A couple face the Eiffel Tower in Paris in February

How to spend an amazing Valentines Day in Paris

By Ian Packham

If Paris is a day in the year, it’s surely Valentine's Day. Few other cities can match its reputation for romance, with imagery of the Eiffel Tower inevitably tied with thoughts of marriage proposals and romantic candle-lit dinners.

Thankfully, Valentine's Day in Paris isn’t all hype over substance – the City of Love hardly ever disappoints. And that’s despite the high expectations of Parisians and visitors alike. But to make the most of the big day, nothing should be left to chance. Follow our guide to what’s hot and what’s not for the perfect way to spend La Saint Valentin.

Morning

Image of City, Nature, Outdoors, Scenery, Water, Waterfront, Spire, Tower, Metropolis, Urban, Landscape, Boat, Vehicle, Cityscape,

There’s probably no better way to start Valentine's Day in Paris than by waking up next to your significant other. Treat them to one of Paris’s top hotels, and you’ve also got the possibility of admirable views across the city, and maybe even the Eiffel Tower, once the lazy February dawn has roused itself into being.

Cement your union in the most modern – and Instagrammable – of ways, by taking a selfie beside the millions of padlocks that have been attached to the Pont des Arts. Otherwise known as ‘love lock bridge’, it’s an act few can resist.

You’re now well located to marvel at the marble statuary forming a key component of the collection of the Louvre, or better yet, take in the bridges of Paris from an alternative view by joining a romantic Seine cruise with Bateaux Parisiens.

Lunchtime hours

Image of City, Urban, Person, Road, Street, Bazaar, Market, Shop, Handbag, Plant,

Such a trip will put you in prime position to scale the Eiffel Tower. Climbing its 674 steps to the second stage is sure to generate the appetite you’ll need to fully enjoy the Michelin-starred cuisine at Restaurant Jules Verne. Alternatively, keep your powder dry for the top, where the views extend for miles and a champagne bar does a brisk trade.

If you’d rather save Paris’s ‘Iron Lady’ for sunset, head straight to Montmartre. Views from the Basilica of the Sacré-Coeur may play second fiddle to those from the top of the Eiffel Tower, but as the highest natural point in the city, they are still sublime.

What’s more, as Paris’s traditional enclave of artists and bohemians, romance seems to seep from every cobblestone lane, as you’ll discover on any walk around Montmartre. Stop by the 612 individual blue tiles of Le Mur des Je t’aime (the Wall of I Love Yous) or catch a classic Hollywood love story at a matinee screening at Pathé Wepler movie theater.

Afternoon

Image of Cooking, Food, Pouring Food, Adult, Male, Man, Person,

Drifting south and east, make your way towards a museum like no other in Paris – the Gourmet Chocolate Museum Choco-Story. As you might expect from a museum dedicated to the world of all things chocolate, there’s plenty of opportunities to sample what you see being made before your very eyes.

Then make a date with the city’s artistic institutions. Wander through the elegant side streets of the second arrondissement and it won’t be long until you find yourself face to face with the 16th-Century exterior of the Louvre, possibly the world’s most famous gallery. The 35,000 objects on display include the unmissable Venus de Milo.

If you ticked this off earlier on in the day, you can instead swing by the Place de la Concorde on route to the Rodin Museum. Not only can you take in The Kiss here, but enjoy time in the tranquil and extensive gardens which envelop it.

Early evening

Image of Beverage, Alcohol, Adult, Female, Person, Woman, Drinking, Drinking Alcohol,

Any restaurant with even the slightest chance of an Eiffel Tower view is sure to be booked up months ahead of time in Paris on Valentine's Day. However, Paris has such a reputation for romance, you probably won’t need any help from the ‘Iron Lady’ to maintain the mood.

With most Parisians opting to dine between 8PM and 11PM, you’ve got the chance to sneak in for an early feast should you choose, although the atmosphere may be a little lacking at this time of the evening.

You might prefer to spend the earlier part of the evening with a daiquiri at Bar Hemingway at the Ritz, or with a sidecar at Harry’s New York Bar. Laying its claim to being the oldest cocktail bar in Europe, there’s an atmospheric piano bar in the basement.

But if speakeasy-style bars are somehow not your forte, another option with plenty of romance attached would be a snuggle up together beneath a blanket as you tour Paris by horse and cart to see its landmarks lit up after dark.

Late evening

Image of Outdoors, Urban,

No blankets are needed for nights at the Moulin Rouge and the other well-known cabaret club names back in Montmartre. An extraordinary display of talent at any time of year, these clubs go all out on Valentine's Day.

They put on special nights incorporating all the glitz and glamor you would expect, alongside a fine dining experience, tinkling champagne glasses and the chance to slow dance on their hallowed stages between courses.

In addition, the opera houses of Paris are also at full strength on Valentine's Day. So why not dress up in all your finery and experience the magnificent tones of its opera stars or prima ballerinas, two artforms where the meaning is transmitted through the emotion rather than the language?

Here’s to a successful Valentine's Day in Paris!

Spending February 14 in Paris can create a huge amount of expectation. After all, it’s the most romantic day of the year in the most romantic city in the world. If you’re lucky enough to find yourself in the City of Love for Valentine's Day, you’re sure to want to make an extra special effort for your partner in crime.

But that doesn’t have to mean splashing the cash unnecessarily. Spend your money on what matters by saving on admission to many of Paris’s top attractions. Explore with Go City and you can do just that, without losing any of the flexibility you’ll want for those lingering romantic walks or café visits.

Ian Packham

Continue reading

Moulin Rouge
Blog

Indoor Activities in Paris

Even the sexiest of cities can occasionally have their allure dampened by a downpour, and Paris is no exception. Fortunately, France’s capital is awash with amazing things to see and do indoors – and beneath the streets – when the weather messes with your plans. From cabaret to the catacombs, church tours to cheese and wine tastings, there are more interesting indoor activities in Paris than you might expect. You’ll find a selection of our favorites below. Galleries and Museums Centre Pompidou This cultural mecca’s ‘inside-out’ architecture – all exposed air ducts and pipework in bold primary colors – make it something of a work of art in itself. Visitors can admire the view from a glass-covered external escalator that ascends all six stories. Inside is no less awe-inspiring: the Centre Pompidou houses a cavernous public library, a center for music and acoustic research and, most notably, the National Museum of Modern Art, a collection rivaled in scope, variety and quality only by MoMA in New York. Step inside to admire world-famous works from – deep breath – Picasso, Pollock, Matisse, Magritte, Bacon, de Kooning, Warhol, Sherman and many, many more. Musée du Quai Branly Paris does an impressive line in quirky building exteriors, and the Musée du Quai Branly, set on the Seine’s banks in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, is no exception. Its green wall of vegetation, designed by celebrated botanist Patrick Blanc, covers much of the building’s facade as well as some of the interior. There’s enough foliage to fill a dozen Instagram feeds and that’s before you even get to the astonishing collection of indigenous art and cultural artifacts from around the world, including a monumental medieval Moai head from Easter Island and a brightly decorated Volkswagen from Mexico. Rodin Museum Gallic legend Auguste Rodin is that rarest of creatures: a sculptor who became a household name. Visit the former hotel where he lived out his last years and which now homes many of his finest pieces as well as showcasing some of his own personal collection of artworks by Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet and more. A number of busts as well as career highlights including The Kiss are exhibited inside the Rodin Museum while out in the delightful jardin is where you’ll find his Monument to Balzac and The Thinker brooding among the perfectly sculpted trees and hedges. Going Underground The Paris Catacombs Did you know there’s a secret city deep beneath the streets of Paris that runs to over 130 kilometers of tunnels, passageways, sewers and secret chambers? Not for the faint of heart, the labyrinthine ossuary that comprises the Paris Catacombs lies 20 meters underground and contains the mortal remains of over six million Parisians, relocated here from overflowing Paris cemeteries in the 18th and 19th centuries. Brave the 1.5km circuit through this maze of tunnels for a truly bone-chilling experience. Musée du Vin Grape aficionados will find much to enjoy in the vaulted cellars of the Musée du Vin, not least the part at the end where you’ll get a chance to sample a glass of the good stuff from the museum’s own vineyard. Before that, you’ll learn the history of wine- and Champagne-making in the atmospheric surroundings of these underground limestone caverns, originally used by Order of Minim friars in the 15th Century. Retail Therapy Covered Passages There are 20 or so covered passages to explore in and around Paris’s Grands Boulevards. Designed to attract the city’s more discerning shoppers, these elegant Parisian arcades are masterclasses in 19th-century architecture and engineering. Their many decorative features include glass-and-iron canopies and soaring domes, intricate tiled floors and old-fashioned wooden storefronts. Inside, you’ll discover chic boutiques aplenty, alongside antique emporia, cute cafés and bustling brasseries. Passage du Jouffroy is one of the city’s most popular arcades, with its gleaming geometric tiling, ornate stucco clock and delightful 19th-century Librairie du Passage bookstore, where new and antiquarian books pile up precipitously in corners and defy gravity on the overstacked shelves. There’s even a tiny wax museum, which has been operating here for nearly 150 years. At 190 meters, Passage Choiseul is the longest of Paris’s covered passages. Grab a pain au chocolat and stroll past watchmakers’ windows, jewelry stores and much more along its narrow length. Galeries Lafayette Galeries Lafayette Haussmann elevates your shopping trip from mere retail to a near-religious experience. Marvel at the ornate galleries and cathedral-like five-story atrium that’s topped with a remarkable steel-and-class cupola. Designed by glass artist Jacques Grüber in the early 20th Century, this soaring 43-meter-high masterpiece is the building’s pièce de résistance, flowering out magnificently from the rooftop. There’s a terrace up here, too, from where widescreen views of the city skyline – including the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame Cathedral and Sacré Cœur – reward those with a head for heights. Tours are available. Inside this chic Paris mega-mall, there are 65,000 square meters of big-name boutiques to explore, with luxury brands from Armani to Zadig & Voltaire, plus a Decléor spa, hair salons, Chanel treatment booths and 20+ cafés and restaurants. If that’s not enough to keep you entertained all day long, Galeries Lafayette also offers a range of none-more-Parisian bolt-on experiences including a catwalk fashion show and a macaron-making class, where you’ll learn to make the delicate French fancies, before tucking into your creations. Booking is essential. That’s Entertainment Life is a cabaret, old chum, and nowhere more so than in Paris. No visit here would be complete without experiencing at least one of the dazzling array of cabaret and risqué burlesque shows on offer. Naturellement, the Moulin Rouge with its iconic red windmill is the best-known (and arguably the best), but there are dozens more to choose from, running the gamut from old-fashioned crooners, can-cans and audience sing-alongs to high-octane acrobatics and modern dance. Whichever show you opt for, expect lavish costumes, bags of energy and a healthy dollop of high camp. Cinephiles are also spoilt for choice in Paris, where the majority of cinemas screen movies in their original language with French subtitles, meaning language needn’t be a barrier to catching a classic or enjoying the latest blockbuster. Settle in at atmospheric old picture houses including the Louxor, a stunning century-old mash-up of Egyptian and Art Deco design, and the Grand Rex, home to one of the biggest screens in Europe. Pro-tip: the French word for ‘popcorn’ is ‘popcorn’ so you can even leave the phrasebook at home! Save on indoor activities in Paris Save on admission to Paris attractions with Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram and Facebook for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
The Eiffel Tower framed by fall color
Blog

Paris in November

November might not be the first month you consider for a trip to Paris. Hear us out though – the eleventh month isn’t all doom and gloom. The fall weather may mean you have to spend more time indoors, but with a world-class selection of museums to choose between, that shouldn’t be too much of a hardship. And as visitor numbers thin out, it’s all the easier to have a tête-à-tête with the Mona Lisa or a Van Gogh self-portrait. Paris in November certainly isn’t quiet when it comes to things to do either. Two public holidays and an expansive list of – largely indoor – events are sure to keep you on your toes, whilst the latter half of the month sees Christmas slowly put its festive embrace over the City of Light. Cultural delights When it comes to museums, art lovers visiting Paris in November can rejoice at the number of first-rate galleries, or panic because of the number of first-rate galleries. A common place to start is at the Louvre. But as the second-largest gallery in the world, its 38,000 objects can be overwhelming. Just across the River Seine, the Musée d’Orsay’s works span less than 70 years. It’s no less impressive for that, containing one of the most important collections of impressionist and post-impressionist art in the world, by the hands of luminaries including Renoir, Sisley and Gauguin. To delve into the thought processes and inspiration behind Pablo Picasso’s extraordinary output there’s Paris’s National Picasso Museum. Having lived in the city for over 40 years, its mass of sketchbooks, paintings and sculptures come directly from Picasso’s heirs, having initially formed part of his own private collection. It spans a lifetime of work, from his Blue Period to his surrealist masterpieces. Embrace sunset The nights drawing in during November have their advantages. Amongst them is the ability to experience the City of Light at its most enigmatic and atmospheric – when the sun settles over the French capital and its grand monuments are artificially illuminated. The Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and Sacré-Coeur Basilica are all elegantly lit. A Hop-on Hop-off sightseeing bus tour will save your feet, and also provide a little background to the backdrop of world-famous landmarks. Towards the end of the month, visitors to Paris are also able to experience the switching on of Christmas lights in around 150 streets. The obvious place to start is probably the Champs-Élysées, where no less than a million individual bulbs are draped over the trees. Elsewhere, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and Avenue Montaigne are also reliable sources of festive cheer – and looming credit card limits. Check out alternatives to the high street The shopping doesn’t have to stop just because you head under cover. Some Parisians aren’t even aware of its maze of covered passageways. These decorative arcades host a fantastic array of independent stores, from jewelers to secondhand booksellers. You’ll also find a number of authentic cafés and bistros, whether you’re desperate for chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) or steak frites (steak and fries) and a glass of red wine. If the hot chocolate got you in the mood for all things cocoa based, you’re in exactly the right city. The history of how the odd-looking bean became one of the world’s most desirable crops can be discovered at The Gourmet Chocolate Museum Choco-Story. Meanwhile, the Salon du Chocolat fair at the end of the month sees five full days of chocolate-related fun. If the wines of France are more your cup of tea (to mix our metaphors), turn your attention to the city’s myriad caves (wine cellars). The third Thursday of November is the annual date set for the release of Beaujolais nouveau, and connoisseurs throughout Paris race to be the first to taste its youthful bouquet. Experience Paris on a day off ‘Beaujolais Day’ isn’t a national holiday – yet. However, Paris does have two bona fide jour fériés to prepare for in November. It begins with La Toussaint (All Saints’ Day) on the first of the month. With offices, stores and restaurants closed for the day many families pay their respects to lost loved ones. Visitors might instead make a short pilgrimage to heroes including Oscar Wilde or Jim Morrison of The Doors at Père Lachaise cemetery in the 20th arrondissement (district). The second national holiday lies ten days later on November 11. Commemorating the end of the First World War in 1918, Armistice Day focuses on the Arc de Triomphe. The French President lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the main arch. Further details of this time reveal themselves at the Musée Clemenceau, the former home of the French wartime prime minister. A giant of his day, Georges Clemenceau counted Claude Monet among his friends, and supported Alfred Dreyfus during the affair bearing his name which rocked France at the turn of the twentieth century. Get set for Christmas In addition to the arrival of its Christmas lights, Paris in November sees the appearance of many other seasonal activities more usually associated with December. Stores big and small, budget and luxury, compete against one another to have the most alluring window displays, with the large department stores renowned for going all out on the decorations. At the same time, Alsatian-style chalets start to appear in various public spaces as Paris’s Christmas markets take form. The Tuileries Garden hosts one of the largest, combining funfair rides, souvenirs and a decent supply of vin chaud (mulled wine). The La Défense district’s version welcomes an amazing 350 different stalls, alongside a large outdoor ice rink. The Grand Palais opposite the Eiffel Tower is turned into one giant indoor ice rink from around the middle of November, with music and light displays some evenings. Other outdoor rinks include those at Le Plaza Athénée and the rooftop of the Galeries Lafayette flagship store on Boulevard Haussmann. Get the most out of Paris in November Brilliant museums, dazzling night-times, wondrous foods and the start of the Christmas festivities. Is there anything that could make November in Paris any better? How about savings on admission to many of its top attractions? Explore with Go City and that’s exactly what you get!
Ian Packham
Rear view of man with arm around woman in foreground, overlooking Eiffel Tower
Blog

Things to do in Paris for a birthday

Whether you’re looking for romance, fun, or simply chic celebrations, if you’re wondering what to do in Paris on your birthday, unwrap our ideas and tear the ribbon off our recommendations.
Jo Cooke

Have a 5% discount, on us!

Sign up to our newsletter and receive exclusive discounts, trip inspiration and attraction updates straight to your inbox.

Thick check Icon