3 Days in Paris in Winter

Winter is the most underrated season in Paris. The days are short and often grey, but the museums are calm, hotel prices fall, the cafés are warm, and the low winter sun gives the stone of the city a light you never see in summer. The trick is to plan around the daylight: sunrise around 8:30 and sunset before 17:00 in December. This route uses the bright hours for the places that need light and the dark ones for warm interiors and the city lit up.

Day 1 is the Île de la Cité: Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, whose windows blaze when the low sun comes through them, and a long lunch in a Left Bank café. Day 2 is the grand Right Bank: the free Petit Palais, the restored royal apartments of the Hôtel de la Marine, a hot chocolate at Angelina and the Arc de Triomphe at sunset, which in winter comes before 17:00. Day 3 is the Left Bank of the Invalides: Napoleon's tomb, the Musée Rodin and the Eiffel Tower at dusk, lit before you even reach the top.

The arrival day is for warming up: dinner in a brasserie and an early night. Only one stop, the Musée Rodin, has a weekly closing day: Monday.

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This route at a glance

Tickets to book before you fly

Winter is the cheapest season for Paris hotels and the calmest for museums. Prices for the tickets on this route start at the figures shown, per person.

Arrival evening: a warm brasserie

On a cold winter evening, the best welcome to Paris is a brasserie: brass, mirrors, waiters in long aprons and a bowl of French onion soup. Most serve all evening without a booking on weekdays.

After dinner, walk to the nearest bridge. In winter the city is dark by 17:00 and the monuments are lit for hours; on a clear, cold night the river is at its most beautiful.

• Pack gloves and a scarf: the wind on the bridges and the Eiffel Tower is colder than it looks.
• Hotels are cheapest from January to March, outside the holiday weeks.
• Day 1 starts at 9:00, half an hour after sunrise in December.

Day 1: Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle in low sun

In winter the sun rises late and stays low, and that is good news on the Île de la Cité. Start at Notre-Dame at 9:00, when the first light comes in through the south rose window, then walk to the Sainte-Chapelle for 10:00. On a sunny winter morning the low sun shines almost horizontally through the fifteen windows of the upper chapel and the room becomes a jewel box; it is the best time of the year to see it.

The ticket includes the Conciergerie, the vaulted medieval palace next door, a good warm visit of an hour. Afterwards, cross to the Left Bank for a long lunch in a café of the Latin Quarter, and browse Shakespeare and Company, the English-language bookshop opposite Notre-Dame, where readers settle in the armchairs upstairs on cold afternoons.

At dusk, around 16:30, walk along the quays to the Île Saint-Louis and watch the lights come on across the river. The island's main street has warm tea rooms and wine shops, and its quays are the quietest in Paris on a winter evening.

Stops in order

1. 9:00 · Notre-Dame Cathedral: free entry, low light through the rose
   6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Place Jean-Paul II, 75004, Paris
2. 10:00 · Sainte-Chapelle: best on a sunny morning
   8 Boulevard du Palais, 75001, Paris
3. 11:00 · Conciergerie: same ticket
   2 Boulevard du Palais, 75001, Paris
4. 13:30 · Shakespeare and Company: lunch nearby, then the bookshop
   37 Rue de la Bûcherie, 75005, Paris
5. 16:30 · Île Saint-Louis: the lights coming on across the river
   Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, 75004, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Book the Sainte-Chapelle for the first sunny morning

Winter skies change fast. If the forecast shows sun for one morning of your trip, move your chapel slot to it; the difference between grey and sun in that room is the difference between beautiful and unforgettable.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: All three visits are indoors; on a grey day the Conciergerie and the bookshop are the highlights.

Day 2: The Petit Palais, the royal apartments, hot chocolate and the Arc at sunset

Start at the Petit Palais, the city's fine arts museum, built for the 1900 Exposition: its permanent collection, from Greek vases to Courbet and Monet, is free, and its garden café under the colonnade is a warm place for a coffee. Opposite, the Grand Palais shows off its glass roof, one of the largest in Europe.

Walk to the Place de la Concorde for the Hôtel de la Marine, where the royal furniture keepers of Louis XV and Louis XVI lived. Its restored apartments, with silk walls, gilded panelling and candle-lit dining rooms, are the warmest-looking rooms in Paris. Then walk under the arcades of the rue de Rivoli to Angelina, the tea room of 1903 where Parisians queue for a thick hot chocolate called l'Africain and the Mont-Blanc pastry.

In winter the sun sets before 17:00, so take line 1 to the Arc de Triomphe and climb to the roof at about 16:15. The sky turns orange over La Défense, the Champs-Élysées lights come on below you, and in the holiday season the trees along the avenue are lit from end to end.

Stops in order

1. 10:00 · Petit Palais: free permanent collection, garden café
   Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008, Paris
2. 11:30 · Grand Palais: the glass roof from outside
   Avenue de Selves, 75008, Paris
3. 12:30 · Hôtel de la Marine: royal apartments
   Place de la Concorde, 75008, Paris
4. 14:30 · Angelina: hot chocolate and the Mont-Blanc
   226 Rue de Rivoli, 75001, Paris
5. 15:30 · Tuileries Garden: a winter walk
   113, 75001, Paris
6. 16:15 · Arc de Triomphe: rooftop for the winter sunset
   Tunnel de l'Étoile, 75008, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Order the hot chocolate to share

Angelina's hot chocolate is served in a jug with a pot of whipped cream, and it is very rich. One for two, with a Mont-Blanc each, is the classic order and plenty.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The Petit Palais, the Hôtel de la Marine and Angelina are indoors and linked by the rue de Rivoli arcades; keep the Arc for a clear evening.

Day 3: Napoleon's tomb, the Rodin museum and the Eiffel Tower at dusk

Spend the morning at Les Invalides. Napoleon's tomb, a red quartzite sarcophagus under the golden dome, is impressive on a grey day and dazzling on a sunny one. The Musée de l'Armée around the courtyard covers French military history from medieval armour to the two world wars, and you can easily spend two warm hours inside.

After lunch, walk five minutes to the Musée Rodin. In winter the garden is quiet and frosty, with The Thinker alone among the bare trees, and the house holds The Kiss, Camille Claudel's sculptures and Rodin's plaster studies in warm, well-lit rooms.

At 16:30, walk to the Eiffel Tower. In winter the tower is lit by 17:30, so an early-evening slot gives you the last daylight on the way up and the whole city in lights from the second floor. Afterwards, cross the Pont d'Iéna to the Trocadéro terrace and wait for the hourly sparkle.

Stops in order

1. 10:00 · Les Invalides: Napoleon's tomb and the army museum
   129 Rue de Grenelle, 75007, Paris
2. 13:30 · Musée Rodin: house and the winter garden
   77 Rue de Varenne, 75007, Paris
3. 16:30 · Eiffel Tower: up in the last light, down in the dark
   5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007, Paris
4. 18:30 · Trocadéro Gardens: the sparkle at the top of the hour
   Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Bring a hat for the Eiffel Tower

The second floor is open to the wind, and in winter it is several degrees colder than the street. A hat and gloves make the difference between a rushed photo and a long look at the city.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: Les Invalides and the Rodin house are indoors; the tower stays open in rain, but keep the evening slot only if the cloud is high.

Departure morning: a last café crème

Winter mornings are dark until 8:30, so use the last one for a slow breakfast in a café near the hotel and an early start to the airport or the station.

In snow or ice, which is rare in Paris, allow extra time for taxis and the RER.

• Sunrise is around 8:30 in December and January.
• Paris rarely has snow, but frost on the bridges can be slippery.
• Allow plenty of time for an international flight.

Which day goes where

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

Paris in winter: daylight and what it means for the plan

The short days are the biggest difference between a winter trip and a summer one. The table shows approximate daylight in Paris and how this route uses it.

💡 Pro Tip

Use the dark hours for the lit city

In winter, Paris is lit from 17:00. Plan one sight with a view at dusk every day, the Arc or the Eiffel Tower, and the long evenings become the highlight rather than the problem.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Winter treats in Paris

• Hot chocolate at Angelina on the rue de Rivoli, thick enough to stand a spoon in.
• Seasonal ice rinks appear in several squares and gardens each winter; check where they are for your year.
• The January sales in the department stores, for those who like to shop.
• Brasserie classics: onion soup, choucroute and pot-au-feu are winter dishes.
• Galette des rois, the almond cake of January, sold in every bakery.

More 3-day routes

• Paris at Christmas: the windows, the markets and what is open on the 25th.
• Rainy days in Paris: three days that stay dry.
• Paris after dark: long winter evenings, cabarets and jazz.
• Romantic 3 days in Paris: a winter weekend for two.
• The best time for 3 days in Paris: is winter right for you?
• 5 days in Paris: more time when the days are short.
• All the 3-day routes, by theme