Packed with macarons, Versailles, the Louvre, a pickpocket, and a double rainbow over the Seine.
Paris turned out to be more affordable than a trip across the U.S. — a discovery that led to a flight booked on Delta AMEX points, an Airbnb in the 19th arrondissement, and four weeks of Pinterest research that shaped one of the best weeks of travel on record. This post covers all seven days: Montmartre and the Palais Garnier, a macaron class at Le Cordon Bleu, Versailles, the Louvre, Le Marais, a Seine boat tour, and loads of practical notes from someone who also had her phone pickpocketed and still managed to finish the week strong.
The flight was meant to land at 8 AM, which would have allowed for a breakfast reservation at La Maison Rose — an iconic café near the Sacré-Cœur that books up fast. A delayed flight ended that plan. It was a real bummer; the reservation was gone by the time the ground was reached. Worth noting: book this one well in advance and have a backup plan if your flight is anything but perfectly on time.
Lunch was salvaged beautifully at Pink Mamma. The ambiance, the food quality, the view from the upper floor looking out toward the Sacré-Cœur — it was stunning and a genuinely perfect first Paris meal.
The climb up the stairs to the Sacré-Cœur itself is not subtle — it is flights upon flights. There is a tram option if needed. The view from the top earns every step.
Evening — Palais Garnier
Pre-purchased tickets for a 3 PM tour of the Palais Garnier — the opera house built in the late 1800s and situated right in the heart of the city. This was one of the most beautiful buildings visited on the entire trip. The main auditorium was inspired by the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The gold, the detail, the scale — it's the kind of space that makes you stand in the middle of it and just look.
Morning — Macaron Class at Le Cordon Bleu
A 7:30 AM start time at Le Cordon Bleu — located near the Eiffel Tower — is not the gentlest introduction to a Paris morning, especially on Day 2 with jet lag in full effect. It caused a significant crash later in the day. It was still absolutely worth it.
Learning the art of making macarons from trained professionals at one of the most respected culinary schools in the world is not a normal Tuesday. The techniques, the precision, the way a macaron shell is supposed to sound when you tap it — all of it was fascinating and genuinely useful to know.
Afternoon — Beefbar, L'Arc de Triomphe & the Champs-Élysées
Walked from the class past the Eiffel Tower toward the Champs-Élysées for lunch at Beefbar Paris — one of the most beautiful restaurant spaces encountered anywhere. The food was excellent. Jet lag had other plans and cut the meal short after one bite — genuinely heartbreaking, but the right call given that something felt very off.
Walked to L'Arc de Triomphe, descended into the metro literally beneath it, returned to the Airbnb for a long nap, then went back out to walk the Champs-Élysées until the stores closed.
One note on Paris hours: restaurants often operate in defined windows — open for lunch, fully closed in the middle of the afternoon, then open again for dinner. Stores generally open around 10 AM and close between 7–8 PM. Plan accordingly, especially for dinner reservations.
Versailles was near the top of the list for the whole trip, and it exceeded every expectation.
Arrived around 9 AM despite a 10 AM ticket — they were letting people in by half-hour windows, so the 10 and 10:30 AM lines were admitted together. The queue quadrupled within minutes of joining it. Getting there early is not optional.
The Versailles app was one of the best decisions of the day — it includes audio guides and maps within the app, and it's far better than waiting in line for a physical audio guide. Download it before you arrive and have it ready.
Lunch at Ore, the on-site restaurant, was booked in advance on the assumption it would be competitive to get into. That assumption was correct. The food, the presentation, and the view were all exceptional — one of the most memorable meals of the trip.
Do not skip the gardens.
They are impeccable, unlike anything else, and the app provides a suggested path that makes navigating them far more manageable than going in blind. Budget a full day for Versailles — the inside and the gardens together take hours.
Getting there & back: Versailles is outside the city, so the standard metro t+ ticket doesn't cover the full journey. On the way there, the metro connected to a bus. On the way back, the RER was faster — but requires separate, more expensive tickets. See the Paris transportation post for full details.
Back within Paris, a walk around the Notre Dame area, a stop at Odette (a patisserie saved from a Pinterest research session that delivered), and dinner at an adorable Italian spot called Pepita — classic striped awning, excellent outdoor seating, and a discovery that it happened to be right next to the next day's reservation.
Morning — LouLou & Saint Chapelle
Took a motorized scooter instead of the metro to brunch at LouLou — a delightful and apparently very popular spot. Excellent coffee, excellent food, and a room that feels exactly like Paris is supposed to feel.
From there, walked toward Notre Dame and purchased a ticket for Sainte-Chapelle — a church built to house relics of Jesus (including what was believed to be the crown of thorns and a piece of the cross, purchased by King Louis IX in the early 1200s). The stained glass, the scale, the history of the relics themselves — it was stunning and intricate in a way that made the ticket completely worth it.
Afternoon — Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay is housed in a converted train station and filled with some of the most iconic impressionist art in the world. From the museum's clock windows, the Sacré-Cœur is visible up on the hill. It started raining hard as the visit ended — a charming café across the street that had been noticed while waiting in line became the obvious refuge.
On the walk back to the metro at the end of the day, a route past the Louvre — and a sunset that was too perfect not to stop for.
Morning & Afternoon — Le Marais
Started with a boulangerie stop, then walked the entire way from the 19th arrondissement to Le Marais — rain and all. Le Marais delivered on the recommendation: great shopping, great coffee, and a genuinely charming neighborhood energy. Lunch at a classic French street spot with crepes and galettes. The sausages (saucisse) throughout Paris were a consistent standout — more flavorful than anything comparable at home.
From Le Marais, walked toward the dinner reservation at Libertino — arriving early enough to wander Montmartre a bit more while the restaurant finished opening. The back streets of Montmartre, past La Maison Rose and Le Consulat, are some of the most beautiful in Paris. Took the time to actually walk them slowly.
Evening — Libertino & the Pickpocket
Libertino is everything it looked like from the outside. A line formed before it opened. Got a seat right by the kitchen — with a view of the chef shaving fresh truffle over pasta and pizza in real time. The pasta was tasty and zesty and completely worth the reservation.
And then the phone was gone.
How I Was Pickpocketed
While checking the route back to the metro from the restaurant entrance, the phone left the pocket. By the time the Airbnb was reached, the watch showed the phone out of range. The FindMy app showed it near the restaurant exit. Went back — nothing was found. A few hours later, the phone appeared active outside the city.
What to do if your phone gets stolen in France:
- Mark it as lost in FindMy — do not erase it yet. Erasing only works if the phone is powered on, and marking it lost preserves the ability to track it if it comes back online.
- Do not change your iCloud password without your phone in hand. Doing so locks you out of iCloud entirely, since you can't verify your identity without the device. This made the situation significantly worse.
- The Apple Store cannot help you recover the phone — but they can confirm the steps above.
- If you're traveling solo and need a phone: look for an Orange store (common throughout Paris) and purchase a temporary phone for the remainder of the trip.
The Louvre
Spent Sunday at the Louvre — navigated without a phone, which meant no photos of the Mona Lisa or Winged Victory, which remains a genuine loss.
What the Louvre has in abundance: Greek, Egyptian, and Mediterranean artifacts; sculpture; Italian and Spanish art; and, as an unexpected favorite, the preserved Napoleon-era apartments — furnished and largely intact, and genuinely difficult to find within the museum. Worth the effort.
Practical notes that matter:
The Louvre is much, much larger than any pre-trip research conveyed. One level took nearly the entire day. Even with the audio guide's interactive map and a paper map in hand, getting lost was constant. Lines at entry were nearly nonexistent — the interior navigation is the real challenge.
Eat before you go in. There is a café inside, but it offers only overpriced pastry-level food — not sufficient for a full museum day. The food court requires exiting and re-entering with your ticket. By the time this was discovered, it was already 3 PM. Eat at the food court before entering, or at a nearby restaurant, and then use your ticket to go in.
After the Louvre and a stop at the Apple Store (unhelpful but necessary), dinner at Pizzeria Popolare — one of the Big Mamma group restaurants, all of which were excellent. Sausage and spinach pizza. A very good way to end a very long day.
The last day was kept intentionally open — a final walk down the Champs-Élysées for Christmas gift shopping, a few lingering stops at shops spotted earlier in the week, and an evening boat tour on the Seine.
A note on shopping in Paris: Paris fashion runs from roughly €150 to €500+ for branded pieces. Window shopping is genuinely a thing — stores display price cards on the mannequins in the windows, which makes browsing without commitment perfectly normal. For more affordable options: Weekday (Swedish, owned by H&M) had strong appeal. H&M's family of brands — & Other Stories, COS, Monki — offer quality at a more accessible price point, as do the Spanish Inditex brands (Zara, OYSHO, Pull & Bear). The designer brands — Louis Vuitton, Dior, Burberry, Gucci — set the bar for Paris fashion, which naturally shifts what "affordable" means across the city.
The boat tour ended the week perfectly. The rain cleared just in time, and as the tour moved along the Seine past the city's major sites, a double rainbow appeared over Paris. That's the last image of the trip.
