Paris Travel Guide: How We Spent 4 Days in Paris
WELCOME BACK TO THE BLOG! After a month off, I’m so excited to be back, and especially because, as you can see by the title, this is a super exciting blog for me to share with you. If you aren’t following me on Instagram, you may not have known, but my husband and I went on our European honeymoon to London, Paris & Amsterdam. We quite literally just got back yesterday, so the memories are fresh in my mind, and I’m so excited to share those memories with you. Before I jump into this blog, I will say that I have so much to share that can’t all possibly fit in one blog post, so today, I’m starting by sharing how we spent four days in Paris! Keep your eyes on the blog (or sign up to the newsletter 😉) for all of the fun posts to come; but for now, let’s recap our time in the city of love!
Warning: this is a long blog post! Get ready to do some reading.
Photo Credit: Olga in Paris for Flytographer
Day 1: Right to the Eiffel Tower!
Since we spent a good chunk of our first day travelling from London to Paris via the Eurostar, we spent the rest of the daylight time we had there taking the relatively quick 30-minute walk from our hotel, The Drawing House (which we’d highly recommend!) in the 14th arrondissement to the Champ de Mars to see the Eiffel Tower. When we started our walk, we could almost immediately see the Eiffel Tower, but of course, I had to see it up close! It was truly a pinch-me moment for me when I finally got to see that giant landmark I long dreamed of seeing with my own eyes and not just in photos. The walk from the 14th to the 7th was filled with the most beautiful architecture, I couldn’t stop telling my husband to wait while I took tons of photos! One of the best parts about Paris is how walkable it is, so if you get there, take advantage of the beautiful views, wide sidewalks & very functional metro system. On our way to the Champ de Mars, we had a quick stop at a small bar to grab a glass of wine, and I can safely say, the wine really is amazing in France.
Day 2: A Photoshoot & Time to Explore
Much to my husband's dismay, I packed our days in Paris with all sorts of tours and adventures, so that really only left us with one full day in the city to explore, and see all of the sights. But before we jumped into our day of exploring, we had the most magical photoshoot with Olga from Flytographer at Trocadéro! You’ll undoubtedly see plenty of her photos sprinkled throughout this blog, and future Paris blogs.
Photo Credit: Olga in Paris for Flytographer
Once we wrapped up with our 10:30am 30 minute shoot with Olga, we quickly went back to our hotel, changed & headed out to explore. But first, we stopped for pizza at Pizza Pernety within walking distance from our hotel, and it was seriously one of the best pizzas I have ever had in my life! After we wrapped up our lunch, we obviously had to see the next biggest landmark in Paris, the Arc de Triomphe – and let me tell you a secret; if you want a really good view with not nearly as many people, don’t walk up the Champs Élysées. Instead, take the metro to the other side of the monument. There’s less people, and you can get a great photo without the crowds.
After we saw the Arc de Triomphe, we wandered the area a bit, and found a stunning park that had tons of gorgeous roses – my inner gardener was loving every moment of it. Once we explored through the roses a bit, my husband wanted to do a little shopping at the Carhartt WIP store in St. Germain to get himself a couple of souvenirs, so we headed that way and did a little shopping and walking around, which led to us coming across a beautiful Parisian café filled with the most amazing smells, so of course, we grabbed a croissant. Unsurprisingly, it was incredible.
You would think our day ended there, but you’d be wrong! Since we didn’t have a lot of exploring time, we really took advantage of our day, and walked from the 6th, along the Seine, all the way to the 4th in search of Notre-Dame Cathedral, because… well, why not? We’re in Paris! Along our way, we did a little souvenir shopping and then came across the most beautiful flower market filled with stunning hydrangeas, peonies and everything in between.
Once we finally reached Notre-Dame, it was unfortunately still under restoration from the fire in 2019, however, it’s scheduled to be reopen next year by the 2024 Olympics! Even surrounded by gates, the building is absolutely breathtaking, especially when you consider it’s over 800 years old! Even though we are not religious, it was a sight to see. Once we wrapped up here, we both started to get quite tired, so we called it a day to get a good night’s rest because day 3 was a big one… 😍
Day 3: The Most Magical Place on Earth
Could I really go all the way to Paris and not go to Disneyland Paris?! The answer is obviously no! Our third day in Paris was all about Disneyland, and I was on cloud 9 the whole time. My husband is very much not into Disney at all, but was a trooper and survived a whole eight hour day there. When we got there, I immediately went and did a little shopping (hint: a lot of shopping happened on this day), and grabbed a pair of Mickey ears, and the most beautiful lilac purple Disneyland Paris spirit jersey, and then we headed straight for the castle to get a photo of me wearing my mom’s Mickey sweater from Walt Disney World in the 90’s! After I got my photo, I quickly changed, and we darted into the castle to see the beautiful Sleeping Beauty stained glass, followed by the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups ride.
It really was the most magical day filled with rides, Disney magic, Mickey shaped treats and lots, and lots of shopping! I think I spent the most money on souvenirs this day, actually 😂 If you want a more detailed blog post about Disneyland Paris, drop a comment below to let me know that you’d like to see that!
Day 4: Let Them Eat Cake
I swear, we’re almost done! This was our last truly full day in Paris, and I had gotten us tickets to the Château de Versailles, because duh! This is seriously was one of the absolute best days of my life, and we created so many amazing core memories. Versailles was seriously the most beautiful place and I loved every moment of walking through such a grand palace. The gardens are never-ending, and the insane amount of gold and marble everywhere is breathtaking.
When we wrapped up at the palace, we quickly grabbed a bite to eat in the town of Versailles, and enjoyed all of the gorgeous architecture in this amazing suburb of Paris. We then went back into Paris for the afternoon, and headed to a café that my husband desperately wanted to visit, and once we were done, we ended up sitting at a little restaurant, drinking wine, chatting and enjoying the views for a couple of hours before we headed to our 8pm dinner reservation at Bambini (that happens to have a gorgeous Eiffel Tower view).
We finished our final night in Paris with the most incredible meal at Bambini. It’s a bit on the pricey side, in fact, I think our dinner ended up being about $300 CAD; however that did include about eight total drinks throughout our dinner service as well 😳 Once we wrapped up our dinner just before 11pm, we took the two minute walk down to the Seine, sat down on a railing and waited for the top of the hour so we could watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle. I’ll be honest, it could’ve been the alcohol, or maybe just the fact that I got to spend my final night in Paris with my husband watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle, but I definitely cried 😂
If you’re still here, you are the real MVP – seriously. I know this was a long one, but I hope you enjoyed coming down a little memory lane with me on our trip to Paris. I can’t wait to share all of the details of London and Amsterdam, as well as so many other blogs about travelling to Europe with you. This was seriously my dream trip, and I’m so thankful that I got to enjoy this trip with someone I love. If you don’t want to miss the next one, don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter below!
Blog Cover Image Credit: Olga in Paris for Flytographer
