Wednesday 8 July 2015

PARIS - What to DO, EAT & ENJOY!!!


Must Go Attractions:


1.     Musee du Louvre (Glass Pyramid)

This is a photogenic structure at the centre of city. You may snap a photo with this structure at any time of the day if you are not entering the museum. You can find many interesting exhibits within the museum including Mona Lisa portrait.


Cost:                    €12-16

Address:              75001 Paris

Transport:           Palais-Royal Musée du Louvre

Opening Hours:  Everyday (except Tuesday), 0900-1800





2.     Eiffel Tower


            Another iconic structure of Paris which you may like to view during daytime and night time,   
            when the tower lights up for 5 minutes every hour in the evening. If you intend to climb up
            the tower for city view, do purchase your tickets in advance online in order to avoid the 
            massive queue at ticketing stations.


Cost:                    €5-15.5

Address:              Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris

Transport:           Champ de Mars / Tour Eiffel

Opening Hours:  Everyday, 0900-0000




3.     Champ de Mars

It’s a large public green open field directly next to Eiffel Tower. Avoid the expensive food vendors around and picnic with your own takeaway pastries and sandwiches instead. This is one of the best spot to capture a good view of the Eiffel tower.

Cost:                    Free

Address:              2 Allée Adrienne Lecouvreur, 75007 Paris

Transport:           Champ de Mars / Tour Eiffel

Opening Hours:  24hrs







4.     Arc de Triomphe (an iconic structure)

This is an historic structure along the busy road of city centre. It is free to view and take photo of the structure as long as you are not climbing the stairs up.


Cost:                    €8

Address:             Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris

Transport:          Charles de Gaulle Etoile

Opening Hours: 1000-2230




5.     Catacombes

A passageway made up of human bone remains. Mysterious and eye opening  tunnel.


Cost:                   €5

Address:             1, avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy

Transport:          Denfert-Rochereau

Opening Hours: Everyday 1000-2000 (except Monday and 1st May)



6.       Ponts des Arts

This is the well know Lover’s Bridge where lovers from all over the world attach their padlock along the bridge, with their names written on it. This gesture symbolizes locking their love till everlasting. Unfortunately, the bridge was closed during our visit and we only manage to stand around the entrance of the bridge and snap pictures.

Cost:                    Bring your own padlocks to avoid expensive padlocks from street vendors

Address:              Pont des Arts, 75006 Paris

Transport:           Pont Neuf

Opening Hours:  24hrs




7.     Paris Disneyland

Consist of two parks: Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park, and a shopping district, Disney Village. The theme park includes thrilling rides for the adults and family friendly rides for the young. Everywhere is photo-worthy within this magical wonderland. Proceed to the La Vallée branded shopping outlet which is just one station away from Disneyland.


Cost:                   Starts from €47 (for 1 park 1 mini ticket)

Address:             77777 Marne-la-Vallée

Transport:           Marne-la-Vallee Chessy Station

Opening Hours:  Everyday 1000 to 2000 / Sat & Public Holidays 1000 to 2100






8.     Palace of Versailles

If you have more time to spare, you may consider travel out of central tourist to Palace of Versailies. Besides the main palace, it consists of the Trianon palaces and Marie-Antoinette's hamlet, French garden and other palace chamber. You can easily spend a whole day exploring different parts of the French palace. Bring food along to picnic in the gardens.


Cost:                   €18

Address:             Place d'Armes, 78000 Versailles

Transport:          Versailles Chantiers station

Opening Hours:  0900-1830




9.     Marché Saxe-Breteuil (open air market beside Eiffel Tower)

One of the more popular market in central Paris which is easily accessible by the locals the tourist since it is just a stone throw distance away from the iconic Eiffel Tower. Embrace the lively atmosphere in this open air market which sell all kinds of food and goods. It is quite a small area and the things sold here were mainly fresh poultry, seafood, home appliance and groceries.
           

Address:             Avenue de Saxe btw Place de Breteuil and Avenue de Ségur 7th

Transport:          Ségur or Duroc station

Opening Hours: Thursday and Saturday (0700-1430)




10.   Montmartre (Basilica of Sacre-Coeur, Moulin Rouge…)


Cost:                  Free entrance to Basilica, Ticket applies for Moulin Rouge show

Address:            35 Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 75018 Paris, France

Transport:          Abbesses station

Opening Hours: 0600 - 2200



Must Go Shopping:

1.       Carrousel du Louvre (underground shopping under Louvre)

2.       Rue St Honoré (branded shopping street)

3.       Printemps (a large department store with branded goods)

4.       Galeries Lafayette ( another popular department store equipped with many branded goods                and has its own tax refund counter.  If you do not want to be overwhelmed with tourists and              waited in the queue to enter the boutiques and wait again in the tax refund queue, I would                  advise you to avoid this department store. The roof top is a nice open space to hang out with              a bird eye view of the city as well as the iconic Eiffel tower. Before you leave the building,                    remember to try Pierre Hermes and Laduree macaroons too.

5.       Champs-Élysées: Branded flagship stores such as LV, Chanel and others. Be there early so that            you would be wasting time queuing to enter the boutique.

6.       Le Bon Marché: This is the oldest department store in Paris. It consist of two buildings                          connected by a bridge. One of it is a food hall which sells all kinds of fresh food and groceries.            Another building consists of luxury goods with many branded boutique within it. We were                  surprised there were not many tourists in this department store and we had a very good                      shopping experience over here.  We received very good service and there is no queue to enter            any of the boutiques. The downside is there is no tax refund counter, but you can always get              your tax refund at the airport on your last day of departure.

7.       La Vallée Village Shopping Outlet: another shopping paradise for branded goods shoppers.                  Equipped with a range of branded  boutique selling past season items at marked down price.              Free wifi available!

8.       Supermarkets: Monoprix, G-20, Carrefour



Must Eat Food:



1.     Du Pain et des Idées (Bakery) - Click Here

Cost:                   1-5€

Address:             34 Rue Yves Toudic, 75010 Paris

            Transport:         Jacques Bonsergent station (line 5)

Opening Hours: Mon to Fri, 0645 – 2000





2.     Au P'tit Grec (Crepes) - Click Here

Cost:                   6€

Address:             68 Rue Mouffetard, 75005 Paris

Transport:           Place Monge

Opening Hours:  1100-2330




3.     L'As du Fallafel (Falafel) - Click Here

Cost:                  from 6€

Address:            34 rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris

Transport:         Saint-Paul station

Opening Hours: Thur 1200-0000, Fri 1200-1500, other days closed


 
4.     Pierre Herme (Macaroons)

Cost:                    around 2€ each             

Address:              a) Galeries Lafayette- 40 boulevard Haussmann 75009 Paris

                           b) 133 avenue des Champs Elysées

                           c) 4 rue Cambon

                           d) 39 avenue de l'Opéra

Opening Hours:  around 0930-2000 (hours varies at different stores)




5.    Laduree (Macaroons)


           Cost:                  from ard 2 € each            

           Address:            a) 75 Avenue des Champs-Élysées 75008 Paris

                                      b) 21 Rue Bonaparte, near lover bridge 75006 Paris

                                      c)16-18 Rue Royale

           Opening Hours: around 0800 to 1900 (hours varies at different stores)



6.  Au Levain d’Antan (Bakery)


       Cost:                  1 to 6 €

       Address:             6 rue des Abbesses 75018 Paris , Montmartre

       Transport:          Abbessess station

       Opening Hours: 0700-2000



7.     Coquelicot des Abbesses (Bakery and brunch)

Cost:                    1-20€

Address:              24 rue des Abbesses 75018 Paris

Transport:           Abbessess station

Opening Hours:  0730-2000




8.     Le Grenier à Pain Abbesses (Bakery) - Click Here

Cost:                    1-5€

Address:              38 rue Abbesses, 75018 Paris

Transport:           Abbessess station

Opening Hours:  0730-2000






1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing.Planning a family holiday can be such a daunting experience. You have family members of all ages and everyone has different interests. This means keeping everyone entertained and considering everyone for the holiday can be exhausting, frustrating and in some instances, make you want to scrap the idea completely. Please check my link and surely you find something interesting.

    Ferienhaus Grächen

    ReplyDelete