November in Paris

Vegan/Vegetarian Options:
Land & Monkeys: 9th & 11th Arr., Bakery

Mao Dumpling Bar: 3rd Arr., Chinese

Faubourg Daimont: 10th Arr.

Maoz Vegetarian: 5th Arr.

Abricot: 10th Arr., Cocktails

Season: 9th Arr.

Ajourd'hui Demain: 11th Arr.

Jah Jah By Le Tricycle: 10th Arr.

Wild & The Moon: 9th Arr.

Le Ruisseau - Burger: 3rd Arr.

Marche des Enfants Rouges: 3rd Arr., Markets/Restaurants

Hank Burger Paris: 3rd Arr.

I am not a Vegan or Vegetarian, these are recommendations from Jay Swanson, an American author & YouTuber who has lived in Paris & France for nearly 10 years.

First thing that comes to mind is that Christmas markets may already be open by mid-November. There should be one along the Champs-Élysées and another under the La Défense Grand Arch.

Rick really likes Rue Cler in the 7th Arrondissement and I agree, it's a very nice pedestrian walk about equidistant between the Eiffel Tower and the Invalides. The Rodin Museum is also walkable from Rue Cler. There was also a French/Creole restaurant called Chez Lucie that I enjoyed not far away, but I'm not sure about their vegetarian options.

If you feel overwhelmed by the Louvre or the Orsay, check out the Orangerie (Monet!!!), the Delacroix house museum, or the medieval Cluny museum. If you can't make it out to Versailles, you can still satisfy your hankering for gilded luxury with a Palais Garnier opera house tour.

Enjoy!

Here are some vegetarian or vegan places that are quite good:
https://www.tekesrestaurant.com/english
https://www.lepotagerdecharlotte.fr/en/
https://persil-restaurant.com/

November can have grim weather -- has the couple of Novembers we spent there -- so have lots of indoor options. One we loved is Eternelle Notre Dame, the virtual reality walk through Paris in the 13th century as Notre Dame is being built. Outstanding. One site is at Notre Dame in the underground complex in front. Get tickets on line and there are specific directions. Be sure to leave your jacket as well as purse and such in your locker before starting the adventure as it does get a bit warm if you are wearing a coat. There are keyed lockers for participants.

We really enjoyed having dinner on Bustronome, which offers a vegetarian option. It sounds cheesy, but the food was very nice, and it was a fun way to see the city.
https://www.bustronome.com/en/

I'm vegan and will say that most restaurants have a vegan option although there are fewer choices now than pre-pandemic. Falafel places like Maoz listed above are reliable and good for lunches. There are others besides the one listed above in the 5th. I usually go to the one in the 6th on Saint-Andre-des-Arts. There are also many falafel places in the Marais. I don't particularly like the popular one, L'As du Fallafel but many do. The one I loved was right across the street but sadly the owners retired this last year so will need to find another go-to, lol.

By that time some ofthe Christmas lights will be up. I'm often there the last week of October and they have started putting the lights on the trees down the Champs-Elysees as well as down some of the market streets like Rue Cler.

While I would plan for some outdoor activity, definitely heed Janet's advice about having indoor back up plans if November is yucky this year. STILL, you are in Paris and "Paris is always a good idea"!!

Do you have your hotel accommodation yet? If you give us the area someone might be able to give you some restaurant specifics closer to "home".

Christmas markets in Paris open on 27-28 NOV this year.

If you have any interest in aviation I highly recommend the National Musee d' Air at La Bourget airfield north of Paris. Fantastic collection, and (if this past weekend is anything to go on) not a lot of visitors.

If you want to look for a flea market or antiques google "Grand marché aux puces de la porte de vanves".

Note that it is getting cooler, weather wise. The high this weekend was in the low 50's with intermittent rain. In Nov you should expect it will drop into the low 30's, especially at night.

Thanks for all the great information. I've been online for the past 2 hours trying to figure out how to buy Eiffel Tower tickets. From days being sold out already for Nov 18 thru 23, to it saying tickets are available and then saying payment declined, but my credit card company has no record of any charges being placed against my card, etc, etc, etc.

My question is for this time of year, is it possible just to show up and get tickets onsite? We don't really mind climbing stairs or taking the elevator, and we'd like to visit the tower twice - once at night to the second floor and once during the day to the very top. I'm open to any ideas or suggestions that anyone has about how to make this as easy as possible. Just trying to make sure my only visit ever to Paris doesn't miss out on this incredible landmark!!!

Thanks.

And it's actually everywhere in Paris - including the Paris Museum Pass. None of our credit cards work but all of our credit cards are not even getting attempted charges from Paris on any of these things. We went to Italy for 5 weeks and never had a problem with any of these cards being used in advance or onsite. We've informed all of our cards that we are travelling so they've made note of that, but nothing works...

I’ve never had a problem with my credit cards in Paris, but I have had a problem with credit cards and just because you informed a bank that you were traveling doesn’t mean they actually do anything about it. Sometimes you have to call them when you get there.

Of course, the biggest problem I ever had was with Bank of America, who after I spent an hour on hold with them to deal with putting a travel alert when I got there, I still couldn’t use the card because they “forgot” to do something. That was after they tried to tell me I was not allowed to use my card at all in Spain because there was the risk of fraud. I have, however, solved these problems I now forget to give them any money

I did the Notre Dame virtual reality activity on Janettravels advice and I LOVED it.
I also like to visit Lumiere. website here

Although payment problems are probably most often due to credit-card issues (I assume you've tried every card you have, right?), it won't hurt to try these things:

Switch browsers
Switch devices (phone/tablet/PC)

PayPal will probably work if it's an option.

Try using the Search function here (screen for forum posts and the last 6 or 12 months) to see what folks have said about whether you need advance tickets at the Eiffel Tower if you're willing to walk up the stairs.

About the credit card problem.
I find that purchases on foreign websites frequently want a card registered with "verified by Visa".

If you're after a great view of Paris that includes the ET, try the Montparnasse Tower. We did it without reservations, but that was in 2018, so ??? It's open late, so you can see the sunset/lights. It's a bit out of the way of most tourist stuff. They say it's best view of Paris because the view doesn't include the Montparnasse Tower itself.
I mentioned Bustronome in an earlier comment. The photo my friend took of my kid and me with the ET twinkling in the background is still the lock-screen photo on my phone almost 6 years later. Magical!

We were in Paris in Feb-March 2024, and were able to book train tickets online from the US ahead of time (SNCF-Connect) and I believe we also paid for a van tour of champagne area with a credit card from the US. However when we were planning for a trip to Denmark and Norway this September there were a few sites (mostly transit/bus/train) that wouldn't take the US based cards. One accepted paypal which worked for us, but another didn't do paypal yet. I was told that it was a problem with compatible security systems for online purchases and to try American Express. We had tried 3 different visa cards and one mastercard with no luck. I don't have american express but my sister does, so we did that and it went through! Once in country we had no problems using US based cards, mostly tap but sometimes had to insert in the chip reader. Usually didn't have to sign, sometimes at restaurants for higher bills they asked us to sign.
We're planning a trip to Paris in early November, and have decided to stay in Paris the whole 6 nights, get the museum pass and concentrate our touring on museums and monuments within the city (mostly covered by the museum pass). Weather dependent we may try one day trip to Versailles (also on the pass). I haven't atttempted to buy the pass online yet, was considering just waiting until we got there because even the Louvre seems to have plenty of openings (not just for 3-4 weeks out on our days, but when I check for availability for tomorrow, Friday, weekend). That could be a risk for us so I'm still investigating making reservations before going. I'll post an update if I try to buy the pass online before leaving the US, success or failure.

I was able to get the purchase to go through just now on the Paris Museum Pass but still failing on the Eiffel Tower...

sanomh, up until a few years ago, the Museum Pass was an excellent investment. Since you need advance tickets to so many things in Paris now, it's usually a complete waste of money. Just something to think about...

Thanks for the updated info on the Paris museum pass. Perhaps I'm being too optimistic but based on the times still available for the next few days and weekend, as well as the times available for when we'll be in Paris, I'm hoping that the reservations won't be an issue. Also, several of the museums I'm interested in don't require reservations. We're hoping to wait until it gets closer, like a week out so that we can look at the weather forecast to finalize each day's itinerary. Also, fortunately, the Louvre, which is listed as the most difficult to get reservations for, is not high on our list of must see, because we've been before. If it works out, that will be great but we won't be terribly disappointed if we miss it.

I see someone above recommended the virtual reality tour, Eternelle Notre Dame. We are going to Paris for two weeks in Nov. and have been in Paris twice in the past year. A French friend in Paris recommended that tour but after trying several times online, last week, on both a Mac and PC, we learned 1) there is only one website selling tickets and 2) they do not take credit cards outside the EU.

I've never had this problem in 3 trips and we are buying tickets to other places/events just fine for our upcoming trip.

Just fyi.

That’s weird because I know I bought my tickets for that virtual reality experience from Atlanta.

I do want to warn people who are doing that, though if you are scared of heights, just be prepared, I had to quit, I could not take it

When booking a ticket to the top of the Eiffel Tower, will we also be able to visit the second floor and see those views at the same time?

Yes on the Eiffel Tower. You get off the elevator then need to head to the elevator line for the top floor/summit access. The summit elevator returns to the second level.

Another vote for going up the Tour de Montparnasse for great views...including the Eiffel Tower!
The ticket office below will call up to the top to ask what the weather and view are like up there before you buy a ticket.
If it's cloudy they'll say not to go up that day as you won't see much.
There is a restaurant and bar/cafe up top but I have no idea what that is like as I only went up for the views, which are 360 degrees from an outdoor terrace..

I purchased my Eternelle Notre Dame tickets from the official website using my US based credit card. My credit card does have "verified by VISA".