Paris Is Worth a Third Visit. Practical Tips to Save Time and Maybe Money

Arrival in Paris

On 28/4 we set off. The outbound flight is perfectly on time (strange for Easy Jet, it's never on time!). We arrive at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport and look for the RER metro to reach the center of Paris. Here we make our first mistake, because at the moment of buying the ticket we only buy the ticket to reach Paris, whereas we should have already taken care of buying the pass for public transport here, for 5 days all-inclusive (which we will buy later, but by now we've already spent the money for this first ticket). We arrive at the Gare du Nord to take the Metro line that will take us to the hotel. Here, we have a long conversation with the ticket clerk to try to figure out which pass to get. Since we also need to go to outlying places like Versailles, Disneyland, etc., he recommends an all-inclusive pass for all zones of Paris, surroundings included, from zone 1 to 6.

The cost at the time seems excessive to us (48 euros each, half for children up to 11) but he makes it clear that, with this solution, we'll save a great deal compared to buying individual tickets for all our destinations. And he was right! We arrive at our 2-star hotel, Hotel Albouy, which will turn out to be quite mediocre. Maybe it's our fault for wanting to spend little, but anyway, to sum up: - the elevator doesn't always work; - hot water isn't always available; - the bathroom is so small that, truly, there isn't even room for one person to stand in front of the mirror and, when you're sitting on the toilet, it's a struggle to close the door without banging your knees. Absurd! - breakfast is truly bare subsistence. However, we tried having breakfast at a café and spent much more and ate much less. - the room is made up every other day. In short, choose another hotel.

Maybe don't be stingy and, in Paris, choose at least a 3-star, because the level of 2-stars is the one just described. I recommend the hotel where I stayed last time: Hotel Brebant. It's more expensive but decidedly more respectable and is located in a better area. For dinner, we desperately look for a McDonald's without finding one (in all of Paris, I only saw 1 on the Champs-Elysées) since, when traveling abroad and especially with children, it's the best solution! A light dinner at a bar near Notre Dame, based on croque Monsieur (French toasted sandwiches covered in cheese) and French fries. Cost: 40 euros for 3. It's raining. We don't have umbrellas. We go back to the hotel.

Fontainebleu

After the ridiculous breakfast at the hotel, we head to the Gare de Lyon to catch an SNCF train to the Château of Fontainebleau. As soon as we get off the train, at the Fontainebleau station, there's the bus that will take us to the château. We don't even have to worry about the ticket because our super pass includes this too. We visit the interiors. The visit is very quick because the rooms you can visit aren't that many, and then we stroll a bit in the park. However, it's still raining, so we look for a place to have lunch under cover. We find a place that sells sandwiches, with the option to sit at tables, near the entrance of the château. We have lunch and then return to Paris proper. We decide to stop at an Fnac store to buy the tickets for Versailles and the Louvre so we won't have to deal with mile-long queues. So we do, and this choice will prove very smart.

I recommend it to everyone: don't go to these places without having your ticket in advance. You'll save hours of time. We went to Fnac Bastille; however, there's a very large Fnac on the Champs-Élysées, Charles V stop. Unfortunately, we didn't think to buy the ticket for the Tour Eiffel, and here a queue of about 90 minutes awaits us to reach the top: second mistake!

We return to the hotel to rest a bit and then head to the Champs-Élysées in search of a McDonald's. We find one right near the Arc de Triomphe. Metro stop: Charles V.

Versailles

We have breakfast at a café (thinking it would be better than at the hotel) but we spend more than 20 euros for three of us on cappuccino, brioche and fruit juice. With our pre-purchased tickets, we head by RER train to the palace of Versailles. Here, we skip all the queues and go straight into the royal apartments. Our ticket is the PASSPORT type (about 24 euros, kids up to 18 free) and it allows us to visit absolutely everything at Versailles. So we visit in order: the grand apartments and then the small apartments of the Dauphin. Outside, we then find the little train that will transport us through the immense park. It's truly unthinkable to walk it, it's too big. So we buy a ticket for 6.50 euros (children free) that will let us get off and on freely at each of the 3 stops provided. At the first stop we visit the interior of the Grand Trianon with nicely furnished rooms.

We get back on the train and stop at the second stop, in Marie Antoinette's quarter. Here we visit the small palace of the Petit Trianon, where Marie Antoinette stayed: small but tastefully furnished. Then, walking a few steps in the park, we reach the rural hamlet where Marie Antoinette enjoyed "playing at being a peasant". Here we find an entire bucolic village made up of wooden cottages, around a charming little lake. The full tour of the village is truly pleasant: don't miss it for any reason. Your photos will be beautiful! We get back on the little train for the last stop at the Grand Canal. This is a very beautiful place; a breathtaking water landscape with the palace of Versailles in the background. This is the only place at Versailles where you'll find bars and restaurants. So we buy some baguettes and have a pleasant lunch sitting on the bank of the canal.

Beautiful, on a splendid sunny day like today! Right after, we rent one of the rowboats and take a pleasant and romantic trip on the canal. Cost: 11 euros for 30 minutes but it's truly worth it.

Then, we head toward the exit and take the RER back toward the center of Paris. The line passes right by Notre Dame, so we get off for a quick visit of the cathedral and then, straight to the hotel for a bit of rest.

Oh yes, because visiting Paris is truly exhausting. It's true that the metro is very extensive and reaches every place. However, you end up spending half the day in the Metro, which by the way is very old and run-down (clochards and foreigners without end). Moreover, even traveling by metro is very tiring: there isn't an escalator even by mistake, so you have to keep going up and down stairs to switch from one line to another. There are as many as 14 lines (not 3 like in Milan) + 5 RER lines (to reach more outlying areas). In short, we're always worn out from fatigue. We always buy drinks and snacks from the metro vending machines because it's truly the cheapest solution to get our strength back. Dinner always at McDonald's on the Champs-Élysées. For 20 euros we have dinner for three and then we can visit the beautiful and huge stores open until late in the evening. Very pleasant!

Disneyland Paris

Today, my daughter wants to go back to Disneyland. We chose May 1st precisely because, being Labor Day, all the museums and all the shops are closed, so we wouldn't have had the chance to visit anything today. At Disneyland Paris, on the other hand, everything is up and running.

Having already spent a 3-day vacation right at Disneyland, staying in one of the Disneyland hotels, we know the area very well. The tickets were of course purchased in advance from the official Disneyland website with a credit card charge. The tickets, strictly personal, are thus printed at home, and with the printouts you can go directly to the entrances, skipping every kind of queue, but with an ID (for the children too). Daily ticket cost for the main park: 50.00 euros for adults and 42 for children. Since I've been there 2 other times, I decide not to go in: I stroll through the shops of the Village and stay reading by the little lake while my daughter and my husband go into the park. Around 4 p.m.

they come out of the park, unfortunately a bit disappointed, because the waiting lines for each single attraction (even for the most trivial ones) are truly long, and, over the whole day, they only managed to do 4 or 5 rides.

So we return to the hotel and then go out later for dinner. This evening we decide to go to the Saint-Michel quarter. This quarter, very close to Notre Dame, is, absolutely, the liveliest and most cheerful quarter in Paris. Here there are characteristic narrow streets with restaurants of every ethnicity. The streets are packed with people looking for a pleasant place to have dinner, and we choose a Greek restaurant where they serve gigantic meat or fish skewers. Truly modest cost: about 30 euros for three. For dessert, of course, we choose a characteristic Crêperie with sweet (or savory) crêpes to take away.

Louvre and back home

Our last day in Paris. In the morning, bright and early, the Louvre museum with tickets pre-purchased at Fnac. So we quickly enter the museum, which is truly immense. I've visited many museums all over Europe, but this one is absolutely the best. To visit it all, a whole day wouldn't be enough. The halls, besides housing the famous masterpieces we all know, are truly sumptuous. We first reach the coveted hall of the Mona Lisa, where we try to make our way, getting past groups of Japanese, to reach the front row. Everyone takes photos, even with the flash, since there's no restriction. We also visit the Italian and French painting section. The Gallery of Apollo is beautiful, and the Apartments of Napoleon III are spectacular. Absolutely not to be missed: they're fantastic.

We leave the Louvre around 12 and head to our hotel, in the Gare de l'Est area, to pick up our luggage. But first, a stop at the fantastic boulangerie (bakery), in the little square Bonsergent, near our hotel, Ronde des pains, to buy something for lunch. Here there's nothing but an embarrassment of choice: between enormous baguettes stuffed with every good thing and fantastic pastries and cakes. All at truly reasonable prices, and for 20 euros, three of us eat until we're bursting, sitting romantically on a bench in a typical Parisian little square. We pick up our luggage stored at the reception and take the RER (very multiethnic) to reach Charles De Gaulle airport. The Easy Jet flight is obviously late, and we reach Malpensa airport a good 30 minutes late. Here we call our Parkingo shuttle, which punctually takes us to the parking lot where we left our car: 30 euros for 5 days.

Dani, Max and Clarissa. photos by Clarissa and Max text: Daniela for more information: