5 Days in Paris: Neighborhoods, Museums and a Choice of Versailles

Use arrival afternoon for the Eiffel Tower, then give the Louvre, the Marais and Montmartre their own days. For the fifth day, choose Orsay and Saint-Germain if you want more art and time in Paris, or Versailles if the palace is a priority.

Five days lets you do more than rush between reservations. There is time to look around a shop, finish lunch and have a second coffee. This version assumes a morning arrival on day one and departure after day five. If day five is your flight home, follow the four-day plan instead of trying to fit Versailles before the airport.

Choose the city version for two major art museums and neighborhood afternoons. Choose Versailles for one major Paris museum plus the palace and gardens. Both keep Montmartre, which the shorter itinerary makes you choose against Versailles.

• Choose Orsay or Versailles for the last day. They both need more than a spare hour. The numbered days below can move to suit your tickets.
• Use the neighborhood days around museum closures. The Louvre closes Tuesdays. Orsay and the Palace of Versailles close Mondays. Put the Marais or Montmartre on the awkward day.
• Book a Louvre morning, then lunch. Leaving the museum ends the visit on that ticket. Keep your restaurant meal after the galleries you want to see.

Lunch after the flight

La Fontaine de Mars, 129 rue Saint-Dominique, is the choice for a proper French lunch near the tower. Look for cassoulet or chicken with morels on its southwestern menu. Coutume Babylone, 47 rue de Babylone, makes more sense if you are beginning in Saint-Germain and want coffee with a lighter brunch or lunch.

Afternoon outside

See the Eiffel Tower from the ground and walk along the river. This first outing can be an hour or most of the afternoon, depending on how you feel after the flight. An ascent needs its own official ticket; add that on a later day if going up matters to you.

Bateaux Parisiens is an option when you would rather sit down. Its sightseeing cruise returns to the Eiffel Tower area. Have dinner nearby afterwards rather than treating the boat as a transfer across Paris.

Breakfast

BO&MIE Louvre-Rivoli, 91 rue de Rivoli, is a quick croissant stop. Café Compagnon, 22–26 rue Léopold Bellan, is worth sitting down in if you are coming from Montorgueil: oak, red marble and coffee roasted at Courances.

Morning in the museum

Give the Louvre the morning. Choose the departments that interest you before entering; a plan for paintings will look different from a visit built around antiquities. You have another museum option later in the week, so there is no need to make this one visit cover everything.

Lunch and the arcades

Juveniles, 47 rue de Richelieu, suits a weekday bistro lunch with wine after a shorter museum visit. Look for the terrine on the changing menu. Maslow 1er, 14 quai de la Mégisserie, offers vegetarian plates and continuous service from noon Monday to Saturday; Sunday follows a brunch schedule. BO&MIE is the sandwich or quiche alternative if you want to get back outside quickly.

Walk through Palais-Royal afterwards. Merci at 19 rue de Richelieu fits this afternoon without another Métro trip. Save its Beaumarchais store for the Marais if you want the larger neighborhood shopping outing.

Verjus wine bar, 47 rue de Montpensier, is an evening option Monday to Friday from 6pm. It takes walk-ins; the restaurant is a separate booking. Our Louvre food guide explains the meal choices in more detail.

Morning on the island

Visit Notre-Dame using the cathedral's own access and reservation information. Then walk toward the Marais. Allow the morning to include the river and the streets between the two, rather than booking a second attraction immediately afterwards.

Galettes and shopping

Breizh Café Le Marais, 109 rue Vieille du Temple, is the lunch choice for a savory buckwheat galette followed by a sweet crêpe. Spend the afternoon around Place des Vosges and the shops you pass along the way.

Merci, 111 boulevard Beaumarchais, suits someone interested in clothes and homeware. If shopping is not your thing, linger around the square instead. This afternoon is the easiest part of the plan to give back to a neighborhood you liked earlier.

Morning on the hill

Take line 12 to Lamarck-Caulaincourt for Musée de Montmartre, 12 rue Cortot. There is still a walk uphill. The museum gives the area's artistic history some substance before you wander toward Sacré-Cœur and the surrounding streets.

Café Renoir opens at 11am, making it a later coffee stop. A garden-only ticket is an option if the gardens appeal more than another museum interior.

Lunch down the hill

Bouillon Pigalle, 22 boulevard de Clichy, fits as you come down toward Pigalle. Its continuous service is useful after an unhurried morning. It opens at noon on weekdays and 11:30am at weekends.

Keep the afternoon for browsing or returning to somewhere you wanted longer. If you want an Eiffel Tower ascent, this is a more workable day for a reserved visit than the morning your flight lands. That means a separate journey back across the city, so choose the ticket time around lunch.

Morning: nineteenth-century art

Musée d'Orsay makes the second museum feel different from the Louvre. Set aside the morning for the collection and the former station building. It opens at 9:30am Tuesday to Sunday and closes Mondays.

Lunch: stay inside or walk to rue du Bac

Café Campana is inside the museum, by the fifth-floor Impressionist galleries. Choose it if you want a break during the visit. Les Antiquaires, 13 rue du Bac, is the nearby bistro choice once you have finished. Coutume on rue de Babylone is farther into the afternoon's neighborhood, useful if coffee matters more than a traditional bistro meal.

Afternoon and cocktails

Walk into Saint-Germain and leave the rest of the afternoon for its streets and shops. CRAVAN, 165 boulevard Saint-Germain, gives you a cocktail destination Tuesday to Saturday. This is the evening to use it: you are already in the neighborhood, rather than crossing town after Montmartre.

Morning: train and palace

Take the RER C to Versailles Château Rive Gauche, then walk about ten minutes to the palace. Check the service for your travel date through the official planning page. The palace opens at 9am and closes Mondays.

Lunch at the palace

Ore is Alain Ducasse's café in the Dufour Pavilion, overlooking the Royal Courtyard. Choose it for a seated lunch in the palace setting. It is outside the visitor circuit, so finish your palace visit first. The published lunch window is noon to 2:45pm, Tuesday to Sunday.

Afternoon: gardens or Trianon

Choose gardens alone for the shorter estate visit, or continue to Trianon if the smaller palaces are a reason you came. Trianon opens at noon and closes Mondays. Check the day's admission coverage: fountain-show and musical-garden dates can change what you need for the gardens.

Return to Paris for dinner. Versailles replaces the entire Orsay and Saint-Germain day above.

Hôtel du Louvre suits travelers who want a central hotel with a bar and gym. The Officine bar and naturally lit mezzanine gym are useful amenities over five days, beyond being close to the museum.

Hôtel Londres Saint-Honoré suits someone who prefers a small hotel with stone and beams near rue Saint-Roch. Choose it for the character and address rather than large standard rooms or resort facilities.

Citadines Saint-Germain-des-Prés is the practical choice for a kitchenette and more independence. It fits travelers who want some breakfasts at home and a river base for the islands and Left Bank.

If the museums are the main reason for your trip, use our Louvre and Orsay guide for more detailed museum days. With only a weekend, start with two days in Paris.