Nearest metro: Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre (Lines 1 & 7) — roughly 3 min walk from the apartment. Line 1 runs east–west across the entire city and connects nearly everything on this list.
Tickets: Buy a carnet (10-pack) or load a Navigo Découverte card. Single ticket ~€2.15. The metro is fast, cheap, and runs until ~1 AM.
Landmarks
The Louvre
The world's largest art museum — and practically our backyard. No need to see everything; picking two wings and wandering is a perfectly good plan.
Palais Royal Gardens
A hidden gem steps from the apartment — colonnaded arcades, manicured gardens, and the famous Buren columns. Free, calm, and very Parisian.
Eiffel Tower
If there's one thing Paris is famous for, it's this. Going at dusk is lovely — the golden hour and the 9 PM light show are both worth lingering for. The view from Trocadéro across the river is hard to beat.
Notre-Dame de Paris
Reopened in December 2024 after years of restoration — a once-in-a-generation moment to see it gleaming and renewed.
Pont Alexandre III
The most ornate bridge in Paris — gilded lamps, winged horses, cherubs, and a perfect frame for the Eiffel Tower in the distance. Worth a detour just to stand on it.
Place Vendôme
Napoleon's triumphal column, surrounded by the world's most expensive jewelers. Window shopping is entirely acceptable — it's stunning to simply stand in the square.
Museums Worth the Detour
Musée d'Orsay
Impressionism at its finest — Monet, Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh — housed in a breathtaking converted train station. Smaller and less overwhelming than the Louvre.
Petit Palais
The City of Paris's fine arts museum — free admission, gorgeous Belle Époque building, and a peaceful garden café inside. An underrated gem.
Centre Pompidou
Modern and contemporary art in an inside-out building that's a spectacle in itself. Millie might find this one more exciting than the Louvre — it's a little wild.
Bakeries & Cafés
Angelina
A Parisian institution since 1903. Famous for its impossibly rich hot chocolate and Mont Blanc pastry. On Rue de Rivoli — a 10-minute walk along the Tuileries.
Stohrer
Paris's oldest pâtisserie, open since 1730. The original baba au rhum was invented here. Located on lively Rue Montorgueil — a street worth the whole walk.
Café Kitsuné
A beloved coffee spot tucked into the Palais Royal arcades. Japanese-influenced and beautifully designed — a lovely option for a slow morning start.
Télescope
One of the best specialty coffee shops in Paris, just a few streets from the apartment. Small, serious about coffee, beloved by locals.
Rue Montorgueil
Not one place, but a whole street. A covered pedestrian market street lined with boulangeries, fromageries, and produce stalls. This is what Paris actually looks like.
Culture & Atmosphere
Jardin des Tuileries
The grand formal garden between the Louvre and the Champs-Élysées. A good spot to slow down — grab a chair by the fountain, watch the pigeons, and let Paris happen around you.
Galerie Vivienne
A covered 19th-century arcade near the Palais Royal — mosaic floors, glass ceilings, tea salons, and antiquarian bookshops. One of the city's most beautiful secrets.
Le Marais
One of the most characterful neighborhoods in Paris — medieval streets, Jewish bakeries, art galleries, and the Place des Vosges. Easy to lose a whole afternoon here, happily.
Seine River Walk
A walk west along the river toward the Eiffel Tower, past the bouquinistes — the green-stall booksellers who have lined the Seine for centuries. Vintage postcards are a nice find if you stumble across one.