12 best things to do in Paris in Summer

Last Updated on September 8, 2024 by Roslin Dwivedi

Paris, a city of love, a city of lights, a city of history and a city of fashion. There will hardly anybody who doesn’t want to go to this mesmerising place on Earth. Paris charms millions of tourists every year. The history and architecture in Paris are well worth spending time. This blog has listed 12 best things to do in Paris in Summer, hope that helps you in planning well.

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Just like any of you, I was daydreaming after we only spoke about planning our trip to Paris. I was excited to see the Parisian culture, ready to meet the french. 

All was going in my mind was what to pack? How does Paris summer look like? Where are we going to visit?

Thanks to the visa process. Since we live in Seychelles where we don’t have any French Embassy, we had to go to Mauritius to get our Schengen visa done. It allowed me to buy a few stylish dresses, boots and a few winter wear to wear on our next venture to Switzerland after Paris.

There’s certainly so much to see and do in Paris. Still, luckily we had 5 Days to uncover the city. This 12 best things to do in Paris in summer is also an ultimate 5 days itinerary, that will take you through the excursions and activities you can do while visiting Paris for the first time.

https://youtu.be/k9qNCeSO5Ks

Paris Passlib for the first time in Paris with a Baby –

So if it’s your first time in Paris, then it’s better to buy the Paris passlib, Paris Pass or Paris Museum Pass. Paris passlib is one of the best ways to tour around the city. It offers :

1. unlimited access to public transport to zone 1 to 3 (bus, metro, tramway and RER). Most of the touristic sites are in zone 1 to 3.
2. The pass gives you the freedom to visit museums, monuments and sightseeing tours. You don’t have to buy a separate entry ticket for these places. The pass also covers the Seine river cruise, which is a great deal. The pass also offers maps and information about all the places to visit. 
3. We bought this pass online through its official site of Paris passlib . for 370 euros for Aaruni and me. Baby Aanick had free entry everywhere.
4. Upon purchase of the pass, we got the offer to skip the line ticket for The Eiffel Tower summit to the 2nd floor.

The pass is very convenient and time-saving. Buying this pass made us skip the lines in many famous museums and monuments and made these 5 days in Paris very smooth for us. And if you are travelling with your kids then it’s better to make all the ticket bookings in advance.

You can either collect this pass from the passlib office or can get it delivered to your hotel at some extra cost before your arrival. We got it delivered as we had no intentions of losing time looking for an office address. We had to cover as much as we could in those 5 days in Paris. 

12 best things to do in Paris in Summer

Seine river cruise 

Upon arrival in Paris, we had planned to do the tour of the Eiffel Tower. But there were some problems we saw happening. You can read about the entire story here in How we visited the top of the Eiffel Tower.

We decided to go to the other side of the road where there were a few food kiosks and a small cafe. I planned to do the Eiffel tower and then seine river cruise in the evening. Still, since we couldn’t do Eiffel tower, we decided to do a seine river cruise which was behind the restaurants. The Paris passlib had mentioned from 9:00 am to 11:00 pm we can choose our time. So, we decided to do the 6 o’clock cruise. At the ticket window, we presented our pass, and the cruise crew let us in. They welcomed us by clicking a family picture of one of the monuments on the background. 

The Seine River Cruise a non-stop sightseeing cruise for one hour. You can enjoy the incredible excursion on open-air bench seating. You can feel the fresh air and enjoy the splendid monuments from the cruise. Riding along the pavements, with commentary about the marvellous bridges and monuments as they appear on banks of the river.
Starting from the Eiffel Tower from the cruise, Monuments and buildings like Les Invalides, Assemblee Nationale, Musee de Orsay, the Institute of France, central station, Cathedral of Notre Dame, Louvre Museum and the Conciergerie shown. The sightseeing also gives the idea about the typical life of the Parisians at the pavements. You can see people walking, riding bicycles, running or jogging, sitting and chatting on the shore.

The Eiffel Tower

It needs no introduction when we talk about this iconic monument. The Tower has three levels to the summit. You can use the staircase, Elevator, or Elevator and staircase option to visit this beauty.

Every detail about this Tower is visible. It’s so mesmerising that you can spend a lot of time just staring at it. 

The First floor has a restaurant so you can access the Tower also through this way if you didn’t get the ticket to tour here. Also, you will find a souvenir shop. We bought some Eiffel tower printed scarves, some key chains and a few fridge magnets for family and friends.

The second floor – has a view deck with a telescope, you can see the city much clearly from here as it’s still not that high from the ground level. This floor also has a restaurant. 

The Third and the top floor – This floor also has a telescope viewing deck. Its 300 meters high from the ground level and you can see the whole city, the Seine river in the full-length from here. And also can play a game of finding the other famous monuments in the city. You will find a small museum used to be an office for Engineer Gustave Eiffel. It’s a great and romantic feeling up there with some champagne from the Champagne Bar located on the floor. 

Musee D’Orsay

After doing the Eiffel tower, we made our way to Musee D’Orsay. The Museum was built in 1900 and was a railway station. But due to the short platforms, the station was not able to fulfil with the longer trains and eventually turned to a Museum. This Museum has Items of Furniture, Paintings, Photography and sculptures from the 18th century to the 19th century. The collection is quite adorable. The clock is my favourite among the many other collections. 

Ile de la Cite 

Situated in the centre of Paris. It’s the natural island on the Seine river. We came out of the metro station and saw this small bistro while making our way to Sainte Chappelle we took a break at this lovely looking seating outside cafe shop le Soleil D’or. The restaurant and cafe offer Liqueurs, French cuisine and hot beverages. This natural island has places to see, like – Conciergerie and Saint Chappelle. 

Sainte Chappelle

Among the most beautiful and royal chapel. Sainte Chappelle was built in the 13th century by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion Relics, including Christ’s Crown of Thorns. The chapel was built in 2 stories. The lower chapel dedicated to the officers has a statue of Saint Louis (King Louis, given title of a saint ). Climbing the narrow stairs comes upper chapel dedicated to the King and his family. The interior of the chapel has vibrant, attractive and eye-catching architecture. It has enormous stained glass windows all along with the vertical emphasis. One of the adorable decorations is the Rose window above the upper chapel’s entrance. The upper chapel’s stained glass work illustrated the biblical scenes from both new and old testaments.

11 restaurants in Paris with the best Eiffel Tower views

Champs Elysees  

Well, you might remember this scene from the Bollywood movie Queen, when she (Kangna Ranaut) takes a taxi outside the airport and ask the driver to take her to Champ Elysis. The taxi driver doesn’t understand what she is saying, well this is the place she wanted to go, Champs- Elysees. Haha!! It’s a famous and posh shopping street in Paris. And also famous for its high end known branded shops and cafes. While we were here, it was fascinating to see the long line outside the Louis Vuitton 4 story showroom. So if you are coming to visit Arc de Triomphe, do give a stroll to this glamourous street. It’s worth touring this place. Who knows you might want to buy some perfumes or take a break for some snacks or coffee.

We had our trip to Switzerland next, and there was this shop called Petit Bateaux for kids. So we bought a winter jacket for baby Aanick which he was wearing in most of the places we visited in Switzerland. Also don’t miss on this famous and oldest shop over there named Laduree for Macarons, pastries and chocolates. 

Paris hotels and places to stay

Louvre museum

To visit the Louvre, you will need at least 2 hours easily. Even if you decide to go for the highlights like Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, liberty leading the people. 

One of the main attractions in the Louvre is the Portrait of Mona Lisa. Making our way to this vast museums, admiring some giant paintings, and strolling through some beautiful sculptures, we reached the famous portrait of Mona Lisa. Looking at the size of the portrait, we were so disappointed. We expected larger Painting. Still, it was surrounded by a crazy amount of crowd. They were pushing each other to capture the Painting in their camera. 

There was approx. Twenty feet space left clear with barricades, between the portrait and visitors. I was also one of those among the crowd who wanted to go close to the Painting. And I was making my way slowly towards the front row to get the clear shot. During my struggle to reach the front row, I saw Aaruni in the clear space with aanick right in front of Mona Lisa’s Portrait clicking selfies with her. I know, he clearly took advantage of having a baby with him. The authority allowed him to go in the front because of the baby. And they were letting the disabled and elderly also.

One more important problem we went through was looking for an exit from the Museum. The Museum is so vast that It took us half an hour to find the actual exit finally. 

It’s the world’s largest art museum and a historical monument for Paris. Also, we know Louvre by seeing it in many Hollywood movies like The Da Vinci Code, The age of Innocence and French Kiss. The Museum is massive, and you can see a considerable amount of tourists when you enter the premises. Even though I’m not a museum lover, I wish to visit this place again and again. 

Place de la Concorde

We took the hop on hop off bus from Louvre and got down at this large square. The architecture and design of the place are such that you will surely love to spend some quality time over here. This place certainly has that look for beautiful pictures. We clicked a few pictures and enjoyed a delicious Nutella crepe over. Place De La Concorde was not on our itinerary but I am glad our bus dropped us here, and we got lucky with one more beautiful place in Paris. By fluke but it was nice to cover this monument to add on our list. The square has the two fountains (Fountain de la Concorde) and a giant Egyptian Obelisk on the centre of the fountains. Take a look at these beauties in the picture. 

Sacre Coeur basilica / Montmartre

Montmartre is a place you must not miss on your visit to Paris. This place has such a charming vibes to it.

Right from the cobbled street you walk in to a lovely streets of talented artists and some lovely cafes where you must have at least a meal in your entire stay in Paris.

Most of the visitors come here to see the most beautiful Sacre Coeur Basilica.

Montmartre and Sacre Coeur Walking Tour in Paris

The Basilica of Sacre Coeur is a minor basilica. Its a Roman Catholic church dedicated to the heart of Jesus. The basilica holds at the top of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city. The architecture of this church is commendable, its tall walls and a high ceiling are admirable. Inside the basilica, there is a tiny church for mother Mary and baby Jesus with a fewer bench for prayer. The church also has Sections dedicated for significant functions with the stained glass background on the windows. 

Hotels in Montmartre Paris

Palace of Versailles (Chateaux De Versailles)

The Paris passlib had the pass covered for the Chateaux. We only spent money on the Train tickets. If you buy the ticket online for Palace de Versailles, it will cost you EUR 20 per adult. As soon as we disembarked, we went to the information desk across the road. The place was a bus terminal and also had few cafes, restaurants, banks and gift shops. We took a break in McDonald for some snacks and coffee. We like to keep ourselves full and hydrated while travelling to avoid unwanted fatigue and frustration. The Chateaux of Versailles is an immense palace and its 1 hr away from the city of Paris.

Keep a full day when you have plans to visit this place. We had a self-guided audio tour.

The Palace was built by King Louis the 13th. The Palace has Royal bedrooms, the Hall of Mirrors where the King used to organise his functions, the Royal Opera, the Royal Chapel and a Museum of the history of France. There is a garden at the back of the Palace, decorated with beautifully shaped trees, statues, fountains and a huge pond which now entertains tourists on the boat. The Palace also has to be built around it like Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon, The Hamlet of Queen Marie-Antoinette and a temple de l’Amour. To visit the garden, they have a facility for renting a buggy. After touring the Palace, Aaruni(my husband) rented one for EUR 30 for an hour. 

Arc de Triomphe 

Arc de Triomphe is at the western end of the Champs-Elysees and the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle. From the top of the panoramic terrace have a beautiful view of Champs-Élysées and the city’s great sweeping avenues. The terrace also presents superb views of the whole of Paris both by day and night. The monument was built to honour the martyrs who fought for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. The names of French victories and generals engraved in the outside and inside of the Arc. Underneath its grave lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. Every evening at 18:30, the flame is lit in the honour of the brave soldier. While climbing up to the viewpoint. We saw the whole ceremony on the big flat-screen kept in the small Museum just before the terrace.

Paris hotels and places to stay

Eiffel tower by night

I knew about this from a friend, but it was also a recommendation from the hotel staff we were staying with. After Aanick is born, we usually avoid late-night programs. But who wants to leave such great pleasure to admire Eiffel Tower by night? And it turned out that the place (Troca balcony, place du Trocadero) gets crowded with many tourists. The large balcony could fit many people. The atmosphere was so lively and loud with people’s voices. Hawkers selling Keychains, Eiffel tower with lights. A man was singing with a guitar for the cause to collect some money. When the clock turned 12, the lights switched off, and people started screaming with joy as they saw the glittering effect of views on the Eiffel Tower. This moment was so amazing that I suggest you go for this magnificent experience. I am sure your baby will also enjoy this. Its free by the way!

So there you have 12 Things to do for the first time in Paris with a Baby – An ultimate 5 days itinerary for you. There’s so much more to do in Paris like the Catacombs, Disneyland and many more museums but I am glad we could do this much in our five days vacation. If you get an extended vacation, then you can explore much more than this. 

Few suggestions from our experience

1. Hop on hop off bus tour – If you plan to go on this tour in the morning times, then it’s okay. But it gets annoying during the day as traffic makes it slow to move faster. We left the tour in between and went for the metro.
2. Best way to travel around here is by metro trains. Keep the google map downloaded with you so you can use it offline. 
3. Please book your tickets in advance, better to avoid the queues and inconvenience. I am sure you don’t want to waste your time standing in the line. 
4. Don’t miss on French delicacies. My must-tries are – French onion soup, French toast, macarons, croissant (trust me it’s not what you get in cafes near you), cream-filled eclair (You will be amazed how light this pastry is), French Cheese, Crepe and Creme Brulee. We had no problems in Paris, regards to food, including vegetarian dishes.
5. Do buy some souvenirs like Beret – a French cap (girls you can too also buy this for yourselves ), Eiffel tower keychains, Paris written scarf etc.

Ps: All the tours I have mentioned above are perfect for doing with a baby but keep the baby stroller and most important is a baby carrier. 12 Things to do for the first time in Paris with a Baby – An ultimate 5 days itinerary, Monuments like Eiffel Tower, Chapels stairs, Châteaux de Versailles, Seine river cruise, Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur basilica / Montmartre, Sainte Chapelle will not allow using a stroller. So a baby carrier will save mommy and daddy some energy. You can keep the stroller with you everywhere you go, including Metros and Buses. 

Paris hotels and places to stay