Things to Do in Paris: 27 Experiences, Museums and Day Trips for First-Timers and Solo Travelers

1. Walk Montmartre and Climb to Sacré-Cœur

Start with breakfast at Boulangerie Pâtisserie des Dames for brioche and croissants, then walk up Rue de l’Abreuvoir to La Maison Rose, the pink café that is easily the most photographed spot in Montmartre. From there, keep climbing to Sacré-Cœur. The basilica is free to enter, and the steps out front have one of the best views over the city.

If you’d like some company and the stories behind the streets, a guided Montmartre walking tour covers the artists’ history and the Moulin de la Galette in about two hours. For a free option, there are also the FreeTour.com Paris walking tours, where you tip the guide at the end.

2. Take a Montmartre Food Tour

If you want to eat your way through Montmartre, book this tour. My friend Maggie and I took this Montmartre food and walking tour, which mixes tastings with the spots you’ll recognize from Amélie and Emily in Paris. It’s also an easy way to meet other travelers if you’re on your own, and you’ll leave with a list of bakeries and shops to revisit.

3. See the Louvre (Without Trying to See All of It)

The Louvre is the largest museum in the world, and trying to see all of it is how people end up exhausted and disappointed. Pick one wing, see the Mona Lisa early or late in your visit, and then let yourself leave. Afterward, Café Marly overlooks the glass pyramid and has terrace tables for lunch.

From January 2026, tickets are €22 for visitors from the European Economic Area and €32 for everyone else, and the museum is closed on Tuesdays. Book a timed ticket on the official Louvre website before you go, because entry slots sell out, especially in summer.

4. Visit the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, My Favorite Museum in Paris

Right next door, in the same palace on Rue de Rivoli, is the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and it’s my favorite museum in Paris. It covers fashion, jewelry, furniture and design across several floors, and it’s much calmer than the Louvre.

Tickets are around €15, it’s open Tuesday through Sunday, and I’d give it about two hours. I spent an afternoon here on my solo day, which I wrote about in things to do alone in Paris.

5. Tour the Opéra Garnier

Walk about 15 minutes north of the Louvre to the Opéra Garnier. I did the self-guided visit on my solo day and spent about two hours inside, between the grand staircase, the gold foyer and the auditorium with Chagall’s painted ceiling. Book the self-guided Opéra Garnier visit ahead so you can walk straight in.

6. Shop Till You Drop at Galeries Lafayette

Right behind the Opéra Garnier is Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, the department store under the stained-glass dome from 1912. Even if you aren’t buying anything, go up to see the dome, step out onto the Glasswalk, the glass walkway that hangs beneath it, and then take the escalators to the free rooftop terrace for a view over the Opéra all the way to the Eiffel Tower.

Printemps, next door on Boulevard Haussmann, has its own rooftop and is worth a look if you’re making a shopping afternoon of it. If you live outside the EU and spend more than €100 in one store on the same day, ask at the counter about a VAT refund and bring your passport.

7. Walk the Covered Passages of Paris

Paris’s covered passages are glass-roofed shopping arcades from the 1800s, and I love walking through them. My two favorites are Galerie Vivienne, with its mosaic floors and bookshops, and the Passage des Panoramas, which opened in 1799 and is one of the oldest in the city. They’re free, they’re a good escape on a rainy day, and they sit just north of the Louvre and the Palais-Royal gardens.

If you’re traveling solo and want company, this is a great place for a guided walk. This covered passages small-group walking tour takes about three hours and includes a wine tasting.

8. Make Your Own Perfume

On my solo day in Paris last October, I made my own perfume at Galimard. You learn how scents are built, then mix your own bottle to take home. It’s easy to do alone, and you’ll share the table with other travelers. Read my Galimard perfume workshop review for what it’s like, or pick one of these workshops in central Paris.

9. Take a Macaron Class

If perfume isn’t your thing, a macaron class is the other hands-on experience I’d add to a Paris trip. Macarons look simple, but getting the shells smooth with the little ruffled feet takes practice, and a pastry chef walks you through it step by step. Most classes last about two hours, and you take your box of macarons home at the end. It’s an easy class to do solo, since you’re working at a shared table.

Traveling with kids? My friend Jessica rounded up the top 5 places to make macarons in Paris with kids.

10. Spend an Afternoon in Le Marais

Le Marais is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Paris, with narrow streets, independent boutiques and the Place des Vosges, the city’s oldest planned square. Start on Rue des Rosiers, in the historic Jewish quarter, and get a falafel at L’As du Fallafel. Then walk to the Place des Vosges and sit in the gardens for a while.

11. Visit Victor Hugo’s House on the Place des Vosges

Victor Hugo lived at 6 Place des Vosges from 1832 to 1848, and his apartment is now the Maison de Victor Hugo museum. You’ll see the rooms where he lived and wrote while he was working on Les Misérables, along with his drawings and the furniture he designed himself. The permanent collection is free, and the museum is closed on Mondays.

It pairs perfectly with an afternoon in Le Marais, since it sits right on the square.

12. Walk Along Canal Saint-Martin

Canal Saint-Martin, in the 10th, is where Parisians spend their weekends, with iron footbridges, locks and cafés along the water. Walk along Quai de Valmy, stop at Artazart, the bright red bookshop and design gallery, and have lunch on the canal at La Marine. It’s a nice break from the big sights and gives you a feel for everyday Paris.

13. Visit Notre-Dame Cathedral

Notre-Dame reopened in December 2024 after the 2019 fire, and seeing the restored interior is one of the top things to do in Paris right now. Entry is free, but reserve a time slot on the official Notre-Dame website to skip the long walk-up line. To understand what you’re looking at, from the rebuilt spire to the restoration, book a guided Notre-Dame tour.

14. See the Stained Glass at Sainte-Chapelle

A few minutes’ walk from Notre-Dame, inside the Palais de Justice, is Sainte-Chapelle, the royal chapel Louis IX built in the 1240s. The upper chapel is almost entirely stained glass, with 15 windows showing more than 1,100 scenes from the Bible. Go on a sunny morning, when the light pours through the glass.

Book a timed ticket ahead on the official Sainte-Chapelle website. Because it shares the building with the courts, there’s an airport-style security check at the entrance, so leave extra time.

15. Step Inside the Conciergerie

Next door, the Conciergerie was a medieval royal palace before it became a prison during the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette was held here before her execution in 1793, and you can see a reconstruction of her cell along with the vaulted Gothic hall on the ground floor.

A combined ticket covers both Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie, which is the easiest way to see the two in one visit. Plan about an hour here.

16. Go on a Bookstore Crawl

Across the river from Notre-Dame is Shakespeare and Company, the famous English-language bookshop where I always pick up more books. It has gotten so popular that the line only gets longer through the day, so go early. If you’d rather browse in peace, The Abbey Bookshop is a few minutes away and much quieter, with books stacked to the ceiling.

Those are the two I’ve visited, but if you love bookstores, I’d add two more to your crawl. Librairie Galignani on Rue de Rivoli, near the Louvre, is known as the oldest English-language bookshop on the continent. And along the Seine, the bouquinistes, green stalls selling secondhand books, prints and posters, line the riverbanks near Notre-Dame.

Finish with a small croissant at Le Corner Saint-Germain.

17. Hear Live Jazz at Le Caveau de la Huchette

We finished one of our nights in Paris at Le Caveau de la Huchette, a jazz club in a stone cellar on Rue de la Huchette that has been open since 1946. There’s live music most nights; you pay a cover at the door, and people get up and dance. We were there until 4 a.m., and it was so much fun. It’s also an easy night out on your own, since everyone is there for the music.

Night Out Bonus: Take a Cocktail Bar Tour

Make it a full night out and start with cocktails before the jazz. Paris has an excellent cocktail scene, and a bar tour is the easiest way to see it if you’re on your own. I took this Paris cocktail bar tour, which stopped at places like the Mobster Bar and La Mezcaleria. You spend the night with a small group, so you’re never drinking alone, and you’ll leave with a list of bars for the rest of your trip.

18. See the Impressionists at the Musée d’Orsay

The Musée d’Orsay is in a former train station, and it holds the world’s largest collection of Impressionist paintings, including Monet, Renoir, Degas and Van Gogh. Give it about two hours, and don’t miss the view through the giant clock on the fifth floor. It’s closed on Mondays and open late on Thursday evenings, which is the quietest time to go. Book tickets on the official Musée d’Orsay website.

19. Visit Les Invalides and Napoleon’s Tomb

Les Invalides was built by Louis XIV as a hospital and home for wounded soldiers, and today it holds the Musée de l’Armée and Napoleon’s tomb under the gold dome. It has its own stop, Invalides, on metro Lines 8 and 13 and the RER C.

Give it at least two to three hours if military history is your kind of museum. A ticket costs about €17 and includes Napoleon’s tomb, the Musée de l’Armée and the Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération, which tells the story of the French Resistance. Napoleon’s tomb is worth seeing. From here, the Eiffel Tower is an easy walk.

20. Go Up the Eiffel Tower

Yes, it’s touristy. Go anyway. Book Eiffel Tower tickets ahead to skip the ticket line, then come back after dark, when the tower sparkles for five minutes at the top of every hour. For dinner nearby, Les Cocottes on Rue Saint-Dominique is a short walk away.

21. See Paris From the Seine

Seeing Paris from the water is one of the easiest ways to rest your feet and still sightsee. We took the Batobus from the Notre-Dame stop. It’s a hop-on, hop-off river shuttle rather than an open-top cruise, so you can use it to get between the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Notre-Dame.

If you’d prefer a classic sightseeing cruise with commentary, a Bateaux Parisiens Seine cruise takes about an hour, and the evening cruises are a lovely way to see the city lit up.

22. Go Underground at the Catacombs, Then Visit the Musée de la Libération

For obvious reasons, I am not showing pictures of the catacombs here, trying to be respectful.

The Paris Catacombs are tunnels lined with the bones of around six million Parisians, moved here from the city’s overflowing cemeteries starting in the late 1700s. Plan for about an hour underground. There are 131 steps down and 112 back up, and it stays cool year-round, so bring a layer. Tickets must be booked online ahead on the official Catacombs website, the audio guide is included, and the Catacombs are closed on Mondays.

Right across the square at Place Denfert-Rochereau is the Musée de la Libération de Paris, which tells the story of the French Resistance and the liberation of Paris in August 1944. You can go down into the actual underground command post used during the uprising. The permanent collection is free, which makes it an easy add-on after the Catacombs.

23. Tour the Palace of Versailles

Versailles is the day trip I’ve taken from Paris, and it deserves a full morning. We took the RER C from central Paris to Versailles Château Rive Gauche, and our tour met right across the street from the station. A single ticket costs €2.50, and the palace is a short walk from there.

We booked the Versailles Palace Guided Tour with Reserved Entry. A guide walks you through the palace and its history, and reserved entry means you aren’t starting your visit in the general ticket line. The Hall of Mirrors is the highlight, so expect crowds there no matter when you go. We stuck to the palace and didn’t visit the gardens or Marie Antoinette’s estate, so plan extra time if you’d like to see them, since the grounds are huge.

24. See Monet’s Garden in Giverny

Giverny is the village in Normandy where Claude Monet lived for more than 40 years, and his house and gardens, including the water lily pond and the green Japanese bridge, are open to visitors from spring through early fall, usually April to the start of November. Late spring is when the flower garden is at its fullest.

To get there, take the train from Gare Saint-Lazare to Vernon-Giverny, about 45 minutes, then the shuttle bus, a bike or a walk of about 7 kilometers to the village. Book your garden ticket ahead, especially on weekends, and plan for a full day.

25. Take a Day Trip to Compiègne

I’ve been to Compiègne twice, once on the way into Paris and once on the way back to Mons, and it’s an easy stop if you’re driving from Belgium or the north of France. It’s a tiny town with a big piece of history, and I was impressed by how much of it there is to see here. It made for a great visit both times.

Most people come for the Glade of the Armistice, in the Forest of Compiègne just outside town, where the armistice ending World War I was signed in a railway carriage on November 11, 1918. At the small museum, you can see the railway car where the armistice was signed (a replica, since the original was destroyed during World War II), then walk the grounds, including the Alsace-Lorraine monument. The whole visit takes about an hour.

Without a car, trains from Gare du Nord to Compiègne take about 40 minutes to an hour, and the glade is a short taxi ride from the station. If you have extra time, the Château de Compiègne, a royal and imperial palace used by Napoleon and Napoleon III, is right in town.

26. Visit the Paris Christmas Markets

If you’re visiting Paris at Christmas, you’re in luck. From late November into early January, Christmas markets pop up all over the city, and they’re adorable. In 2023, I visited the market in the Tuileries Garden and the small one in the little park next to Shakespeare and Company, across the river from Notre-Dame, and both were sweet. Other markets to look for include Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the Abbesses market in Montmartre and the large market at La Défense, one of the biggest in the Paris region.

While you’re out, go see the holiday windows and the giant tree under the dome at Galeries Lafayette, and the lights along the Champs-Élysées. Markets change from year to year, so check the current year’s list before you go.

If Christmas markets are your thing, find every market I’ve written about on my European Christmas markets guide.

27. Celebrate Bastille Day on July 14

Bastille Day, July 14, is France’s national day, and Paris celebrates all day. In the morning, there’s a military parade down the Champs-Élysées with a flyover.

A Paris tradition worth planning for is the bals des pompiers, the firefighters’ balls. On the nights of July 13 and 14, fire stations across the city open their courtyards to the public and turn them into dance parties, with DJs or live bands, drinks and the firefighters themselves running the bar. Entry is usually free, but you’re expected to leave a donation at the door, which supports the firefighters’ association. The balls typically run from about 9 p.m. into the early hours, and the popular ones have long lines, so go early.

The list of participating fire stations changes every year, and even well-known ones get canceled (the popular ball in the Marais isn’t happening in 2026), so check the City of Paris list of firefighters’ balls before you go.

The night ends with fireworks over the Eiffel Tower, usually around 11 p.m. The Champ de Mars fills up hours ahead and has security checkpoints, so if you’d rather skip the crush, watch from Trocadéro, a bridge along the Seine or Montmartre. Book your hotel early, because the city is packed that week.

Saint-Germain (6th) for First-Timers

If it’s your first trip, stay on the Left Bank in the 6th. You can walk to Notre-Dame, the Latin Quarter bookshops and the Musée d’Orsay, and the RER B from Charles de Gaulle stops at Luxembourg, a few minutes from Hotel Saint Paul Rive Gauche, where I stayed. It’s a central, easy area to get back to after dinner.

Montmartre (18th) for Atmosphere on a Budget

Montmartre is where I stay when I want to be close to Sacré-Cœur and the cafés, and I stayed at Hôtel Dalila on my March 2026 trip. It’s usually cheaper than the Left Bank, but you’ll ride the metro more, and the area around Pigalle and Barbès is busier at night than the quiet streets up the hill.

Use the Metro and a Navigo Easy Card

The metro is the fastest way between neighborhoods. I use a Navigo Easy card, which you can buy at any staffed metro station and load with single tickets. Keep your bag zipped and in front of you on crowded trains, especially on Line 1 and around the big sights.

Getting From the Airport

From Charles de Gaulle, the RER B goes straight to Gare du Nord, Châtelet and Saint-Michel. If you’re arriving late or with a lot of luggage, I’d book a Welcome Pickups airport transfer so a driver is waiting for you at arrivals.

Stay Connected and Store Your Bags

I use a Holafly eSIM so I have data for maps and metro routes the moment I land. If you have a few hours between checkout and your train, Radical Storage has luggage drop-off spots all over the city.

What is the number one thing to do in Paris?

For most first-timers, it’s the Eiffel Tower, but if you only have time for one museum, I’d choose the Louvre or the Musée d’Orsay. My personal favorite is the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

How many days do you need in Paris?

Three days is enough to see the highlights in this guide, and a week lets you slow down and add more neighborhoods. Start with my 3 days in Paris itinerary or my one week in Paris itinerary.

What are the best free things to do in Paris?

Notre-Dame, Sacré-Cœur, the covered passages, the rooftop at Galeries Lafayette, a walk along Canal Saint-Martin, and the permanent collections at the Maison de Victor Hugo and the Musée de la Libération are all free.

You can join a free Paris walking tour if you aren’t sure if you want to commit to a paid tour of Paris. Here are my top Free tours

Is Paris safe for solo female travelers?

In my experience, yes, with the same awareness you’d use in any big city. Pickpocketing is the most common problem, so keep your bag zipped and in front of you, especially on the metro and around the major sights.

Which Paris museums are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays?

The Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. The Musée d’Orsay, the Catacombs, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Maison de Victor Hugo, the Musée de la Libération and Versailles are closed on Mondays, so plan your museum days around that.