Paris for Beginners: Recommendations for Those Traveling to the City of Lights for the First Time

Before you start reading this article, I highly recommend listening to this interview, which is perfect for people coming to Paris for the first time. You'll find dozens of tips there on every possible topic related to a first-time trip to Paris, and I promise you it will help you a lot 🙂

Are you done listening? Let's get started with the article.

First time in Paris?

On the one hand, I really envy you because the experience of first falling in love is the strongest of all (especially in Paris) and all this good is ahead of you.

On the other hand, I really, really don't envy you. You're flooded with information from all sorts of people in Facebook groups and you have no idea who understands what they're talking about and who's just blabbering. And if that's not enough, there's so much to see and time is so short. So what must you see and what should you give up?

And finally, the most important question: How can you enjoy the trip and not turn it into a kind of training camp where you run from attraction to attraction in order to check off as many V's as possible on the never-ending list you have?

So first of all, don't worry. You've come to the right place. After dozens of visits to the City of Lights and hundreds of pieces of advice I've given to people visiting Paris for the first time, I think I've found the formula for the perfect trip (for you).

In this article you will find a series of tips that will make your trip enjoyable and allow you to discover the true magic of Paris. I have also added a one-week itinerary for beginners to the article that you can use to plan your trip. I warn you in advance that this is a relatively long article and full of information. Therefore, I recommend saving it in your “favorites” and returning to it from time to time while planning your trip and when you are already in Paris.

So grab a glass of red wine, put Chansons Edith Piaf in the background. We're embarking on a journey that will end with you experiencing Paris for the first time and immediately starting to plan your next trip!

Some tips for first-time travelers to Paris

Order everything you can in advance.

Remember that there is one resource more important than money on your trip, and that is time. The reason for this is that money can be earned, while time can never be regained. Furthermore, in most cases, the further in advance you book, the cheaper flights, hotels, and apartments you will find.

This is why I highly recommend booking everything possible in advance, and this includes, of course, flights and hotels (or vacation apartments), but also tickets to various attractions and even restaurant seats (at least to the best restaurants).

In order to save you a lot of time, I have compiled all the information about flights, accommodation, attractions and more in this article. Paris – The Francophile Traveler's Guide.

Travel for at least 5 days (preferably a week)

There is an urban legend, which I really like to tell, about the American tourist who came to the capital France, went to the Paris Tourist Information Office (25 Rue des Pyramides) and said to the clerk, “I have two days in the City of Lights, what do you recommend I do?” The clerk replied with Parisian nonchalance, “Then Mademoiselle, I recommend you walk down the street straight to the Seine, sit down and start crying.”

And there is definitely something to this advice. Paris, unlike the McDonald's restaurants scattered throughout it, requires time to begin to digest it. 5 days (if you don't go out of town) or 7 days if you also decide to go to Versailles or, not on us, toEuro Disney They are just the right amount of time for you to soak up the city and enjoy it. Anything less than that will have you running around like crazy following the attractions in the City of Lights without really enjoying them.

Just because you're going to Paris for the first time doesn't mean you're a sucker.

Gone are the days when all the information you had was written in an expired tourist guide + a few tips from an aunt who traveled to the French capital once and recommends an excellent hotel where she stayed in May 1968. Today, there are excellent Facebook communities such as Paris and Ile-de-France In them you can get endless tips about the City of Lights, with the aim of preventing you from falling as much as possible.

I also made my humble contribution to the tourism effort through the article. Tips for saving on a vacation in Paris without going broke And if you still haven't found all the information you need, you are welcome to comment on this article or contact me directly via the Facebook page. Anonymous Francophiles.

Take your time.

It’s true that time is short and the work is heavy, and there are endless attractions that need to be visited in such a short time. But remember one simple thing. To truly enjoy the City of Lights, you need to wander around it leisurely and try to absorb as much of the magical Parisian spirit as possible. So assume that you won’t be able to see everything, and that’s perfectly fine. Paris is not Australia, and you can always easily return to it (it’s a total of 4.5 hours of flight each way).

So my advice to you is to set one must-see destination each day and 2-3 other destinations that would be nice to see, and the rest of the time just wander the streets, sit comfortably in the park, and eat an eclair you bought at one of the patisserie shops you suddenly discovered during your stroll. Believe me, even if you are visiting the City of Lights for the first time, you don't need more than that to have the Parisian experience.

There is no such thing as must-see sites.

Paris is a multi-dimensional city that has everything from fascinating history and art to culinary delights, shopping, and spectacular shows. Since your time in Paris is limited, I highly recommend listening to your inner voice and consciously forgoing anything that doesn't interest you, even if everyone has told you that you must visit there.

For example, if you are a baking enthusiast like Ruth OfekThere's no reason why you shouldn't spend time in Paris. Six days of culinary delightsAlternatively, if shopping is your thing, it's perfectly fine to stroll through the large stores such as Galeries Lafayette and the small boutiques without setting foot in a single museum. Remember: in Paris there is no such thing as nothing.

A week's itinerary in Paris

Now that I’ve presented you with your “toolbox,” it’s time to go one step further and help you build a travel plan. The goal of the plan is to help you discover Paris at a reasonable pace without turning your trip into a sort of beret journey (or rather, a Bart journey) where you’re running between Monuments And it's not enough to enjoy.

I built the itinerary in the most modular way possible so that someone who is coming for less than a week, for example, can take a few days off and take only what they like best. Alternatively, I tried to add expansion options to the program so that if you have a little more time and are interested in a particular topic, you can delve deeper into it.

You can find this trip plan in the article  7-day Paris itinerary.

Must-see places in Paris

And speaking of the last piece of advice regarding “must-see places,” it cannot be ignored that there are a number of places that people who come to Paris for the first time feel obligated to visit, even though they can easily ruin their trip.

So here are a few words about each of these places and ways to “minimize the damage” they may cause to your trip.

The Louvre Museum

Right, The Louvre Museum It is rightly considered the most important museum in the world and has an endless supply of first-rate artistic treasures. The problem begins with tourists, who are first-time visitors to Paris, trying to see it all in one go, resulting in “art poisoning.”

What is “art poisoning,” you ask? It’s a condition where the eye loses sensitivity from the insane amount of admiring objects, the heart stops beating, and the legs and back start to ache. If you’re not aware of this, you’ll leave the Louvre completely exhausted, thus ruining a precious Parisian day.

So if you ask me, I would recommend touring the courtyard of the Louvre and enjoying its unique architecture and the nearby Tuileries Gardens. However, on your first trip to the City of Lights, it is recommended to be satisfied with that and visit the museum itself during your subsequent trips (and even then only in one wing and not more).

If you still decide that you must say goodbye to the Mona Lisa, I recommend that you buy the Louvre entrance ticket Or the Museum card That will allow you to enter the Louvre with almost no queue. It is also recommended to make a careful plan about what you must see, so that the tour of the museum will take no more than 3 hours. When you go back to the Parisian street, you will thank me.

Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel)

Let me tell you a little secret. Even though I've visited Paris more than 20 times, I've never climbed a Eiffel TowerAnd it's not that I wanted to, it's just that every time I got there I found a crazy line and I always found something better to do than stand and wait. So if I didn't climb the Eiffel Tower, then maybe you can postpone the climb for another time and use the time you're supposed to spend in lines for something more useful?

If you still want to see Paris from above, I would recommend climbing the Arc de Triomphe (you can do this for free if you bought the Museum card (I wrote about it earlier) or alternatively, reach the square of the Sacré-Cer church in Montmartre towards evening and watch from the top of Montmartre the sun setting over the city of lights (a spectacular sight).

Leave the Eiffel Tower alone, there's no need to conquer it and climb it. Let it sparkle in the dark while you look at it from one of the bridges in Paris (and if you're lucky, you do it while hugging your partner). If you still decide that you must go up the Eiffel Tower, I highly recommend it. Buy tickets in advance To save time.

Also, if you are fit and want to save time and money (because the cost is partial), you are welcome to walk up to the second floor of the tower, where you stand in a short line to buy a ticket for the elevator leading to the top. In total, there are about 700 steps and about 20 minutes of climbing, and this will save you hours of waiting in line and also burn a few calories that you can replenish at a patisserie near where you live.

Champs Elysees

Years have passed since Joe Dassin sang his famous song “Champs Elysées” and this song continues to cause damage through the myth of the romantic avenue that it cultivates. Indeed, since this avenue was created in the 17th century, it has had quite a few moments of magic and during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century it was definitely the place to go to see and be seen.

However, unfortunately, a lot of water has passed through the Seine since then, and the romantic and magical avenue has becomeChamps Elysees A poor tourist cliché. The main reason for this is that real estate in the area has become so expensive that only well-known chains and brands can afford to rent stores there. So you will be drawn to small, romantic restaurants or Boutique stores.

Also, in the evening, the Champs-Elysees became a meeting place for all sorts of shady types from the suburbs (the French call them “youngsters,” but I won’t say the exact name so as not to be accused of racism), which reduces the sense of security. From this comes a clear conclusion. It is advisable to give up the Champs-Elysees.

Skip the Champs-Elysées? Well, not exactly. First, don't Arc de Triomphe It is definitely recommended to go, as I wrote before, but you don't have to walk all the way to it from the bottom of the boulevard, but you can get there by metro. I also definitely recommend walking along the part of the boulevard that starts from Place de la Concorde and goes all the way to Place Franklin D. Roosevelt. And if you have already walked there, I recommend that instead of going to the boulevard with the shops, turn left on Boulevard Montaigne, if you are a fashion lover, and follow the route Yves Saint Laurent.

That's it, I think you're ready for my Paris guide now.

Once you understand the basic rules of the City of Lights, it's time to dive in and build your itinerary. I've compiled all the updated recommendations for hotels, attractions, and transportation reform within The Complete Paris Guide Which is constantly updated.