Bonjour! I just spent four days in Paris with my mom and two teen daughters. Here’s a list of everything we did so you can plan your trip — or escape into a book about it.
Restaurants:
Perruche on the roof of Printemps department store: Beautiful, but definitely hot (it’s outside). Loved the vibe, the yellow and white pops of color, the fabulous menu, and the feeling of being in a VIP rooftop club. The entrance is in the men’s area of Printemps.
On the balcony at La Perruche Bar Vendome at the Ritz: Great for dinner in any season. The inside was red velvet and decadent while the outside courtyard, where we sat, was breezy, beautiful, and delightful. Top-notch service. Definitely worth it.
Laperouse: A traditional French destination with panels featuring old master artworks (think: Fragonard’s The Swing) and blue damask walls with narrow windy staircases (somehow reminded me of L.A.’s Magic Castle). Fabulous food. (The bread!) And it has air-conditioning!
Dinner at Laperouse Loulou: In the garden of the Louvre. My mom and daughter went and loved the gorgeous surroundings and great food.
Pink Mamma: If you want something a little younger, head to this Montmartre hot spot. Think: Soho/East Village. We ate on the top floor in what felt like a treehouse with a dark green beautiful bar, fun colorful plates, and a festive vibe. Downstairs there’s a hidden speakeasy! Get the pizza.
Pink Mamma in Montmatre La Suite at Girafe: With views of the Eiffel Tower if you stand up and peer over the hedges dividing areas of this rooftop gem, you’ll feel transported. Note: you have to line up right at 7 pm when it opens so get there by 6:45 pm to beat the line for the 4-person max elevator. The inside is just as beautiful with shiny wood and boat-like finishes. FYI, the entrance is inside a museum.
La Suite at Girafe. Omg, need my highlights done. Jules Verne at the Eiffel Tower: Okay, we actually walked out after ordering drinks when we finally saw the 7-course tasting menu or super fancy three-course meal options. Not for us. (The waiter, who had confirmed my name when I arrived, scoffed at me as we tried to leave. In a very heavy accent, he snapped, “Did you not read the menu online, ZEE-bee?” I’m too old to care what people think. Whatever. It was my day and my time and I very politely reclaimed it.)
BUT, it was worth it because the view and the interior were amazing. And it was a full-circle moment because my mother and I had gone there when I just eleven years old on our last mother-daughter trip. Silver accents, white book sculptures with quotes by Jules Verne on every place, many, many waiters wearing ties. I had to close my eyes for the elevator rides in a completely glass cab. It was giving Tower of Terror vibes. (I just felt my daughter cringe at that sentence.)
Alain Ducasse La Glace ice cream cart: If you can find one of these like outside Le Meurice Hotel, I highly recommend the chocolate brownie “glace.” So good. Skip Haagen-Daaz. It was incredibly rich and not as good as local fare. (Obviously. But you know. Kids.)
Museums/Exhibits:
Musee D’Orsay: Housed in an old train station, this easy-to-navigate marvel is home to the most spectacular collection of Impressionist art. I was blown away. Definitely stop by to see the view of the city from the clock. Avoid the bathrooms. Just saying.
Musee D’Orsay The Louvre: I missed it this trip but have been several times. You must see the Mona Lisa because, you know. The architecture alone is impressive — breath-taking really. Must stop in.
Fondation de Louis Vuitton: Don’t expect LVMH tote bags. This is a Frank Gehry building that was built to reflect movement and to house rotating art installations. It’s stunning! We saw the Alexander Calder exhibit but there are two new exhibits annually. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the artist. Go anyway. Plus it has freezing cold air-conditioning so bring a sweater. Their guides have Ph.D’s in art history. Definitely worth getting one for an hour to learn so much more than you would just walking through.
Fondation Louis Vuitton Dior: La Galerie Exhibit: I missed this too but my mom and daughter went and were obsessed. From the pictures I saw of items arranged by color up the brightly lit staircase before displaying absolutely gorgeous dresses, I missed a lot.
Stores:
Shakespeare & Co: You must go to this historic bookstore where Ernest Hemingway and the like gathered back in the day. No photos allowed inside. Prepare for a wait outside (ours was only 10 minutes, but it can get long). Then inside is as quiet as a library as the shoppers mill about devouring clever categories of books and heading upstairs to see where authors met and wrote. It’s small, creaky, wood-beamed, and utterly quaint. I wish I could’ve shopped more! All the books are English language so it’s like an ex-pat heaven. Across the street is Notre Dame!
Merci: Everyone told us to go but honestly? Felt like it was like heading to Anthropologie. Which is great but not what we had in mind.
World’s largest Sephora: It’s possible my kids made up this fact, but we stopped into three Sephoras (ah, teenage girls). Okay, just checked. Not true. It’s in Kuala Lumpur. No plans to go there - ha. But the biggest Sephora in Paris is on the Champs-Elysee.
Any pharmacy. Pop into literally any drugstore and you’ll find impossible to procure products. We got a sunscreen that was too big to bring back on the plane. Gah!
Starbucks. Oh, the decor! The Starbucks on the Boulevard de Capucines was like out of Versailles. Why is everything more beautiful in Paris?
Subdued: Both my daughters are obsessed. Yes, we’ve gone in Soho in New York, but this one had far more on offer.
Galleries Lafayette: My mom says this is like the Bloomingdales of Paris while Printemps is like Bergdorf’s. Not sure about that. I was obsessed with how majestic it was with domed painted ceilings, wrap-around ironwork, and a circular layout. We lined up to purchase our Jellycats upstairs where there were signs advising how much time was left (“from here 45 minutes,” etc.). Our wait was like 10 minutes. Had to get the pain au chocolat Jellycat!
Zara: Excellent selection on the Champs Elysee.
Experiences:
Disneyland Paris. Yes, we went. Yes, we wore our gifted ears for a few minutes. Yes, it was 100 degrees. But honestly, it was the most aesthetically pleasing Disney I’ve been to and wasn’t so big as to be overwhelming. The Frozen ride was fun, but definitely had a couple unexpected drops including going backwards downhill (I screamed) — through water. The Cars ride was lovely but stay away from the edges or you’ll get wet. I’m embarrassed to say I was scared by the Ratatouille experience, but I was. Dark, creepy, rats. The girls loved Big Thunder Mountain. My personal highlight was seeing the Cars characters speak French.
In the Disneyland Hotel Paris. La Cuisine cooking school: You must do this! We took a private croissant making class but over the three hours we made so much more: pain au chocolate, raisin bread, monkey bread, some sort of cheese thing, chocolate chip twirls, and of course, croissants. Ask for the teacher Vi. Loved her. The owner, Jane Bertch, was on my podcast years ago and I swore I’d get there one day. And I did! Next time, I want to take the pasta-making class. I learned so many tips for baking back home and I’ll never underappreciate a croissant again.
Books by Parisians or Americans living in Paris:
Jane Bertch, The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time
Robinne Lee, Crash Into Me
Anna Kloots, My Own Magic: A Reappearing Act
Jennifer Steil, Exile Music
Alex Durand and Tom Carles (known as AT Frenchies), Pardon Our French: The Parisian Way to a Happier Life
Just get outside. Drive. Walk. Bike. Wander. Get off your phone. Look up. Even the light is amazing. The hustle is non-existent. It’s all about the experience. Enjoy! Hope this helps. If you use any tips, let me know. Also, what’d I miss?!
You did all of this in four days? Such a great guide to Paris. I’m curious, when you left Jules Verne without dining , did they charge you as they would for
a “no show”?
Historically, Le Marais was the Jewish quarter of Paris, and remains a wonderful area where there are no large boulevards that have intruded into the area. Just walking through the streets of Le Marais is worthwhile. It is a short walk from Notre Dame.
The Victor Hugo house and the History of Paris Museum both are worth checking out— or at least those are the museums in the Marais that we went to —there are others as well.
And for a great falafel, hummus and other middle eastern food, check out L’as Du Fallafel —worth waiting in line, though maybe if we had not forced our daughter to wait in line instead of us, I might feel differently.
We had a great private tour guide to guide us and tell us about the history and importance of Jews in Paris. I can get the guide’s name and contact information from my daughter if anybody is interested.
There also are some hotels in Le Marais, though we stayed at a Airbnb there.