A Romantic 3 Days in Paris for Two

Paris has a reputation as the most romantic city in the world, and most couples who visit spend half of it in queues. This route is built the other way round. It gives each day a mood rather than a checklist, starts after a proper breakfast and saves its best moments for the hour before sunset, when the light turns gold and the city slows down.

Day 1 is the Marais and the islands: hidden courtyards, the most beautiful square in Paris and a cruise with a glass of champagne under the lit bridges. Day 2 is Montmartre: painters' studios, a rose-pink café, a vineyard and, if you want it, a night at the Moulin Rouge. Day 3 is the grand Paris of the Left Bank: the Rodin garden, the gilded Pont Alexandre III and the Eiffel Tower, with the last evening on the Trocadéro watching it sparkle.

The arrival day is not part of it. Use the first evening for a slow walk and a glass of wine near the hotel, and start the three days the morning after. The days can go in any order; the Musée Rodin closes on Mondays, so keep Day 3 off one.

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This route at a glance

Tickets to book before you fly

The cabaret and the Eiffel Tower are the two that sell out; book them first. The prices are the lowest adult prices on the booking page, so for two people simply double them.

Arrival evening: a glass of wine and a walk

Leave the bags, shower and go out for one drink. Wherever your hotel is, there is a café terrace within five minutes where you can sit side by side facing the street, the way Parisians do, and watch the city go by.

If you still have energy after dinner, walk to the river. The quays between the Pont Neuf and the Pont Marie are lit at night and are almost empty after 22:00.

• A wine bar near the hotel is better than a famous restaurant tonight; book the big dinner for Day 2 or Day 3.
• The tip of the Île de la Cité, below the Pont Neuf, is the classic spot for a first kiss in Paris.
• Plan a late breakfast tomorrow: Day 1 starts at 10:00.

Day 1: The Marais, the islands and the Seine at sunset

Start in the Marais at the Hôtel de Sully, a seventeenth-century mansion with a formal garden. At the back of the garden, a small door leads straight into the Place des Vosges, the most beautiful square in Paris: red-brick pavilions on arches, a garden of lime trees and fountains, and galleries where violinists sometimes play. It is the perfect first ten minutes of a romantic trip.

Walk through the old Jewish quarter around the rue des Rosiers for a falafel lunch, then cross the Pont Marie to the Île Saint-Louis. The island has no metro and no big sights, just quiet streets, an ice-cream shop famous across Paris and quays where couples sit with their feet over the water. Cross to the Île de la Cité and walk past Notre-Dame to the Pont des Arts, the footbridge to the Louvre.

At sunset, take a taxi or line 6 to the foot of the Eiffel Tower for an evening cruise with music on board. The boats are electric and quiet; choose the option with champagne, sit outside if it is warm, and watch the bridges and monuments light up one by one. If the timing works, you will be on the water when the tower starts to sparkle.

Stops in order

1. 10:00 · Hôtel de Sully: garden and the passage to the square
   Rue Saint-Antoine, 75004, Paris
2. 10:15 · Place des Vosges: arcades and garden
   Place des Vosges, 75004, Paris
3. 12:30 · Rue des Rosiers: falafel lunch
   Rue des Rosiers, 75004, Paris
4. 14:30 · Île Saint-Louis: ice cream and the quays
   Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, 75004, Paris
5. 15:30 · Notre-Dame Cathedral: free entry
   6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Place Jean-Paul II, 75004, Paris
6. 16:30 · Pont des Arts: the footbridge to the Louvre
   Promenade Marceline Loridan-Ivens, 75006, Paris
7. 19:00 · Bateaux Parisiens pier: evening cruise from Port de Suffren, at the foot of the tower
   Port de la Bourdonnais, 75007, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Time the cruise for the first sparkle

Check the sunset time for your date and book the departure that leaves about thirty minutes after it. You get the last of the light, the lit bridges and, at the top of the next hour, the tower sparkling above the boat.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The Marais has covered galleries around the Place des Vosges and plenty of cafés. Keep the cruise: the boats have a heated, glazed deck.

Day 2: Montmartre for two and a night at the cabaret

Montmartre is where Paris feels most like a village and least like a capital, as long as you avoid the main tourist flow. Start at the Place des Abbesses, where the Art Nouveau metro entrance is one of the last originals in the city, and step into the little square next door for the Wall of Love: "I love you" written 311 times in 250 languages on dark blue tiles. Find yours together.

Climb the rue des Saules to the Musée de Montmartre, set in the oldest house on the hill. Renoir painted in its gardens, and the studio of Suzanne Valadon and her son Utrillo has been kept as it was. From the gardens you look down over the Clos Montmartre, the best-known vineyard in Paris. Just below, La Maison Rose, the pink café on the corner of the rue de l'Abreuvoir, is the most photographed restaurant in Montmartre for a reason.

In the late afternoon, walk up to the Sacré-Cœur for the view and stay on the steps until the light fades. Then come down the hill to the Moulin Rouge for the evening show. It is touristy, it is expensive and it is unforgettable: feathers, sequins and a cancan that has been going since 1889. Book the later show and have dinner beforehand on the rue Lepic.

Stops in order

1. 10:30 · Place des Abbesses: Art Nouveau metro entrance
   Place des Abbesses, 75018, Paris
2. 10:45 · Wall of Love: the Wall of Love, free
   Square Jehan Rictus, Place des Abbesses, 75018 Paris
3. 11:30 · Musée de Montmartre: museum and Renoir gardens
   12 Rue Cortot, 75018, Paris
4. 13:30 · La Maison Rose: lunch at the pink café, or a drink
   Rue de l'Abreuvoir, 75018, Paris
5. 17:00 · Sacré-Cœur: basilica free, sunset on the steps
   Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 75018, Paris
6. 21:00 · Moulin Rouge: cabaret show, book ahead
   82 Boulevard de Clichy, 75018, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Propose on the Square Jehan Rictus at 9:00

If there is a ring in your pocket, the Wall of Love is perfect before 10:00 and crowded after. Early morning also means the light is soft and nobody is in the background of your photos.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The Musée de Montmartre is indoors, and the cabaret is an evening plan in any weather. Swap the Sacré-Cœur steps for the basilica itself.

Day 3: The Rodin garden, the golden bridge and the Eiffel Tower

Begin at the Musée Rodin. Inside the mansion is The Kiss, the most famous kiss in marble, carved from a single block; outside, The Thinker sits among roses, with paths, benches and a café under the trees. Of all the gardens in Paris, this is the one couples talk about afterwards.

Walk past the golden dome of Les Invalides and across the Pont Alexandre III, the most ornate bridge in Paris, with gilded statues on every pillar and a view straight along the river to the Eiffel Tower. Have lunch on the Right Bank, then walk back along the river or ride a single stop to the tower.

Take the Eiffel Tower in the late afternoon: up in daylight, down as the lights come on. Then walk across the Pont d'Iéna to the Trocadéro and find a place on the terrace for the next sparkle. Finish at the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, the two-level iron bridge where the metro rattles overhead and the tower fills the frame. It is the view to end three days on.

Stops in order

1. 10:30 · Musée Rodin: house and rose garden
   77 Rue de Varenne, 75007, Paris
2. 12:30 · Les Invalides: the golden dome from the esplanade
   129 Rue de Grenelle, 75007, Paris
3. 13:00 · Pont Alexandre III: gilded bridge, lunch on the Right Bank
   Promenade des Berges de la Seine - Port des Invalides, 75007, Paris
4. 17:00 · Eiffel Tower: second floor, up in daylight and down at dusk
   5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007, Paris
5. 19:00 · Trocadéro Gardens: the sparkle at the top of the hour
   Paris
6. 20:00 · Pont de Bir-Hakeim: the last view of the trip
   Pont de Bir Hakeim, 75016, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Kiss on the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, not the Trocadéro

The Trocadéro is crowded with selfie sticks after dark. Ten minutes along the river, the central walkway of the Pont de Bir-Hakeim gives you the tower, the river and almost nobody else.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The Rodin house has The Kiss and most of the sculpture indoors. In heavy rain, swap the bridge walk for lunch under the glass roof of the Grand Palais area and keep the tower if the cloud is high.

Departure morning: breakfast in Saint-Germain

On the last morning, have breakfast on a terrace in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the café district of Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir,, where waiters in long aprons still bring the coffee to the terrace.

Buy a last souvenir that fits in a carry-on: macarons, a bottle of wine or a print from the bouquinistes, the green book stalls along the river.

• The cafés of the boulevard Saint-Germain open early for breakfast.
• Pastry boxes travel well in hand luggage; wine needs to go in the hold.
• Aim to be at the airport two hours before an international flight, which means leaving the center earlier than you think.

Which day goes where

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

The most romantic spots in Paris on this route

Every day on this route includes at least one place couples come back to on their second trip. The table lists them with the best time to be there, because in Paris the time matters as much as the place.

💡 Pro Tip

Book dinners for 20:30, not 19:00

Parisians dine late, and the best restaurants are noisy with tourists at 19:00 and full of locals by 21:00. A later booking gives you a better table, a calmer room and time for the sunset first.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Planning a proposal in Paris

Paris is the most popular city in the world for proposals, which means the famous spots are busy. A little planning makes the moment feel private.

• Choose the early morning. The Trocadéro, the Wall of Love and the Pont de Bir-Hakeim are almost empty before 9:00.
• Use the boat. The open deck at the stern of an evening cruise is quieter than any square.
• Think about the photo. A friend or a hired photographer hidden at a distance captures the moment better than a phone on a bench.
• Have a plan for after. Book a dinner for that evening, so that the celebration does not end with looking for a table.

More 3-day routes

• Paris honeymoon: a slower, more indulgent version for newlyweds.
• Paris after dark: late museums, jazz and the city at night.
• Montmartre and beyond: more time on the hill.
• Paris for food lovers: bakeries, markets and bistros.
• The best time for 3 days in Paris: when the light and the weather are best.
• 4 days in Paris: one more day together.
• All the 3-day routes, by theme