We went on a £61 return with Easyjet from Manchester to Charles De Gaulle airport, full day in Paris, and trying to squeeze in as much as possible without it turning into a full-on march 😅
Turned out to be one of those days where everything just clicked.
Sun all day, smooth travel, and about 12 hours on the ground… which in Paris terms is actually loads if you keep things moving 👌
Passport control done in under 10 minutes and we were straight onto the RER heading into the city.
We grabbed a 24-hour travel pass online for 30 euros, which covered everything - the RER train into town, all the metros, the lot. Brilliant value and zero faff for the whole day.
First stop was Sacré-Cœur Basilica up in Montmartre…
Front of it was busy as expected, but the real win is round the back - there’s a quiet garden with hardly anyone there, views over the city, and it just feels a world away from the crowds. Proper hidden gem 👌
The Walking Tour 🚶
We then got the Metro to Les Halles where we worked our way through the city on foot, and this is where Paris earns its EDT stripes.
The sights are so densely packed together that you almost can't walk five minutes without something iconic appearing in front of you - it's practically cheating 😅
Here's what we covered:
✅ Les Halles de Paris
✅ Centre Pompidou (the inside-out building never gets old - note it's currently temporarily closed 🚧)
✅ Stravinsky Fountain right outside is wild and colourful
✅ Tour Saint-Jacques (closed to climb but impressive to walk past)
✅ Notre-Dame Cathedral (free entry - pre-booked online)
✅ Square René Viviani (quiet garden just across the river, easy five-minute detour)
✅ Church of Saint-Séverin (beautiful Gothic church, very easy to walk straight past)
✅ Pont des Arts 🔒
✅ Louvre Pyramid (queues to go inside were enormous, so we just did the courtyard - it's free, and on a sunny day it does the job 😅)
✅ Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
✅ Place de la Concorde - the Obélisque de Louxor is oddly an actual Egyptian obelisk 🏛️
✅ Jardins du Trocadéro
✅ Petit Palais
✅ Grand Palais
✅ Pont Alexandre III (possibly the most beautiful bridge in Paris 🌉)
✅ Eiffel Tower - we went all the way to the top, and it is... very very high 😅🗼 Not one for anyone funny about heights, but on a clear sunny day absolutely stunning views.
✅ The Olympic Bridge (great photo spot - Olympic rings with the Eiffel Tower behind it)
✅ Arc de Triomphe
12 hours feels like a decent amright amount of time to do it justice. The density of things to see means you just keep ticking them off, and it never feels rushed or overwhelming.
Add to that decent transport options and a short flight away from the UK, cheap prices and all in all it was ...
An absolute belter. 💗
