Time-Crunch Travel Guide: How To See Paris in 12 Hours
How I spent 12 jam-packed hours in Paris and saw everything I wanted to see
How did I visit the Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge, Louvre Pyramid, walk along the River Seine, eat French macaroons and quiche, meet up with friends, and travel to and from another country, all in 12 hours?
First I have to introduce you to my perfect travel buddy: my mom!
Together, we make the ultimate travel team. We don’t have identical interests but have lots of overlap, and go into any trip with an open mind and the intention to compromise.
This is especially important when you are on a limited schedule. During our 7-day trip to Amsterdam, we had one single open day on the itinerary. And we thought, wouldn’t it be incredible to spend that day in Paris? Despite it being in an entirely different country, we were determined to make the most of our time in Europe. In fact, we actually visited 3 countries in 3 days – but that is a story for another time!
Here are my tips for any time-crunch trip:
Make a list of Must-Sees vs Nice-to-Sees.
Start a collaborative document between you and your travel buddies (and if you are doing a solo-trip, that’s amazing too! Start this document anyway so you can prioritize your adventures). I love to use Google Docs. Write out the attractions, activities, places you must see while you’re there – these are the reasons you are going on the trip in the first place.
Then, write out the things that, if you have time, they would be nice to see. These are not deal-breakers, but are still things you’d like to do. Then compare your list with your travel buddies, and make a plan from there.
Do Your Research
Research ways to make your trip go smoothly. In our case, we found a high-speed train that gets you from Amsterdam to Paris in only 3 hours! This made our dream of visiting Paris a reality. We knew we could make it work.
Make an Itinerary
Plan out your trip in a general sense, to make sure you have time for all your Must-Sees. In our case, we had under 12 hours to: see the Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge, and Louvre Pyramid, visit an amazing gluten-free bakery, and meet up with some of my friends who happened to be in Paris on the same day.
Our Nice-to-Sees included walking by the River Seine, exploring inside the Louvre (my mom is the art-aficionado, and she had already been to there, so it wasn’t a deal-breaker for either of us), and eating a Parisian dinner. These were the last-minute items we’d add to our day if time permitted.
Become besties with the Hop-On-Hop-Off Busses
Listen, I know it’s super touristy to get on the City SightSeeing busses. But, they seriously offer an amazing view of the city, as well as provide you will transportation to wherever you want to go. We got the one-day pass, and decided to stay on for a whole loop. That allowed us to see the Moulin Rouge, Eiffel Tower, different neighborhoods, and Louvre Pyramid. It also dropped us off right in front of our lunch spot & at the train station at the end of the day! There’s truly no feeling like the wind in your hair on the top level of the bus – listening to facts about the history while you are chauffeured around the City of Love!
Be Open to Adventure
Finally, I want to remind you to be open minded. Even though we had a packed itinerary and only 12 hours to do it in, we had to be ok with shifting some plans in the moment. For example, we ended up not having enough time for a Parisian dinner, as the last high-speed train out of Paris was in less than an hour. So, we had dinner in the train station – Five Guys. Yes, that’s not a glamorous or Instagrammable French dinner by any means – but it was delicious, quick, and practical.
Cover Photo by Thorsten technoman from Pexels