2 Days in Paris: The Weekend Itinerary

Two days in Paris is not enough to see the city, and it is plenty to fall in love with it. The trick is to accept what you will miss and do the rest properly: the two sights that define Paris, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, with timed tickets so that you never queue; the medieval island where the city began; an hour on the river; and an evening on the hill of Montmartre. That is what this weekend itinerary does.

Day 1 is the old heart of Paris: Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle in the morning, the Louvre with a guide in the afternoon and a walk through the Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde at dusk. Day 2 is the Eiffel Tower at opening, a cruise from its foot, the Champ de Mars and Montmartre for sunset. If you have three days instead, the classic 3-day route adds the Musée d'Orsay, the Latin Quarter and the Arc de Triomphe at a slower pace.

Count only full days: a Friday-evening arrival is a bonus, not Day 1. They can go in either order, as long as the Louvre is not on a Tuesday, when it is closed.

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This route at a glance

Tickets to book before you fly

Four tickets for the weekend; book the Eiffel Tower first. Prices start at the figures shown, per person.

Arrival evening: the river

If you arrive on Friday evening, drop your bags and walk to the Seine. The bridges are lit, the quays fill with people on warm nights, and a glass of wine on a café terrace near the river is the best start to a Paris weekend.

Have dinner close to the hotel and go to bed reasonably early; Day 1 starts at Notre-Dame at 9:00.

• Arriving by Eurostar at the Gare du Nord: line 4 runs straight to Cité and Saint-Michel for Day 1.
• Buy a few metro tickets at the station machines on arrival.
• Check that Day 1 is not a Tuesday; if it is, swap the two days.

Day 1: Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle, the Louvre and the Tuileries

Begin at Notre-Dame, free to enter, at 9:00, when the nave is calm and the light comes through the rose windows. Your Sainte-Chapelle slot is at 10:00, and the walk from the cathedral square takes less time than a coffee. The upper chapel is almost entirely stained glass, fifteen windows of the thirteenth century that turn the room into color, and the ticket also covers the Conciergerie, the vaulted medieval palace next door.

Cross the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris, and have lunch near the Louvre. At 13:30, meet your guide for a two-hour tour of the masterpieces: the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Mona Lisa and the great French paintings of the Salle Denon. With only two days, a guide is the difference between seeing the Louvre and getting lost in it.

Leave by the pyramid in the late afternoon and walk the length of the Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde. At the obelisk, turn round: the axis of Paris runs from the Louvre behind you through the Arc de Triomphe ahead. Have dinner in Saint-Germain, across the river.

Stops in order

1. 9:00 · Notre-Dame Cathedral: free entry
   6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Place Jean-Paul II, 75004, Paris
2. 10:00 · Sainte-Chapelle: with the Conciergerie
   8 Boulevard du Palais, 75001, Paris
3. 12:00 · Pont Neuf: the oldest bridge in Paris
   Place du Pont-Neuf - Christo et Jeanne-Claude, 75001, Paris
4. 13:30 · Louvre Museum: guided entry, about two hours
   Pont du Carrousel, 75001, Paris
5. 16:30 · Tuileries Garden: the garden to the Concorde
   113, 75001, Paris
6. 17:30 · Place de la Concorde: the axis of Paris
   Place de la Concorde, 75008, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Book the Louvre after lunch on a Saturday

Saturday mornings at the Louvre are the busiest of the week. An early-afternoon guided slot, after the morning wave has gone through, is calmer and leaves the morning for the island.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: Only the Tuileries stretch is outdoors. In a downpour, ride one stop on line 1 and spend the extra hour in the Louvre shops under the pyramid.

Day 2: The Eiffel Tower, a Seine cruise and Montmartre at sunset

Start at the Trocadéro for the classic view of the tower, then cross the Pont d'Iéna for the first slot of the day. The second floor has the best view of the city, close enough to pick out the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the Sacré-Cœur, where you will end the day.

Your boat leaves at noon from the pier under the tower, and for the next hour you do nothing but watch. The boat passes the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the islands, and it shows you in an hour the parts of Paris you will not have time to walk. Lunch is a bakery sandwich on the lawns of the Champ de Mars, or a sit-down meal in one of the cafés of the avenue de La Bourdonnais.

Around 17:00, line 2 takes you to Anvers at the foot of Montmartre. Climb the steps or ride the funicular to the white basilica, step inside for a few minutes of quiet, and then sit on the terrace in front of it, where the whole weekend's city is spread out below. Walk through the Place du Tertre and down the rue de l'Abreuvoir, and end the weekend with dinner on the hill as the city lights up below you.

Stops in order

1. 9:00 · Trocadéro Gardens: the classic view
   Paris
2. 9:30 · Eiffel Tower: second floor
   5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007, Paris
3. 12:00 · Bateaux Parisiens pier: one-hour cruise from the foot of the tower
   Port de la Bourdonnais, 75007, Paris
4. 13:15 · Champ de Mars: picnic or lunch on the rue Cler
   Avenue Bosquet, 75007, Paris
5. 17:00 · Sacré-Cœur: basilica free
   Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 75018, Paris
6. 18:00 · Place du Tertre: painters' square and dinner on the hill
   Place du Tertre, 75018, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Sit on the left side of the boat

Heading upstream from the Eiffel Tower, the left side of the boat faces the Louvre and the Right Bank, the right side the Orsay and Saint-Germain. On the way back the views swap; most boats let you move if there is room.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The tower and the cruise work in light rain; in a downpour, swap Montmartre for the Musée d'Orsay, which is indoors.

Departure: Sunday evening or Monday morning

On a Sunday-evening departure, leave the suitcase with the hotel reception in the morning and pick it up on your way down from the hill; the Gare du Nord, for the Eurostar and the RER to Charles de Gaulle, is a short ride down the hill.

If you leave on Monday morning, have a last croissant near the hotel and go straight to the station or airport.

• Line 2 and line 4 link Montmartre and the Gare du Nord in minutes.
• Most hotels keep luggage after check-out.
• Allow plenty of time for an international flight.

Which day goes where

The 2 days can be swapped around. Use this table to keep every sight off its closing day.

What to skip with only 2 days in Paris

Two days means choosing. This weekend leaves out several sights that are on the three-day route, and it does so on purpose. The table shows what you miss and where to find it if you come back.

💡 Pro Tip

Do not add a third museum

The most common mistake on a Paris weekend is fitting in the Orsay on top of the Louvre. Two big museums on two days leave no time for the river, the streets and the cafés, which are the reason people fall in love with Paris.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

2 days in Paris: practical tips

• Stay central: the 1st, 4th, 5th or 6th arrondissement puts both days within walking distance.
• Buy single metro tickets; a travel pass does not pay off in two days.
• Book the Eiffel Tower first, then the Louvre: they are the two tickets that sell out.
• Arriving by Eurostar? The Gare du Nord is on line 4, which serves the Île de la Cité directly.
• Saturday or Sunday? Many shops close on Sundays, but the sights and the Marais stay open.

More Paris routes

• 3 days in Paris: the same essentials with a third day for the Orsay and the Arc.
• 4 days in Paris: the city and a day trip.
• Romantic 3 days in Paris: a weekend for two, stretched to three days.
• Paris on a budget: three paid tickets and a city of free sights.
• Is 3 days enough in Paris?: what a short trip can cover.
• Getting around Paris: tickets and metro lines for a short stay.
• All the 3-day routes, by theme