Versailles or Palais Garnier?

Versailles:
In August the line was long and of course hot hot. I really enjoyed the palace as well as the garden. No air in the palace but bring water and drink it. Plan on eating lunch there and cool off. The gardens are worth a half day walking around and just sitting down and relaxing. I loved it but the rest of the group I was with left after 2 hours because of the heat. We rode the train from the Eiffel tower area, easy to get tickets and find your way around. Use the Rick recording for your tour. I tried to use the free one from the Palace but it was set up a bit odd and we just couldn't get it to work.

Louvre: You need to spend a day here, again eat lunch at the place and rest. Then hit it, I used the rental device as well as Steves recording. What I liked about the meusiums device is you could plug in a particular items number, and get really detailed info on that item.

Notre Dame: Lines were long and a quick look about inside for me. Too many pickpockets.

I think for the amount of time you have, the Garnier is a much better bet. It is closer to everything and not nearly as crowded. We didn't take the tour, but I've heard it is interesting. We went on our way back from Versailles, so I thought it might be a letdown, but I was still so awed by the beauty of the theater. It's much smaller, obviously, but parts of it were just as ornate as the hall of mirrors, in my opinion. For only three days, I think you would enjoy this trade-off.

With the amount of time that you have, I'd do Palais Garnier. Versailles really needs the lion's share of a day. I'd also leave your general itinerary more flexible so you can work around weather. You can do the Trocadero on any non-rainy night at all, and the Luxembourg and Tuilleries are best done on sunny or at least dry days.

You can fit more into day three than you have scheduled.

In the last ten or so years, crowds seem to have gotten significantly larger at Europe's major sites, including Versailles. More of the world's population has sufficient disposable income and can afford Europe, as opposed to the old days. Something to consider when you are thinking about whether to go to a crowd magnet like Versailles. There are other choices.

I'm going to come down on the side of staying in Paris. With only 3 nights plus a couple of partial days I think spending the better part of a day going to Versailles is not the best use of the limited time. Unless Versailles is a 'must see' for you, I think it's best left for when you have more time. And yes the crowds are getting to be pretty unbearable, ruining the experience for a lot of people - unfortunate but true.

I agree with others, Opera is a better choice than Versailles for your time frame -- although Versailles, like all sights, will be less crowded in fall/winter/spring than in summer.

If you're going to the Eiffel Tower on your first day, and can still get timed tickets ahead, try to do so to avoid long lines. Allow enough time to get off the train and to your hotel to at least drop your bags. The downside of advance tickets is you're hostage to the weather. But, if you can get up and down the tower on a manageable schedule, you might have time for the Invalides nearby that same day.

Thanks everyone for confirming my gut feeling. Garnier it is.

I will be with a group (I get dibs for helping set it up), and audio guides are no good for me as I am Deaf. We will have passes and timed tickets set up before going so that will help.

One last thing, I'm fighting to get the Orsay in. Should I drop Les Invalides in favor of the Orsay? (And rearrange schedule a bit too).

I think you could slide the d'Orsay into Day 3 (Thursday). Notre Dame - unless you're climbing the towers - shouldn't take that long, and Luxembourg will be a walk-through. The museum is also open until 9:15 PM on Thursdays so again, keep your options open? If the weather isn't great, you could skip the cruise. Depending on what time your Eiffel slot is for, you might be able to do the cruise on Tuesday evening?

As the others have said, it comes down to a matter of personal priority? I'm a huge art fan so the d'Orsay would trump some other attractions/activities you have on the list, like the cruise and the Eiffel. Believe it or not, we chose to skip the tower, although we did walk underneath it during the day, and went to the Trocadero on our last evening. The problem with the darn thing is that booking ahead ties you to a day/time, and there's no guarantee that it won't be pouring rain or an otherwise less than optimal experience. And it makes such a nice grace point in the skyline from other locations in the city (you can't see the thing when you're ON it). But then, I do understand that it's a must-do for most people.

What time do you get into Paris on Tuesday, and what area of the city are you staying in?

The general plan is to leave London as early as possible on the Eurostar - so guesttimating arriving in Paris around lunchtime, give or take.

No idea on hotel as the tour agency will take care of that - but they said they would get a decent hotel as centrally as possible (or near the largest cluster of activities).

As for Les Invalides - I think I ask them to do just the tomb and skip the Army stuff for next time. (If we miss the tomb, no biggie as well - hence its placement on the last day).

Reconfigured schedule as this:
Day 1 Arrival in Paris (lunchtime, give or take)
Afternoon/Evening: Eiffel Tower (up to 2nd level - no need to go up all the way), Trocadero, Cruise

Day 2
Morning: Musee d'Orsay (focus on the top level, which I'm most interested in)
Lunchtime: Jardin du Tuilleries
Afternoon/Evening: Louvre (leaving this as it is, since we will have a local Deaf guide; some will stay all afternoon/evening - like me - and focus on the Denon wing as well as find Code of Hammurabi in the Sully wing; others can get their Mona Lisa fix and do whatever they want to do for the rest of the day)

Day 3
Morning: Notre Dame (yes I want to climb the tower, hence a large block of time for this)
Lunchtime: Jardin du Luxembourg
Afternoon: Palais Garnier (I read somewhere the tours take 1.5-2 hr, depending if there is a local Deaf guide)
Late afternoon/evening/dinner: Montmartre/Sacre Coeur

Day 4
Arc de Triomphe/Champs Elysees walk as suggested above (get our walk fix before long train ride)
If time: Napoleon's tomb

(asking for a late afternoon/evening ride to Amsterdam - can take picnic dinner if needed)

Thinking this looks much better than the original schedule with Versailles.

I think you have a wonderful itinerary for your few days in Paris. Enjoy your trip.

To the OP: If you're an art fan, fight to get the Orsay included in your tour. If you're not an art fan, fight to get the Orsay included in your tour. One of the world's great museums.

If you want to do the Orsay then be sure you buy a ticket ahead; this lets you in the security line that rarely is longer than 15 minutes when the main line may be a couple of hours.

Note that the Louvre is open late on Weds and Friday nights. You would go in the morning and then return in the evening on the same ticket and do something else in the afternoon. IMHO a better way to see the rather overwhelming Louvre.

With only 3 days I would not do Versailles especially in Summer. The Louvre was the palace of French kings just look around -- and there are royal apartments used by the last Napoleon (not THE Napoleon) on display.

If you don't have time for Versailles, which takes almost a full day by itself, then you don't. But Garnier for Versailles is not a like-for-like swap.

Do you understand that Palais Garnier is not a palace? It was built as an opera house and has always been an opera house? I recall a previous poster talking about a hall of mirrors at Garnier, but that's just a large lounge where you can hold a reception or buy a drink during intermission. It's not otherwise comparable to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

It is a very important architectural landmark and cultural space, and is worth a visit by almost any visitor to Paris. It is not "open to the public", but can only be seen on guided tours, which are limited in number, sometimes sold out, and not all in English. Book in advance. I would also say there is no guarantee you'll see the mirrored lounge, but I was on the tour many years ago, and don't remember that detail.

Edit: A later post indicates that the last paragraph, just above, contains outdated information about building visits.

Tim, I'm perfectly aware of what the Palais Garnier is - I'm a theatre buff and have known about it since I was 9 (well over 20 years ago) and did research after reading "Phantom of the Opera" (long before I saw the musical itself as well as countless film adaptations). In short, I probably would get more out of the place than the average tourist (I fall head over heels for any theater built before 1930 and loudly proclaim why the new venues can't be as beautiful with all that grandeur?) : )

Also, I know it is not a "swap" for the cultural significance (ie not a substitute for the other), but rather an activity/sigh swap. I do intend to go to Versailles but on a future visit. I'm doing the 3.5 week "highlights" as my vision is going (due to RP/Usher Syndrome) and I want to get my must-hits and get a "taste" of cities with an intention to return to the favorites at a later date for longer visits as long as I have usable sight.

If only I could add another day to Paris....

I think your most recently posted plan is an excellent one. Have a wonderful trip!

You can easily be on Paris by 10 am. if willing to get up early.

Be careful about hotels agency books, they invariably say a hotel is central, when its not! I would ask them to show you 2-3 choices and give you a few days to do your own research ( you can ask on this and other forums)

I love Versailles amd have been many times, but with such a short visit you are smart to skip it!

As Ben said, we visited Palais Garnier without a guide. The auditorium may be closed for rehearsals (as it was when we first arrived) but we were able to get a nice peek at the end of our wander about. I'm unsure whether tours allow access to parts of the building which were off limits to independent tourists though, such as backstage areas, but the architecturally impressive parts are likely 'out front' anyway.

Not to add more to the list (ha!) BUT the Panthéon is very close to Jardin du Luxembourg, and I think you'd have time to stop in on your way from Notre Dame. It may be a very nice substitute for Dome des Invalides if you think you may end up not managing to squeeze that one in. Google up a list of the notables entombed there (Hugo, Curie, Voltaire, Braille, etc.).

Ben, in answer to your question of how I got the idea, it was from our visit to the Garnier many years ago. On perhaps our eighth trip to or through Paris, we bought tickets, which were at that time, the only way to go above the bottom step of the grand staircase, or to enter the auditorium. I am pleased to learn that my experience is "out of date."

Let me just dissent, respectfully, from Kathy's take on the Pantheon. A great building on the outside, and close to the Luxembourg Gardens, well worth a look. Even an interesting neoclassical interior upstairs, which was originally a church. But the tombs themselves are underwhelming, not comparable to Napoleon's. They're downstairs, mostly looking the same. The Pantheon is a great architectural monument (like the Invalides), and the signs in front of the tombs give you a lot of information about those buried there, most of whom are not especially memorable to non-French folks. On a trip as short as yours, I'd give the Pantheon a good outside look if you're nearby, but that's all.

I'll respectfully disagree, Dick. The Panthéon is a very important monument to many of France's illustrious, and while Napoleon's tomb may be missing, I think there are enough other recognizable names to make it worth the stop. Victor Hugo alone saved what was once the crumbling wreck of Notre Dame with his little novel, and Louis Braille brought the gift of reading and writing to the sight-impared all over the world. It doesn't really matter if their tombs are not as stately as Napoleon's. Depending on who you ask, he wasn't a hero to everyone?

No disagreement, Kathy, about how important and memorable were many of those buried in the Pantheon -- and many of them more admirable than Napoleon, too, in various dimensions. And it's certainly impressive to see so many world-famous and historically important people buried in the same place (along with others whose fame is more local, shall we say). It can be a good history lesson, like the National Portrait Gallery in London. Just that Napoleon's tomb, itself, is a memorable sight.

Anyway, we've gotten pretty far from the OP's initial question about Garnier vs. Versailles. :-)

Anyway, we've gotten pretty far from the OP's initial question about
Garnier vs. Versailles. :-)

No disagreement there! But the doggone trouble with Paris is leaving anything OUT, eh? :O)

Louvre is open late Wed & Friday (until 9:45pm). Palais Garnier is, in my opinion anyway, the most beautiful & ornate building I have even seen. Details everywhere you look, ornate, lavish & opulent. We went in May. Just walked up & paid admission and did a self guided tour. It was amazing & probably our favorite place we saw in Paris (even including Versailles. Been there twice and felt like sardines there were so many tourists there - first time in early April and again in late May.) You will love it and if you are lucky enough to go to a performance, that would be so awesome. Enjoy your trip to Paris!