Two days are enough for a solid first taste of Paris, as long as you group your visits by neighborhood instead of criss-crossing the city. This timed itinerary pairs the Louvre, Île de la Cité and Le Marais on Saturday, then Montmartre, the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower on Sunday, with a time slot for each stop, the trip to the next one and a price indication, so it works as an actual plan rather than just a list of highlights. Where to sleep: for this itinerary, stay in Opéra, the Louvre is a quarter of an hour on foot, the Seine twenty minutes and Montmartre half an hour. See for example hotels with free cancellation in Opéra, and compare the other areas in our guide on where to stay in Paris.
Day 1, 9am-11:30am - The Louvre
Budget two to three hours for a focused visit to the major works (the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace) via the Denon wing. The museum is closed on Tuesdays, open until 9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays, and until 6pm the rest of the week. Admission costs €22 for EU and European Economic Area residents, €32 for other visitors. Booking an online time slot is strongly recommended, even for visitors entitled to free entry, though on-site purchase remains possible when attendance is low. Arrive at opening (9am) if you can, to make the most of the morning before the crowds build, then walk to Notre-Dame in about twenty minutes.
Day 1, 12pm-7pm - Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle and Le Marais
The cathedral is free to visit (allow about 45 minutes); booking a free online slot is optional but helps you skip the queue on the square, usually short on weekdays and longer on weekends. Next, walk five minutes to the Sainte-Chapelle on the other side of the island: allow 30 to 45 minutes for the visit, plus up to 30 minutes for the security check if you haven't booked a slot. Admission costs €16 for EU/EEA residents, €22 for other visitors. Round off the day by crossing the Seine to Le Marais, a fifteen-minute walk away, for dinner in its lively streets: no ticket needed for this neighborhood.
Day 2, 9am-12pm - Montmartre and the Sacré-Cœur basilica
Spend the morning on the Montmartre hill, its cobbled streets and the Place du Tertre. The inside of the basilica is free to visit, open daily from 6:30am to 10:30pm. For the 360-degree view from the dome, budget about €8 and roughly thirty minutes for the climb up around 300 steps; no reservation is needed. Go up early if you can, before the tour groups arrive, to enjoy the streets while they're still quiet. Then head to the Arc de Triomphe by metro (line 2 from Anvers or Abbesses to Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile), about twenty minutes' ride.
Day 2, 2pm-7:30pm - The Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysées and the Eiffel Tower at sunset
Climb the Arc de Triomphe's 284 steps (there is no lift for individual visitors) for an open view over the avenues radiating from Place de l'Étoile: allow 45 minutes including the climb. Admission costs between €16 and €22 depending on the season, with no reservation needed for a single visitor. Walk a few hundred metres down the Champs-Élysées, then take the metro (line 6 to Bir-Hakeim, about ten minutes) toward the Eiffel Tower, quieter in the late afternoon than during the day. For the ascent, book a timed online ticket: without one, the wait can top two hours (budget €14.80 for the stairs to the 2nd floor, €23.50 for the lift). If you'd rather not go up, the view from the Trocadéro gardens, across the Seine, is more than enough to enjoy the sunset, and later the tower sparkling for five minutes every hour after dark, until midnight (1am in summer). Our complete guide to the Champs-Élysées details the avenue, its surroundings and useful addresses.
Tips
- Book the Sainte-Chapelle and the Eiffel Tower online (strongly advised) and the Louvre (recommended): slots open several weeks ahead, up to three months, and go fast at weekends. Notre-Dame: optional.
- Paid entries for EU and EEA residents: Louvre 22€, Sainte-Chapelle 16€, Arc de Triomphe 16€, Eiffel Tower 14.80€ by the stairs to the 2nd floor, about 69€ in total (more outside the EU).
- Free: Notre-Dame, the inside of the Sacré-Cœur, the Marais and the Trocadéro gardens. To save more, take the Eiffel Tower stairs, skip the Sacré-Cœur dome and aim for the first Friday of the month after 6pm (free Louvre, except July-August).
- A single ticket costs 2.50€; the Navigo Jour pass (12.30€) only pays off from the fifth ride in a day. Realistic minimum budget: 90€ to 100€ per person for entries and transport, excluding meals and accommodation.
- If it rains, day one stays dry (Louvre, Sainte-Chapelle); on day two, visit only the free interior of the Sacré-Cœur and choose the glazed first floor of the Eiffel Tower over the Trocadéro gardens.
- Our complete Trocadéro guide also covers the museums of the Palais de Chaillot.
- Stay somewhere central, around the Marais or Saint-Germain: it clearly cuts travel time between stops.
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