Paris 3 days itinerary — How to spend 3 days in Paris & what to do in Paris in 3 days perfectly? (PART 1)

Hi Love! Today I will share my Paris travel experience and the very detailed itinerary of discovering and shopping in Paris for 3 days in my 15-day trip in Europe. The article will go into the detail of my experience when traveling around Paris, France. I will show you the fullest travel guide and useful pocket tips before you coming to Paris, the cheapest skincare product shopping place in Paris.. So, is 3 days enough in Paris and what to do in Paris in 3 days? Let’s check out our suggested Paris 3 days 2 nights itinerary (Paris 3 days itinerary, Paris itinerary for 3 days) on how to spend 3 days in Paris on a budget perfectly from how to get there, where to stay, what to eat, best places to visit, top things to do in Paris in 3 days to find out the answer! Now, let’s start!

You can refer to the very detailed itinerary for Day 2 and Day 3 in Paris below:

• [DAY 2] Paris 3 days itinerary — How to spend 3 days in Paris.
• [DAY 3] Is 3 days enough in Paris? — What to do in Paris in 3 days?.

As shared in the previous article, I flew to Paris with Gulf Air (the national airline of the Kingdom of Bahrain) from Manila capital of the Philippines. On the journey to Paris, I had to transit at Bahrain airport for 8 hours.

You can check the flight tickets to Paris on Skyscanner.com or Traveloka.com to compare airfares between airlines, flight time and transit airports.

Vietnamese people do not need apply for visa if you only transit (do not intend to leave the airport) at Bahrain International Airport (BAH). The airport is not very large but very clean and well organized. There are always staffs around to remind and help passengers to avoid miss their flights. Di (my girlfriend) said “Because Muslims often forget about their time” =)). I’m not sure Di is a gossip girl, LOL.

One thing that made me quite shocked when coming to Bahrain airport was that everything was expensive! Oh my god! Admittedly, the currency power of the Arab countries are really high, so I don’t shop at any Bahrain’s Tax Free store. Hmph! I’m going to Europe, the capital of fashion shopping, I will don’t buy here! Hehe! =.=

When I transit in Bahrain is also during the Ramadan – the fasting month (holy month) of the Muslims. At the airport there was a group of people who gave away free gifts to everyone. Inside the gift box were 3 dried dates fruits that looked like dried Chinese jujube and 1 bottle of water.

Talking about GulfAir‘s service, I have never heard of this airline before. On the way of hunting for cheap tickets to Paris, I found this airline. When reading the review, the airline was only rated 3.5/5*, then I also see the review of Emirates is also similar to 3.5/5*, so I know this review can not be 100% reliable. I decided to book because the price is too cheap with $600 for round-trip ticket Manila – Paris – Manila. Indeed, the service is very good, the flight attendant is always smiling and the food is quite good. Food is served according to the destination that you are flying to and there are 2-3 dishes for you to choose accordingly. I’m totally satisfied!

After 8 hours of transit and 7 hours of flying from Bahrain to Paris, me and Di were at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) at 7:30 am. When going through the customs also do not ask anything, they just look at my passport and visa and then stamp, all done! Well, finally I set foot in Paris, my dream come true. Now, let’s start the Europe trip!

Paris 3 days itinerary (Paris itinerary for 3 days): Some experiences when buying train tickets to traveling in Paris

Bring the luggage and get out of the door, you go to the left will see Tourism Information counter as shown below. At this counter, I buy Carnet T-10 ticket (t+ticket) – including 10 tickets to go Metro and Bus in Paris (€15.5). Normally, buying a single ticket costs €1.90, so I recommend that you buy this Carnet T ticket which saves €4.5 without having to worry about buying tickets every time you take a Metro or Bus.

Paris Visite Pass

In addition, you can buy tickets according to the Zone including: Zone 1-3 and Zone 1-5 for a limit of 1 – 5 days. If you only go in the center of Paris (almost famous attractions are here), buy tickets for Zone 1-3. And if you go to Disney Land, Versailles Castle.. the other sights out of the center should buy tickets for Zone 1-5.

Another very good option for you when traveling in Paris for about a week is the Navigo Metro Weekly Pass (Paris Navigo Decouverte Pass). This Pass is valid for 1 week from 0:00AM Monday to 23.59PM Sunday. The Navigo Pass includes the RER B train from CDG airport or RER C train from Orly airport to downtown, and the train to Disney Land. The pass costs €22.5, you can buy it at the airports or at the Metro stations.

However, after carefully review my schedule, I found that the number of times I use Metro or Bus is not much, calculating the total number of trips and plus extra (each time €1.90), if I buy Zone 1-3 tickets for 3 days, I will lose. So, finally, I only bought 01 Carnet ticket (including 10 tickets) and the result was enough for 3 days, I mainly use the metro and bus and they are equally convenient, even I take the bus more than the metro.

Note: For transit train, you only need to use 1 ticket is OK. For example, from the Place de Clichy station, if you want to go to the Chatelet station, you need to take the metro line 13 to the Champs Elysees Clemenceau station, here you don’t get out of the station but continue take the metro Line 1 to Chatelet. Such a trip is called transit train and using only 1 ticket is Okay. Also with Bus, if you already use the bus ticket, within 60 minutes, the ticket is still valid to take another bus.

Train or Bus Ticket between Paris and Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG)

Besides Carnet t+ticket, you need to buy a RER B train ticket from the Airport to the center of Paris, this train ticket is not included in Carnet t+ticket, so you have to buy separately, the price is €10.45.

After buying enough tickets for all 3 days to travel in Paris, Di and I found our way to the RER B station to go to the city center. You just need to look at the sign as shown below, follow the instructions with the RER B image to get there, notice the arrow pointing down like that means go straight.

• TIP 1: Download Paris metro map to your phone first to easily look up train lines and stations.
• TIP 2: Download the “Google Maps” app (Android, iOS), then go to “Offline Areas” section -> Custom Area -> search Paris and then adjust to the center of the city of Paris and download. You already have the offline map of Paris and then go wherever you do not worry about getting lost, nor need the internet, just turn on Location on your phone to know where you are, where to go, how to go.. During my trip in Paris, I use this Offline map every day, very important.

Paris 3 days itinerary: Should I buy a SIM card in Europe?

For buying SIM Card in France or Europe, we didn’t buy any mobile SIM during our whole trip. Basically, thanks to the “Google Maps” I mentioned above, so finding the way or locating does not have any difficulties at all and does not need to use the Internet. I just roamed my phone SIM before coming to Europe, top-up some money in case I need to communicate with my hotel.

3G/4G SIM Card (HK Airport Pick Up) for Europe and Other Countries

Before the trip, I also searched for information about SIM cards in Europe, generally there are many types and you can easily buy any type at the airport. However, I found the price is not cheap at all, but calculated, the access internet capacity is not much. It was unnecessary, so we decided not to buy SIMs anymore but just roaming to use for texting when needed.

If you travel in a large group, you can considering to rent a 4G pocket wifi which save much money, refer here: 4G WiFi for Europe from Uroaming (HK Airport Pick Up).

Paris 3 days 2 nights itinerary: Where to stay in Paris?

To find the best price with convenient location hotels, you can go to Agoda.com or Booking.com. Lots of good hotel deals are waiting for you. Below we recommend more best cheap, budget, mid-range and upscale hotels with good ratings and reviews you can refer to.

Hotel la Nouvelle Republique, a top rated 3-star hotel with room rates from $123/night (Check rates on Agoda.com or Booking.com).

Hotel 34B – Astotel, a top rated 3-star hotel with room rates from $137/night (Check rates on Agoda.com or Booking.com).

Hotel Eiffel Turenne, a top rated 3-star hotel with room rates from $161/night (Check rates on Agoda.com or Booking.com).

Hotel Mademoiselle, a top rated 4-star hotel with room rates from $134/night (Check rates on Agoda.com or Booking.com).

3 days in Paris (Paris itinerary for 3 days) — Day 1

After sending our luggage at the hotel, we went to the Office of Tourism and Congress of Paris at 25 Rue des Pyramides to get the entrance tickets + skip the line ticket of the Palais Garnier Opera House and the Musee du Louvre (Louvre Museum).

As mentioned in the how to planning a perfect trip to Europe in previous article, I’ve booked in advance for 2 admission tickets after reading the review on Tripadvisor that the queue to buy entrance tickets at these 2 places is very long, especially Musee du Louvre sometimes takes 1-2 hours for queuing, so it is best to buy skip the line tickets first on the internet. Link to buy tickets online you can refer here.

Priority Access Entrance Ticket to the Louvre Museum

On the way, we found a very attractive bakery shop near the Palais Garnier Opera House, and two of us were hungry because we have not eat anything yet after the meal on the plane.

When arrive at the Office of Tourism, you need to take your order number at the green vending machine as shown below. Then wait until your number is called to a certain counter, give your passport and get your ticket, it’s done.

On the way to the Office of Tourism, we passed by the Palais Garnier Opera House, just looking outside because we haven’t got tickets. Actually, from the beginning, when I finished taking the tickets, I would go to the Palais Garnier Theater but because it was quite tired after more than 20 hours of flight, and in time for check-in, me and Di decided to take a bus to the hotel to check-in and take a shower and rest.

Opera Garnier Expert Guided Tour Paris

Some pictures of streets and ancient buildings in the style of ancient French architecture that I met on the roads.

After finishing bathing, resting, around 5PM, me and Di went out to catch the train to get to Laduree Paris Royale (Address: 16 Rue Royale, 75008 Paris, France). This is the famous Macaron store in Paris, most tourists come to Paris or even Parisians visit this store to enjoy authentic French Macaron cake and buy Macaron shaped keychains at expensive prices. (€35 – €50/item depending on the model).

In addition, around the pastry shop is a shopping area with all kinds of brands such as GUCCI, PRADA, Hermes, Lanvin, Ralph Laudren, Furla …

After enjoy all the Macaron cakes, I walked to Champs-Élysées. Champs-Élysées is a large and famous boulevard in Paris, it is even considered to be the most famous boulevard in the world. This boulevard connects two squares Concorde and Étoile, where there is the famous Arc de Triomphe. Champs-Élysées is one of the most attractive places of the city with many shops, cafes, cinemas, famous fashion shops such as Louis Vuitton, Zara … and has the largest Sephora store in Paris.

On this Boulevard, there are many pigeons finding food and they are not afraid of people at all. People continue going on and our job is stroll and begging for food =)). I think, unfortunately if they poop on my head, LOL =))). In the past, my mother also raised more than a dozen white pigeons for fun. Serving them every day to eat, prepare water to bathe in the morning =)). My job is to watch them take a bath because it is very funny.

Actually, going deep inside is countless of cosmetic shops, perfumes of all kinds, so much. However you only are allowed to take photos here, they are not allowed to take photos and videos in the inside. Right at the entrance of Sephora are tall, muscular security men in black suits standing to check your bags before you entering.

Tip: Quite a lot of restaurants, cafes here have toilets so you can take advantage.

If you want to drive a super car along the Champs-Elysees is extremely simple :)). Right next to the Louis Vuitton store you will easily see the super cars parked on the sidewalk for rent for €90 :)). Talk about Louis Vuitton, to enter the store you have to queue and check bags. The price of LV in France is a bit cheaper than the countries that I have been to (Korea, Japan …). Here, each customer will have a service staff to guide you to see product, choose product, they will give you 1 iPad to go to LV website to choose a model. There is free WIFI in the store, but most of the stores from popular to high-end brands in Paris have free WIFI. After buying at LV, you will be guided or given invoice to get tax refund after leaving Paris.

On the way from the Arc de Triomphe to Trocadero Square, two people are painting graffiti.

Buy Eiffel Tower Skip-the-Line Ticket

Strolling around the Eiffel Tower is also nearly 10pm. The two of us decided to take the metro train back to the hotel to have dinner at a nearby restaurant recommended by my hotel owner Alia, then we rested early to prepare for the journey tomorrow – the second day of exploring Paris.

The sunset in Europe is usually begin from 9:30 am to 10:00 pm, so you will have more time to visit more places.

Wow. The end of day 1 here, please read on the Paris itinerary for Day 2 and Day 3 below.

You can refer to the very detailed itinerary for Day 2 and Day 3 in Paris below:

• [DAY 2] Paris 3 days itinerary — How to spend 3 days in Paris.
• [DAY 3] Is 3 days enough in Paris? — What to do in Paris in 3 days?.

Some best day tours, trips, activities and transfer services, tickets in, from and to Paris you can refer to

• Private Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) Transfers for Paris
• Paris Museum Pass
• Paris Pass with 1-Day Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour
• Mont Saint Michel Full Day Tour from Paris
• Bruges Day Tour from Paris
• Paris Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Tours (Open-Top)
• Paris Open Tour Bus Pass
• Eiffel Tower Skip-the-Line Ticket
• The Louvre Museum Skip-the-Line Guided Tour
• 4G SIM Card (Paris/Airport Pick Up) for Europe from Orange

Are you looking for more top things to do in Paris: Tours, activities, attractions and other things? Read more: Paris travel blog — The fullest Paris travel guide blog for a great budget trip to Paris for the first-timers and let’s check it out here.