4 Days in Paris

To celebrate our one year anniversary, my husband and I went to Paris for 4 days. Those were 4 wonderful days. Paris was magical and I think the sunny and warm weather made it even more beautiful.

During this trip we had several new experiences:

We used airbnb for the first time. – Because most of the hotels in the center of Paris were too expensive for us, we decided to stay in an apartment, which we found through airbnb. To be honest, I was hesitant at first and had doubts about the whole process, but our trip changed my mind. The booking process was easy, the woman that rent us the apartment was very friendly and the apartment had everything that was promised in the description. We also had a balcony with a nice view of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

We tried out food that we would normally not eat. – Usually when I travel I don’t like spending a lot of money for food. I could enjoy a four course meal at a nice restaurant, but I would rather spend the money on an excursion, on a show or for sightseeing. This time though, my husband and I decided to try some of the specialties that are offered in Paris as a part of the experience and we were very happy that we did. We ate snails with garlic sauce for the first time and they were surprisingly very tasty.

We tried steak tartare (raw steak), which I didn’t like that much, but I was still happy that I tried it. We had macarons from Ladurée (they have a very beautiful store and restaurant on Champs-Élysées), we bought beautifully decorated éclairs from L'éclair de génie and in the evenings we sat outside in the cafes, drank kir and wine, had a cheese plate or warm goat cheese salad and watched the people go by. We really enjoyed all of those moments and we will definitely be more open to try local food specialties in our next travels.

We used the city bikes and boat transport instead of using the metro all the time. – Bikes are a great way to see more of the city than the tourist locations. And the city bikes in Paris are very easy to use. All you have to do is register online or at one of the terminals for one day or for a week and then you can rent one of the bikes at the stations that are all over Paris. 

Just keep in mind that every time you register they reserve 150€ on your credit card as insurance. After a couple of times registering for a bike, we couldn’t use our credit card anymore, because all of the money was reserved. In our case, it took a couple of days till the money was freed to be used again and by that time our trip was already over. So if you are planning to use the bikes for several days, you should think about registering for a whole week. 

Also plan ahead where you want to drive your bikes. Around most of the tourist locations in Paris there are pedestrian zones or there are roads, which are also open for bikes, but are filled with so many people, making it very difficult to ride a bike.

One of the things that I really enjoyed in Paris was our boat trip on the river Seine. We decided to buy tickets for the Batobus cruises. That way we only paid 16€ per person and we could use any of the Batobus boats during the whole day and we could hop on and off at any of the 9 locations where the Batobus boats stop. That way we could see Paris from the river Seine during the day and as well as at night, all lit up.

But if you only want to go one time on a boat cruise, then you should take the Bateux Parisiens Tour. It costs 14-15€ but on their boats there are a lot of seats outside which the Batobus boats don’t have.

During the 4 days we saw and experienced so much that I can write about it for days. But I would like to hear from you. What are your tips and favorite experiences in Paris?