So, last week, we visited Paris. We went for my birthday, and boy do I have Paris blues right now.
I’m missing croissants by the Eiffel Tower, watching the sparkly lights come on and the general vibe of the city.
On Friday, I posted my Paris Instagram guide, and today, I thought I’d chat a little about our few days in Paris.
Day 1 :
We arrived in Paris on Monday afternoon, and got the metro to our hotel. I had been a bit nervous about getting the Metro but it was super easy. Our train ticket cost about ¢10 each which I didn’t think was too bad and a lot cheaper than a ¢60 Uber ride! Just use Google maps to navigate your metro route, or I downloaded an app called Paris Metro which works out your route for you.
Anyways, we arrived to a heat wave, and after getting off the train at Charles de Gaulle Etoile (which is where the Arc de Triomphe is ) we then had a 10 minute walk to our hotel (there was a metro stop closer to our hotel but we didn’t want the hassle of getting a metro ticket.)
We stayed at Hotel Pastel Paris, I was recommended it on Instagram as it’s a pastel hotel (so had my name all over it!) It was really affordable, and was in such a good location. It’s on a quiet street, but is 10 minutes from Arc de Triomphe, 10 minutes from Trocadéro and about 20 minutes from the Eiffel Tower.
The nearest Metro (Boissière) is about 3 minutes away, and there was a bakery and convenience store on the same road, I couldn’t have been more pleased with the location!
We had a pink Discovery room which was pretty small, but it did the job. It was so cute (it was pink of course) and was spotlessly clean. We had a great stay though, and would 100% stay there again, and if you’re looking for a lovely hotel in a great location that doesn’t cost 5 million pounds, I’d recommend booking!
After checking in and a quick refresh, we headed out to Trocadéro to catch a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower and it took my breath away for sure!
We had pizza underneath the Eiffel Tower and couldn’t believe we were there! It was a very chilled first afternoon and evening though, we had a bit of a wonder, took some photos, and finished the evening with ice cream waiting for the lights to come on the Eiffel Tower which was as magical as I hoped it would be!
Day 2
We spent our second day at Versailles, after grabbing some croissants from the local boulangerie, we got the train which took about 30 minutes to the very pretty town and made our way to the Palace.
We bought our tickets before going which I’d recommend doing as it’ll save you a little time with the queue. We still had to queue up for 50 minutes, this is the queue you have to go through for security, you can get a timed ticket which does save time, but the only one we could get was for 1pm which was too late for us, but if you buy your tickets more in advance I’d recommend to save some time in the queue!
Versailles was beautiful though, I couldn’t get over how stunning the Palace was, it was super crowded inside which we didn’t really enjoy, but we loved the gardens and The Grand Trianon, which was a pink marble palace!! It was such a hot day, so we made sure we took plenty of water with us, but it was a really lovely day, and I’d recommend visiting if you’ve got time as it truly is stunning!
We made our way back into the city, albeit a little sweaty haha (lovely) and after getting changed, we headed out to Notre Dame.
I couldn’t believe how much of it is closed off after the fire, which I guess is to be expected. We had a mooch round, and then stumbled across a Chipotle ( I know how french lol) so we had dinner and then got the metro back to the Eiffel Tower where we had a walk around just as the sun setting, before setting up back at our favourite spot by Trocadéro to watch the lights come on at 11pm.
We bought a 3 day Metro pass to get around with, which I’d definitely recommend if you’re going to be travelling around a lot in Paris. The Metro was so easy to use, and navigate!
Day 3
My birthday!
We spent the morning around the Louvre and Royal Palais area getting photos and looking round the area. We then spent a couple of hours at Musee D’Orsay ( I pretended I was Blair Waldorf) before going to a shop to make a mini picnic to eat at Tuileries Garden which is opposite the Louvre and so lovely.
For my birthday evening, we went on a boat ride along the Seine which was lovely! You literally go down to the riverbank and it’s ¢15 per adult for a 1 hour boat ride which shows all the sites, it was a fab way to see all the main sites and would recommend going around 7/8pm as the sun was setting and it was lovely.
We then got a pizza to sit and eat under the Eiffel Tower, before then going on the hunt for Nutella Crepes to eat.
We finished our last evening in Paris like every other evening, sitting by the Eiffel Tower waiting for the lights to come on. There were loads of dogs around on this night (maybe they knew it was my birthday?) so that made it even better.
Day 4
Our final day in Paris before we headed to Disneyland Paris for a couple of days. We hired motorised scooters to get us around, we used the Bird app and oh my goodness, it was so fun!
They didn’t cost too much to hire and such a fun way to get around!
We went up to Pont Alexandre III, rode along the Seine, through Passy, and it was a bit of a pinch me moment riding along the Seine with the Eiffel Tower in view.
We also had a bit of a shop on Champs-Élysées, Sephora was calling my name!
We had our final Parisian lunch – you guessed it under the Eiffel Tower. The weather was so nice you just wanted to be outside!
We then checked out of our hotel and made our way to Disneyland Paris for a couple of days.
I was really sad to leave Paris, as I did love it and felt there was so many other places to visit and explore but hopefully we can visit another time!
We spent our evening at Disneyland Paris which was so fun, and what a difference with the weather to our last trip at the start of June!
We rode on the rides that were closed last time we visited, watched the fireworks and just had a really nice evening before heading back to our Air bnb which was in Val D Europe ( a mere 5 minutes on the Metro from Disney!)
Day 5 :
Today, we spent the whole day at Disneyland Paris, after a slow start and some croissants of course we headed to Disney.
Henry’s family was also arriving at Disney on this day, and we surprised them which was lovely. And we spent the day with them, going on rides, watching the parade and just having a generally fun day.
Our tickets were kindly gifted to us by Attraction Tickets Direct and they were fab, they’re the best value around and also come with vouchers for Earl of Sandwich and Planet Hollywood at Disney Village.
We had the best day, and will be a day that I’m sure we will all cherish!
After watching the fireworks, we sadly said our goodbyes and headed back to our Air Bnb.
We flew back to the UK the next day, very sad to be leaving but also quite glad to not be in 35 degree heat anymore haha. We got the train from Disney to the airport (make sure you get the SNCF train as it only takes 10 mins vs the Metro which takes 80 minutes! You have to get your ticket from a specific SNCF stand not the general ticket machine if that makes sense!)
We have such a lovely time, and I’d love to visit Paris again one day soon. I’d definitely recommend it as a place to spend your birthday!
Have you ever been to Paris before?