Two Days in Paris: 10 Must See Sites - Sonia nel paese delle stoviglie

Paris, the city in which you’d spend your whole life! But sometimes, you only have two days to visit it, so let me guide you through my favourite places in the Ville Lumière.

DAY #1

1) Breakfast on the Champs Elysées

My must sees on the Champs Elysées are:

Le Publicis Drugstore – not only because I work at Publicis – but because there you can find all the coolest magazines, gifts for your loved ones, food and the building is quite futuristic.
Sephora, as I live in London where we don’t have Sephora (WHY Sephora why?!) I need to catch up with all the latest beauty products.
Climbing up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, rigorously via the stairs – but there is an elevator. It’s opened from 10AM to 11PM so you decide if you prefer to go at sunset or during the day, It’s also a nice spot to see the Eiffel Tower Light Show at night.

2) The Eiffel Tower

You don’t need me to tell you why you should visit the Eiffel Tower aka The Iron Lady. 🙂

If you are going for the view of the tower, head to The Museum of Architecture at the Trocadéro Métro stop.

Grab a chair on the terrace and you’ll be able to see the Eiffel Tower plus a stunning view from the top. Bonus: it’s another good spot to see the Eiffel Tower Light Show at night.

3) Visit the Louvre Museum

Let’s be honest, you need a full day just to see the museum, but if you don’t have time, just go there and take a picture in front of The Louvre and its glass pyramid.

4) Where to eat in Paris

As for your stomach you can pick either typically French restaurants, such as crêpes houses or brasseries, or go international, the options in Paris are endless.
Just half an hour walking from the Louvre you find Merguez Et Pastrami – 57 Rue Rodier –

Merguez et Pastrami is a restaurant decorated like a Brooklyn deli, but the food is more like Israeli-French, with a mix of merguez, hummus and pastrami, bagels, etc. Highly recommended for lunch.
We spent around 40 euro for all the food you see below.

5) Where to sleep in Paris – Hotel Gustave

Hotel Gustave is in the 15th arrondissement, only 15 minutes away from the Eiffel Tower.

I would define the hotel as a boutique hotel, not too big and very elegant. The rooms, recently renovated, are comfortable, well soundproofed and stylishly decorated, I very much liked the poster above the bed as you can see. 🙂
Some rooms have the view of the Eiffel Tower.

Amenities in the room: TV, power sockets by the bed, magazines, coffee machine, hair dryer and toiletries in the bathroom.
Breakfast: The breakfast is served in a bright dining-room on the ground floor and you can either have it inside or in the cozy courtyard outside.
Fresh fruit, cereals, sausages and a selection of pastries were available plus they have Kusmi Tea, one of my favourite tea brand.

WiFi: WiFi is complimentary.

bedroom_gustave

DAY #2

6) Visit of Montmartre

My must sees at Montmartre are

I Love You Wall
The Sacré Coeur Basilica and the view from there
The Dalí museum, he’s my most-liked artist ever, so pardon me but I have to include this 🙂
The typical atmosphere from the Amélie movie

7) Galeries Lafayette

The Galeries Lafayette store was unveiled in all its glory in October 1912 and is a must in Paris since then.

Even if you are not planning to do any shopping, go there, take a lift to the open terrace and enjoy Paris from the top.
If it’s sunny, I would suggest to grab one of the beach chairs and just relax with a drink.

After that, you can walk back downstairs and admire the Liberty style dome.

You can get a fantastic view of the dome from the Starbuck inside.
Note: the water was around 3 euro, but you’re paying for the view 🙂

The dome, rising to a height of 43 meters with its Neo-byzantine style stained glass windows, soon became the iconic symbol of Galeries Lafayette.

If you go around Christmas don’t miss the shop windows.

8) Le Palais Garnier

Not far from the Galeries Lafayette you will see the Le Palais Garnier, just another stunning palace in Paris.

Tip: if you’re visiting that, get a guided tour, it’s £14 for 1.5 hour, definitely well worth it.

9) Snacking something sweet in the centre of Paris

Just a few of my favourites:

Eclair de Génie – 14 Rue Pavée (below the pistacchio and strawberry)
Princess Crêpe, offers crêpes at the Japanese way in a very kitsch and pink location – 3 Rue des Ecouffes
Angelina and its specialty the Mont-Blanc. I am including this because I used to love it, however it’s not as good as it used to be. I bought 2 cakes – the strawberry cake above- and they were both aesthetically damaged, which is something you don’t expect when you pay almost 8 euro for a little cake. Also, we had to wait 10 minutes to be served because nobody was around and when have been served we felt very unwelcomed. I hope this was a one-off situation. 🙁

eclair

10) Boat trip on the Seine

A friend of mine gave me a couple of tickets for the Sightseeing Cruise on River Seine.

As I have been to Paris many times, I thought it was a fantastic idea seen the city from a different point of view and I really enjoyed the hour spent on the boat.

It was sunny so we sat outside and the guide gave us information about the all the buildings and the city history.

Definitely recommended.