Continuing on with this series of breaking down our 2 week trip to Europe this summer, our second stop is Paris! I have wanted to travel to Paris for more years than I can remember, so I’m really excited about this destination. My dad travelled to Paris a couple times for work and enjoyed it, and I’ve had friends say the same after their trips. From the shopping to the food, I imagine Aubrey will have to drag me out of this city.

Check out what we have planned for Paris down below!

Timeframe

Keeping with the theme where I breakdown our stay in London, I’ll start with how long we plan to be here. We will be spending a total of about 4.5 days in Paris including traveling to and from the city. Our plan is to take a train from London to Paris on Tuesday morning, and then we have a flight out to Monaco on Saturday. This is the longest amount of time we get to spend in a city, so we’re very excited to dive into the French culture here! With all we are wanting to see, do, and visit in Paris we will need to maximize this time the best we can.

Another exciting part about this leg of travel is that we are taking the train from London to Paris. Aubrey did this on his previous European trip and enjoyed it, but says he actually missed when they crossed over into France. Purchasing tickets ahead of time for the train is about as easy as purchasing a plane ticket. You choose your time, date, and seat and then you’re good to go! We did choose seats with more room to keep our LOADS of luggage nearby and have some extra leg room. I’ve never had a train experience like this before so I cannot wait!

Hotel

In Paris we are staying at the most beautiful hotel, First Hotel Paris Tour Eiffel. This hotel has a dark, romantic theme Parisian dreams are made of and is centrally located in the city. The very best part, and what was at the top of my wish list, is that we can see the Eiffel Tower from our balcony! When Aubrey travelled to Paris on his previous trip, he stayed on the other side of the river closer to the Arc de Triomphe. So, this will be both of our first time staying in this area of the city!

I’ll put some pictures of the hotel from their website down below, but I cannot wait to get to take some of my own to share after the trip!

Activities

Site Seeing:

We will be spending a lot of our time sight seeing in Paris. There are so many beautiful places to go and spend time, that I imagine we’ll be doing a lot of walking. I’m really excited about the obvious things like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Palace of Versailles. I also hope that we end up getting to see some different, spontaneous places while in between visiting the major stuff.

Since we’ll be there in the summer, I would love to spend some time on the Seine River. Whether it ends up being a dinner cruise or just walking down by the river I know I will enjoy it. Paris also has a lot of beautiful gardens that will be amazing to take photos of and spend time in.

Other Activities:

I think a lot of what we’ll end up enjoying about Paris will be the food, drink, and shopping! Maybe not the shopping part for Aubrey, but I get giddy when I think about all of the beautiful Parisian shops. I have a shoe vice, and absolutely plan on buying some unique shoes while we’re there.

I also really look forward to sitting outside a Parisian café drinking coffee and eating pastries while we people watch. We don’t have any specific dinner or drink reservations yet, but I bet we end up doing a nicer dinner while in Paris too.

Final Thoughts

When thinking about a European vacation, Paris is always a bucket list city. I feel so blessed and excited to even have the opportunity to spend time here! More than likely, I won’t be able to process how amazing it is while we’re there. But, I know this will be an unforgettable stop on the trip of a lifetime!

If you’ve travelled to or lived in Paris, leave any of your favorite restaurants, shops, or things to do in the comments!