Paris in a Day

Having spent 2 full days at Disneyland, we decide to head to Paris for the day to see the sites. Doing Paris in a day requires a lot of planning so you can make the most of your time there. Here is how we decided to spend the day.

From Disneyland, we caught the train into the city. The train station, Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy, is at the Disneyland resort itself. So if you are staying at one of the hotels near Disneyland, get yourself to the resort and catch the train from there. The hotels usually run a free bus service to and from Disneyland so this will save you money on a taxi.

The train tickets cost around 12 euros per adult and 5 euros for children for a return ticket. And they ran frequently throughout the day. The train journey took approximately one hour. We disembarked at Charles de Gaulle – Etoilele. This station is close to the Arc de Triomphe.

Prior to our visit to Paris, I had booked tickets for an open-top bus through Big Bus Tours. I figured this would be the easiest way to see as much of the city as possible.

There are numerous companies which offer this service but Big Bus Tours seemed the best. It cost £66 for two adults and two children. It was worth every penny.

We could use the service from 9.45 am until 7.30 pm. There are numerous bus stops throughout the city. You simply wait at the bus stop for the Big Bus Paris and jump on and off at any stop. Earphones were provided which offered a guided tour of Paris. There is an app which can be downloaded to follow the routes of all the buses in the circuit. This tells us how far a bus is from the stop you are at. It was a fantastic resource.

Via the open-top bus, we were able to see so much of Paris. This would not have been possible on foot or by using the metro system. The bus stops at all the major tourist attractions.

Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees

Having a short amount of time in Paris, we decided it would be preferable to view as many things as possible rather than spending time inside one or two of the attractions. We saw the Arc de Triomphe and spent some time admiring it prior to embarking on the open-top bus.

The bus drove up the Champs Elysees. This was a magical experience and was made all the most spectacular as our journey up this famous street took place in the evening!

The Eiffel Tower

We did plan to go up the Eiffel Tower, however, my fear of heights got the better of me and I chickened out! When we visited this monument, there was quite a lot of scaffolding around the tower and it sort of took the shine away from it all. To make things worse, there were drunk people and beggars pestering us, so we decided to hop back on the bus and admire the tower from a distance.

Which was much better!

We found an amazing viewing platform – the Parvis de Libertes droits de l’homme, which is the Court of Human Rights. From there we had a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower. In fact, one of the scenes in the new John Wick Film was recorded there!

The Louvre

One thing we simply had to see was the Mona Lisa. This painting is housed in the Louvre. The Louvre itself is a phenomenal building. It is absolutely massive. We could have spent an entire day there and still would not have seen all there is to view. We were all awestricken but pressed onto DaVinci’s masterpiece.

When you enter the Louvre, be sure to collect a map. The building is rather overwhelming in size and it took us a few minutes to get our bearings and to figure out in which direction we needed to head.

The Mona Lisa is located on Level 1 in Room 711, the Denon wing. The map will be essential in helping you find the place you need to be! The building was incredibly accessible for disabled people – there were plenty of lifts and escalators.

The Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa is housed next to the Treasures of the Italian Renaissance. She does have her own room – the suitably named – the Mona Lisa Room! This room was absolutely packed with people all waiting to get a look at and a photo of the lady herself.

There is a queuing system, but even at quieter times when we visited, there was much pushing and shoving and a great deal of excitement.

Fortunately, disabled people are spared this and are able to view the Mona Lisa up close and personal. The attendants remove the barrier and allow the disabled person to in effect, stand before all the crowds and get even closer to the portrait.

The portrait is rather smaller than I had expected. But being able to view this stunning masterpiece was a real privilege. You can feel the history within the room.

Place de la Concorde

If there is one place in Paris you really feel history, it is the Place de la Concorde. This is the site of the execution of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette in 1793. During the ‘Reign of Terror’ a total of 1,119 people were executed there by the guillotine.

In the 19th century, the Egyptian government gifted France The Obelisk which still stands in the Place de la Concorde today.

We also saw The Cathedral of Notre Dame. Which at the time of our visit, and at the time of writing, is still being renovated and so closed to the public.

If you are planning to visit Paris in a day, planning is key. I would recommend an open-top bus as it gave us the opportunity to see so much of this incredibly large city.

To find out more about our visit to Paris, see Our Visit to Disneyland Paris – Walt Disney Studios Park.