Paris
Six storeys of limestone and one river
Paris rewards walking more than any capital its size: the historic centre fits inside an hour on foot, and the museums, markets and bridges you came for sit within a few streets of each other.
- AirportsCDG — 25 km · 35–50 min on RER B · ORY — 14 km · 25 min on Métro 14
- CurrencyEuro (EUR) · cards accepted almost everywhere
- LanguageFrench · English widely spoken in the central districts
- Time zoneCET (UTC+1) · CEST from late March to late October
- Best forFirst-time Europe, museums, food, walking
- Typical stay4 nights
Paris, in three paragraphs.
Paris is small. The twenty arrondissements fit inside a ring road ten kilometres across, and the Seine cuts it into a Right Bank of commerce and a Left Bank of schools and publishers. Haussmann flattened the medieval street plan in the 1860s and replaced it with the boulevards and six-storey limestone blocks that still define the skyline, which is why the city looks unusually consistent and why the Marais, spared the demolition, feels so different.
The great collections cluster along the river and most close one day a week: the Louvre on Tuesdays, the Musée d’Orsay and the Rodin on Mondays. Notre-Dame reopened in December 2024 and entry is free, though the timed slots released two days ahead on its app go quickly. The Centre Pompidou shut in autumn 2025 for a rebuild lasting to 2030, so its modern collection is scattered across temporary venues in the meantime.
Four nights is the honest minimum: two for the museums and monuments, one for a single district on foot, and one for Versailles or Giverny. Eat where the menu is short and handwritten, book anywhere you actually care about a fortnight ahead, and accept that lunch at 13:00 and dinner at 20:30 is simply when the city eats. Tap water and bread arrive without asking and cost nothing.
Where to stay
- Le Marais · 3rd and 4thPre-Haussmann streets, the Place des Vosges and the Picasso and Carnavalet museums, with shops open on Sundays. Suits walkers and repeat visitors; noisy on weekend nights.
- Saint-Germain-des-Prés · 6thPublishers, galleries and the Jardin du Luxembourg five minutes away. Expensive, calm and very central, which makes it the safe choice for a first visit or a short stay.
- Latin Quarter · 5thThe university district around the Panthéon and Rue Mouffetard, cheaper than its neighbours and full of cinemas and student food. Good for families and anyone on a moderate budget.
- Montmartre and South Pigalle · 18th and 9thSteep, villagey streets above Pigalle, with the best small restaurants around Rue des Martyrs. Twenty minutes from the centre by Métro, and the hill is genuinely steep.
- Canal Saint-Martin and the 11thWhere Parisians in their thirties actually eat and drink, from Oberkampf to the canal locks. Few sights, good value, and a quarter of an hour from the Marais on foot.
When to send your clients.
Late May to mid-June and the first three weeks of September are the best windows: long daylight, warm terraces and museums that have not yet filled with school groups. August is hot, thin on locals and short of good restaurants, while November to February is dark by half past five, though hotel rates halve and the Louvre becomes bearable.
Spring · March–May
March is still winter in practice, grey and damp and dark by 19:00, but the chestnuts along the quays turn in April and the café terraces come back with them. April brings showers and the Easter crowds; May is the month most people picture, with 20C afternoons and daylight until 21:30. Book well ahead for the last two weeks of May, when Roland-Garros and the long weekends around Ascension fill the city.
Summer · June–August
June is the best of the three: daylight until 22:00, warm evenings and the Fête de la Musique on the 21st. July is busy and hot, but the quays become Paris Plages and the city stays open. August is the month Parisians leave, so your neighbourhood bakery and half the bistros may be shut for three weeks, and heatwaves above 35C are now common in old buildings with no air conditioning.
Autumn · September–November
September is quietly the best month of the year: warm, clear, with the crowds gone by the second week and the cultural season restarting. October cools steadily and the parks turn, though rain arrives in long grey bands. November is dark, wet and cheap, which is exactly when the Louvre, the Orsay and Sainte-Chapelle become pleasant places to spend a weekday morning. Bring a proper coat and waterproof shoes rather than an umbrella.
Winter · December–February
December has the markets along the Tuileries, shop windows worth a detour and about eight hours of daylight. January and February are the cheapest weeks of the year, genuinely cold at 7C but rarely snowy, and the queues at the major museums effectively disappear. This is the season for long lunches, the covered passages off the Grands Boulevards and smaller collections such as the Jacquemart-André.
What the weather usually does.
These are typical seasonal conditions, not a forecast. The figures below are long-run climate averages — the normal daily high and low for each month in Paris. No weather service is connected to this site, and no date-specific prediction is made or implied. A mild oceanic climate with no dry season: rain is spread thinly through the year, summers are warm rather than reliably hot, and winters are grey and damp more often than freezing.
- Jan 7°3° Grey and quiet · shortest museum queues
- Feb 8°3° Cold and damp · good value on hotels
- Mar 13°5° First warm days · terraces reopen by month end
- Apr 17°7° Blossom and showers · pack a light coat
- May 20°11° Long evenings · Roland-Garros crowds from late May
- Jun 24°14° Best light of the year · daylight to 22:00
- Jul 26°16° Warm · Paris Plages on the quays, many shops shut
- Aug 26°16° Hot spells, emptier city · some bistros closed
- Sep 22°13° Warm days, clear air · the best month overall
- Oct 17°10° Cooling, golden parks · frequent light rain
- Nov 11°6° Dark by 17:30 · museum weather
- Dec 8°4° Christmas markets · cold rather than snowy
Average daily high and low in degrees Celsius. Source: long-term climate normals. Conditions in any given week can and do differ.
Worth your clients’ time in Paris.
The Louvre, with a plan
The collection runs to some 35,000 works on display and nobody sees it in a day. Book a timed slot online, enter through the Carrousel or the Porte des Lions rather than the pyramid, and pick two wings. It closes on Tuesdays and stays open until 21:00 on Fridays, when the Denon wing is noticeably calmer.
Musée d’Orsay and the Orangerie
The Orsay holds the Impressionists in a converted 1900 railway station; the top floor is the reason to come and it is busiest between 11:00 and 15:00. It closes Mondays and opens late on Thursdays. Fifteen minutes away across the Tuileries, the Orangerie shows the Monet water lily rooms, which need thirty quiet minutes rather than a long visit.
Île de la Cité and Sainte-Chapelle
Notre-Dame reopened in December 2024 after the fire and entry is free, with timed slots released on its app two days ahead and a standby queue that moves fastest before 09:00. A hundred metres away, Sainte-Chapelle has the better interior: fifteen metres of thirteenth-century glass, at its best on a bright morning before the coaches arrive.
The Eiffel Tower and the Champ de Mars
Lift tickets to the summit run about €30 and sell out weeks ahead; the stairs to the second floor cost roughly half and rarely queue at all. If the view of the tower matters more than the view from it, take the Trocadéro terrace at sunrise, or the Montparnasse observation deck, which is the one panorama that includes the tower itself.
Markets and food streets
Rue Mouffetard in the 5th, Rue des Martyrs in the 9th and the Marché d’Aligre in the 12th are working shopping streets rather than attractions. All three run in the morning and close by about 13:00, with Monday the usual rest day. Go early, buy cheese, bread and fruit, and eat it in the Jardin du Luxembourg.
Versailles as a day, not an afternoon
RER C from central Paris takes 35–45 minutes to Versailles Château Rive Gauche. The palace closes on Mondays and is busiest from 10:00 to 14:00; the gardens, the two Trianons and the Queen’s hamlet are the better half of the estate and far emptier. Fountain shows run at weekends from April to October and cost extra.
5 bookable experiences in Paris.
- Cruises & Sailing · France
Seine River Evening Dinner Cruise with Window Table
A three-course dinner on a glass-roofed boat past Notre-Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, with a guaranteed window table.
2.5 hours Instant confirmation EveningAvailable
From$158 View detailsSign in to view agent rates - Food & Drink · France
Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur Pastry Walking Tour
Eight tastings up the hill of Montmartre — croissant, baguette from a Grand Prix winner, cheese, charcuterie and macarons — finishing at Sacré-Cœur.
3 hours Instant confirmation Small groupAvailable
From$96 View detailsSign in to view agent rates - Tickets & Passes · France
Eiffel Tower Summit Access with Host and Lift
Reserved lift access to the second floor and the 276 m summit, with a host to handle the security queue and explain what you are looking at.
2 hours Instant confirmation SummitAvailable
From$98 View detailsSign in to view agent rates - Airport Transfers · France
Paris Charles de Gaulle Private Transfer (Sedan, up to 3)
A private sedan between Charles de Gaulle and any Paris address, fixed price, with the driver waiting in the arrivals hall.
60 minutes Instant confirmation PrivateLimited availability
From$92 View detailsSign in to view agent rates
Prices shown are per-person selling rates in USD — the figure your client pays. Sign in to view agent rates, availability calendars and instant booking.
Guided tours and day trips in Paris.
- Tours & Sightseeing · France
Louvre Museum Skip-the-Line Guided Tour
Reserved entry and three hours with an art historian across the Louvre's essential rooms — Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory and the French crown jewels.
3 hours Instant confirmation Skip the lineOn request
From$102 View detailsSign in to view agent rates
How Paris actually works.
Sixteen lines, trains every two to four minutes, and nowhere in the centre more than 500 metres from a station. A single ticket is €2.50 in zones 1–2; loading a carnet of ten onto a €2 Navigo Easy card brings that to roughly €2 a journey. Paper tickets are being phased out entirely.
RER B links CDG to Gare du Nord in 35–50 minutes for about €13. Orly is 25 minutes from Châtelet on Métro 14 at the same fare. Both run roughly 05:00 to midnight, so late arrivals need a taxi, at flat fares of €56 to the Right Bank and €65 to the Left.
The centre is four kilometres end to end, and the Seine gives you a continuous traffic-free route from the Jardin des Plantes to the Eiffel Tower. Most Métro hops of one or two stops are slower than walking once you count the stairs, the corridors and the interchange.
The Vélib’ scheme has around 1,400 stations across the city; a day pass costs about €5 for the mechanical bikes, with a small surcharge for each electric ride. Protected lanes now run the length of Rue de Rivoli and Boulevard de Sébastopol, which makes crossing the centre quick.
Metered taxis start at about €3 plus €1.30 a kilometre and are found at ranks rather than by hailing. Driving is not worth it: the centre is a 30 km/h zone, on-street parking runs about €6 an hour, and older diesel vehicles face restrictions on the busiest days.
Things worth knowing first.
Paris, answered.
How many days do I need in Paris?
Four nights is the working minimum for a first visit: two days for the major museums and monuments, one for a single neighbourhood on foot, one for Versailles or Giverny. Three nights works if you cut the day trip. Beyond five nights the city rewards a slower pattern of markets, parks and smaller collections rather than more sights.
Is the Paris Museum Pass worth buying?
Only if you are visiting three or more major sites a day, which is a punishing way to travel. The pass covers entry but not the timed reservation, so you still book slots for the Louvre and Versailles separately. For most visitors, four or five individual tickets cost less and force a better-paced itinerary.
What is the cheapest way in from Charles de Gaulle?
RER B to Gare du Nord, Châtelet or Saint-Michel costs about €13 and takes 35–50 minutes, running every ten to fifteen minutes from around 05:00 to midnight. With luggage or a young family, the fixed-fare taxi at €56 to the Right Bank or €65 to the Left is often the better trade for the money.
Do I need to speak French?
No, but open in French. Bonjour, parlez-vous anglais and merci cover most encounters, and staff in central Paris switch to English readily. Outside the tourist core, in the 11th, 12th or 18th, a menu may be in French only, and a translation app pointed at it works perfectly well.
When is the city least crowded?
Mid-January to late February, and the first three weeks of December before Christmas week. Both give you the museums at half the usual density and hotel rates well below the May or September peak, in exchange for about eight hours of daylight and a fair amount of grey rain.
Is it safe to walk at night?
The central arrondissements are well lit and busy until late, and violent crime against visitors is rare. The practical cautions are theft around Gare du Nord, Barbès and Châtelet after midnight, and unlicensed taxi touts at the stations and airports; use the marked rank or a booked car instead.
More on operating in France.
Europe DMC capabilities
How we run ground arrangements across France and the rest of Europe, from a single transfer to a multi-country itinerary with one named coordinator throughout.
Pre-costed Europe packages
Costed Paris itineraries of three to seven nights with hotels, guides and rail already priced, ready to rebrand and quote directly to your client.
Rail assistance
Seat reservations and ticketing for TGV, Eurostar and Lyria services out of Paris, including group blocks, luggage handling and platform assistance at the station.
Build an itinerary for Paris.
The agent workspace turns this guide into a costed programme — 5 contracted experiences here, with net rates, live availability, a quote builder and a client-ready document, plus 24/7 ops on the ground once it runs. Everything on this public page is the selling rate; your cost sits behind sign-in.