> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://roadme.io/blog/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Paris in Five Days: Landmarks and Another Side of the City - URL: https://roadme.io/blog/paris-five-days-landmarks-another-side/ - Published: 2026-10-13T21:27:13.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-13T21:27:13.000Z - Author: RoadMe - Tags: Itineraries, #paris Five days in Paris give you time to recognise the famous skyline and discover the city between its landmarks. Begin with the historic centre, spend one morning in the Musée d’Orsay, follow the Seine towards the Eiffel Tower, explore Montmartre and finish in Bercy. The last day changes the scale: gardens, former wine warehouses and an expressive cultural building show a different side of Paris. This plan uses five complete city days. Arrival, departure and check-in may leave less time. Its main programme contains one major museum: Orsay. Times are editorial estimates including walks, lunch and rest; accommodation journeys, airport transfers and dinner are additional. ## A five-day Paris itinerary with room to breathe Choose your Orsay date first, then arrange the outdoor days around it. The museum closes on Mondays. If your second day falls on a Monday, exchange it with the Bercy day. Each outing has a named starting station and a finish near another station, so the plan does not depend on repeatedly returning to one central meeting point. > Try [RoadMe](https://roadme.io/?ref=roadme.io) to work out a complete personal trip plan around your dates, interests, pace and budget. One considered programme in the app is much more convenient and effective to use than assembling every day from separate lists. Day 1: **Cité, Pont Neuf, Louvre Pyramid outside, Tuileries** 10am–4pm Day 2: **Orsay, Saint-Germain exterior, Luxembourg Garden** 9am–4.30pm Day 3: **Trocadéro, Eiffel Tower exterior, Pont Alexandre III** 10am–3.30pm Day 4: **Sacré-Cœur, Tertre and the descent to Abbesses** 10am–3.30pm Day 5: **Cinémathèque exterior, Bercy gardens and warehouses** 10am–3.30pm Keep the remaining afternoon and evening for dinner, rest or a favourite place. Consider the next journey and your energy before adding another admission. ## Day 1: Notre-Dame, the river and the Tuileries Start above ground at Cité, on Métro line 4, at about 10am. Follow rue de la Cité south to the western forecourt of Notre-Dame. Allow 15 minutes for the approach and half an hour for the façade. Look at its three portals, the row of figures and the round window. The Gothic cathedral developed between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, with familiar features also shaped by nineteenth-century restoration. The cathedral is an exterior stop. For an interior priority, reserve a separate block and shorten the later walk. Works affect the eastern gardens behind Notre-Dame in 2026; this plan avoids them. Return north along rue de la Cité, follow quai de la Corse west, cross boulevard du Palais and continue along quai de l’Horloge towards Pont Neuf. Reserve half an hour for these connections and 20 minutes beside the bridge. Construction began in 1578 and finished in 1607\. Despite its name, it is Paris’s oldest surviving bridge. Cross its northern arm to the Right Bank. Follow public streets along quai du Louvre west, rue de l’Amiral-de-Coligny north and rue de Rivoli west, then rue de Rohan towards the Carrousel and Pyramid. Allow 35 minutes for this approach and another half-hour for the exterior. I.M. Pei’s glass Pyramid opened in 1989: seeing it against the historic palace makes architectural change easy to understand. Allow 20 minutes to leave the courtyard and reach lunch, an hour for the meal and 15 minutes to an open public Tuileries gate. Spend 75 minutes on selected garden paths, including roughly half an hour seated. Catherine de Medici began the garden; André Le Nôtre later transformed its formal layout. Another half-hour for the exit and approach to Concorde brings the six-hour day to a finish around 4pm. ## Day 2: one museum morning and the Left Bank Begin above ground at Solférino, line 12, at 9am. Walk along rue de Bellechasse towards Orsay. This example assumes a booked 9.30am entry: 15 minutes for the approach and at least another 15 minutes before the slot for checks. Follow the entrance on your ticket. During the 2026–2028 reception works, ordinary timed-ticket visitors use the riverside entrance; some visitor categories use the forecourt entrance instead. A time reservation is strongly recommended for ordinary individual visits. Museum admission is paid. The first Sunday of the month has separate free-entry arrangements requiring a reservation. Check that a suitable slot is available before fixing the day. A purchased ticket does not promise an empty security queue or access to every room and particular artwork. Give the museum three hours, until approximately 12.30pm. Choose a few works or themes and look at the central nave. Built as a railway station for the 1900 World’s Fair, the building became a museum in 1986. Reserve 15 minutes to leave and approach lunch, then an hour for the meal. Walk for roughly half an hour via rue de Bellechasse and boulevard Saint-Germain to the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Allow another half-hour around its exterior and square. Its tower, associated with the period around the year 1000, gives historical depth to a neighbourhood often introduced through its cafés. Continue via rue Bonaparte, rue de Vaugirard and rue Guynemer to a western public entrance of the Luxembourg Garden, allowing half an hour. Spend an hour on selected paths and a 20-minute seated break. Exit towards rue de Médicis on the northeast, cross rue de Vaugirard and follow rue de l’Odéon north. Another 15 minutes brings you to Odéon station around 4.30pm. ## Day 3: the Eiffel Tower as part of the city Start at Trocadéro around 10am. Allow 15 minutes to reach the upper esplanade and half an hour for the view. The tower belongs to a larger composition here: gardens and the Seine separate you from its iron structure. Built for the 1889 World’s Fair, it can be appreciated through changing viewpoints without an ascent. Reserve 35 minutes to descend on open public garden paths, cross Pont d’Iéna and approach the tower. Spend another 45 minutes looking from accessible public paths outside. Do not depend on every Champ-de-Mars lawn being open: parts are affected by improvement works. This budget does not include security for controlled tower grounds or a paid visit upstairs. Allow 20 minutes to approach a lunch location on the avenue de la Bourdonnais side, then an hour for the meal. Continue along upper street pavements via quai Branly and quai d’Orsay to the southern end of Pont Alexandre III. About 65 minutes are reserved for this entire connection. The lower riverside paths are unnecessary to the route. Spend half an hour on the bridge and the crossing to the north bank. Built for the 1900 World’s Fair, its decorative lamps and gilded sculptures provide a useful contrast with the tower’s exposed structure. Add a 15-minute seated pause. Another 15 minutes north along public avenue Winston-Churchill takes you to Champs-Élysées–Clemenceau, lines 1 and 13, around 3.30pm. ## Day 4: Montmartre, including the climb Start at Anvers, line 2, around 10am. Reserve 35 minutes for rue de Steinkerque and the steps by square Louise-Michel. Reaching the hilltop belongs in the day’s budget; it is easy to overlook when an itinerary starts directly outside the basilica. If you prefer the funicular, obtain a suitable valid ticket separately: it is not a transfer from your Métro ride. Allow about 35 minutes for ordinary free admission to Sacré-Cœur, including a possible wait, and 25 minutes for the view outside. The basilica opens daily from 6.30am to 10.30pm, while remaining an active place of worship. Its first stone was laid in 1875 and it was consecrated in 1919\. Romanesque-Byzantine forms offer a contrast with the Gothic architecture of your first day. Photography is prohibited in the central nave; the side aisles and ambulatory have different rules. The dome is a separate paid visit and is absent from this plan. If a service or a long queue changes your visit, enjoy the exterior and preserve lunch time. Do not assume that your whole group can tour every part of the interior without interruption. Allow 20 minutes through the area of rue du Cardinal-Guibert and rue du Mont-Cenis towards Place du Tertre, then 35 minutes around the square. Reserve 15 minutes to approach lunch, an hour to eat and another half-hour to rest. Watch the artists; a commissioned portrait needs extra time. Spend roughly 45 minutes on selected stretches of rue Norvins and the descent along rue Ravignan towards Abbesses. Reserve half an hour for the square and station approach, finishing near line 12 at about 3.30pm. Slopes, steps and uneven paving remain part of the route. For a longer neighbourhood walk, read our [Montmartre half-day itinerary](https://roadme.io/blog/montmartre-half-day-walk-sacre-coeur-abbesses/). ![The surprised mascot looks at Sacré-Cœur with an open palm.](https://roadme.io/blog/content/images/2026/10/roadme-image-203.webp) ## Day 5: a different Paris in Bercy Begin at Bercy Métro, lines 6 and 14, at 10am, rather than the railway station with the same name. Allow 15 minutes southeast along rue de Bercy to the Cinémathèque française at number 51\. Spend 25 minutes on its exterior. Pale stone volumes, curves and the glazed lower level make more sense when you move slightly between viewpoints. Frank Gehry designed the building for the American cultural centre, which opened in 1994\. The Cinémathèque has occupied it since 2005\. Tuesday’s indoor closure does not cancel this exterior stop. The Musée Méliès or a film requires a separate programme if cinema becomes your priority. Allow ten minutes to reach an open park entrance beside Place Léonard-Bernstein. Spend an hour around selected central garden plots, including a 15-minute rest. Planting recalls Bercy’s wine trade. Then reserve half an hour to cross rue Joseph-Kessel on a park footbridge, follow selected romantic-garden paths and exit east towards rue François-Truffaut and Bercy Village. Allow an hour for lunch, 50 minutes among the former warehouses, half an hour for a seated pause and 35 minutes for ordinary exploration of the selected commercial area. A final 15-minute station approach takes you to Cour Saint-Émilion, line 14, around 3.30pm. Low stone gables, paving and old rails show a working landscape given a new purpose. ![The mascot holds a film clapperboard outside the Cinémathèque in Bercy.](https://roadme.io/blog/content/images/2026/10/roadme-image-201.webp) ## Check the calendar and preserve your breaks Garden calendars differ. In October, the Tuileries normally open from 7am to 9pm, with visitors cleared half an hour before closing. Luxembourg closes at 6.45pm on 1–15 October, 6.15pm on 16–24 October 2026 and 5.15pm on 25–31 October. The suggested afternoon exit leaves room, but check the schedule for another date. Bercy’s central and romantic gardens close at 7.30pm on 1–24 October and 5.45pm from 25 October. The large lawns’ round-the-clock opening does not cover the whole park. If gates close, use public streets between the Cinémathèque exterior and Village, shortening the garden part. Our [Bercy walking itinerary](https://roadme.io/blog/bercy-two-hour-walk-park-wine-warehouses-cinema/) offers more neighbourhood context. For rain, rearrange outdoor days around your confirmed Orsay slot. Shorten river stops and enjoy a longer lunch; strong wind can affect garden access. Check the specific route if steps or Métro accessibility matter to you. A lift in one building does not establish access along all five walks. Treat a longer queue as a reason to simplify the remaining day. > Let [RoadMe](https://roadme.io/?ref=roadme.io) build a personal plan for the whole trip around your interests, dates, pace and budget. It is much more convenient to arrange major visits, walks and rest across the days and use one thought-through programme on the move. Preserve time for the city itself: a painting, one street or a memorable view. Agree on a daily priority and a meeting place when companions want different experiences. Five days can leave personal stories as well as landmark names.