Hey my babes,
Well here we are, back travelling again and I couldn’t be happier. Last week my friend and I spent 96 hours in Paris and i’m pretty sure we only slept for 14 of those hours..
I thought i’d summarise my hits and misses of the trip if you happen to be planning a city break to Paris!
TRAVEL
Let’s get this one out of the way before we go any further. I had the total luxury of travelling to Paris via Eurostar. Somebody remind me to never fly to Paris ever again. Taking the train from St Pancras into Garre du Nord is quite possibly the easiest way of transiting to another country. If you’ve never travelled via Eurostar before, absolutely give it a go. It really is a breeze.
HOTEL
We booked super last minute and managed to get a room at the newly renovated Le Wallace Hôtel & Bar. This was the hotel of choice for so many reasons; 15 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower, renovated rooms, affordability and it’s in a lovely neighbourhood. They actually have a few different hotels around the city, all of which look to be a lovely standard at a great price point. I’d definitely recommend, the rooms were homely and clean. The staff, so lovely!
FOOD
I could talk about food for hours, you know me. So let me summarise with my favourites.
For my morning Pain au Chocolate – Mamiche – you’ve got to make time to visit Mamiche. The cookie is a must along with any and every pastry! The best pain au chocolate I had during our stay, I even took a few home.
Coffee – Arabica – potentially not the best recommendation, as they also have a location in London but oh wow, the coffee was incredible and they also sell Mamiche pastries here, so it’s a double win!
Brunch – Season – we wandered to season on our last morning and i’m so glad we did. Everything looked divine but my scrambled eggs were next level. Brunching isn’t as big in Paris as London so this is a nice spot if that’s what you fancy.
Dinner – Le Petit Lutetia – this came recommended from a friend of a friend and it was lovely. Authentic Parisian dining with amazing food. The chocolate mousse is a must (check my vlog to see!)
The misses? I have to say I didn’t love Café de Flore. I know I know, it’s so famous but famous doesn’t always mean good. The exterior is stunning but the food, not so much. I’d recommend somewhere more lowkey, you’ll probably end up spending much less too.
ACTIVITIES
What did we even spend our time doing in Paris? From the vlog it kind of looks like we just went from food place to food place and although we kind of did, we stopped off at some awesome places along the way. The beauty of Paris is that it is totally walkable. The only time we Ubered was to and from Garre du Nord. It was our feet that took us 55.9 miles around the city.. yes, in 4 days!
Essentially, we picked an area per day and tried to visit all the spots we wanted to in that area. The hotel was so perfectly located meaning the Eiffel Tower was on route home each night, so we got to see it sparkle! (it lights up on the hour for 5 minutes, every hour after it’s dark)
Some spots to hit;
- Eiffel Tower
- The Louvre museum
- Sacré-Cœur
- Notre-Dame de Paris
- Champs Elysées
- Arc of Triumph
- Moulin Rouge
Now the less obvious;
- Angelina for Hot Chocolate
- Montmartre – an area of paris with a village feel that featured in Emily in Paris!
- Galleries Lafayette
- Tuileries Garden (next to the Louvre)
- Saint-Germain-des-Près – shopping!
- Galerie Vivienne
There’s so much to do and see in Paris. My best advice, eat as many different foods as you can and walk as much as you can. If you have time, a day trip to Disneyland Paris is ALWAYS a good idea. Sadly my Disney enthusiasm wasn’t reciprocated as my friend had literally hopped off the plane from Disney World in Orlando the day before we went to Paris. So i’ll let her off, this time.
I hope this has given you some Paris inspo. If in doubt a €9.00 pizza on the bank of the Seine, over looking the Eiffel Tower, at sunset is always a winning plan!
Until next time,
M Xx
