1st Time in Paris May 2027

My advice is that you're trying to do way too much. Less is more. The first thing I'd do is cut out Reims and the Champagne idea. There is so much to see and do in Paris. You're giving it short shrift as it is.

Be sure to just walk around, stopping at an outdoor cafe to watch the world go by and enjoy a wine or coffee. I love Paris and the art museums, churches, etc., but this is my favorite thing to do. Relax, don't overbook your day, just enjoy being there.

Paris is for wandering, not just seeing sights. Cancel Reims and Campagne area. Stay in Paris and enjoy. You barely have any time there. Wander the different quarters: Montmartre, Marais, Latin Quarter, Batignolles, St Germain, etc. They are all different. And all the beautiful parks! Parc Monceau is my favorite…but then the lovely little park in Batignolles (B… Square, I think) and their street market. And there are so many small museums…and boulangeries and patiseries and fromageries… ;)

Plan 1/day activity is good. Keeping things flexible (some days a plan in mind but not committed to) is better. Leaves time and space for wandering. Paris needs to be explored!

Before you go, do lots of research and make notes of all sorts of things like the covered passages, markets, patisseries, cheese shops, etc so that when you’re there you can sort routes to walk around this exploring while discovering new and wonderful things.

For such a short trip you can easily stay within Paris itself. I’d pick Versailles OR Reims as a firm plan, leave the other as a “if we want”

I had both of these as options on our visit and ended up saying neither because we were enjoying visiting museums (briefly, like you) and just digging into neighborhoods and having picnics in parks!

Sounds like a busy trip. So much to see and do. One of our favorite things to do when in Paris is to walk the city. Sometimes with a final destination in mind and other times just wandering and seeing where we end up. You are staying in an area, Rue Cler, that makes walking enjoyable. I will list one walk we have done many times that includes museums, Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle, all on your list.
Walk from your hotel to Rodin Museum, about 15-20 minutes. One of our favorite museums. From there you can continue your walk to the Musee Orsay about 15-20 minutes. You can spend all day or an hour or two. From there you can continue your walk to Notre Dame, about 20 minutes. And finally Sainte Chapele is only a few minutes from Notre Dame.
Of course you will need to decide how long you will stay at each stop. If you do it on a Thursday you can make the Orsay your last stop as they open Thursday evening.
As an aside the Invalides (Army Museum) is just a short walk from your hotel. If military history and Napoleon’s tomb are any interest to you if not the outside of the building is beautiful.
Anyway enjoy and my only advice is walk, walk and walk. Try not to cram too much into your time rushing from site to site. Enjoy.

I'll agree that there's enough to see in Paris to scrap Champagne. This may be helpful? There is another 1st-time Paris traveler on the forum who is currently planning a trip of the same length - also for May - and there's a lot of good discussion and itinerary advice in that thread. Take a look and see if any of the content might be helpful for your trip?

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/paris-first-timer-recommendations

Sounds like a fun time! I agree with the others that you are trying to fit too much in.

On your Versailles day the tour is probably just of the palace. Then there are the gardens, the Trianons (little palaces), Marie Antoinette's Hamlet or farm area which is so cute plus just lots of stuff to see. I would count this as a full day.

On your arrival day are you planning to go up in the ET or just look at it from the ground. I stay in the Rue Cler area and my arrival day routine is to walk over to the ET. I like to walk down Avenue de la Motte Picquet and approach it from in front of the Ecole Militaire (where Napoleon went to school!), then walk down the Champ du Mars toward the Tower. So cool! You do need to be wary of petion girls who wander around. They try to get you to sign some bogus petition while they are trying to get their hand in your pocket. Very easy to wander back to your hotel. My concern about your booking a time slot to go up would be possible flight delays and unless you travel a lot you might be too out of kilter to feel like going up.

For your day 5, if you drop the Champagne day trip, I would consider another museum this day (did not look to see what day of the week this is!). The Orsay is awesome but if you wanted to do one of the smaller ones that is excellent too. The Cluny is terrific, the Carnavalet in the Marais is great. If you are interested in WWII history, the Resistance and Liberation museum is very good. There are a dozen more that you could choose!

Thank you so much for all your suggestions!! I will definitely rethink what I have initially planned. It is so hard to figure time and space
when planning a trip where you want to do and see so much. It is wonderful to be able to share your plans with people who have been there and get your input on how to plan the best trip I can!

Bonjour.

The suggestion to stay in Paris is one that I share. Paris has so much to offer. Not just churches, museums, and parks, but also neighborhoods and shops and cafes, clubs, restaurants, views and iconic sights.

Our first visit to Paris was for a week. So busy with so much in Paris, we never had time to go to Versailles or Giverny, as loosely planned. Our second trip to Paris included the trip to Giverny and was preceded by visits to Chartres and Versailles. The crowds and heat made both Versailles and Giverny unpleasant.

Our third visit to Paris was brief, but we enjoyed discovering new gems and revisiting ones we had enjoyed on one or another of our earlier visits.

The other forum thread that Kate identied may well be useful for you. Follow that link.

Bon Voyage.

joelle1120,
Congrats on plans to visit Paris, a city unlike any oither! Is May 18th your arrival day or the day you leave home? If it is arrival day you will have 5 full days to enjoy Paris. Do check out the thread from Bob in WA for some excellent suggestions on planning your days, and avoiding wasting time and moving around.
As others have suggested, I would skip a visit to Reims. IMO, though it is a wonderful place, it is not worth losing a full day in Paris on such a short trip. Likewise I would skip Versailles, but if it is an important part of this trip to you, then go, but allocate pretty much a full day for it. The chateau opens at 9:00. If you want to be back in Paris by noon, you should be there in the security line well before that. The train will take 30-40 minutes from Paris. Figure 10 minutes to walk to the security line (not skippable). You should leave the chateau by 11:00 to get your train back to Paris. Versailles is massive. Two hours, to me, make this a waste of my time and money. You would see too little of it, IMO, and have no time for the grounds. I would rethink Versailles and give it a full day if you decide to go there. It is magnificent, but huge. That leaves you four full days. Get a map (tourist-oriented) of Paris to see where places are in relation to one another. Group sights by neighborhood so you can walk from place to place and "be" in Paris as you move around. And take into consideration how long you may spend at a place. Some are quick visits, some really need a few hours to appreciate them. It is up to you and your preferences.
On Day 2, after your 10:30 Louvre tour (how long will it be? How much does it propose to cover?) I see a late lunch (Louvre tour of 3 hours may be long enough...people can get museumed out) at about 2:00. You have lots of options for short(ish) visits in the later afternoon to some nearby places such as the Opera Garnier (about a mile away and with beautiful interior plus that Chagall ceiling!), Galeries Lafayette (opulent building for a department store, plus good views of Paris from its rooftop), Printemps (another iconic dept. store building). These places are very close to each other. By this time you will be ready to have a cafe sit-down for an aperitif, then dinner (Paris restaurants often don't start serving dinner before 7:00...later meals there). You may have had a late lunch, so a Paris-time dinner will work.
Day 3 Notre Dame and Ste. Chapelle are close to each other, so a good pairing. You will need to reserve a time for Ste.Chapelle. At Notre Dame, even if the line looks long, it moves very quickly (per comments on this forum). Give Ste. Chapelle 2 hours inside. Sometimes the security check line moves quite slowly. I give Notre Dame cathedral an hour. With an early start (a 9:00 reserved time for Ste. Chapelle), you could be ready for an food tour in the Marais, or a visit to Sacre Coeur. If Sacre Coeur, have lunch somewhere and see the Basilica after lunch. For me, I would take the metro or a taxi to the Basilica on Montmarte (at 82 I don't want that long uphill hike). You can explore Montmartre at this juncture. Then dinner on the hill or perhaps back to the neighborhood of your hotel. You may want to kick back this evening and be close to "home" after dinner.
Whether or not you get tickets to Roland Garros matches will, of course determine your schedule. I can't contribute anything to that option.
Day 4, a Marais food tour in the a.m. sounds like a treat! If in the a.m. you can explore the Left Bank after lunch. Lots of choices here, so pick what appeals to you the most...Musee d'Orsay, Cluny Museum, Jardins de Luxembourg, Eglise St. Etienne du Mont, a stroll along the river checking out the bouquinistes... just a few of the options hereabouts. Flip-flop if the food tour is in the afternoon.
Day 5.....Roland Garros or a Reims day or a couple of the MANY, MANY other things Paris offers.

hey hey joellet1120
like others have mentioned you are in "paris" overload with your short time, my own opinion.
may will be a busy month, starting high season, and crowds/maybe heat with the places/attractions you're hoping for like many others are wanting. waiting in lines, have your ticket/reservation to skip lines but still have to go thru security lines. with so many museums, it will take hours that you really don't wish for, pick one or two and move on.
what time does flight arrive in paris & from where, how many is "we"? how long to get thru airport, baggage claim, taxi to hotel, check in or drop off bags, (check-in times 3-4pm check-out times 10-11am) walk or taxi to eiffel tower (toureiffel.paris). reserve tickets in advance and which tour. how well do you do with "jetlag?"
lots of food tours to search for.
discoverwalks.com
click food tours, all tours: le marais food & wine tasting tour. le marais is a busy area. also a "free tour of le marais
eatingeurope.com paris
le marais food & wine tour. get on the mailing list (contact us), they do offer discounts sent to email, "black friday" deals offered.
secretfoodtours.com
paris Le Marais food tour & culinary tour
drop reims/champagne day, we did take the train and it ended up being a long day. couple champagne things to check out:
o-chateau.com
we did the "champagne cruise on the seine river, private section up front tasting 3, had a great time. you can also check the champagne flight experience at their bar
went to les deux magots cafe, sat outside tables for pastry and more champagne, across street corner had street musicians playing, was so great and fun to just sit, relax, and people watch. so many different places just to roam around paris, sit outside cafes, we bought a bottle of champagne, had some plastic glasses, sat at a fountain in luxembourg garden and us friends just celebrating one of friends first paris visit. that was fun.
i was on a mission for having a souffle and found it, yummy. stop at bakery for fabulous goodies, croissants, had hot chocolate at angelina's tea room on rue de rivoli for late breakfast
since your time is so short, think of doing a CV2 paris sightseeing tour (2cvparistour.com). leave the guiding to a local, see alot with stops for photo-ops, save your tired feet. love the montmarte area, down below to moulin rouge for my iconic "marilyn monroe breeze of air" picture, "i love you wall". we did this and was great for first timers to see lots of attractions.
can't help with roland garros. my long "novel" with lots of different ideas for you to research and have a fabulous time.
aloha