How much is too much, first couple of days in Paris?

If the question is about the cost effectiveness of a museum pass, I personally don't recommend them. You still need to make reservations at many locations, particularly for the Louvre, and I like to spend my time in the museums which really interest me, not concentrating on how many I can enter.

Hotels will let you store your luggage until check in time. There are also a number of self check luggage services around Gare Montparnasse.

Overall, your itinerary appears a bit rushed, at least it would be for me. Probably OK if you are a young person.

Six museums in 3 days is more than a lot, but only you can know what would be enjoyable for you. To me that sounds like checking off boxes, and not at all fun, but maybe it's your ideal way to spend a day. You have a lot planned and some you may not get to in those first couple of days; you also haven't addressed jet lag. I'd prioritize if/when you find that it may be all too much.

I absolutely never go to museums on day of arrival. I'm always for fresh air! I learned the hard way as a 25 year old; jet lagged, likely dehydrated but who worried about such things 35 years ago? Passed out in the Churchill War Rooms in London on day of arrival; the nice folks took care of me in their first aid room.

The Rodin gardens and sculptures in the garden are absolutely marvelous and the highlight of the museum so if you must plan for a museum for day of arrival, I'd suggest that one because of it being outdoors.

If you’re flying into Paris from British Columbia, the first day you’ll likely feel like a zombie and not all that interested in much of anything. Museums have never worked for me on arrival day in Europe from California. Day 2 will be better— but you still probably will be able to cover two museums at best.

So, I’d skip the museum pass when you arrive and save it for your last five days. You should plan on being outdoors on day 1 to acclimate to the new time zone and just try to stay awake. Then pick two indoor venues at the most for day 2.
The Musee D’Orsay, Cluny and the Rodin museums are excellent.
The Army museum at Les Invalides is a snore. London’s is much better.

In addition to the great advice you’ve gotten on pace and jet lag, I feel I should add an observation: “How much I can accomplish?” seems like a funny, almost punitive way to approach going to museums filled with some of the most incredible art on the planet.

Maybe peek at their websites and check out the pieces/collections you would love to see, that will enlighten you, and fill your soul with joy? It’s not a chore. It’s art!

Hope you find the right balance, and enjoy.

I think your idea of stashing your luggage and visiting the areas near the hotel makes sense. If you are flying Business Class, you might be well rested. If you are like me, and I fly el-cheapo, if I just treat the day as normal I would do fine. Go to bed maybe an hour earlier than usual and wake up the next day in sync. But each person is different. So, no blanket statements or advice. Do what you can.

"Do what you can” My method of planning is plan everything to the hour. All the details, addresses, phone numbers, costs, etc. Everything worked out. Then I fold it up, put it in my pocket, head out on the street and just start experiencing. My well worked out Plan becomes my Plan B if I run out of spontaneous activity. Why the plan? Its how I learn the city so I can be spontaneous.

I love museums but 3 in one day would not be enjoyable for me.

I will be staying another five days after the tour ends,

Spend time now planning out those days, and lighten up on your arrival day and day 2 a bit, maybe? What in the world would be left to see after your first 3 days plus the RS tour?

Most of the municipal museums are free (aside from special exhibitions, the Catacombs and the Crypte archéologique), so maybe some of them would be worth pencilling in. That way you have the flexibility to check out some excellent art and artifacts — or not. You won’t be in a rush to make the most of a pass, in most cases there’s no timed entry to consider, no feeling that you ought to spend more time because you spent money to get in.

https://www.parismusees.paris.fr/en

Paris is one of those places in the world where you need to reserve time to just be. I'd recommend it especially the first couple days, walk around in Luxembourg Gardens, sit at an outdoor cafe or two and have coffee or wine, try something you've never eaten before for dinner. Save the museums until the after tour time. Since you're near the Pantheon I would recommend that because the main floor is large and airy and it's not really a museum. It's a tribute, and in some cases the final resting place, of people France wants to honor. I loved Josephine Baker's crypt because they play her music in the small space. One other thing, I really loved the Marmottan, but be sure to check the map and see how far it is from the other places you want to visit that day and plan for the time to get there. I remember taking the bus and then there was a lovely park to walk through on the way to the house where it is housed. I didn't go until my 2nd or 3rd visit to Paris, but I was so glad I did.

Here are my thoughts:

Day 1: Yes to stashing your bag. IF you are near the Edgar Quinet Metro stop there is a Wednesday market that might be interesting for you to walk thru. There is also the Montparnasse Cemetery just along there about a half a block which is good for some outside time. You don't need to reserve the Pantheon or Cluny ahead of time so you can see how you feel as to whether these sound fun. To me the Cluny is a little dark inside so this might or might not work on my arrival day. IF your goal is just to see the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, then from the entrance area, go up the staircase in this area and work backward to the tapestries which are just a room or 2 in on this side.

Day 2: "Army Museum, Rodin Museum, and Marmottan Museum. Then maybe wander Rue Cler and Eiffel Tower.". Honestly, this is too much depending on what you want to see at the Army Museum. I'd pick a time frame and head to those rooms. I particularly like the WWI and WWII galleries. There is also Napoleon's tomb which is pretty quick to see. I made a mistake the first time I went here and wound up trying to see "everything". After 5 hours I was toast and my brain was mush. IF you decide to do the Marmottan (NOT covered by the Museum Pass but very worthwhile), I'd do it first since it's farthest away, then work back to the Army Museum and Rodin. Rodin, I prefer just to stay outside in the sculpture garden. The Marmottan needs to be booked ahead to get quicker entry. Army Museum and Rodin do not need to be booked ahead. Eiffel Tower needs to be booked ahead. Skip Rue Cler as your tour may come to this area to eat for your welcome dinner. (Or not, depending on your guide)

Day 3: Yes, you could do the Orsay and Orangerie on the same day after you move your luggage to the tour hotel. Is it close to where you are staying? I'd go at opening time for the Orsay, sprint up to the 5th floor for the Impressionist galleries. To do that, head straight back thru the ground floor sculpture looking neither left nor right, hahaha. At the back of the hall, veer to the left and continue straight back toward the rumble and there are escalators hidden that take you up to 5. Start there, then head down and catch what is interesting to you. I'd want to finish here by 1230, go to a bakery along Rue de Bellechasse (runs in front of the Orsay) and pick up a sandwich, take it across the foot bridge to the Tuileries and have a quick lunch, then get to the Orangerie by 130. Spend 2 hours here, then head back to your new hotel to check in.

The Museum Pass might work for you. I am not a fan of it for myself any more but if you just want a taste of these museums then it would work fine. You are correct that the pass is good for 48 hours so if you "clock in" to say, the Pantheon, at 2PM on day 1 you'd have until 1:59PM on Day 3 to use it (although you would not want to cut it that close). You could do that with the timings I gave you above. You'd have a big block of time on one of your days where you are going to the Marmottan which is not a covered museum BUT it is so worth it!

We might have "talked" about the Timeshifter app. We are in the same home time zone and this works for me. It does not work for everyone. I do carry sunglasses with me and wear them in airports when I am supposed to shield my eyes from sunlight and it doesn't bother me to look like a dork. I also don't have any problem shifting my daily retired routine to getting up early and going to bed early.

I know you will enjoy this tour. It is excellent!

"What in the world would be left to see after your first 3 days plus the RS tour?"

@Jojo....oh gosh, there is SO MUCH to see even if Anita packs in a lot of museums to begin with! There are literally dozens (hundreds?) of museums and sights to see after her tour. Free City of Paris Museums like Carnavalet, Museum of Liberation and Resistance, Museum Cognacq-Jay, Petit Palais, some pay to enter museums/venues like the Opera Garnier, Musee des Arts & Metiers, the Shoah Museum, the Museum of Jewish art and history, Musee Jacquemart-Andre and that is just off the top of my head.

I am a museum person and try to go to a new one each visit. Last time I finally made it to the Museum of Hunting and Nature and it was pretty interesting to me!

@Jojo....oh gosh, there is SO MUCH to see even if Anita packs in a lot of museums to begin with! There are literally dozens (hundreds?) of museums and sights to see after her tour. Free City of Paris Museums like Carnavalet, Museum of Liberation and Resistance, Museum Cognacq-Jay, Petit Palais, some pay to enter museums/venues like the Opera Garnier, Musee des Arts & Metiers, the Shoah Museum, the Museum of Jewish art and history, Musee Jacquemart-Andre and that is just off the top of my head.

Pam, I am aware, I have been to Paris 15 times through the years and still have not seen "everything". My comment was maybe more "tongue in cheek"? One could live in Paris and never see everything...

The OP will do whatever she decides to do, but I and others are offering suggestions to tone down arrival day and the next 2 days maybe a tad, that's all.

Wow, thanks everyone for the great responses! The reason I am considering the museum pass is because I keep reading about the long lines to buy tickets at a lot of places, and I don’t want to waste a lot of time in lines if I can avoid it. The issue is that the pass only makes sense, monetarily, if I can get to enough sights in the time frame. I don’t really struggle with the time change on landing. I might be a little tired, but if I keep moving I will be fine.
The hotel I am staying at before the tour is right across the street from the catacombs. The tour hotel is the Hotel Lennox which is a little closer to Luxembourg garden.
My plan without the pass on the first day would be to see if there is a long line at the catacombs and go in if there isn’t. It’s not at the top of my list, though, so I might just head towards the Cluny museum.
Then on day two I would just do the army museum and the Rodin museum, and leave the Marmottan for my time after the tour.
Then on the day the tour starts I would try for either the D’Orsay or L’Orangerie. The tour provides a museum pass, and visits Notre Dame and St. Chapelle, but it looks like we don’t go into Notre Dame (it says exterior only) so I will have to find time for that. I think it goes into St. Chapelle, although the description doesn’t explicitly say so. On the day the tour goes to the Louvre there is a morning walk first, but no specific time of arrival at the Louvre so it’s hard to know what else to schedule for that day. I don’t want to feel rushed to leave the Louvre to get somewhere else. This is why I was thinking of trying to get to D’Orsay and L’Orangerie before the tour. I can see spending several hours in the Louvre, then walking to the Arc de Triomphe afterwards.
the tour ends on a Monday, and it looks like many museums are closed on Monday. I will be moving to a rental in the Marais, and will have to find a place to stash my bag again, so I may not get into any museums that day. My thought was to go to Versailles on the Wednesday, and then I would still have Thursday and Friday for the Montmartre area, and anything I may have missed.

My plan without the pass on the first day would be to see if there is a long line at the catacombs and go in if there isn’t. It’s not at the top of my list, though, so I might just head towards the Cluny museum.

The Catacombs is one site that reservations are recommended, if not pretty much necessary, and that was certainly the case a year ago. So beware...I would say skip it and go to the Cluny...

You are going soon, right? You can call the office and ask about the timing for your Louvre day. I am sure it depends on when they were able to get a group entry time on that day.

On my Paris and HOF tour (pre-covid) we did go in to Saint-Chapelle. The guide gave us a run down/orientation after we got thru security but before we went into the chapel, then took us in but was not allowed to guide inside. I suspect the ticketing for Notre Dame is the same idea....if the line is moving quickly you might be able to go inside then but honestly, I'd plan to do this on your free time as well then if it works to go in while on the tour, go for it.

Since you are near the Catacombs, then you probably are near the Montparnasse Cemetery and the Edgar Quinet Market if those are of interest to you on your arrival day. You don't need to plan that, just go if you are in the mood.

Walking to the Cluny on your arrival day would also work. You can divert over a bit and walk thru Luxembourg Gardens if it's a fine day instead of walking down a sidewalk. I have never encountered a line at Cluny.

@Jojo...sorry I missed your tongue-in-cheek intent. So many are under the impression that these are the only museums. Do you have the little book called The Little(r) Museums of Paris? Really a cute little book and has a lot of food for thought on developing an itinerary for the umpteenth visit, hahaha.

Have you planned time for coffee and pastry and lunch? Your schedule is to rushed for me. We always say, "then, we must come back."

The more I think about it, the more I realize that the museum pass is not going to be a good idea for two days. It’s going to make me want to rush to see as much as possible. I’m now thinking that on my first full day I will see if I can book a time for the Marmottan for opening at 10 am. That will give me plenty of time to get there. Then I will maybe go to the Rodin museum or the D’Orsay. I think I will leave the Army museum for my time after the tour when it may make more sense to get the pass. Then on the day the tour starts I will book a time for L’Orangerie, and then maybe fit the Eiffel Tower in that day. I’m reading it can be difficult to get tickets for the tower, but I won’t be heartbroken if I can’t go up. There are other things to see and do nearby. I do want to have time to wander and take photos and, yes, sit at cafes.

"I will see if I can book a time for the Marmottan for opening at 10 am. That will give me plenty of time to get there."

I think this is wise. Both for the museum timing and to give yourself time to get there. Have you downloaded the City Mapper app? I have been to Marmottan a number of times but not since I have had CityMapper. I always seem to turn the wrong way coming up from that La Muette Metro stop. The signage to Marmottan is not particularly evident, lol.

Anita, one pass that might work for you is the Passion Monuments Subscription. It's a 1 year renewable pass that allows unlimited admission to many places throughout France. The locations in Paris are Sainte-Chapelle, Pantheon with Panorama, Conciergerie, Hotel de la Marine and Arc de Triomphe. When the Towers of Notre Dame reopen in September it will also be included.

I purchased the subscription for my trip this past April.
In addition to free admission, you receive priority for security lines. At Sainte-Chapelle, for example, with my 9am reservations, I arrived about 10 minutes early, showed my pass to the guard and was put at the head of the security line. I entered an almost empty chapel.

In addition I was able to purchase a ticket for an evening concert at Sainte-Chapelle at a €30 reduction. There are several other benefits, also.

The price for the first year is €45 for solo, €70 for duo membership.

Thanks for the suggestion Jeanm, I will take a look at it.

Try a one day tour to Normandy or an overnight. Well worth the effort and you will see many sites that are as they were left all those years ago. Bunkers and remnants of the roads the Allies built to move equipment on to the beaches. Made us again proud to be an American.

Jeanm, great suggestion!

I just wanted to add that this is such a great post. Thank you to all who have commented. I'm not a big city person, so I've been easing my way into Paris (and Rome). I've done a few day trips and mostly just wandered around, looking at beautiful parks and buildings. I'm staying 2 nights in October so I can dig in a bit deeper and see more, but wow, the Musee Rodin gardens look amazing and Luxembourg Gardens seems like a place I could spend hours. Reading the suggestions here makes me think it might finally be time to plan a longer trip to Paris.

Just wanted to note that when I went to Paris in April (I have a really long trip report here if you're interested, my daughter and I arrived 5 days early for our 7 day Paris tour), the Orangerie tickets were sold out. We were fine because I had booked them a couple of months in advance, and probably even a couple of weeks would have been adequate.
Catacombs definitely need to be booked in advance. 1 week out at Paris time is when they are released (or at least that was the case in April).
We did do a lot. Luxumbourg Gardens would be good for getting that natural daylight the first day. And on Sundays they have ponies for the kids, and that was fun just to see.
Marmottan was hard for us to find, too. Google maps wasn't updating fast enough and it kept changing our route if we weren't exactly on the sidewalk they wanted and it was a big mess (we were attempting to walk). Finally, I gave up and got a taxi and took the Metro back.

Vice the Army Museum, I spent 5+ hours just visiting the Napoleon, Resistance, and the Ancient halls, which is about half the museum, and I did not take anywhere near the amount of time I should have to study some of the displays. It's huge.

L'Orangerie is over rated and over crowded. I'd skip that and do the Musée Marmottan Monet instead. But plan to spend a couple hours there. The current exhibits are very good. It's a good walk to the Trocodero from there.

You cannot do everything on your list in the two days (basically) that you'll have. Plan accordingly.

Thanks for the insight on finding the Marmottan. It is a bit of an outlier so I want to be sure of the route in advance. I have downloaded the RATP app and have looked at the route I would need to take from where I will be staying. It looks like I can take the nearby metro to a certain point, and then a bus. It says it will take about half an hour, which isn’t bad.
I’ve read a few posts where people say the D’Orsay needs a timed entry, but the website doesn’t say that. What has people’s experience been with this sight? I’m trying not to end up with too many timed tickets or this trip will end up feeling like a job.

While you don't "need" a timed entry for Musee d'Orsay, you will encounter lots of lines. There are probably at least half a dozen entrances with lines: reserved, non reserved, members, groups...

If your goal is to see the Impressionists, try to get a timed entry for early in the day. The crowds will monopolize the artwork while trying to take all their selfies. It only gets worse later in the day.

Anita, For one day, whether before or after, if not included on your tour, I have found a good "cluster" for a day is: Eiffel Tower (not to go up necessarily, but either way if you get an early reservation), admiring it from the Champs de Mars and nearby streets, then walking to the Army Museum and seeing Napoleon's tomb, plus spending about an hour at that museum (that is enough time for me, it may need more time for you), then walking to the Rodin Museum and at least enjoying the gardens (the house also maybe, but the gardens with their sculptures are wonderful! The cafe there is nice and reasonably priced if you are there around lunch time, whether before or after seeing the sculptures). You can walk from there to Pont Alexandre III, admire the bridge and the river, then cross it to the Trocadero to look at the Eiffel Tower again from an iconic location, or visit the Petit Palais or Grand Palais.

All this was possible for me and my husband easily in one day while in our late seventies and with some wonky knees between us. We try to cluster our sightseeing so we can enjoy being in Paris on foot, and not underground. It doesn't always work, but Paris has so much to see and do, and is such a great walking city, that clustering things makes for a more enjoyable visit, for us, anyway.

And sometimes our "sightseeing" doesn't involve any sights at all, just Paris. A stroll through gardens or parks or along the Seine, some window or market shopping, plus stops at cafes or bistros for a coffee or aperitif and people-watching can take up a large part of the day. Add in a stop at one of the many churches and cathedrals you will come across for a quiet sit-down and a look around the church's art and architecture, and your whole day could be filled., including time for a nice, leisurely lunch.

Glad you seem to have decided against the museum pass for your two day segment. For the five day one it might be worth it. We have never used one as we don't like to cram too much into a day, especially now we are in our 80's. The folks here on the forum have such a wealth of knowledge and experiences, sometimes contradictory to each other, but all helpful and wise and well-intentioned, that you will surely develop a plan that suits you well. Bonne chance!

The Marmottan isn't hard to find. Head to the park and find the statue of the crow and the fox. Then walk past that and look to the right. That's the museum. It's maybe 10 slow minutes walk from the Metro. And I was just at the museum 2 days ago. No time pass required. It was not busy. I have photos of totaly empty rooms at 1000-1200 Honestly, there were almost as many people outside in the garden as in the museum.

Google maps is okay, but Citymapper is much better. That app even tells you where to get on the train (front, rear) to be close to the exit you want.