Where to begin with all the activities you can do in Paris? It’s not what to do, but rather what are the best things to do from all the things one could do! Here is my curated guide to what’s not to miss on your next stay as a solo, couple or group travel.
THE BEST THINGS TO DO ON YOUR NEXT TRIP TO PARIS is right here, carefully curated by me with all the activities I’ve been suggesting for years.
Paris: Evening Cruise with Dinner on River Seine
Price: From €99
Duration: 6:00 PM cruise lasts 1.15 hours, 8:30 PM cruise lasts 2.5 hours
A ride along the Seine offers one of the best views of Paris, including panoramic views of the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and other important monuments that rest along the bank. This specific cruise also serves an à-la-carte 3-course meal on an entirely glassed-in, contemporary boat. Reserve your spot on the 8:30 PM cruise to enjoy live music on your ride.
Louvre Museum: 3-Hour Comprehensive Tour with Skip the Line
Price: From €50.40
Skip the lines to enter the Louvre to spend more, more meaningful time inside the museum, admiring masterpieces like the “Mona Lisa,” “Venus de Milo,” and “Winged Victory of Samothrace,” among others. Your expert guide will provide all the background information you need to more fully appreciate these timeless works of art. After the tour, feel free to continue to explore the Louvre at no extra cost and go off the beaten path to find your new favorite works of art.
Paris Catacombs Tour
Price: From €75.20
Duration: 2 hours
Travel six feet under (20 meters, more accurately) to visit the resting site of six million Parisians in the world’s largest underground burial site. Skip the ticket line and visit with your expert guide and learn about the history of these tombs. Why were the remains of six million people transported underground in the 18th century? What are the stories of the people who have worked, visited, and been laid to rest here? This dark and intriguing tour is one of the most popular attractions in Paris.
Private Transfer between Paris and CDG Airport
Price: From €64.80
Duration: Depending
The ride to and from the airport can be one of the most looked over details, but it is crucial to plan transportation beforehand so you don’t have to worry about even more details through jetlag and preparing for your flight. Booking a car beforehand guarantees you a ride and a price, with no surprises like at the end of a taxi or Uber ride. This service is available day and night.
Eiffel Tower, Dinner, Cruise, and Champagne at Moulin Rouge
Price: From €265
Duration: 7-8 hours
Avoid the tedious planning with this all-inclusive experience and enjoy your night in Paris anxiety-free. The night begins with a visit to the Eiffel Tower. Weather depending, admire the views of Paris in the open air or stay warm on the terrace under heated domes. Next, enjoy a three-course meal, drinks included, on a Seine River cruise, where you can admire the sights of the city from the water on a glass-enclosed boat. End your night with a show at the iconic Moulin Rouge.
Discover Paris by Night in a Vintage Car with a Local
Price: From €49.50
Duration: 1-2 hours
Glide down the Champs Elysees in a Citroen 2CV, a classic French convertible, to tour the city of lights in style. This hour-long tour puts the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, and other iconic French sights on display, all from the comfort of your own personal ride.
Paris Highlights Segway Tour
Price: From €55
Duration: 2.5 hours
After your thorough Segway training session, glide and tour Paris’s iconic sights, like Les Invalides, the Eiffel Tower, and the Seine. Your guide will also show you the best spots off the beaten path, where you can see Paris like a local. This is a great way to save yourself a few steps while you hit all the bucket-list stops.
Street Art Open-Air Museum Bike Tour
Price: From €39
Duration: 3.5 hours
Bike through Paris to admire and photograph vibrant, colorful street art created by world-famous street artists like Tristan Eaton, Invader, Faile, and others. After your ride, have a coffee inside the world’s largest startup incubator. This is a great way to get out and explore the city that is so well known for its art scene.
Le Marais 3-Hour Fashion Tour with Style Guide
Price: From €88
Duration: 3 hours
Tour the boutiques, vintage stores, and fashion ateliers along the historic Le Marais on this personally tailored tour and learn the secrets behind that signature Parisian look. Your personal guide will take your personal style, budget, and preferences into account while showing you the best fashion stops.
Marais Walking Food Tour: Cheese, Wine, and Delicacies
Price: From €110
Duration: 3 hours
Le Marais is a great stop for authentic French cuisine, but your expert guide will take you off the beaten path to authentic Parisian markets and local stores. The tour includes cheese, wine, fresh pastries, and more delicious French food. In total, there will be between eight and ten stops on this food tasting tour and one-stop in a local restaurant. While feasting, make sure to take in the high-end shops, Parisian architecture, and art galleries.
Giverny: Monet’s Garden Half-Day Tour from Paris
Price: From €89
Duration: 5 hours, including 2 hours transportation to and from Paris
Discover Claude Monet’s source of inspiration – his home and gardens – and see where he lived for the last forty years of his life. Here, you’ll explore Monet’s flower garden, Japanese garden, and Monet’s gravesite. Visit the lake full of water lilies, which inspired some of Monet’s most famous work, and enjoy their beauty for yourself.
Full-Day Mont Saint Michel Tour
Price: From €139
Duration: 14 hours, including transportation to and from Paris
After the included bus ride to the site, enjoy a guided tour around Mont Saint Michel to orient yourself in the area. After the expertly guided tour, enjoy the next few hours to explore the hilltop Abby of Mont Saint Michel and the surrounding town at your leisure, using the provided audio guide as desired. Transportation back to Paris is also included.
Fairytale Loire Castles with Wine Tasting
Price: From €120
Duration: 12.5 hours, including transportation time to and from Paris
A comfortable, private coach will take you to three French towns, each with their own castle straight out of a fairytale. In fact, one of the castles on the trip inspired the castle in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” Your expert guide will provide interesting commentary about the history of these buildings and, after your third and final tour, visit the vaulted cellar for a wine tasting.
London: The London Eye Ticket with Fast-Track Option
Price: From €28.54
Duration: 30 minutes, not including transportation to and from Paris
London is a great stop just a few hours away from Paris, and if you find yourself there the London Eye is a great way to see the city. The 360-degree views at the top of one of the world’s tallest observation wheels will include famous landmarks like Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, and even Windsor Castle, 40 km away, when the sky is clear.
Versailles: Skip-the-Line Tour of Palace with Gardens Access
Price: From €53
Duration: 1.5 hours, not including transportation time to and from Paris
Skip the lines and get easier access to the royal palace and gardens at Versailles. Your expert guide will lead you past the fountains, through the halls, and around the many famous rooms in the palace, including the king’s bedroom and the iconic Hall of Mirrors. As you take in the opulent display, learn about the history of the area and about the monarchs that lived on the grounds.
Paris at Night with a Local
Price: From €64.07
Duration: 3 hours
This is your chance to explore Paris with an expert, local guide that has been matched to you based on your specific tastes and personality. First, enjoy an apéro, a drink, and a small dish while watching the sun set at a Parisian café. Next, head to an épicerie, a local delicatessen, and try some cured meats and cheeses before eating on the banks of the Seine like a local. Your guide will be more than happy to recommend clubs, music venues, restaurants, and cafés. Three hours with your guide and two glasses of wine per person are included.
Moulin Rouge Cabaret Show Ticket with Champagne
Price: From €89
Duration: 2 hours
Enjoy the included half-bottle of champagne while you watch one of the most flamboyant shows in Europe on one of the most famous stages in the world. The troupe of 100 artistes, including 60 Doris Girls, all dressed in 1,000 extravagant costumes of feathers, rhinestones, and sequins, will perform “Féerie” by Doris Haug and Ruggero Angeletti and choreographed by Bill Goodson. This is a perfect activity for family, friends, or couples.
Macaron Class at Galeries Lafayette
Price: From €49
Duration: 1.5 hours
Study under a French pastry chef to learn all the tricks to making delicious French macarons. Choose from a number of different flavors and use local, organic produce to make the shells and ganache and learn how to fill and assemble the macarons so they look like they’re straight from a pastry shop. Walk away with at least four macarons and the chef’s recipe so you can remake the dessert at home.
Wine Museum Guided Tour with Wine Tasting
Price: From €35
Duration: 1 hour
This tour of an 18th-century wine cellar used by the king of France is highly interactive and was created to make learning about wine easy and fun. After learning about the process of making wine on your tour, choose three wines to taste with the help of the sommelier, who will teach you tasting techniques and explain the nuances of each different wine.
Market Visit and Cooking Class with a Parisian Chef
Price: From €159
Duration: 4.5 hours
Your guide and Parisian Chef will help you find local, high-quality produce at a quaint Parisian market and then teach a culinary class where you will use your ingredients to cook a full course meal including entrée (French for starter), main course, and dessert. The class is interesting, interactive, and open to all levels of cooking experience. At the end of your class, you’ll go home with the recipes you’ve made so you can remake the dishes at home. All ingredients, supplies, and aprons are included.
Perfume Creation Course
Price: From €87
Duration: 2 hours
Learn about how French fragrances are mixed and created before making your own. Each quest will smell between eight and ten different fragrances and then use these fragrances to creatively blend them into a new scent specific to you. After creating your signature scent, you can choose to engrave the 50 milliliter bottle with your name or a short message.
Photo Shoot with a Private Travel Photographer
Price: From €174.77
Duration: 30 minutes – 3 hours
Photos are a timeless, personal reminder of your time in the city of lights. Photographers are handpicked from local experts who won’t just be among the most talented artists in Paris, they are also great local guides who can provide recommendations for the rest of your stay. You will receive an online gallery of your pictures within five days after your photoshoot with pictures that you can download and share freely.
Chateau de Fontainebleau and Vaux-Le-Vicomte Tour
Price: From €159
Duration: 10 hours, including transportation to and from Paris
Visit two historic French castles, including the Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte, which inspired Louis XIV to build the Palace of Versailles. Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte and Chateau de Fontainebleau are packed with beautifully decorated rooms and architecture.
Great Stables of Prince de Conde and Chateau de Chantilly
Price: From €260
Duration: 7 hours
Visit this UNESCO World Heritage. Site and learn about history, art, and cuisine on this expertly guided tour. Visit the Great Stables and see some of the most expensive race horses in the world, see masterpieces from iconic artists, enjoy a three-course lunch, and tour the second largest library for illuminated manuscripts in France.
Paris Museum Pass: 2, 4, or 6 Days
Price: From €57
Duration: Valid 2-6 days
Get free, priority access to sixty museums and sites in and around Paris for two, four, or six days with this pass. In Paris, visit the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, and Sainte-Chapelle, among others. Around Paris, visit Versailles and Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace, among others.
Centre Pompidou: Permanent and Temporary Exhibits Access
Price: From €15
Duration: Valid 1 day
Skip the admission line and explore one of the most important collections of modern and contemporary art in Europe, including the temporary exhibits on display, at the Pompidou Center. The building itself if a work of art, and houses dozens of iconic names in modern and contemporary art including Matisse, Baraque, Picasso, Kandinsky, Khalo, and Duchamp.
Musée d’Orsay 1-Day Ticket with Reserved Access
Price: From €16
Duration: Valid 1 day
Skip the admission line and visit one of France’s largest national collections of art. The majority of the collection consists of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, so expect to see masterpieces by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh and Manet, among others.
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