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Photo credits: Piers van der Merwe

My teen daughter suggested we stop off in Paris on our way back from Israel – and as Aubrey Hepburn said: “Paris is always a good idea”.  Not only did it break the long journey back, but we got to spend 2 1/2 days in one of my favorite cities.

As this wasn’t our first trip to Paris and as we had only a short time there, we opted not to spend time in lines waiting to go into attractions, but spent most of the time just exploring. And eating.

Here are some tips that might help you when you visit Paris.

Getting from and to the main airports

If you are flying to Paris there are numerous options from Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports – RER (train), bus, coach, super shuttle and taxi. Make your selection based on where you are going and how much you want to spend. We took the RER B line to Gare du Nord. It was very full on our way back to the airport (8am) but it was easy and cheap ($10 each). We bought our return ticket the day before we needed it as tickets aren’t date-specific. This meant we didn’t need to leave extra time for our trip in case the lines to buy tickets were long.

The coach is slightly more expensive. You can buy those tickets online. It takes you to the Arc de Triomphe.

Staying in Paris

I would suggest you start by deciding which location you want to be in. Wherever you choose, make sure you are near a Metro station for easy access anywhere in the city. I decided to look for accommodation near the Gare du Nord station as I wanted to be able to travel from the airport and back without having to change trains or use the Metro.
I booked at an Airbnb but had to find an extra night’s accommodation at the last minute as we had to change our flights to a day earlier in order to miss the Air France pilot strike. Using Hotels.com I found an Ibis near the Gare du Nord for a great price. It was 2 minutes walk away and the Airbnb was 5 minutes.

** If you have never used AirBnB before, sign up with this link to get $25 off your first stay – and you will give us $25 too which would be great!

Accommodation in Paris

Finding your way

Unless you have an unlimited data plan, you probably want to download offline maps. We weren’t using cell data at all and didn’t miss it. We used the Ulmon CityMaps2Go app. Even though you are offline you can still see your position on the map.

We googled for any extra info we needed while we were having meals as every restaurant offered Wifi.

The Metro

A single ticket gets you anywhere in Paris. Instead of buying single tickets each time you need one, buy a book of 10 for a discount. No only will this save you money, but also time. And the tickets are not date dependent so you can use them on any day – and anyone in your party can use them.

Try to avoid the morning and evening rush hour. As in all cities riding wedged in between people is no fun – and increases the risk of falling prey to pickpocketers.

Eating in Paris

For us, the only breakfast to eat in Paris is croissants or pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants). You can go to a coffee shop and enjoy watching the passersby, or you can save money buying them a bakery.
We ended up eating most of our main meals in the Latin Quarter. I had read the food there was good value for money – and it was! If you want a super-cheap meal find Creperie Genia. For 5 Euros we each got a ham and cheese crepe, a dessert crepe and a drink! You order at the counter on the street and then can go upstairs to eat.

Another evening we ate a restaurant that offered 3-course meals for 12 Euros. There was a choice of about 4 options for each course. I had fried goat cheese followed by salmon and potatoes and finished off with chocolate mousse. Delicious!

Eiffel Tower

If you plan to go up the Eiffel Tower there are ways to do it that will save time and/or money. To take the elevators up, buy your ticket online to miss the lines at the ticket counters. You need to do this a few days in advance as when we tried 2 days before, there were none available.

If you want to walk up you will obviously save money – and those lines are MUCH shorter. You can only walk up 2 levels, but at the second level you can purchase a ticket that takes you all the way up, and there may be no lines at all at that counter.

It is cheaper to take the stairs up so if you are ready for a bit of exercise, that is the obvious choice. We were going to do that but in the end just opted for photographs.

Sundays in Paris
Be aware that many shops and restaurants are closed on Sundays. All the local bakeries in our area were. But the tourist areas still have plenty of options. We visited Montmartre and the Latin Quarter and all the stores there were open.

The Champs de Elysees was the only place we could find chain stores that were open. So that is a good area to leave to visit on a Sunday. It was also raining when we were there and it was convenient being able to pop in and out of stores as we progressed down the road.

And, of course, you have a view of the Arc de Triomphe the whole way which makes the shopping trip rather spectacular.

If you have any more good Paris travel tips, please share them in the comments.

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