloody massacre of members of the commune in May 1871. I suspect that the French National Assembly decided to build this church on the Montmartre hill rather not as a memory, but as an edification...
In addition to the basilica, the hill itself and, perhaps, the area at its foot are definitely of interest to tourists. On the hill, to the left of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, is an ancient Benedictine monastery (12th century) - one of the oldest sacred places in Paris.
And the intricate streets on the hill, winding in the vicinity of the famous Place du Tertre, are full of bohemian charm: it was here, on the hill and at its foot, that in the 19th century, impressionist artists huddled in their closets (Renoir, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec lived and worked here , Utrillo, Apollinaire, Customs Officer Rousseau; a little later - Picasso, Braque, Modigliani), and this is where today there are art salons in almost every home. Many artists still work here today. A very interesting and “atmospheric” place.
Montmartre Hill, the highest point in Paris, offers a beautiful view of the city:
When we went down the hill, we decided to take a walk to the famous and, perhaps, the most “promoted” cabaret for tourists - Moulin Rouge (aka “Red Mill”). Our path ran along the well-known “Red Light District” - Boulevard Clichy, located between Places Blanche and Pigalle. The place, let me tell you, is not an acquired taste: numerous sex shops and brothels (it seems that they are already open, despite the morning hours), dubious-looking personalities, mostly of Arab origin, in general, the quarter gives the impression of being not only a “dirty” place, but also very criminal. It is clear that any place looks completely different in daylight and artificial lighting. However, we had no desire to check how this area would look in the dark: here, even at 11 am, we wanted to clutch our purse tightly and, having taken a photo with the Moulin Rouge in the background, quickly move from here to some more “civilized” place. area.
Opera Garnier
National Opera of Paris. Official website: https://www.operadeparis.fr/. In fact, the Palais Garnier, or Palace Garnier, is only one of the venues of the national opera, which currently hosts mainly ballet performances, but, undoubtedly, the most luxurious. The second site is the ultra-modern Opera Bastille building, located at 130 rue de Lyon, 75 012 Paris.
It was interesting to get inside, but we didn’t have time to bother buying tickets for the performances in time, and by that time we didn’t know anything about the fact that there are excursions to the Palais Garnier building (as well as to the Opera Bastille building), the tour lasts about 75 minutes, tickets are available buy 10 minutes before the start, cost for adults is €12 at Opera Bastille and €10 at Palais Garnier (audio guide at Palais Garnier costs additional €5). No problem, we'll leave that for next time. But even from the outside the building looks truly luxurious.
The square in front of the Opera Garnier building is considered by many to be the very heart of Paris. At least, many popular tourist routes start from here.
How to get to the Opera Garnier building:
Address: Corner of Rue Scribe and Rue Auber, 75009 Paris
Metro station: Alight at Opera, lines 3,7,8
RER:
Auber stop, line A
Champs Elysees
According to a popular stereotype, the Champs Elysees is “the most beautiful avenue in the world.” I don’t know what about “in the world”, but walking along the Champs Elysees illuminated for Christmas is very pleasant! By the way, the length of this street is 1915 m, width 71 m.
The Champs Elysees is a wide avenue (I would rather call it a boulevard) between Place de la Concorde, on which stands the Luxor Obelisk, donated to France by the Viceroy of Egypt in the 1830s, and Place des Stars (or, since 1969, Place Charles de Gaulle), in the center of which is the Arc de Triomphe.
What to see and pay attention to on the Champs Elysees
The Champs Elysees is conventionally divided into two zones: park and shopping. From the Place de la Concorde to the Round Square on both sides of the avenue there is a walking park 700 meters long and 300-400 wide, divided by alleys into squares:
northern sector, from east to west:
- Square of Ambassadors (the name comes from the hotels built by the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel for foreign diplomats on the Place de la Concorde). Not long ago, the famous couturier Pierre Cardin organized his cultural center Espace Pierre Cardin here. The famous sculptural group “Horses” by Marly Guillaume Coustou is also located here.
- Elysee Square (in front of the Elysee Palace). At the corner of the Champs-Elysées and Avenue Marigny there is a monument to Jean Moulin, a hero of the Resistance who was captured by the Nazis and died under torture. One of the main attractions of the Champs Elysees is the Parisian residence of the head of the French Republic, the Elysee Palace. All French presidents, starting with the Third Republic, lived and worked in this palace.
- Marigny square (where the Circus street begins). The Marigny Theater has been located here since 1855 and for several years it was led by the founder of French operetta, Jacques Offenbach. There is also a philatelic market in this square.
southern sector, from east to west:
- Georama square, or Ledoyen (opposite the Ambassadors square): Here is located one of the oldest French restaurants - Pavillon Ledoyen. The pavilion (a yellow building that has survived to this day), built back in 1848 under Louis XVI, played a significant cultural role: such celebrities as Flaubert, Maupassant and Zola, Jean Cocteau visited here.
- the large square of the Games, or the large square of the Holidays (opposite the Elysee square). This site, which overlooked the windows of the Elysee Palace, was organized by the Marquis of Marigny on behalf of Louis XV's mistress, the Marquise de Pompadour. Here is the Small Palace and the Grand Palace, where the Museum of Discoveries and Inventions opened. In the center of Place Clemenceau stands a bronze statue of the great military leader Clemenceau, who led France to victory in the First World War.
In each of the squares, except the last one, fountains were installed in 1840-1847.
The park part of the Champs Elysees ends at the Round Square (Ron Point), where the theater of the same name is located (Theater de Rond-Point).
Further to the west begins the so-called “shop” part (two sidewalks of 22 m each and a roadway of 27 m), where banks, airline offices, car exhibition windows, the editorial office of the newspaper Le Figaro and the newspaper Jour de France, a large number of cinemas are concentrated, restaurants, many different shops famous around the world, including the multi-level music shopping center Virgin Megastore, the aristocratic Russian restaurant Rasputin, the famous Lido cabaret, the central tourist office of Paris, and also the best (in my humble opinion) in everything world Sephora store.
Triumphal Arch
The Champs-Élysées ends at Place des Stars, so named because 12 streets radiate from here, but in 1969 renamed Place Charles de Gaulle. In the center of the square is the famous Arc de Triomphe. The roof of the arch is an observation deck with a good view of the Champs Elysees and Paris, built in the 19th century by Haussmann. In the central span of the arch, since 1921, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has been built, on which the Eternal Flame has been lit since 1926. Although troops no longer pass under the arch, it is one of the most solemn and formal places in Paris.
According to the law of meanness, on the day we ended up there, it was a day off, and we didn’t have a chance to get on the roof.
By the way, the easiest way to get to the Arch is by metro, station Charles-de-Gaulle-Etoile.
Grand Boulevards, or a little shopping
We turned right from the arch onto Boulevard Haussmann, where there are two centers of attraction for all shopaholics arriving in Paris - eternal competitors - department stores. Au Printemps(address: 64, Boulevard Haussmann; official website: http://departmentstoreparis.printemps.com/) and Galeries Lafayette (address: 40, Boulevard Haussmann, official website (in Russian!): http://haussmann.galerieslafayette.com/ru/).
We spent the rest of the day there, enjoying shopping and the incredible Christmas atmosphere.
I cannot help but note the highest level of professionalism of the consultants in the cosmetic departments of these two department stores: I have continued to use much of what was selected and recommended by the female consultants for many years now.
Shopping in Paris
This time shopping was not the purpose of our trip, however, I cannot help but note that shopping in Paris is very pleasant! I am pleased with the choice, the prices, and the surroundings. First of all, I would advise going to Paris for perfume and cosmetic shopping (Sephora on the Champs-Elysees, you are forever in my heart!), as well as for clothes. Yes, prices in Au Printemps and Galeries Lafayette department stores are often “biting” (unless you compare them with prices for products of the same “first-level” brands in Moscow and St. Petersburg), so that the French themselves usually risk coming here only during periods sales But there are areas - for example, Saint-Germain Boulevard and others, as well as department stores (for example, Bon Marche, etc.) where you will truly enjoy not only the assortment and quality, but also the prices.
Day 6. D'Orsay Museum. Once again admire the Seine as a farewell
On the last day before leaving, we decided to go to the famous D’Orsay Museum ( Musé e d‘ Orsay) . How could you leave Paris without admiring the famous masterpieces of the Impressionists in their, so to speak, historical homeland?
The museum is located on the left bank of the Seine, directly opposite the Louvre and the Tuileries Garden. It is located in a former station building, built on the occasion of the World's Fair of 1900, and houses the richest collection of works of Western art from the period 1848-1914 - masterpieces of painting, sculpture, objects of decorative and applied art, photographs, architectural drawings... The museum presents the most outstanding artists of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries: Daumier, Millet, Courbet, Carpeaux, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, Rodin, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Halle, Guimard, Lalique, Redon, Moreau, Villars, Bonnard, Buredel, Maillol and others. Actually, tourists are primarily interested in the works of the Impressionists here. However, the station building itself, as a museum space, is also very interesting.
The famous clock through which you can see the Montmartre hill and other hills in the vicinity of Paris
Ticket price: €11 (adult). At the entrance, as a rule, there is a queue; during the off-season, we stood for 20-30 minutes. It’s scary to imagine what happens here in the summer! I think it makes sense to purchase tickets online in advance. They are available on several sites: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/visit/admission/ticket-purchase.html
There are also combined tickets - Musé e d‘ Orsay + Musé e de l‘ Orangerie (€16) or Musé e d‘ Orsay+ Rodin Museum (€15). In general, it’s beneficial, and it would be useful to us, but we only found out about it on the last day of our stay in Paris.
Having admired the paintings of Renoir, Cezanne, Monet, Manet and others, we boarded the Batobus river bus at the pier near the museum and, as a farewell, made a circle around the entire center of Paris, then getting off at the Saint-Germain pier, near our hotel.
How would I plan a program for 6 days in Paris?
If the weather had allowed me to express myself the way I wanted, my routes for the first time in Paris would have been something like this:
Day 1
Get to any of the central metro stations (for example, Chatelet, or Saint-Germain-des-Pres, or any other) and just wander aimlessly along the streets wherever your eyes go (but without going to museums!), drink a cup of coffee with a croissant in one of the Parisian cafes, to feel the atmosphere of the city. Visit a couple of Gothic cathedrals, take a boat ride on the Seine, and walk along the Champs-Elysees. Perhaps, go to Notre Dame Cathedral and walk around it with an audio guide. In the evening, have dinner at a restaurant you like or buy wine with delicious French cheese and fruit for dinner at one of the shops.
Day 2
Louvre. Coming to Paris for the first time as a tourist and not going to the Louvre is a crime! The Louvre is a museum in which everyone (everyone, without exception!) will find interesting rooms and exhibits for themselves, not paintings and sculptures, but ancient Egyptian or ancient Mesopotamian collections. And if you are too lazy to look at the exhibits on the walls and in the windows, just come and stroll through the stunningly beautiful halls of the palace. In the evening, go for dinner to one of the famous Parisian cabarets - the “branded” Moulin Rouge, Lido, Crazy Horse or the small cozy La Belle Epoque (this is what real Parisian connoisseurs recommend visiting; tickets can be ordered on the website. If you are not greedy, buy yourself a menu V.I.P. or l'Ocean, then you will have good seats. A ticket with a full dinner will end up costing half the price of the above-mentioned cabarets promoted for tourists).
Day 3
Ile de la Cité and the Latin Quarter. In the evening - go to the opera.
Day 4
Trip to Versailles (official website: http://en.chateauversailles.fr/homepage)
or (if with children) to Disneyland, or better yet, not even to Disneyland (it’s better to go there in its “historical homeland” - in America) but to the truly French amusement park “Asterix”
Amusement park "Asterix", which opened in 1989 just north of Paris, is an alternative to Disneyland located in the east of the capital; it is entirely dedicated to the national culture of the Gauls. The idea of its creation emphasized that the French (with nothing against the American-style entertainment industry that brings them income) are capable of building their own “city” of fun leisure time - homely, cozy, congenial, imbued with local flavor.
The main distinctive feature of “Asterix” is the combination of entertainment and reverence for national traditions, which is presented in an easy and entertaining way, with the humor characteristic of the French. The theme of the park is the adventures of a funny Gaul Asterix. The character, although fictitious, is considered a folk hero because, with the support of a friend, Obelix, is waging an irreconcilable struggle against the Romans who invaded the territory of Gaul. Surely you have seen films starring Gerard Depardieu, based on the comic books of the same name.
Day 5
Rodin Museum
Les Invalides (Cathedral + Army Museum + Charles de Gaulle Museum)
Eiffel Tower
Champs Elysees
Triumphal Arch
Defense skyscraper district
Day 6
Museum D'Orsay or Pompidou, shopping, stroll through your favorite places in Paris.
For lovers, one day you can take a walk to one of the cemeteries in Paris - an unforgettable experience is guaranteed! Read more about the most.
Public transport in Paris
Parisian public transport website: www.ratp.fr
The metro is quite comfortable, utilitarian in a European way, without any architectural frills; it’s not difficult to understand the layouts and stations. One trip on the metro will cost you €1.80, if you buy 10 tickets at once - then €1.41.
If you plan to travel a lot by transport, it may make sense to purchase a single pass for all types of public transport - Paris Visite Pass. It is available for 1, 2, 3 or 5 days, for transport zones 1-3 (Paris and its surrounding suburbs) or 1-5 (includes Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, as well as Versailles).
Includes the following types of transport:
- metro
- RER trains (RATP and SNCF lines)
- buses operating in the Ile-de-France region (except buses to Jetbus and Allobus Roissy CDG airports and the Air France branded bus network, as well as tourist excursion buses)
- trams
- funicular to Montmartre hill
The ticket is valid from 0:00 on the start date until 24:00 on the end date. Prices can be viewed.
Before use, you must sign your first and last name on the back, as well as the start date. After this, the ticket becomes personal and cannot be transferred to other persons.
Links about public transport in Paris:
Simpler restaurants, cafes and brasserie in Paris
To enjoy excellent cuisine in Paris, you don’t have to spend fabulous sums.
In restaurants and cafes in Paris, there are so-called set menus, sometimes there are several of them (the French simply call them menu - in our opinion it is a “business lunch”, and the menu in our understanding is called a la carte). The menu consists of at least two dishes and prices are fixed. It is wise to take a menu at lunchtime because it costs about €20 even in upscale restaurants and about €12 in simpler restaurants and cafes.
Even the most famous restaurants in Paris offer menus at lunchtime that cost almost half as much as in the evening. If one dish is enough for you, order the plat du jour. Ordering a la carte will have more variety, but will cost more. Service is included in the bill in all restaurants, bars and cafes in Paris, but you can leave a few coins as a tip. House wine is usually inexpensive, but a bottle of something more famous will add €15 to the bill almost indefinitely.
Fast food and takeaway
You can find sandwich stalls on almost every corner in Paris. Most bakeries (boulangerie) sell not only bread and cakes, but also a variety of pies. At train stations and central streets, the chain Paul sells sandwiches. When packing for a picnic, try a charcuterie (charcuterie shop), a cheese shop, a market, or the deli section of any supermarket. Charcuterie specializing in meat products sometimes also offer ready-made salads and side dishes.
There are also specialized gourmet shops (traiteur), for example Fauchon. You can buy products in pieces or slices and ask them to pack them in a cardboard box (barquette). Asian, especially Chinese, delicacies are popular in Paris, as are Jewish and Eastern European delicacies. Sushi is sold everywhere (including takeaway).
Hot food can also be purchased to take away. In a creperie (pancake house), a huge number of which are just street stalls, you will be offered pancakes (sweet or with ham, cheese, etc.), pancakes and waffles with a variety of toppings and fillings. Turkish and North African kebab shops are very common, the latter also serving couscous with merguez (spicy sausage), chicken or lamb, or all three.
Couscous is usually topped with a spicy tomato sauce, and kebabs are wrapped in pita bread along with fried potatoes (frites). If you search, you can also find Middle Eastern falafel (fried chickpea balls) with salad and much more.