Paris Travel Guide – Day 1

Bonjour! Walt and I recently got back from our first trip to Paris and I’m so excited to share everything! Since the first wedding anniversary gift is paper, we were set on “gifting” plane tickets and once I found cheap tickets to Paris, we were set! Instead of writing one super long post, I’ve decided to break it up into four different posts – one for each day. Let’s get started!

*Disclaimer regarding the strikes in Paris. We arrived Dec 6th – the day after the mass transit strike began in Paris. Only two metro lines were working our entire trip – however it did not greatly affect the enjoyment of our trip – it just meant more traffic, more Ubers and LOTS of walking. HOWEVER, it worked in our benefit when it came to crowds, as we never really waited in lines or felt crammed at the main tourist attractions. We also never actually saw anyone on strike and felt safe the entire time we were there.

GETTING TO PARIS – Flight from JFK

We flew direct from JFK to CDG on Delta Airlines. Our flight left at 6pm our time and arrived in Paris 7am their time. The flight itself was only 6 hours long and was actually the easiest flight we’ve ever had. Neither of us really slept…. probably too excited, especially since this was our first trip to Europe! Once we landed, we got an Uber to our hotel. We did not arrange pick up ahead of time, and I would definitely recommend it because getting our Uber was a process! This is the only time we ran into any type of language barrier – as some of the Uber drivers did not speak English. Traffic was terrible (due to the strikes) and it took us over 2 hours to get to our hotel. (You can normally take the metro from the airport into the city, which I’ve heard is super easy and cheap.)

WHERE WE STAYED – Hilton Paris Opera

Figuring out where to stay in Paris can be very overwhelming! There are SO many areas/hotels to choose from. If you aren’t familiar with Paris, it’s actually broken down into 20 arrondissements, which are like little neighborhoods/areas. I recommend mapping out your planned activities and seeing what area is in the middle of everything to narrow down your search. The Hilton Paris Opera was actually the first hotel I looked at and ended up being the one we booked and I’m so so happy we did! Everyone was super helpful and the bathroom even had heated floors!

WHAT WE DID – We booked almost all of our activities ahead of time and either through Viator or Get Your Guide. I 100% recommend booking tickets to tourist attractions before you arrive. We saved SO much time not waiting in lines because we already had tickets! Plus booking ahead of time means you pay in your local currency saving a few dollars. I’ll link each tour/show we booked throughout the guide.

After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we made our way out to explore the city! We grabbed an espresso (TIP: There’s no such thing as just coffee in France. They only serve espresso. I was dying for just a black coffee by the end of our trip!) and headed to The Louvre! Since we already had tickets, there was no wait and after going quickly through security, we found ourselves inside! The Louvre is MASSIVE and you could spend an entire day walking around. Even with a map, we found ourselves lost at times. We waited no more than 5 minutes to see the Mona Lisa, which was one of the pros to being there during the strike because I’ve read people usually wait hours!

After the Louvre, we headed to the Sainte-Chapelle Chapel. There was actually a line outside, but because we had purchased tickets ahead of time, we were able to go right in. The chapel was beautiful! Don’t miss the stairs in the corners taking you to the upper level of the chapel – but forewarning they are steep and very tight!

From there we walked over to see the Notre Dame, which unfortunately due to the fires, is closed for reconstruction. They’ve blocked off much of the area surrounding the building so you can’t get very close. We then made our way to Odette, for an afternoon espresso and pastry. After our sweet treat, we visited the Shakespeare & Company Bookstore. I made sure to pick up a copy of The Great Gatsby, which is my favorite book (aka, why my dogs are named Gatsby & Daisy.) We then headed back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.

For our first dinner in Paris, we headed to Pink Mama, which was recommended by so many people! They don’t take reservations so it’s first come first serve. We arrived around 8pm and there was an hour or so wait. If you have to wait for a table, don’t worry – simply head downstairs to the secret speakeasy called No Entry. Just push on all the doors, until you find the one that opens into a secret underground bar – so cool!! All of the drinks had cool names and were delicious! We could’ve stayed there all night! Once our table was ready, we ordered the most delicious prosciutto ever – it literally just melted in your mouth! Walt had steak and I had pizza. The first thing I noticed about eating dinner in France is that everyone eats SO late. We were leaving dinner around 10:30pm and the locals were just arriving to eat dinner!

After being up for over 24 hours, the lack of sleep was finally catching up with us so we decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night. Plus we had to be up bright and early for our Flytographer shoot the next morning! Stay tuned for our Paris Travel Guide – Day Two!