3 Days in Paris at an Easy Pace

Paris rewards a slow visitor. The city is dense enough that a short walk takes you past three centuries of buildings, its museums have benches in front of the best paintings, and its cafés expect you to sit for an hour. This route uses all of that. It keeps every day to a single area, puts the one museum of the morning before the crowds arrive, and fills the afternoons with things you do sitting down: a boat, a bus loop, a garden full of sculpture and a long lunch.

It also leaves out the parts of Paris that hurt. There are no queues in the sun, no climbs to the top of towers and no metro changes with long corridors. Where a sight has a lot of stairs, such as the spiral staircase up to the Sainte-Chapelle's upper chapel, the route says so and offers an alternative. Taxis are cheap enough for short hops in central Paris to be part of the plan rather than an emergency.

The arrival day is a rest day. After a long flight, the first evening is a short stroll and an early dinner near the hotel, and the three full days start the next morning. Every timed ticket on this route can be booked in advance so that you walk straight in.

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This route at a glance

Tickets to book before you fly

The prices on this list are the lowest adult prices on the booking page. Several museums offer reduced rates for seniors on site; the timed tickets below are what guarantee that you walk straight in rather than stand in the sun.

Arrival evening: rest first

The best thing to do on the first evening is very little. Settle into the hotel, take a short walk to the nearest square or river bank, and have an early dinner. A brasserie with a terrace and an all-day kitchen is the easiest choice after a flight.

Ask the hotel reception two practical questions before bed: the nearest taxi rank and the nearest bus stop. They will save you a lot of walking over the next three days.

• Ask for a room near the lift and away from the street.
• Save the number of a taxi company or install a ride app before the first full day.
• Plan an early night; the museums on this route are calmest at opening time.

Day 1: Water Lilies, the Tuileries and a mansion with a tea room

Begin at the Orangerie, at the Concorde end of the Tuileries. The museum was built around Monet's Water Lilies: eight huge panels in two oval rooms lit from above, with long benches in the middle where you can sit as long as you want. Downstairs there is a fine collection of Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse. It is on a manageable scale, and an hour and a half is plenty.

Afterwards, sit in the Tuileries. The garden has hundreds of green metal chairs around its ponds, and watching Paris walk past is part of the visit. For lunch, the cafés at the edge of the garden or along the rue de Rivoli are within a few minutes.

In the afternoon, take a taxi to the Musée Jacquemart-André on the Boulevard Haussmann. It is the home of a nineteenth-century couple who collected Italian Renaissance paintings, with grand salons, a winter garden and a double staircase. The tea room, Le Nélie, serves pastries in a former dining room with a ceiling fresco. Finish with a short walk in the Parc Monceau nearby, a gentle English-style park with plenty of benches.

Stops in order

1. 9:30 · Musée de l'Orangerie: timed ticket; benches in both oval rooms
   Quai des Tuileries, 75001, Paris
2. 11:15 · Tuileries Garden: chairs around the ponds
   113, 75001, Paris
3. 12:00 · Place de la Concorde: lunch nearby, taxi rank on the square
   Place de la Concorde, 75008, Paris
4. 14:30 · Musée Jacquemart-André: timed ticket; tea room inside
   Boulevard Haussmann, 75008, Paris
5. 16:30 · Parc Monceau: flat paths and benches
   Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Take the tea room as the reward, not the break

Visit the Jacquemart-André first and have tea at the end. The salon is busiest at 15:00; by 16:00 the tables free up and the visit is behind you.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The two museums are indoors. Swap the Tuileries for the covered arcades of the Galerie Vivienne, a short taxi ride away.

Day 2: Orsay, the Rodin garden and the river at dusk

The Musée d'Orsay is housed in a former railway station, and it is one of the easiest big museums in Paris to visit at a slow pace. Lifts serve every floor, the Impressionist galleries on the top floor have benches, and the café behind the great clock gives you a rest with one of the best views in the city. Arrive at opening with a timed ticket and give it two to three hours. It is closed on Mondays.

After lunch, take a short taxi ride to the Musée Rodin. The house is lovely, but the garden is the reason to come: The Thinker, The Gates of Hell and The Burghers of Calais stand among roses and clipped trees, with benches throughout and a garden café. It closes on Mondays too, so keep this day off one.

In the evening, take a taxi to the Eiffel Tower for an hour on an electric boat with music on board, departing from the pier at the foot of the tower. You see the illuminated city from your seat, and the tower sparkles for five minutes at the start of every hour once it is dark.

Stops in order

1. 9:30 · Musée d'Orsay: timed ticket; lifts to all floors
   1 Rue de la Légion d'Honneur, 75007, Paris
2. 14:00 · Musée Rodin: garden with benches and a café
   77 Rue de Varenne, 75007, Paris
3. 16:00 · Les Invalides: the golden dome from the esplanade
   129 Rue de Grenelle, 75007, Paris
4. 19:30 · Bateaux Parisiens pier: evening cruise from the foot of the Eiffel Tower
   Port de la Bourdonnais, 75007, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Use the Orsay lifts to start at the top

Take the lift straight to the fifth floor, where the Impressionists are, and work your way down. You see the best of the museum with fresh legs, and the rest of the visit is downhill.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: Orsay is indoors and the Rodin house is too. Skip the garden in heavy rain and keep the cruise, which has a covered deck.

Day 3: A bus loop over the city and an afternoon in Montmartre

Spend the morning on a hop-on hop-off bus. The loop passes the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Opéra and the islands, with commentary in many languages, and you can stay on board for the whole circuit or step off for a coffee and catch the next bus. On a dry day the open top deck is the best seat in Paris; on a cold one, sit downstairs behind the glass.

After lunch, take a taxi to the bottom of the Montmartre hill and ride the funicular up to the Sacré-Cœur. It takes a single metro ticket and saves more than two hundred steps. The basilica is free and has seats inside, and the terrace in front gives you the whole city at your feet.

Montmartre's streets are steep and cobbled, so keep this part short: the Place du Tertre with its painters is a five-minute walk from the basilica on fairly level ground. For dinner, the restaurants around the square are lively and easy to reach; take a taxi back down the hill afterwards.

Stops in order

1. 10:00 · Champs-Élysées: board the bus wherever is closest to your hotel
   Avenue des Champs-Élysées, 75008, Paris
2. 11:00 · Palais Garnier: from the bus; step off for a coffee nearby
   Place Jacques Rouché, 75009, Paris
3. 15:00 · Sacré-Cœur: funicular up, basilica free
   Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 75018, Paris
4. 16:00 · Place du Tertre: painters' square, level walk from the basilica
   Place du Tertre, 75018, Paris

The bus ticket runs for a set number of hours from the first scan. If you start at 10:00, there is time to use it again the next morning on the way to the departure area.

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Ride the whole loop first, then hop off

Stay on for a full circuit before stepping off anywhere. You see the whole city in one go and know exactly where you want to get off on the second lap.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: Take the lower deck of the bus and keep Montmartre for the afternoon; the basilica is a dry, quiet place to sit.

Departure morning: a last café

Keep the last morning simple: breakfast on a terrace near the hotel, a last walk to a square you liked, and a taxi to the station or the airport with plenty of time.

For Charles de Gaulle or Orly, a taxi from central Paris runs on a fixed fare, which removes any surprise on the meter.

• Leave central Paris at least three hours before an international flight.
• Ask the hotel to call the taxi the evening before for an early flight.
• Keep medication and a light jacket in your hand luggage.

Which day goes where

The three days can run in any order. Use this table to keep every sight off its closing day.

Paris with limited mobility: what is easy and what is not

Paris is old, and some of its most famous sights were built long before lifts. The table sums up what to expect at the places travelers ask about most, so that you can choose with your own knees in mind.

💡 Pro Tip

Use taxis for anything under three kilometers

Short taxi rides in central Paris are cheap compared with the energy they save, especially between the Left Bank museums. Save your legs for inside the museums, where the benches are.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Traveling with grandchildren on this route

This route works well for three generations. The Orangerie and the Orsay are short, the Rodin garden lets children run and grandparents sit, the hop-on hop-off bus is a hit with every age and the boat at the Eiffel Tower is the evening everyone remembers. If the children are under ten, swap the Jacquemart-André for the Jardin des Plantes and its small zoo.

• Children and grandparents both tire after about two hours in a museum; plan the café break into the visit.
• Buses are easier than the metro for mixed groups: no stairs and a seat for everyone.
• Book the cruise and the bus with the family together, so that everyone travels on the same tickets.

More 3-day routes

• Paris with kids: for a family trip with school-age children.
• Paris with toddlers: the stroller-friendly version.
• Impressionist Paris: more Monet at the Marmottan and in Giverny.
• Romantic 3 days in Paris: for an anniversary trip.
• Getting around Paris in 3 days: buses, taxis and tickets.
• 4 days in Paris: the same pace with an extra day.
• All the 3-day routes, by theme