Guide for 3 days in Paris

I've done the RS Best of Paris as well as multiple visits on my own. I find Paris pretty easy to get around even for someone with no real background in using public transit.

You might consider using Paris Walks for seeing a few neighborhoods (Marais or Montmartre) or having some visits focused on a particular area of interest (WWII, French Revolution, etc).

www.paris-walks.com

Are you interested in museums? They are pretty easy to do on your own. You will need timed entries for some of the big ones if they are of interest to you. Many of the museum are closed either on Mondays or Tuesdays so if those are your days of the week, you will have to work around that. I suggest booking directly with the museums themselves. Don't get lured in with promises of "skip the line" tickets as they not true...the lines are usually for security and no one can skip them. If you have a timed entry that is what you need.

Can you give us an idea of what you might want to see? That might help with suggestions on how to manage things.

BTW, the RS Best of England tour is wonderful and Paris is a good counterpoint to it. I did Best of England followed by Paris and the Heart of France and that was one of my best combos, lol!!

Thank you Pam, we only have three days, thank you for the Paris walks links we will be sure and check that out. I guess I don’t know what to see, I’m afraid that if we see the more touristy things with long lines we would sacrifice something as equally or more interesting then the big sites, know what I mean? I thing we will be doing the Rick Steves UK, already booked but leave three or four days to doing something else, not a big tour. Perhaps train to Paris a little sightseeing, then train back to London to catch pane. Flying out of anything other than London seemed very expensive..

Check the cost of a multi-city ticket into London and out of Paris (not two separate one-way tickets). That may well cost more than a roundtrip ticket to London, but you have to consider the cost of returning to London from Paris (Eurostar tickets aren't particularly cheap, and they can be very costly if not purchased way ahead of time). Also think about the time required for that repositioning segment. You'd want to be back in London the day before your flight home, so that's another night in a London hotel that doesn't provide a great deal of sightseeing time by the time you get settled in and deal with the otherwise unnecessary hotel check-in and check-out procedures.

I agree with acraven if you haven't already booked.

For sights, I'd recommend getting the RS Paris book. If you have the one for England you'll see he has sights categorized by what he feels are important (sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't!!).

Which month are you going? Some of my recommendations will work better in better weather...but here are some of what "I" think of as top sights for me:

Museums:
Louvre
Musee d'Orsay
Musee Marmottan Monet (private museum with a huge Monet collection)
Cluny Museum (Lady and the Unicorn tapestries and the medieval collection)
Carnavalet - a free museum that covers the history of Paris and is located in the Marais

Churches:
Notre Dame (follow the forum to see if ticketing is still needed during your time frame)
Abbey of Saint-German-des-Pres
Saint Sulpice

WWII:
Paris Walks Resistance and Occupation Walk that begins at the Tuileries
Museum of the Resistance and Liberation (free, closed Mondays)
Army Museum at Les Invalides
Shoah Museum in the Marais with various plaques around dedicated to those who were transported to death camps and murdered

Movies/TV:
Midnight in Paris church - Eglise du Saint-Etienne-du-Mont
There are Emily in Paris sights but I don't really enjoy the show so haven't watched more than 5 minutes.

Gardens:
Tuileries - I like to get sandwich and drink from one of the kiosks then sit in one of the iconic green chairs and people watch!
Luxembourg Gardens - I like to sit beside the Medici Fountain and read although with your short time frame this may not be fun for you! Plus this definitely depends on good weather
Jardin des Plantes - Botanical garden with some tree specimens that are 300+ years old. In the spring the flowers and flowering trees are gorgeous. They always have plantings of blooming flowers, though.
There are small pocket gardens everywhere with benches if you need a rest. I suggest having a plastic bag to sit on as often the benches are covered in bird poo....!!!!

In general I don't do more than 2 ticketed sights per day - which would generally be museums. On the day I do the Louvre I usually don't do another museum that afternoon as my brain is fried, lol.

In addition to any of the above, I suggest walking around and drinking wine and eating ice cream...not at the same time.

snsgreen,
To add to Pam's list, the Rodin Museum , especially the gardens with their sculptures, is a go-to for me every time I visit Paris. 1-2 hours for the gardens.

Wow thank you acraven, Pam and Judy for the very very useful advice it gives a good place to start plans! We will be going in early May.

snsgreen,
Oh my! how did we leave out Ste. Chappelle? It should be high up on the list. It's near to Notre Dame, so a good companion to ND. Also, the Cluny is not a long walk from the Orsay, but maybe too much museum for one day?

Oh early May is lovely! Gardens! You may be past the bloom of the trees but you will have so many flowers to see!

I do recommend a waterproof rain jacket...but I always recommend that for any travel to Europe!

Oh my thank you all for the suggestions, UK RS tour booked, flights figured out, train to Paris, fly back home all the way. One. More favor or question where to stay, area and recommendations for hotels or other. Thank you again!