13 Places to Visit in Paris

When my friend Julie and I were planning our trip to Europe, we were both a little nervous about what Paris would be like. Every time we asked our friends that had been to Paris, they all had different opinions. Some of them said they loved Paris and were dying to go back; others said it was their least favorite part about Europe and would've been fine if they had just skipped it. As you can imagine, this made the two of us nervous - would we like Paris? I'm glad to say, the second we got to our hotel and began strolling through Paris, we instantly fell in love. I personally, would even go as far to say that I liked Paris better than London, and found the Parisians to be nicer than the Londoners. But, that's just my personal opinion; maybe it's just because it's the city of love. Anyway, I wanted to share my favorite 15 places to visit in Paris - hopefully this will give you some fun ideas when you go to Paris too!

1. The Louvre 
The Louvre is a great place if you're super into art. If you're not really into art and you aren't a huge fan of gigantic, massive crowds, then I would recommend just skipping it. My friend and I just stopped outside of it, snapped some pictures, and moved along. We couldn't fathom the thought of pushing through huge crowds only to get a glimpse of the Mona Lisa and find out that, well, it really is only as big as a normal piece of paper. Most people I had talked to told me to just skip the Louvre, so we did. But like I said, if you're really into art then you should totally check it out. There are some wonderful pieces in there.

2. The Eiffel Tower
Obviously if you're in Paris, you will get to see the Eiffel Tower. But, just seeing it isn't enough. One of my favorite things was to stand right beside the Eiffel Tower and to look up into the structure, only to realize how massive it truly is. I've always thought if it as being huge, but my imagination clearly didn't have the capacity to realize how gigantic it was. The Seattle Space Needle is 605 feet high, whereas the Eiffel Tower is 1,063 feet high - that's almost two times the size of the Space Needle! You can go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but you have to pay for it. It is pretty high so if you don't like heights, then you probably shouldn't go up it. But then again, it is a once in a lifetime chance, so it's worth it if you feel passionate about it.

3. The Tuileries Garden
The Tuileries Garden was one of my favorite places we visited in Paris. It's so gorgeous and there's all these vibrant flowers - you can literally stop and smell the roses! There are some really cool lounge chairs scattered about the Garden as well, so you can just lounge around or take a nap or enjoy the scenery. We liked to bring our books and sit and read and soak up the sun on good days. Sometimes they have goats that groom the gardens, so those can be a little fun to see as well.

4. Place de la Concorde
Paris isn't super large, so for the most part you can walk/bike wherever you please and visit places. One of the places we visited was Place de la Concorde. For all you history buffs and/or horror enjoyers, this is the place where a ton of French royalty was guillotined, like Queen Marie Antionette. It's a piece of history, so it's interesting to visit. Plus, there's a pretty fountain, ya know, to help wash away the blood of the beheaded - joking. I'm only joking.

5. Les Invalides
Les Invalides was a retirement home for war veterans during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. It's also the burial place of Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as some members of his family. The building is stunning, and you can physically go inside and see where Napoleon's tiny body is buried.

6. Notre Dame
Notre Dame is just one of the places you must visit while in Paris. The building is stunning to withhold and it's even more beautiful than I had ever imagined. I had always dreamed of going to Notre Dame after reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame, so I was so excited when that dream came true. Our hotel manager told us if we wanted to be as close to God as humanly possible, then we needed to go to the tippy top of Notre Dame. So if you want to seek so called spiritual closeness, then you can go up into the top of Notre Dame. You do have to pay to get inside, and the line can be really long, so plan to spend an hour or two in line. One of our favorite things was to grab a cappuccino and just sit around Notre Dame; it's so relaxing and it's great for people watching too.

7. Shakespeare & Company
I love reading, and so does my friend Julie. So when we heard about the super unique and well-known bookstore Shakespeare and Company, we knew we had to visit. Shakespeare and Company is one of the famous bookstores you see all over Pinterest, and after we saw it, we knew exactly why. There are tons of unique and old books there, and little reading nooks. For a book lover, this is a must visit in Paris. Plus, it's right across the street from Notre Dame, so you can just visit one after the other!

8. Laduree
Laduree is a famous chocolatier place. You can get all sorts of treats and goodies there, especially chocolate! It's just a fun stop when you're craving something sweet but don't want to spend too much money. They also have macarons there too.

9. Angelina
Okay, I have been waiting for the majority of this post to rant about how much I love Angelina. Angelina is a sweet shop, but it's a very high-end sweet shop. It also has the best hot chocolate, ever. So if you love hot chocolate and other goodies, then this is most definitely the place for you. If you just want hot chocolate, they have a little cart outside. If you just want some take out dessert, then you can go inside and buy whatever dessert and candies you wish. But, if you want to be really fancy, you can sit in the restaurant section of Angelina and have some dessert and cocoa. Angelina is usually pretty busy, so it may take a while to get a table. But if there's only two of you, it will happen fairly fast. I totally, one hundred percent recommend going to Angelina - it is every sweet lover's dream.

 
10. Le Relais de l'Entrecote
One of the main reasons we go to Paris, is for the food and the wine, am I right? We were highly excited to go to the city of love and eat our way through the city. We had been told by a friend that if we wanted to have one of the most amazing meals ever, then we had to visit Le Relais de l'Entrecote. They only have one thing on the menu, and that is, steak and frites (fries) with the most mouth watering sauce spread on the steak. People line up hours before the restaurant opens, or else you won't get a seat. But it is totally worth the wait! The food is beyond words, and the wine is wonderful too. This is a must visit place if you love steak and fries and good wine. But it is a little spendy (worth it though, I promise) and you do need to make sure to get there about an hour before it opens so you get a seat and aren't left waiting in the cold.

11. The Royal Palace
For all you castle lovers and fairytale dreamers, the Royal Palace is the place you need to visit. The architecture is brilliant, and the palace is stunning and it's quite grand. Sometimes it can be hard to see if the gates are up, and it can be a little difficult to get there, but it's totally worth it. The picture below isn't mine, but it's the best representation of the Royal Palace.

12. Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
This is not the Arc de Triomphe in the middle of the road in Paris that you can drive under, so keep that in mind. This is a different arc, but it's worth seeing. The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel was created to commemorate all of Napoleon's victories in France. The structure on top is depicting Peace riding in on triumphant chariots, because Napoleon was bringing "peace" to the city. It's worth the stop, and it's massive. It's also really close to the Tuileries Garden, so you can just stop by it on your way out.

13. Les Antiquaries
We're back on the subject of food, but this is a must visit for food lovers. We got this restaurant recommendation from our hotel manager, who told us it wasn't too expensive and the food was top notch. We were so surprised when we arrived at Les Antiquaries to find that our hotel manager had already called ahead and told the waiters that we were coming and to treat us right. We got mushroom risotto and a salad with pancetta, fried goat cheese balls, bacon and pesto. You have to visit this restaurant! It's delicious and the atmosphere is really neat.

I fell deeply in love with Paris, and I hope you fall in love with it as well. For all of you who were wondering, I stayed at the Hotel Verneuil, which is a wonderful place to stay. It's tucked away a little, but it's right in the center of Paris, so everything is must a mile or two away. Here's some pictures of our room and the hotel:

Paris is a wonderful place to visit, and I hope I have given you some good ideas on where to visit and what to check out. There's a lot of other wonderful places to visit in Paris, but we only had a few days to knock all of our destinations out. Hopefully you'll have a little more time and will check out some of the places I listed. Au revior!