Touring Paris for 4 Days

[sengsational]

Just a small 'trip report' on our post-river cruise tour of Paris. The Viking sponsored tour (3 days, one tour, no food for $1,700!) was full (luckily, because it was so pricey, and didn't offer much beyond someone to blame if things didn't work out...transportation, hotel and one tour), so I did my own (4 days). Worked out great. After adjusting for 4 vs 3 days, hotel, transfers, tours, ran us about $700, not including food.

Booked a SNCF train before I left from the Chalon sur Saone to Paris Bercy ($116 for both). $ Viking calls the taxi for you, which was nice. They even offered us lunch on the deboarding day (we left at 11:30).

More importantly- did you enjoy Paris?

Yeah! I did climb up and visit the gargoyles up close and personal.

This post was the one that got me going on that:

The things I enjoyed the most in no particular order:

- Notre Dame. I took the tour that takes you up to the bell tower - it was cool because you could see the gargoyles up close.

That took me to CityWonders tours.

Booked 3 morning tours with CityWonders (Eiffel summit+1hr Cruise, Notre Dame w/belltower, Louvre - $375 for the 2 of us, 3 tours which included admission tickets). I figured I'd need someone to tell me what I was looking at, lol! Took the Metro to each. No problemo. Enthusiastic, likable guides.

Got the hotel as a PriceLine Express Deal. I looked-up the hotel that the Viking group was staying in and picked the the same geography in PriceLine. Ended up in a quirky boutique hotel that was quite fancy, but with a tiny room. It was quite reasonable at $126/night, less than half of what the hotel Viking was using would have been.

The food seemed pretty expensive, but we shopped the 'Monop' for breakfast items, and did a couple of picnics. Diners ran from $60 to $80 (that's food only). We could easily have spent a lot more. They're real proud of their beer...could hardly find a sizable one for less than 8 euro.

We did not get a GSM phone and data plan, so just planned while on the hotel wifi. The Parisians were very nice, even the ones that we asked for directions, lol!

 

[rodi]

Those tours sound pricey - but might be worth it if they cut the line... especially at Notre Dame. We did it on our own - but still invested some $ in admissions... and had to wait in line. (The museum pass eliminated the line at the Louvre, fortunately.)

Like you we shopped local - in our case there was a Carrefour around the corner from our rental apartment - we'd stop in on our way out of the metro and stock up for the next day.

I loved the gargoyles at Notre Dame... hence my new avatar.

 

[Bamaman]

I've seen the river cruises going up and down the Rhine River and the Danube. They always looked so slow, serene and restful. And those cruises are quite popular. Although I may be retired, I prefer to travel a whole lot faster.

And for the price of a 1 week river cruise, we could take 3-4 seven day ocean cruises. Or, we could take two vacations to anywhere in the world for the price of one week's European river cruise.

I'm so glad you enjoyed your trip to Paris. The more you smile while in Paris, the nicer the locals will be to you. The beauty of the Eiffel Tower is simply overwhelming with it's strobe lights flashing at sunset from across the river.

 

[sengsational]

Those tours sound pricey - but might be worth it if they cut the line... especially at Notre Dame. We did it on our own - but still invested some $ in admissions... and had to wait in line.

They were all skip line tickets with a guide and UHF radios so you always can hear the guide. All of the tours included a guided walking segment, plus admission. And the group size was as small as 10 (went up to 24 at the Louvre, but that still worked). We didn't get the museum pass because, generally, that's not my bag. DW wanted the Louvre, so at least we did that. I couldn't get summit tickets directly (sold-out), so this was my only option for Eiffel. From there I just cascaded into buying the other tours. You got to keep the earphones, that made up for paying $60/person.

I loved the gargoyles at Notre Dame... hence my new avatar.

I did noticed that!