Paris Itinerary Review (3 days)

I myself would fall fast asleep on a night bus ride on my jet lag arrival day. Even though you have a museum pass, make sure you do the advance booking required (Louvre and Musee d'Orsay for sure, maybe others). I liked the Vedettes du Pont Neuf evening cruise timed to reach the Eiffel Tower at peak sparkly time (pick a cruise departure after sunset, it's listed on the ticketing page). Arrive 30 minutes before departure time to get good seats on the top part of the boat: https://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/cruises/?date=2026-04-25

Wed: I'm with CL...I would absolutely go to sleep on a bus ride on my arrival day BUT you may be different. Your profile looks like you're from Edmonton so you probably have as long as flight day as CL does from Portland and I do from the Inland Northwest. As long as you don't have to purchase this ahead and can go on how you are feeling, then leave it in the plan. What time does your flight land? You might be able to walk the Latin Quarter this afternoon OR if it's a pretty day even get to either Luxembourg Gardens or Tuileries. IF it's rainy, maybe some of the passages.

Thurs: I would not use the Batobus for transportation. You are doing a cruise so this will be redundant. I'd just take the Metro to Ecole Militaire on LIne 8. See the ET, come back for lunch in the Rue Cler area. I'd not try to do the Invalides AND Orsay on the same day. The Invalides is huge unless you are just going to pop in to see Napoleon's tomb. I like the WWII galleries here and the Legion of Honor Museum but that will take several hours. You could do Rodin afterward especially if you just do the very cool sculpture garden. IF you decide Orsay is a priority, I'd get there when they open at 930, so that, walk to Rue Cler (takes me less than 25 minutes) for lunch, do the Eiffel Tower, then see if you feel like either Invalides or Rodin.

Friday: This looks like a lot but you can just dip into the edge of the Latin Quarter across from Notre Dame unless you walked over there on your arrival day. IF it's rainy, you could probably do the passages after Notre Dame and before the Louvre as they are nearby. To me, 1 or 2 is enough to get the cuteness factor.

Saturday: To me this day is overloaded if you do a food tour AND a tour of the Opera Garnier.

Have a wonderful time!

Like CL and Pam, I, too, would be falling asleep on the bus if this is after a transatlantic flight.

And forget about the Batobus. I edited my post since I was repeating Pam's comments.

Map out your plans on Google Maps to get an idea of walking distance.

And I agree that Vedettes du Pont Neuf is a good choice for your evening Seine cruise. About a 15 to 20 minute stroll from Ile Saint Louis.

Except for the fact that some of the things you want to visit require advance tickets, I usually like to stay flexible and use the covered passages for an inclement weather day (ditto for museums). It would be a shame to spend a beautiful day indoors and visit parks, the river and the Eiffel tower on rainy days. As other have noted, one can get quite tired early on arrival day.

Thanks for the feedback! Are you advising against the Batobus because it is slow? Thx.

Regarding the Batobus, at every stop you will have to climb stairs to get from the river up to the street level. And then climb back down the stairs to get on the Batobus.

And it just isn't an efficient way to get around.

It will take you longer to walk from Rue Cler to the Batobus stop than to just walk to Hotel Invalides or Musee Rodin. Again, walking from Rodin to the Batobus stop will take just as long as walking directly to Musee d'Orsay.