Travelling to paris! how should i spend my time?

Question

i'm 18, its a high school graduation gift and I want to make the most of it!

Answer 1

Well, once again Rillafane tops the charts!  The only thing I'd add is maybe get out of the usual places and go to the "real" paris: the 13th, the 14th,  the 18th, the 20th, the 10th, etc.  It's a bit more gritty but is a great experience that you won't soon forget.  Chinatown in the 13th is a great place to just spend an hour walking then getting the most authentic chinese/thai/vietnamese food you've ever had, the 10th and 20th are known for the African and Asian communities there.  There's some really great african restaurants (my fav is 'aux village' off belleville on parmentier), the 19th has parc villette (cite of science & music).

But, a cool touristy thing to do (if you've ever seen the Amelie movie) is to go to Rue Lepic, Rue Abbesses in Montmartre village.  Very, very stereotypical french streets, with a carousel, restaurants, cafes, shops... then follow Rue Lepic up the hill to the artist area, then to the basilica at Sacre Coeur.

If you're allowed to do such things, check out bastille (rue lappe) or oberkampf (anywhere along oberkampf and all its side streets) at night.  Pretty fun... but watch yourself!  It's basically a bunch of cool, gritty, small bars and restaurants full of people listening to live music and having fun...

Answer 2

There is a lot to see.

Eifel Tower

Notre Dame

St Chapelle

Sacre Coeur

Louvre

Arc de Triomphe & Champs Elysees

St Michel & St. Germain areas for food and nightlife (although not for 18 year olds that much)

If you want to take daytrips you can go to Mt St Michel cathedral off the coast, Normandy D-day beach landings, Chartres cathedral, Rouen - where Joan of Arc was burned and lots of other places

Answer 3

I agree that you could live there and not see it all. I don't agree that all guide books are the same though. There are some that are geared towards specific interests. Being an artist, when I had visitors over there, I often took them on "art tours." But you could also do an architectural tour, or a political tour.

It really depends on your personal interest.

Two places I always took people are Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise at night (you do have to go over the wall though) and Les Carrieres. Both of those require knowing someone local since they are not official visits.

Answer 4

I was in Paris around this time of year two years back.  I remember that we only had 4 days but we still made the most of it.  You have to see all the tourist sites,  Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Louve, Catacombs, Napoleon's Tomb, Arch De Triumph and all that.  It's easy if you take one morning to get up and plan your schedule by location and utilize the subway system.  As for nightlife I remember it was quite expensive and the best time I had was along the Seine River just by the Notre Dame with some locals I met.  There were a lot of students who were just partying along the river.  There was a few hundred if not over a thousand people out and there were people playing music and dancing and even vendors selling beer.  It was a really neat experience.  I asked what the occasion was and they said it was friday so if the weathers good I would check out the what's going on down by the river at night.

Answer 5

Paris is a big city, an old city, and a city filled with political, cultural, artistic and literary hisatory. There are enough "good places" to see that you could stay there for years and not see them all. (I've been visiting Paris pretty regularly for the last 35 years and I haven't seen everything yet.)

So your question is hard to answer because to completely answer it we'd have to write a book.

Luckily, a lot of people have done exactly that and any one of these guide books is pretty much as good as another.

I know this sounds silly but being a "good" tourist is hard work and you should spend almost as much time preparing as you do actually being there.

So get at least one of those books and read it.

And while you're at it, read some of the books written by people about their experiences in Paris. there are a lot of these type of books too. Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" is a great one but even a funny book like Art Buchwald's "I'll always have Paris" is worth reading.

Make a list of what you want to see based on your personal interests and the amount of time you have. Of course, its fine to come back to this forum with more specific questions after you have had the time to do some research of your own.

There's also a lot to Paris that is beyond the tourist sights. Its the ambience and the attitude of Paris which need to be lived and felt.

Spend some time just strolling around the city to appreciate its architecture and to get a feel for its medieval layout, the Belle Epoch improvements of Baron Hausman, and the modernizations seen in places like the Les Halles Forum and the new Opera in the Place Bastille.

Take a little time to just sit in a cafe in the Latin Quarter or St. Germaine and people watch.

Enjoy some of the nightlife of Paris. No, not the tourist ripoffs like the Moulin Rogue or the Lido (which aren't appreopriate for an 18 year old anyway) but the vast number of fantastic music venues, from the jazz joints to discos.

Eat! And be a bit courageous. Go to places that don't cater to tourists and don't have English menus. Just point to things on the menu or, better still, walk into a cafe at lunchtime and ask for the daily special which you'll almost always see displayed on a chalk board. Don't worry if you don't know what it is! Try it! The worst that will happen is that you'll have a hilarious story to tell about how you got served a calve's head with cream sauce or something else too weird for you to eat.

Don't listen to the people who tell you Parisians are terrible rude people or advise staying in a tight little tourist cocoon.

Watch the little kids who sail their toy boats in the pond in the Luxembourg gardens.

Go the the Tuilleries Gardens and find the place where old guys in berets play boules or patoque (the French or Pasque version of Bocchi/Lawn bowling). If you're nice maybe they'll show you how to play.

Check out the big plaza in front of the Centre Pompidou (Which contains the Museum of Modern Art). On most sunny afternoons you'll find all sorts of street entertainers there. Among these will almost always be some guys doing big involved audience participation comedy bits. When they call for volunteers (and they always do) don't hesitate to stand up. The fact that you probably don't speak French will be NO problem. These guys tend to be very good and very funny. You'll have a great time and if you can have someone snap a picture you'll have a great story to tell when you get home (and a photo to prove it).

Strike up conversations with strangers (even if it horrifies your parents) , be open minded, put your map in your back pocket and just wander around, get lost, experiment, learn, take the time to really look at things.

Mainly, enjoy yourself.