How to see Paris with 5 nights
Are you planning a trip to Paris? Wondering how many nights you need to stay in order to see all that the city of love has to offer? Lucky for you, I just spent months planning this myself and I am here to share it all with you!
Day 1-
Please give yourself grace on Day 1. Most flights from the US to Paris will be a night flight and you’ll arrive early in the morning. I don’t sleep well on planes if I can’t recline back, so I made sure to find a deal for lie flat business seats. Even in business, we still didn’t sleep much beause the plane was SO hot on this flight. With that being said, I wouldn’t book anything too early or late in the day on the first day. We arrived a little later than scheduled in Paris, customs took some time to get through at CDG (rather typical for this airport), and we had to take a cab due to rail strikes the weekend we arrived. We were TIRED. We really wanted to sleep and shower buuuut our airbnb had a last minute guest book the night before us so we weren’t able to check in early like we had hoped. We stored our luggage and started our day. Below is our timeline
1100- Brunch at Marcel
1230- Notre Dame.
We had 1:30 tickets for Sainte Chappelle and Conciergerie so we didn’t spend much time in Notre Dame. Luckily, the Notre Dame is one of the few sights that does not require a timed entry. Plus, its free!
There is a long line to enter but it moves very quickly!
130pm- Sainte Chappelle
This chapel was built in the 13th century to house the crown of thorns and portion of the cross. This is hands down, the most magnificent chapel I have ever seen. The walls are covered in stained glass, from floor to ceiling, and depicts over 1113 scenes from the old and new testament.
2:00pm- Conciergerie
The oldest remains of the Palais de la Cité, the seat of power for the Kings during the middle ages. It eventually turned into a prison, which later housed Marie Antionette when she was imprisoned.
They have a Histopad included in the visit which gives you a 3D reconstruction of what the palais looked like during certain times. This was so fun!! I really enjoyed this
4:00pm- NAP TIME. If you aren’t exhausted like we were, skip this step. My husband was coming down with a cold so the sleepless night was wearing on him. We took a nap and then were off to our next plan.
6:30 pm- Louvre
The Louvre is open 2 nights a week until 9pm. This is great for those that are trying to fit in so many things in a short amount of time. HUGE perk of evening entrance? It was significantly less crowded! We were able to walk around easily without large tour groups in our way. Best part? The room for the Mona Lisa was maybe 1/5 as crowded as it is on a typical day! I highly recommend visiting the Louvre on a Wednesday or Friday evening during their extended open hours at 9pm.
Dinner and Bed
This was roughly around 9pm.. Crazy how bright it is this late!
Sainte Chappelle
First Parisian Dinner was at Moustache. A PHENOMENAL restaurant that had us drooling with each course. We chose their pre fixe menu which I recommend.
The famous Mona Lisa. There were approximately 4 rows of people in front of me to see her up close. The rest of the room was pretty empty and easy to move around!
Day 2
Flea Market and Hop on Hop off bus
One of my goals in Paris was to wander the streets, slow down, and truly enjoy the sights around me. I was on the hunt for some flea market antiques so we got up early and went to a flea market! We went to Puces De Vanves. Here, I found a beautiful, vintage Hermes scarf that had to come home with me. We loved strolling through the vendors, seeing all of the antiques, and enjoyed the crisp air of a spring morning in Paris.
All. The. Art. Puces Vanves
Espresso and a baguette sausage, french cheese, and fresh “crispy onions” after a successful morning at the Vanves market. YUM! Try the french fries from the food truck there as well!
After a morning spent at the market, we stopped at our airbnb, changed clothes (it got warmer that afternoon) and decided to try some sight seeing on a hop on-hop off bus. This is a great way to view the sights without walking everywhere. Great for when you’re still super jet lagged. You could easily do this on day 1 instead of seeing all the sights like we did… Lol.
Day 3
Musee D’orsay and Montmarte
9:30- 1200 Musee D’orsay
We had a 9:30 (opening entrance) time slot to the Musee D’orsay and it was pretty crowded quickly after, with the 5th floor, (impressionism floor) extremely packed. This was my absolute favorite floor as I am an impressinist fanatic. You could see Monet and his famous water lillies, Van Gogh and some of his self portaits, to Renoir, and many other impressionist artist. We easily spent 3 hours here and could have spent longer. I’d allow at least 2-3 hours to this museum.
Montmarte 1230
After a morning at Musee D’orsay, we walked across the Seine and through the Tulierie gardens. We took the metro to Blanche stop to see the Moulin Rouge. We just took a photo outside and then walked up the hill to the Sacre Cour. I have a blog post coming on the path we took to avoid the crowds and steps to reach the Sacre Cour!
We walked up the hill, around a corner, to what was named the Prettiest Street in Paris in the netflix show, Emily in Paris. It really was a beatiful cobble stone street. A pink restaraunt, La Maison Rose, is located on this street. We took some photos and continued up the street untill we saw the Sacre Cour.
Angelinas and LaDuree 2pm
Angelina’s is an iconic Parisian staple. It is a 120 year old tea room that is famous for their hot chocolate. It is located right across from the Jardin Tuleries. I have read that there is usually a long wait, but we found that a Sunday at 2pm was perfect! My husband got this phenomenal ice cream Sunday, topped with the best merengue pieces I’ve ever had. I got the tea service filled with sweet and savory bites, but substituted the tea for hot chocolate. It was absolutely decadant!!
LaDuree is the home of the Double shell macaron. These truly were some of the most delicious macarons I have ever had!
The most beautiful street in Paris, from Emily in Paris
La Maison Rose
Day 4
Monet’s garden in Giverny
Now most people that I have spoke to that have been to Paris, have never been to Monet’s garden. After I went and showed them photos, they have all said they are adding another trip to France just to see this place! For me, the sole reason I had a desire to go to Paris was to see Monet’s garden. Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of the place that inspired Monet so significantly.
8:15 train from Paris to Vernon
We started our morning early on this day as I was trying to beat the crowds. We didn’t beat the crowds but we still had the most fantastic day! Take the train to Vernon, we biked to Giverny, about 20 minutes. I highly recommend ebikes.
Tour the garden and enjoy about 2 hours here
Lunch 1200
We had a fabulous lunch at La Parenthese which was a short (2 minute) walk from Monet’s garden
Free time in Paris.
Train back to Paris. We took the 1:45 train back to Paris which I recommend because the last one isn’t until 4pm. Now, you could totally continue to ride your bike along the Seine, explore Giverny and even Vernon. We just had a little shopping we wanted to do in Paris once we got back so we took the earlier train.
Monet’s House
Day 5
Versailles
We booked a guided biking tour of Versailles gardens. This tour was great because you meet your tour guide at the train station and then ride the train to Versailles with your guide (tickets included in price). Upon arrival to Versailles, we walked through the market with our guide. We then picked out items for a picnic lunch. We biked to the palace, through the gardens where our guide gave us history lessons. We stopped under some shade trees and enjoyed a pincic lunch with a view of the palace. It was easy to pretend it wasn’t 2025, my jeans were a dress, and I was a member of the royal family casually enjoying my picnic lunch.
The tour takes you through the gardens, the Grand and Petite Trianon, the Hamlet, and commences at the Palace of Versailles. Please allow an entire day for this tour or any tour in Versailles.
Evening stroll along the Seine
Enjoy your last night in paris with dinner in a cafe, a stroll along the Seine, and watch the Eiffel Tower twinkle as you say “au revoir, Paris.”
The famous Hall of Mirrors