What to see and do in Paris?

A movie on the Champs Elysées in "VO" (voix originale= original language).....in English with French subtitles which helps improve my French!

Walk the streets in the quartiers and the banks of the Seine, go to the parks (especially the one created out of a raised railroad through the city), go to some markets. If you are a market junkie, the best flea market in the world is there (a bit overwhelming actually). Use the metro. My favorite place of all is the Sainte Chapelle - be sure to go up stairs and try to go when the sun is shining through the windows.

The Rodin Museum and gardens; wandering the streets of Ile St' Louis in the morning and then crossing the pedestrian bridge and being right at Notre Dame; but my all time fave is The Cluny Museum - medieval art in an old monastery that was built on top of an ancient Roman bath...as you descend floors you travel through 2000 years of history! We are going to Paris again in April and will finally get to Saint Chappelle!

As the others have said , there are so many things to do... we love Pere Lachaise Cemetery... we have a book called " Permanent Parisians" that tells all about the people in the Cemetery. There are also neat cemeteries in Montparnasse, Passy and Montmartre. People leave things on the graves like music on Chopin's grave and film on Nadar's. We also love the outdoor markets. They are facinating and a real slice of French culture. There are dozens, but our favorites are the President Wilson Market and the Saxe Breteuil Market. Go early. We also love the flea market Porte de Vanves. This is the one most French prefer as it is smaller and more reasonable than Porte de Clingencourt. It is on the weekend in the morning.If you go to the food markets, get your lunch. We buy olives, a baguette, fruit , cider in the Fall, cheese and have a picnic. We are photographers and several years ago we got our lunch and some flowers, bought a small market basket... they make neat gifts... and took the basket and all the food and flowers and set them places through out Paris and photographed them. Then we ate the lunch in the Champ du Mars park by the Eiffel Tower.

Go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and look down the Champs Elysees and around at the city. Walk across the Pont Alexandre III. Visit Napoleon's tomb and the Musee De L'Armee at the Invalides.

All of the above plus spend an hour or two in the Luxembourg Gardens. Enjoy the gardens, people watch, enjoy the kids playing with the rental boats, watch the boule players, soak up some sun, explore the grounds. In summer, I love the Parc Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne.

We were pleasantly surprised to be in Paris 2 years ago during the Fête de la Musique, June 21. There were free concerts and performances all over the city. We heard Jazz, classical, ragtime, a violinist on the Metro, all types of music. I would vote for Sainte-Chapelle also, when the sun shines through the stain glass windows it is amazing.

Have lunch or dinner in the place de vosges, sit at the tables on the sidewalk so you can people watch, go to a chamber music concert at Saint Chapelle, the Musee de Cluny is wonderful. If you are a fan of the Cary Grant/ Audrey Hepburn film, Charade go to the Comedie Francais where the final chase scene was filmed. It is right by the Palais Royale gardens where there are some wonderful cafes.

I think Peter's post refers to the Promenade Plantee, a converted viaduct that starts just south of the Bastille Opera and goes SE over the streets and through some nice park areas. Very pleasant and interesting way to see some neighborhoods. I believe it continues for miles, connecting with pathways up the Seine to the Marne. Another good experience is a boat ride up the Canal St-Martin, starting at the boat basin next to Place de la Bastille. After emerging from a long tunnel, you go north and east through several locks and neighborhoods, ending up at the modern science museum complex (which we didn't visit). If you sit in the front row you risk getting wet when the lock doors open and water rushes out, but that could be a benefit in summer. No one has mentioned the boats up and down the Seine. There are various narrated tours, some with meals, but you can get a similar river experience for a lot less cost with the Batobus, which is really public transit. An all-day pass lets you get on and off at about ten places on both sides of the river, a fun way to see different parts of the city and specific sights. There's no narration, and no open-air seating, but the boats have dome-like enclosures so you can see all around. We walked all over Paris, stopping at sidewalk cafes whenever we got tired and/or needed a bathroom, sitting outside with coffee (morning) or a glass of wine (afternoon) watching the passing scene. I could do that every day for a long time to come!

All of the suggestions above are great, a few more good ones are: Strolling the Tuilleries, place de Concorde. Shopping along the Rue du Rivoli - stopping in for hot chocolate at Angelina's Strolling Ile de la Cite and St. Louis and banks of the Seine Eiffel Tower - go to at least the 2nd platform Sitting outside at a nice cafe and people watching. The Concergerie Seeing all the beautiful art - Louvre, D'Orsay, Orangerie La Defense Strolling the Marais Carnavalet Museum The View from the top of Montparnasse tower
Even the sewer tour is interesting - do it once and never again!

Be sure and get a Paris Museum Pass so you can pop into any number of smaller museums that catch your interest.

Walking: the Islands, Tuileries gardens; watching the fountains on Place Concorde and the toy boats in Tuileries gardens; the Montmartre steps and funicular