My Paris City Guide – 6 Days in Paris!

KB and I just got back from an amazing trip to both Paris and Belgium, and I had to make sure I got a Paris city guide together before all the details fell right out of my head. 

PARIS. IS. AMAZING.

It just is. It's such a romantic city with beautiful history and architecture that makes my heart swoon. 

If you're looking for the perfect Paris itinerary - look no further! I'm not a foodie, a historian, or a museum junkie - we're just a couple that loves to explore, eat, and see the sites. 

All my top Paris recommendations for how to spend six days in Paris are below!

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Day 1

Day 1 was an early start - I tell ya! We landed in Paris at around 6 am and were out wandering the streets by 8 am (after checking in with the hotel and dropping off our suitcases).

We started our day with a stop at Notre Dame. Because we landed on a Sunday, we actually got to witness a beautiful early Sunday morning mass inside the church! The lines were non existent and entry was quick - we have ourselves a tour inside. I highly recommend getting to Notre Dame EARLY - we walked by again later on in the trip in the afternoon and the line out the door was insanely long.

From there, KB and I took a long stroll along the Siene (the winding river that makes its way through Paris) and on to the Musée d'Orsay. I'll be honest - I'm not really a museum kind of gal. I find myself bored easily. ALSO the jet lag started to kick in at this point so I was pretty tired. But I will say it's totally worth a ticket in for a bit. We saw some amazing Picasso pieces!

We continued our walk on to Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens). Although the gardens weren't as green as I remember (makes total sense given that I was last there during the summer months), fall suits them well. We don't really get seasons in San Francisco and it was gorgeous to walk down the paths with the fall leaves.

Our route back to the hotel took us by the Pantheon for a quick photo opp. We finished off the evening with dinner at La Petite Perigourdine.

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Day 2

Day two was a BIG day guys - we got engaged! You can read our entire proposal story here. But the long story short is that I had planned a blog photoshoot at the Trocadero overlooking the Eiffel Tower right around sunrise (8 am). You can see the last photo I snapped myself right before he proposed down below - the sun coming up behind the Eiffel Tower! 

Anywhoo, after the proposal we popped into a cafe for breakfast and then made our way to the Eiffel Tower where I had booked us tickets to go all the way up to the top! The view is amazing. KB even bought us glasses of champagne up there to toast to an AMAZING day (and it was only like, 11 am - plenty of day left!).

After our Eiffel Tower excitement, we started walking towards the Arc de Triomphe and Avenue des Champs-Élysées (a major shopping street). We popped into Louis Vuitton and some other fun big stores - but my favorite was Ladurée (a magical pastry shop that specializes in macarons).

We then swung by Shakespeare and Company (a famous bookstore) on our way back to the hotel. KB had a BLAST. He loves a good bookstore. The evening ended with dinner at Chez Gladines.

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Day 3

We started off day three in the Marais neighborhood of Paris. Known to be the trendiest shopping district in Paris - it lives up to the hype! KB was able to snag a hat at the Supreme store and I was dying to buy a bag from Polène. I snagged a cute little burgundy crossbody and am obsessed with it.

Marais is also beautifully blended with the Jewish quarter of Paris. We grabbed lunch in this area at L'As du Fallafel. The food was absolutely amazing. KB also snagged a pastry from a shop right next door as a little after lunch dessert - he was loving it!

We spent basically the whole day popping in and out of shops. I was pretty sick with a cold at this point (leave it to me to get sick on a romantic vacation) so we found some pho for dinner and wrapped up the evening early.

 

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Day 4

Day four is technically like day seven or eight - we broke up our Paris trip by spending a few days in Belgium! Anyway, I'm calling it day four for ease of reference.

We unfortunately ran into some serious riots on our return to Paris and it wasn't safe to spend a lot of time in the area of our hotel. We decided to walk alllll the way up to Montmartre - a big 'ol hill that houses the beautiful basilica, Sacré Couer. The view over Paris was gorgeous.

On our walk back we ran into the Moulin Rouge! We didn't see a cabaret, but honestly the building itself is stunning and worth stopping by for a photo.

KB also swung us by a beautiful Christmas market on our way back to the hotel. My first Christmas market ever! I picked up an ornament as a souvenir.

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Day 5

On day five, we started off by walking through the Champs area to survey the protest damage. I won't post photos here - honestly it was kind of sad. 

We DID stop by Ladurée again to grab more macarons to bring home as souvenirs. Totally worth waiting in line for - our families loved them!

This day was probably my favorite in terms of photos because KB took me to both the Louvre and the Palais Royal! I've been inside the Louvre twice and him once, so we decided only to take photos outside and not grab tickets. We did spend a good amount of time at Palais Royal because I was dying over the black and white columns - SO ON BRAND FOR ME.

We had dessert in the middle of the day (when in Paris) at Café de la Paix. It was fancy. I honestly can't remember the name of the pastry KB ordered, but I had opera cake and the most decadent hot chocolate of my life. I highly recommend! 

We ate dinner at Lazare which was actually in a train station! The food was UNREAL. You guys totally have to go if you're in Paris.

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Day 6

Our final day in Paris was a bit of a lazy day in the sense that we had no major landmarks to check off our list. We really just wandered! 

We made our way towards Rue Cambon - where the first Chanel is located and explored all the shops. Galeries Lafayette, a massive shopping center, was also a short walk away so we made our way through that area as well.

We basically spent the day walking around and shopping. We ended our trip with a romantic dinner at Vin Bis Boétie. KB indulged in escargot and foie gras and we shared a main course - it was delicious!

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Paris was truly magical and I honestly can't wait to go back - even though I've now been three times! If you have a chance to explore the city of love, I highly recommend you soak it all in. Eat, shop, stop for cake in the middle of the day - ENJOY.

Make sure to drop your top Paris recommendations in the comments below!