8-day Paris itinerary - October 2024

We enjoyed Le Restaurant at Musee d’Orsay for lunch. After enjoying the museum it was so nice to enjoy a good meal in a beautiful room rather than leaving the museum hungry then trying to figure out where to eat.

Definitely download the official Paris taxi app for getting a taxi easily from anywhere you are. And definitely take a taxi to/from Montmarte/Sacre Coeur.

Thanks. Hope we will find some vegetarian food there.

If you haven’t been to Paris, I assume you haven’t been to some surrounding towns. For your Sunday itinerary (before your Museum Pass days), you might like to take the 90-minute train to Rouen or 75- minute train to Tours to see some other beautiful architecture, including half-timbered houses & atmospheric settings.

I didn’t see your first itinerary, so I don’t know what changes you made. I will comment per day.

October 12:
This day is way too light. Grand Palais is closed for renovations and even if you decide to enter Petit Palais it will only take a maximum of 1.5 to 2 hours to see Petit Palais plus the Pont Alexandre III.
The best way to prevent/beat a jet lag is to stay active and out&about, so you shouldn’t make your day too light. From Petit Palais it’s only a 20 minute walk to the Arc de Triomphe via the Champs-Elysées. I would at the very least add that to your itinerary for this day, but you really should add more.

October 13, 2024:
Do you plan to enter Palais Garnier? If not, you should know the building is completely covered in scaffolding right now, there really isn’t much to see. If you don’t plan to do any shopping this part of the day seems rather light too.

October 14
This day looks okay. Be aware that even with timed tickets, there can be a considerable wait for the Eiffel Tower because of security checks etc.

October 17
Le Marais is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Paris with lots of fun independent shops and restaurants. I would happily return there just to go to the amazing bookshop/coffee shop La Mouette Rieuse alone. Your plan to visit 2 museums in addition to strolling around the neighborhood in just one afternoon is much too ambitious/busy.

October 18
I like how you want to take your time for the Louvre. Most tourists only want to see the 3 ladies (Mona Lisa, Nike and Venus) and be on their way again.

October 19
Make sure to book a time slot for la Sainte-Chapelle

We took the metro to Montmarte. Very easy. The Montemarte museum was quite interesting. Small so easy to see. https://museedemontmartre.fr/

ADDING: See below. I also agree that HOHO, especially on the 1st day may not be a good choice. I think walking is a great idea. Perhaps do Luxembourg Gardens, Jardin du Tuileries or one of the walks from the RS guide (have you found the walks in the RS guide or RS AudioEurope App?) for Latin quarter or St. Germaine. I'd keep walking with perhaps short stops for a bit to eat, Gelato or coffee.

I might re-think the Hop On-Hop Off bus in your arrival day. It gets stuck in stop-and-go traffic and has to wait so long at the stops that you’ll likely get bored and fall asleep unless you’ve slept well on the plane.

I think I’d try to keep moving outside in the fresh air after a nice cup of coffee.

To me Thursday looks too busy. I'd consider moving Carnavalet Museum to Saturday 10/12, your day after arrival, which looks too light to me. Carnavalet is a free museum so you don't need to do it when you are trying to fit in the museums covered by the Museum Pass. You also don't need a timed entry.

I think you could easily do your walking around the Alexander III bridge/Grand Palais/Petit Palais on your arrival day.

I'd consider doing Sainte-Chapelle first thing in the AM on the Saturday and then do the Cluny in the afternoon. The Cluny does not need a timed entry, Sainte-Chapelle does.

I do understand you are trying to sightsee by zones but sometimes moving back and forth works as well.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned in one of your previous threads that you might want to take a look at the Timeshifter app if you are concerned about jet lag. I'm a Senior (75 tomorrow, lol) and it worked really, really well for me last summer. I'd had a terrible time with jet lag in Spring 2023 and it took me a week to right myself. I'm still not sure what I did to get my circadian rhythm so out of whack. Anyway, the next international trip a few months later I used Timeshifter and had no problem at all. I'll use it again in a few weeks when I go back to Paris. The first trip is free so I am paying for this next one. BTW, I have no stake in this app, it just worked really well for me on my very long travel day (Home to the airport - 1 hour, flight from Spokane to Seattle, layover, flight from Seattle to wherever).

I hope you will enjoy your trip!

Thanks all. I have done some changes now. Eliminated Pompidou Center. I read that they are shutting off some sections soon. Maybe next trip after Notre Dame opens.