24 HOURS IN PARIS

24 hours in paris : itinerary

It was not until late November of last year, when my brother came for a short weekend that i did this crazy thing. Why crazy ? because we literally went from east to west and north to south of Paris in A DAY. During a cold-windy-but sunny November Paris. I can literally name this post : Paris in a nutshell. He came several time to Paris but it was always family trip never a solo trip. So things with Family is, you walk slower, you visit less things (which is nice) but he just wanted to redo everything he did in a day.

So, if you have the same energy level, a little time to visit Paris, and love to walk, i think this touristic route might help you to see Paris in 24 hours.

Although i was a little bit sceptic doing this at the beginning (cause, i wanted to show him something artsy, more "Parisian", less "mass tourists"), i ended up enjoying it, because Paris is just beautiful. The buildings are pretty, the cafes are cute and it's actually good to take unusual, in habitual roads so that i can remind myself to be grateful to call this city my home.

FIRST STOP : SACRE COEUR, MONTMARTRE

We start from the north so we could enjoy Sacre-coeur church before it was too crowded. It's nice to see Paris slowly waking up, people jogging, boxing, and some were going to work. We climbed up and gosh ! the view was simply beautiful. During 8 years living in Paris,i never took time to actually admire the church from the inside, but that day, we went inside and spent a couple of minute.

Good to know :

Nearest subway stop : line 12 Abbesses,

Opening hours : 6 am to 10.30 pm

SECOND STOP : FROM I LOVE YOU WALL To PIGALLE

Je t'aime, Ti Amo, I love you, the wall was created by two artists, Frederic Baron and Claire Kito as a RDV location for lovers. It is said that this wall contains 311 languages of I LOVE YOU. It's funny not only did we find " Saya cinta padamu" (i love you in bahasa indonesian language) we also found two locals folk languages coming from Sulawesi, "Kita suka pe ngana" and Java " Aku tresno karo kawe".

From there, we were just strolling around the hood where you can easily find a cute stop for a tea or hot chocolate or a coffee before going down and heading to see Moulin Rouge.

If you are considering to see a cabaret at Moulin Rouge, i'd say why not if you have never seen one. But if you did, personally, i would pass. I remember seeing a great one in Bangkok, that I was a bit disappointed by the one in Moulin Rouge (saw it 8 years ago though..)

THIRD STOP : JARDIN DE TUILLERIES

From the north of Paris, we headed to central : OPERA. Now, if you like to shop, you can stop by Boulevard Haussman. My brother doesn't like to shop, so we were there to see the Opera from the outside and going down all the way to Jardin de Tuilleries. We also grabbed a quick lunch at AKI (one of my favorite places in Paris), if you haven't already - you can check my post about my favorite walk in Paris here.

Jardin de Tuilleries is wonderful at any season. My favorite one is Spring and Autumn, the garden is so big, you can enjoy it your own way : walking, running, picnicking, doing yoga, or just sitting and people watching.

FOURTH STOP : RIVE GAUCHE

I used to live in Rive Gauche for two and a half years before buying our apartment in the west of Paris. I LOVE this side of Paris and if i could, i would love to live there again one day. Strolling by the banks, to Rue Bonaparte, stopped by Bully shop, and grabbed a smoothie at JUICE IT, was my favorite to do list on a saturday during summer days.

Out of all touristic places we visited that day, Shakespeare and company probably my most preferred stop. I mean, it was across the Notre Dame church, a street away from Saint Michel place where there is always bunkers and two minutes walk from Odette, one of my beloved dessert places. Grab the vanilla chou or pistache, c'est un tuerie, (it's a killer) like french people love to say.

FIFTH STOP : EIFFEL TOWER

Yep...Although he was here last summer, he insisted to come again. Simply because the day is shorter so he can catch the moment when Eiffel tower is lighted. So we took a bus that take us from Les Invalides to Montparnasse, and finally, Eiffel Tower. We sat there watching the sky turned dark, ate crepes on the bench until it was 6 pm and voila, the light was on...

After that, my feet was sore, my teeth were clenching that i didn't have the courage to take him to dine out at Republique area.So we went home (especially we had an early 7am flight to barcelona the day after) BUT if you are young and ready to take over the world, definitely go to Republique area and dine in one of the Hipster area by Canal Saint Martin.

Enjoy Paris !