A Long Weekend in Paris

Eiffel Tower at dusk

The first time I went to Paris, we took nearly a year to plan our trip. That trip was for a milestone anniversary, and in addition to Paris, we spent weeks traveling throughout France. I didn’t have that much time for our next trip.

On a whim, my husband and I decided to go to Paris for a long weekend in the summer. We got a great deal on a flight by using air miles, and I had a bunch of hotel reward points to pay for the hotel. Basically a free trip! But was it possible to spend only 5 days in Paris? I would have to find out!

When we travel to Paris, we usually take the flight that leaves Dallas-Fort Worth Airport around 5PM and arrives in Paris at Charles de Gaulle around 9AM. We quickly cleared customs and hopped on the metro to arrive at our hotel.

It took us a minute to find our hotel: on our last trip to Paris, we stayed in the Latin Quarter, and in the middle of everything. The party never seemed to stop! This time, we wanted to stay in a quieter area, away from tourist attractions (because we had seen most of those on our previous trip). It certainly was quiet, and a little hard to find, but we made it!

We dropped our bags off and made our way north toward the Seine. One of my favorite things to do in any city is to simply walk around and soak it in. We grabbed lunch, stopped for a glass of wine, and window shopped.

The next day consisted of more walking and taking in some of the sights we didn’t really see on our last trip: the Eiffel Tower (at night) as well as the Orsay Museum and the Orangerie, both have amazing collections of impressionist painters.

A trip to France is never complete without a wine tasting. We decided to take the train from Paris to Reims, which is in the Champagne region. On our last trip, we went to Epernay and Aix in Champagne, but didn’t have time to make it to Reims. We walked around the city of Reims and enjoyed a special tasting at Veuve Clicquot, a fabulous lunch, and then went back to Paris. 

The following day we took another train - this time to Versailles. We decided to go to Versailles on a whim, with absolutely no pre-planning. And we found out just how important pre-planning is! Versailles is beautiful but it was extremely crowded and we weren’t part of any tour (so we were left to figure it out ourselves). I highly recommend planning a visit to Versailles in advance! 

We had to say goodbye to Paris the next day, which is always sad, but we figured out we could do a trip to Paris over a long weekend. I know what you’re thinking: “what if I’ve never been to Paris?”. We can put together a trip that allows you to hit some of the highlights that’s only a few days long. If you want to learn more or have questions, please reach out so I can help you plan a quick trip (or a long trip!) to Paris.