PARIS · FRANCE
Start with the tower. Stay for the rest.
Skip-the-line at the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, cruises down the Seine, day trips out to Versailles, and the wine cellars, cooking classes and cabarets in between.
The three you came for
The icons you crossed a country to see.
Plenty of cities have a tower, a museum and a palace. A tower like this one, the painting everyone queues for, and the Sun King’s own address are why the planes keep landing.
1,063 feet of iron
The Eiffel Tower
Built to last twenty years and never taken down, the tower still pulls more visitors than any paid monument on Earth. Take the lift to the second floor for the rooftops of Paris, push on to the summit for the long view down the Seine, or climb the 674 stairs and earn it.
- 1 Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit or Second Floor Access
- 2 Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit or Second Floor Access
- 3 Paris: Seine Cruise & Crepe Tasting near the Eiffel Tower
Eight centuries of art
The Louvre
A royal palace turned the largest art museum in the world, with the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory under one glass pyramid. You could not see it all in a week, so the trick is a route. A guided entry walks you past the queue and straight to the rooms that matter.
- 1 Paris: Louvre Museum Timed-Entrance Ticket
- 2 Paris: Louvre Guided Tour with Reserved Access & Boat Cruise
- 3 Paris: Louvre Museum Entry Ticket With Host and River Cruise
The Sun King’s address
The Palace of Versailles
Louis XIV moved the French court to a hunting lodge and turned it into the grandest palace in Europe. The Hall of Mirrors runs the length of the garden front, the fountains still play to Baroque music in summer, and the grounds are so vast you rent a bike to cross them. Half an hour from the city.
- 1 Paris: Versailles Palace and Gardens Full Access Ticket
- 2 From Paris: Versailles Palace & Gardens with Transportation
- 3 From Paris: Versailles Skip-the-Line Tour & Gardens Access
Book this one first
If you only reserve one thing, make it this.
More travellers book this than anything else in Paris, and the good slots go weeks ahead. Lock it to the calendar before you fly and plan the rest around it.
The classics
Paris’s Most Popular Tours & Tickets
Eiffel Tower lifts, Louvre entries, Seine cruises and Versailles day trips. The first things most Paris trips are built around.
Where to begin
What a Paris trip gets built around.
The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, the Seine, Versailles, the long Parisian lunch and the village on the hill. The headliners most itineraries start from, and the best of each.
The big question
The big three, without the wait.
Paris’s icons come with Paris’s queues. Here is how to walk past the line at the three that swallow the most time, and when to turn up.
The river
The Seine is the city’s main street.
Paris was built facing its river, so the best first look at the city is from the water. An hour’s cruise glides past Notre-Dame, the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay and under a dozen bridges, with the Eiffel Tower at the turn. Come back after dark for a dinner cruise, when the monuments light up and the tower breaks into its hourly sparkle.
Read the guide: Seine river cruises →At the table
Eat your way through Paris.
Half the reason to come is the food. Walk a morning market with a guide and taste your way down the stalls, sit down to a board of raw-milk cheeses and a glass of Burgundy, or roll up your sleeves for a macaron or croissant class with a Paris pastry chef. Then there is the wine, and the cellars under the city that store it.
See the food & wine experiences →On foot
Paris was made to be walked.
The whole city fits inside a ring road, and the good parts fit inside a long afternoon. Follow the quais past the bouquinistes and the gilded statues of Pont Alexandre III, cut through the Tuileries, and let a guide fill in the history between the postcard views. Bikes and vintage Citroens cover more ground if your feet give out.
Explore Paris on foot →The hill
The village above the city.
Montmartre still feels like the country town Paris swallowed. Climb the stairs or ride the little funicular up to Sacre-Coeur for the widest free view in the city, then wander the lanes behind it, where artists set up easels on Place du Tertre, the last working windmill turns and the city’s only vineyard still makes a few hundred bottles a year.
- 1 Paris: Montmartre Highlights Walking Tour with a Local Guide
- 2 Paris: Sacré-Coeur and Montmartre Tour with Expert Guide
- 3 Paris: Montmartre Must-See Walking Tour with a Local Guide
By landmark
Pick a corner of Paris.
The Eiffel Tower and the lawns of the Champ de Mars. The Louvre and the Tuileries. Montmartre for the view, the Ile de la Cite for the stained glass, the Champs-Elysees for the arch, and Versailles a short train west.
By experience
Or pick how you want to see it.
The Seine if you want the city from the water. On foot if you want the detail. A bike or a vintage Citroen if you want to cover ground. Plus the markets and wine cellars, the cabarets, the museums and the day trips out.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in Paris? A long weekend that pairs the headline icons with the quieter corners around them.
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