‘Paris bucket list: My top 10 things to do in the French capital’

There is so much to excite your travel senses in Paris, France it is hard to know where to begin. After five visits, I have narrowed down my top 10 list of things to do, with some hints based on our experiences there.

1. Try a Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tour

Get a perspective of the city from the height of a double-decker bus. Unless you are really pressed for time, don’t get off at any of the stops until you have done a whole circuit. Then get off at your preferred sites on your second time around. This will take up a whole day. There are several companies offering theses with slight variations of routes. You can buy tickets at any of the departure points or pre-book tickets online before you go, like we did.

2. A Bateaux Mouches tour

This is an alternative way to see the city from the deck of a river cruiser, while listening to the tourist information in many different languages. Board at Pont de l’Alma for a cruise east past Notre Dame Cathedral and Île Saint-Louis and then return as far as the Eiffel Tower and the Palais de Chaillot before disembarking again at Pont de l’Alma. It’s a great way to get photos of many interesting buildings, albeit from a different angle than up at street level.

3. The Eiffel Tower

Instead of trying to access the Eiffel Tower on the hop-on, hop-off bus trip, consider taking a tour that combines skip the line access with dinner in one of the restaurants. Otherwise the queues for the elevators can be very long and tiring. Or if you are very fit you could try walking up all those stairs. There’s not much competition for that! Some tour versions also include a night cruise on the Seine, or a show at the Moulin Rouge, which we did and recommend.

4. Visit a couple of galleries or museums

Try the Louvre on a Sunday when it’s free to enter. There will be a long line but if you get there early it should help. We spent four hours exploring the museum and still did not see it all. There are some cafes inside where you can take a lunch break and rest your weary feet. One of my favourite galleries is the Musée D’Orsay on the Left Bank of the Seine. It houses the bulk of the Impressionists’ work and is an interesting building still displaying its original train station architecture.

5. Take your life in your hands and try driving in Paris!

Start with the Périphérique for an exciting circuit of the city, then drive on the roads along the Seine. Watch out for the Gendarme vehicles when they put on their sirens and force their way through the traffic, even when it would seem to the sane driver that there is not enough room! Especially try negotiating the roundabout at Place de L’Étoile where eight roads converge on the Arc de Triomphe. It takes nerves of steel the first time. The trick is to set your course for the street exit that you need and then ignore the drivers behind you while indicating your turn and gradually move the car across the wide expanse of unmarked lanes. It took me a few goes before I realised that the other drivers could be trusted to avoid me! But just a hint — stay in the outside lane and watch out for the cars on your left that will cut you off!

6. Wander the Grand Boulevards

By this I mean the Champs Élysées and Rue St Honoré, or the arcades of the 2nd arrondissement, for example. People-watching and window-shopping are the things to do in Paris, particularly near the fashion houses in St Honoré. If you are an enthusiastic shopper, then Galeries Lafayette is for you, or the Printemps store. Then stop for a restorative coffee or hot chocolate on the Boulevard Saint Germain at famous (read expensive) cafés such as Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots.

7. See the graves and monuments of the famous in the Père Lachaise Cemetery

Put a rose on the tomb of Edith Piaf or James Morrison, two of the most visited sites. If you are still in this somewhat macabre mood, try a walk through the underground tunnels of the Catacombs, nearby. Thousands of graves in cemeteries all over Paris and its suburbs were exhumed and the remains of the dead are neatly arranged here with skulls and femurs creating the walls and all the other bones tossed carelessly behind.

8. Take a walk in the Paris streets at night

The Latin Quarter is not to be missed. The arrondissement throbs with excitement venues compete for clientele, who begin the evening with an aperitif and some people watching from their tables in front of the bars and progress to dining in the many and varied restaurants nearby. The area of Pigalle, between the 9th and the 18th arrondissements, is known as the ‘red light’ district. It not only has the Moulin Rouge, where we experienced the Dinner Show, but also the Lido and various other cabarets, adult experience venues and shops. From this elevation it is possible to get a great view of the Eiffel Tower at midnight when it puts forth a brief but spectacular light show.

9. Visit the churches of Sacré Coeur and Notre Dame

The many steps up to Sacré Coeur are worth the effort, or you could take the funicular, and be rewarded with fantastic views over the city. We bought some picnic supplies from the shops below and joined the other tourists taking in the views while we ate. It is sadly no longer possible to climb one of the towers of Notre Dame or simply wander around inside the cathedral as we once did, since the devastating fire. But what remains is still an amazing piece of architecture.

10. While you’re at the top of the Sacré Coeur hill, why not pop over to see the street artists in Place du Tertre, Montmartre?

Some are busy at their easels, while others roam the square propositioning tourists to have their portraits sketched, for a small fee. Most are pretty good. The area also houses some interesting cafés and restaurants such as the Lapin Agile, the haunt of the artists who lived in the area in the early-1900s, and Paris’ very own vineyard, Clos Montmartre. We ate lunch at La Bohème across from the square, where we spent an interesting hour or so people-watching.

I am certain that there are many other worthwhile and fascinating things to do in this great city. I just have to keep returning there to find out!

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