48.86° N · 2.35° E
Museums booked by time slot, neighbourhoods explored on foot and a metro that reaches everything. Three nights for the essentials, five to live it.
Part of Historic bookshops and libraries of Europe
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
The Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo in the former royal palace: €22 for EU residents, closed on Tuesdays.
Climb to the second floor (116 m) or the summit (276 m): from €14.80 by stairs and €23.50 by lift; open daily until 23:00.
Free Notre-Dame with a booked time, its 424-step towers (€16) and the Sainte-Chapelle's stained glass (€16), in a single morning.
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Getaways from Paris
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
April, May, June, September and October: long or mild days and open terraces. July and August bring queues everywhere and heat in the metro. From November to March it gets dark early and it rains, but museums can be seen with fewer people and December has its lights.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
Paris is the easiest destination in France to reach by plane from Spain: there are direct flights from the main cities to Orly and Charles de Gaulle, and from both you reach the centre by public transport in under an hour. Don't hire a car: it is no use in the city, and if you want to go out to Versailles or Giverny there is a train.
Don't bring a car: parking is expensive and the metro goes everywhere. You arrive by plane or TGV, stay near a direct line and walk between districts.
Choose the district before the hotel: the Marais for strolling at night through quiet squares, Saint-Germain for cafés and bookshops.
Accommodation is the expensive part; the rest can be cheap. Many museums are free for under-26s resident in the EU, the views from Montmartre cost nothing and the bouillons feed you for under €20.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
With children, Paris works if you alternate: a museum in the morning, a park or the boat in the afternoon. Under-18s enter the Louvre and Orsay free, but none can last more than two hours inside.
From 12 or 13 years old Paris hooks them if you give them something to choose: a specific painting to find in the Louvre, the top of the Eiffel Tower, some time on their own in Montmartre. Under-18s don't pay at the big national museums.
Paris with friends works out well if you fix a time to sleep and a time to eat. Places to sit as a group and spend little do exist: the bouillons, the Breton galettes, the Seine cruise. What is expensive is going up the towers, which are better spread over one afternoon than over the whole trip.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: A big hostel at Colonel Fabien, near the Canal Saint-Martin: dorms from €24 a bed, private and family rooms, café and a rooftop in summer.
Why we like it: Three non-profit hostels in old Marais houses, next to Saint-Paul metro, with breakfast included, 24-hour reception and beds in rooms of 2 to 10.
Why we like it: A three-star hotel on rue de Jarente, a quiet street in the Marais beside place du Marché-Sainte-Catherine and Saint-Paul metro.
Why we like it: A 56-room and suite hotel inside place des Vosges, with its own garden, a spa with hammam and jacuzzi, and free private parking.
Why we like it: A grand 1910 hotel on boulevard Raspail, between Art Nouveau and Art Deco, restored by Wilmotte and reopened in 2018 with a spa, brasserie and bars.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: eggs with mayonnaise, leeks vinaigrette and the dish of the day.
What to order: classic French bistro cooking at bouillon prices.
What to order: a savoury buckwheat galette and a salted-butter crêpe for dessert.
What to order: a dish with sauce or carved at the table, or just a coffee at the bar if you are short of time.
Takeaway and markets
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
48.80° N · 2.13° E
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49.07° N · 2.17° E
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48.87° N · 2.78° E
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49.19° N · 2.46° E
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Tips
At 9:00 the big rooms can still be seen. On Wednesdays and Fridays it is open until 21:00 and in the evening there are fewer people.
The Louvre and the Sainte-Chapelle are a stroll apart; Orsay and the Eiffel Tower are on the same bank.
Restaurants serve from 12:00 to 14:00 and from 19:00. The bouillons have continuous service.
The steps of the Sacré-Cœur are the prettiest free viewpoint in the city.
Take the Seine cruise on the first afternoon. After an hour on the water you know where everything is and you do the rest of the trip on foot.
They are chain stores at famous-avenue prices. Walk them to the Arc de Triomphe if they happen to be on your way, and go shopping in the Marais.
Three nights for the essentials: one day for the Louvre and the Île de la Cité, another for the Eiffel Tower, Orsay and the boat, and another for Montmartre and the Marais. With five nights you slow the pace, revisit a neighbourhood without hurrying and have a morning left for Versailles. Paris is understood on foot: from the Louvre to Notre-Dame it is twenty minutes' walk and from the Marais to place de la Bastille, ten. The metro does the rest.
For sleeping, the Marais lets you walk to almost everything and has nightlife; Saint-Germain is quieter and more elegant; the Canal Saint-Martin is cheaper and close to the Gare du Nord. Avoid staying far from a metro station: it is the difference between going back to the hotel at midday or not.
Start with the historic centre: the Île de la Cité, with Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, and the Louvre across the bridge. On the left bank you have Orsay and the Luxembourg Gardens; to the west, the Eiffel Tower and the terrace of the Arc de Triomphe, which is open late. For a quiet hour between big museums, Monet's Water Lilies at the Orangerie, in the Tuileries.
If you have one more day, take the train to Versailles: the palace and Trianon close on Mondays, and the time slot is booked online even for those who enter free.
Yes, almost everything. The Louvre recommends booking a time slot even for those who enter free, and at the ticket office it only sells if there is room. The Eiffel Tower sells by date and time, and the Sainte-Chapelle only has timed tickets. Notre-Dame is free, but with a free booking you save yourself the long queue in spring and summer.
Check the closing days before organising yourself: the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays and Orsay on Mondays. Under-18s don't pay at the big national museums and EU residents aged 18 to 25 don't either at the Louvre and Orsay, with ID.
By plane there are direct flights from the main Spanish cities to Orly and Charles de Gaulle. To reach the centre, the RER B from Charles de Gaulle and metro line 14 from Orly, with a special airport ticket of €14. By train, the direct TGV inOui links Barcelona Sants with the Gare de Lyon in about six and three-quarter hours, centre to centre.
By car it is about 800 km from Irún and about 870 from La Jonquera, almost all on toll motorway, and parking in Paris is expensive and slow. If you come by car as part of a longer trip, leave it in a hotel car park or on the outskirts and get around by metro.
On foot and by metro. A Métro-Train-RER ticket costs €2.55 in 2026 and is valid for one journey with changes, regardless of distance; you load it on the Navigo Easy card or on your phone. Lines 1 and 14 cross the centre and are automatic and frequent. The boat on the Seine doesn't replace the metro, but on the first day it shows you the whole city in an hour.
Questions
Yes, if you have four nights or more. You go in a day on the RER C; the palace is closed on Mondays and the Passeport costs from €25.
Three nights for the essentials and five to see it without rushing and add Versailles.
€22 for residents and citizens of the European Economic Area. Free for under-18s and for EEA residents aged 18 to 25.
From Charles de Gaulle, on the RER B; from Orly, on metro line 14. In both cases, with the €14 airport ticket.
Yes. There is a direct TGV from Barcelona Sants to the Gare de Lyon, about seven hours.
The Louvre is closed on Tuesdays and Orsay on Mondays. The Sacré-Cœur is open every day from 6:30 to 22:30.
Yes, alternating museums and open air: the boat, the Eiffel Tower, the Luxembourg Gardens and Montmartre work at any age. The metro has lots of stairs, so a rucksack carrier is better than a pushchair.
Notre-Dame, the Sacré-Cœur, the parks and the banks of the Seine. Orsay is free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month and the Louvre on the first Friday from 18:00, except in July and August.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/france/ile-de-france/paris
