Paris: 9 Things Worth Doing (and 3 to Skip)
Paris rewards specific choices, not a checklist. Skip the wrong three things below and you save a full afternoon and probably fifty euros; do the right nine and you’ll see a genuinely different city than the one photographed from the Trocadero railing at golden hour. The fact everything else here hangs on: 2026 Paris is a booking-gated city. The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Catacombs and Sainte-Chapelle all require a mandatory timed slot, no walk-up option exists for any of them, and turning up without one gets you turned away, not just queued.
| Essentials | Paris |
|---|---|
| Days needed | 3-4 for the core sights, 5-7 to go deeper |
| Best months | April-June, September-early October |
| Daily budget | Budget EUR70-100 ( |
| Book first | Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Catacombs and Sainte-Chapelle, all mandatory timed entry, all sell out |
Nine things actually worth doing, in the order I’d do them
- The Louvre, one wing at a time
- Sainte-Chapelle’s stained glass
- Notre-Dame’s free nave
- The Eiffel Tower at sunset
- Musee d’Orsay on a Thursday evening
- Sacre-Coeur before 10am
- A Bateaux Parisiens cruise
- Le Marais on a Sunday
- The Catacombs, booked a week out
The Louvre works once you stop trying to see everything
As of January 2026 the Louvre charges EUR22 for EEA residents and EUR32 for everyone else, a roughly 45 percent jump for non-EEA visitors, and every ticket now comes bundled with a mandatory 30-minute entry window. The museum is closed every Tuesday, and from July through August 2026 the timed slot is mandatory for all visitors with no walk-up exceptions beyond a short passholder list. Check current Louvre ticket tiers and hours before you build a day around it.
Can you actually see the Louvre in one morning? Not the whole museum, and don’t try. Pick the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo circuit plus one wing you genuinely care about, then leave before your feet and the crowds both win. Book Louvre skip-the-line access on GetYourGuide if the official timed slots are gone for your date; a real guided tour is also the fastest way to stop wandering the building aimlessly.
Sainte-Chapelle’s stained glass earns the mandatory booking
Ten minutes from Notre-Dame inside the Palais de Justice complex, Sainte-Chapelle charges EUR16 for EEA residents and EUR22 for everyone else, with mandatory 30-minute timed slots; a 10am booking expires at 10:30 if you’re late. The upper chapel’s 15 windows cover 600 square metres of 13th-century glass, and morning slots on a sunny day sell out first in peak season. Book directly through tickets.monuments-nationaux.fr rather than a third-party markup.
Notre-Dame is open, free, and still gets written up wrong
Notre-Dame reopened on 7-8 December 2024, and by now it’s been welcoming visitors daily for well over a year, so any advice calling it “still closed” or “under restoration” is stale. Nave entry is completely free, no ticket required at all; an optional timed slot exists purely to skip a second queue, bookable only 72 hours ahead, and without one expect roughly 20 minutes waiting in shoulder season. The bell towers reopened separately on 20 September 2025 after six years shut, a new double-helix oak staircase included, and now run a EUR16 adult ticket booked only online through the same CMN monuments portal, no on-site sales.
The Eiffel Tower at sunset beats the summit at noon
Every Eiffel Tower ticket is timed, bookable up to 60 days ahead: second floor by lift runs EUR23.50, the summit EUR36.70, and stairs to the second floor alone are the budget option at EUR14.80. Summit and sunset slots sell out first in season. Book Eiffel Tower tickets on GetYourGuide once the official toureiffel.paris calendar shows your date sold out at the second-floor price you want.
Is the summit worth the extra cost over the second floor? Only if height itself is the point. The second floor at EUR23.50 already delivers the skyline view; the summit adds roughly EUR13 more per person for a view that reads similarly in most photographs, so budget travelers can stop at the second floor without regret.
Musee d’Orsay’s Thursday evening slot is the smart move
Musee d’Orsay runs EUR16 standard, or EUR12 for the Thursday evening entry after 6pm, closed Mondays. The old Beaux-Arts train station is smaller and easier to finish in two to three hours than the Louvre, and its top-floor terrace clock is one of the better free photo spots in the city regardless of how you feel about Impressionist painting.
Sacre-Coeur before 10am, before the bracelet crews set up
The basilica is free to enter; the 280-step dome climb is a separate on-site-only ticket, roughly EUR8 adult, no advance booking exists for it. Go before 10am for two reasons: thinner crowds, and the bracelet scam crews who work the steps up from the Metro all day, grabbing a wrist to tie a string bracelet before you can refuse it, then demanding payment and not letting go. Say non and keep walking; the same posture handles the gold-ring trick found near most major monuments citywide.
A Bateaux Parisiens cruise is the low-effort way to see the river
An hour-long Seine cruise from Port de la Bourdonnais near the Eiffel Tower runs about EUR19 adult, passing Notre-Dame and the Louvre from river level with none of the booking urgency of the sights above. Search Seine cruise options on Viator for evening departures if you want the illuminated-monuments version instead of the daytime one.
Le Marais on a Sunday, when everything else is shut
Le Marais is one of the few central Paris neighborhoods where shops routinely stay open Sundays, which makes it the natural default when the rest of the city goes quiet. Place des Vosges, the Jewish quarter around Rue des Rosiers, and the boutique streets of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements reward a slow wander more than a checklist visit.
The Catacombs need a booking discipline nothing else on this list does
Tickets release exactly 7 days ahead at 10am Paris time on catacombes.paris.fr , and there is no walk-up purchase at all; the EUR31 adult ticket, audio guide included, sells out routinely in summer. This is the single most-missed booking in Paris precisely because it doesn’t work like every other timed ticket that opens weeks in advance, so set a reminder for the release window a week before the day you want.
Three things worth skipping
A Champs-Elysees sit-down meal. The avenue’s cafes and chain restaurants are priced for footfall, not quality; eat almost anywhere else in the city for the same steak-frites at a fraction of the cost.
The Moulin Rouge dinner-and-show combo. The show itself is a genuine cabaret institution; the bundled dinner is an expensive afterthought. Book the show alone and eat somewhere better beforehand.
Hunting for Pont des Arts love locks. Paris removed well over a million locks from that bridge in 2015 after the accumulated weight, tens of tons of metal, threatened the structure, and replaced the railings with smooth glass panels designed so nothing attaches again. Attaching anything to a Paris bridge now carries a fine up to EUR500. The photo op moved on; the bridge did not.
Where to stay
Le Marais and Saint-Germain-des-Pres are the two neighborhoods that put you within walking distance of most of this list: the Marais for the Sunday-open shops and the Louvre’s back door, Saint-Germain for the Musee d’Orsay, Luxembourg Gardens, and a genuinely calmer evening scene. Compare current rates in the Marais and Saint-Germain on Booking.com before you commit to a neighborhood; both stay central enough that a taxi from either airport runs the same flat fare either way.
Getting around without a car
Since January 2025, Paris flattened its fare zones into two ticket types regardless of distance crossed within the city: Metro-Train-RER at EUR2.55, Bus-Tram at EUR2.05. Paper carnet tickets stopped being sold after 31 December 2025, so load a Navigo Easy card, a one-time EUR2 cost, instead. From CDG, RER B runs to Gare du Nord in about 34 minutes for the flat EUR14 airport ticket; from Orly, Metro Line 14 goes direct. Check current fares and service alerts on Ile-de-France Mobilites before you travel, since several RER and Metro lines see engineering works through mid-summer most years.
When to visit
April-June and September-early October give mild weather and thinner crowds than peak summer. August empties out the small independent restaurants and shops for two to three weeks, though the sights themselves stay just as crowded. Christmas draws heavy crowds for the markets and Notre-Dame’s first full holiday season since reopening; book everything, both hotels and timed tickets, further ahead than you would for a typical European capital.
FAQ
Is the Paris Museum Pass worth buying? Only if you’re hitting three or more paid sights a day; a 2-day pass runs around EUR90 and pays for itself on a Louvre-plus-Orsay-plus-Sainte-Chapelle day, but it doesn’t cover the Eiffel Tower and nine of its included sites still need their own separate timed-slot booking.
Do metro carnets still exist? No. Paper t+ tickets stopped being sold entirely after 31 December 2025; use a Navigo Easy card loaded with individual tickets instead, or a Mobilis day pass if you’re moving around constantly.
Is Paris safe to walk at night? Generally yes in the central arrondissements, with the usual big-city caveats: watch for the gold-ring and petition-clipboard distraction scams, and keep bags zipped on Metro lines 1 and 6 and through Chatelet-Les Halles.
For the day trips this guide deliberately leaves out, Versailles, Giverny, Disneyland Paris, see our Paris, France gateway guide ; for the honest verdict on the city itself, see our Paris overview , or plan by the day with our 2-day and 7-day itineraries. Whatever else you cut, don’t cut the Catacombs reminder from your calendar; it’s the one booking window every other guide forgets to mention.