6 Things to do in Paris

Paris, will always be one of the cities that I will go back and back to.  Everytime I go, I discover new hidden gems and fall more and more in love with the place. It's truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world, which is why I'm sharing here, my top things to do if you're planning your own trip there. So here they are below!

The Eiffel Tower

Okay, so this one is pretty much a given. Who would go to Paris and not spend time at one of the most iconic landmarks in the world?  Given also, that you can pretty much see it wherever you are in Paris means you've no chance of missing it.

I've been lucky enough to visit Paris 5 times and each time I've seen the Eiffel Tower in a different way.  So, here are my tips for making the most of your visit:

1) Climb the stairs.  Yip, you did indeed read that correctly.  I'll let you take a moment and recover from that, it sounds mad I know!  But the first time I visited Paris, I climbed from the bottom to the top (alas skipping the massive queues for the lifts) and it was well worth it!  You feel a real sense of achievement when you're treated to the spectacular views along the way up and when you reach the top. Stair-wise...I stopped counting at 600...

2) Dine at 58 Tour Eiffel.  Make sure you grab a window seat and you'll be treated to one of the most beautiful and scenic views over the River Seine.  A 15 second lift ride takes you to an incredible restaurant on the 1st platform of the Eiffel Tower.  If you're a meat/fish eater, you'll love the food here.  If you're a vegan/veggie, have patience.  Not many French restaurants love us veggies but this restaurant was happy to cater for my 'veggie no mushroom' request.  It also happened to be my birthday night whilst I dined here and I couldn't have asked for a better night.

3) Night-time,  After dinner or a late night jaunt to the tower, wait below for the magical moment the whole Eiffel Tower lights up with twinkly lights galore.  Sheer romantic beauty that you really need to just see.  FYI: the lights are timed to begin on the O'Clock mark.

Moulin Rouge

Two words: daytime and night-time.  Pop here during the day to catch a quick glimpse of it and head over for a quick coffee or Chocolat Chaud at Cafe des Deux Moulin (film buffs will recognise this cafe from 'Amelie'), followed up by lunch at Marmite (spectacular name I know).  I'm not usually a salad at a restaurant type of lass but this one (with the splendid addition of garlic potato slices) was simply tres bien!

At night-time, the Moulin Rouge turns into one of the best shows in town.  Plenty of mindblowing cabaret acts to take in as you sip a few glasses of champagne and wine.  Just wait for the moment the can can dancers come on...you'll need to find sheer restraint to prevent yourself from jumping up onstage to join them!  I'd recommend the Local Paris Tours trip we took for my birthday night which includes dinner at the Eiffel, a Seine River Cruise and the 11pm showing at the Moulin.  Best. Night. Ever.

Sacre-Coeur 

Located at the top of Montmatre, the Sacre-Coeur Basilica has, in my opinion, the best panoramic view over Paris.  The Basilica interior itself is fascinating and absolutely mind-blowing.  Couple this with walking up 300 steps to the Dome with it's aerial views, and this place is hands-down one of my favourite places in Paris.  Just look at the pictures below to see why! 

Disneyland Paris

Our trip to Paris happened to coincide with Labor Day in May so all of the museums, galleries, catacombes etc where closed.  This did however, now leave room in our schedules to take the short 40 minute RER train to Disneyland Paris.  And boy what a great time we had! I just absolutely love it here so if you have a window in your schedule for a daytrip, do it!  We even got to test ride the new Star Wars Space Mountain ride and bloody hell does that thing go fast!  Cue lots of pale-drained-of-colour riders coming off the coaster...

Take an Open Top Tour Bus

One of the best ways to explore the city is to jump on one of the open top tour buses.  We picked L'Open Tour (tickets around 30 euros for 2 days) which took us right outside everywhere we wanted to go.  Here are a few sneak peeks of our exploring.

 Notre Dame

 Shakespeare Book Co

 River Seine

Arc de Triomphe

Eat

Lots of cake, cheese, wine, food.  Just eat.  All you can.

Leanne x