Just about anything posted on TA is questionable. How crowded things will be, especially in Versailles, will depend on your dates, which are still a mystery to us.

Sorry it's August 17th to the 21st, and the guide is this! http://promptguides.com/paris/guides/five_day_guide.htm

Sorry about the confusion.

hi, Daniel, I think a couple of your days are kind of crazy, sorry. You plan to go to 3 museums on Monday, for example. Have you ever done that in your life, go to 3 art museums in one day? Not as much fun as you'd think. And one is the Louvre, which is humongous, and the Pompidou is large, also.

Sunday and Tuesday look fine. Your arrival day looks too ambitious to me, but if you haven't gotten off a major transatlantic flight with jet lag -- then maybe it's okay. I presume you mean just look at the Eiffel Tower.

I think Friday is also too many museums--again 3 museums, 2 major and 2 devoted to art I am assuming you know inside Invalides is a major military museum, and that's why you are going there. It is very good, I like it a lot. If not, I would never go there just to look at Napoleon's casket, if that's what you had in mind.

I think you could drop the Pantheon (although that day isn't bad), the Rodin and the Picasso museums, if pressed. At least I would, but I don't like Picasso that much and there is plenty of his art elsewhere (including no doubt in other museums you are visiting, I believe some of his works are also in the Pompidou). Now if you are a die-hard Picasso buff, you will feel differently, of course. I like the Pompidou a lot, but I do like modern art.

As for Versailles on Sunday, if you think you would really really like that music thing, it might be worth it. I don't really care that much about that kind of thing, so just go when it is most convenient to me. I don't think it is livee, I thought it was canned and coming out of speakers, and I also thought it was on Saturday as well as Sunday. I thought the big deal was not the music so much but the fountains which aren't run all the time. They do the fountain plus music show on weekends in the summer. I think the reason to go is to see the fountains, not hear that music. Sure, why not, I went on Sunday a couple years ago even though I didn't have to, and the crowds didn't bother me that much. But I think you can choose Saturday, also.

this seems mad for me for the first day in Paris:

<<- Musee d'Orsay

- Hotel des Invalides

- Musee Rodin

- Place de la Concorde

- Jadin des Tuileries

- lunch at Lina's, dinner at L'Ardoise>>

absolutely knackering to do that lot, AND two restaurant meals on a first day. you'd probably need the next day doing nothing to recover.

a much better day might be les invalides, eiffel tower, musee rodin, boat trip on the seine, [say the batobus] down to the Jardins des Plantes for a walk.

in a place like Paris, in the heat of august, you need to pace yourselves.

the boat trip up the canal st, Martin would also be pleasant.

A number of years ago, we happened by the Versailles fountains when the maintenance people were testing them out. Quite impressive. Seeing the show is on our list of eventual to do's but having seen a few French Sound and Light presentations and not being particularly fluent in loudspeakered French, I haven't done it yet.

As to the Picasso Museum, it's one of my favorites, mainly due to the sculpture. The St. Martin Canal ride is for a day when you want to do nothing much. It's pleasant, that's all.

And any attempt to do multiple museums in a day will lead to Louvre disease, where your eyes actually do glaze over, shortly before they explode. Don't do it, unless they are the small museums.

I would read through a guide book describing the various places you have listed and try to decide which places are your priorities. Day 2 is much too busy.

Not to refute Christina, but I would pick the Rodin museum over the Pompidou but that is because Rodin's sculptures interest me more than modern art. I mention this because, as you can see, there are so many wonderful sights to see in Paris that you will have to pick and choose and save some for another visit.

So, try to figure out your "must sees' and then your "if I have time" lists and allow for a little strolling and soaking up the ambiance of Paris time. Also, do double check which days museums are open because they are often closed one day during the week.

Thanks so much for your help everyone! I'm actually getting there the night before from Nice, so there won't be any jetlag or wasted time in the hotel, and I also have an extra day, where I can maybe break day 2 into 2 days or break all of them to make them even.

I will actually try the guidebook or an online version to decide. Also, about Versailles, yes, the thing that interests me the most are the fountains.

Yes, I totally agree with not doing more than one museum unless it is smaller, I will try to break those out. I will post my itinarary again with dates to make it more clear.

Thanks!
Daniel

This is my itinerary

- arrive in paris Aug 15

- Friday August 16 the following
Trocaddero Gardens, Eifel Tower, Parc Du Champ, Musee Rodin, Hotel des invalidades. Grand and Petit Palais, Arch of triumph.

- Saturday Aug 17
Verssailles

- Sunday
Musee dorsay, pere cementery, montmare, sacre-coeur

-Monday Aug 18
Louvre, Tuileires Garden, Hotel de Ville, La madelien, Opera Garnier, Galeries Lafayette.

-Tuesday Aug 19
Notre Dame, Tower of Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, La Conciergerie, Luxemburg Gardens, Boat trip to Seine

-Wednesday Aug 20
Army Museum, Musee de l'orangie, Centro Pompidou, Pantheon.

- Thursday Aug 21
Leave Paris

What do you guys think of this itinerary, also any other way to skip lines? buy tickets ahead of time or anything?

The Picasso Museum has been closed for a couple of years for renovation. I had not heard that it has reopened.

It's hard to give advice because you have misspelled just about every place you want to visit so badly that it's hard to figure out where you're going. But basically,

<<- Friday August 16 the following
Trocaddero Gardens, Eifel Tower, Parc Du Champ, Musee Rodin, Hotel des invalidades. Grand and Petit Palais, Arch of
Trumph.>>

I don't know what you're expecting, but if by the "Parc du Champ" you mean the Champs du Mars, it's just a flat, grassy area around the Tour Eiffel. No reason to go there. That's a busy day.I can spend a few hours at least at Les Invalides and its attendant downstairs museums.

- Saturday Aug 17
Verssailles

OK, but it's called Versailles.

- Sunday
Musee dorsay, pere cementery, montmare, sacre-coeur

Not going to happen. Musée d'Orsay will take about 2 hours even if you're not fascinated. Then you have to get to Père Lachaise, which I assume you are referencing, which will take time -like 3 hours or so - and then you are going to Montmartre? NOT going to work.

-Monday Aug 18
Louvre, Tuileires Garden, Hotel de Ville, La madelien, Opera Garnier, Galeries Lafayette.

Well, at least you managed to group things around a single area.

-Tuesday Aug 19
Notre Dame, Tower of Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, La Conciergerie, Luxemburg Gardens, Boat trip to Seine

Good, but Sainte-Chapelle is only good when it's sunny outside. I don't know what you mean by "boat trip to Seine."

-Wednesday Aug 20
Army Museum, Musee de l'orangie, Centro Pompidou, Pantheon.

I thought you had already planned a trip to Les Invalides previously

You have 2 multiple museum days planned. Wednesday has 3. Friday has 4! And you will be spending a lot of time running all over to get from one to another.

You are the unwitting victim of "kid in the candy shop" syndrome and are heading for a tourism tummy ache. There are too many things to want, and too few weeks to do them in.

I suggest remaking your list not by days but by types of sights. You have 6 days, less one for Versailles. So for each type of sight, pick the top 5, and a second tier of 5 more, depending on opportunity and time and your energy level. Mark each for closure days. Mark also for good weather sights and bad weather sights. Then regroup by location. At that point your day plans will be evident.

Then, when you get up, if the weather is nice, do a good weather day. If not so nice, do an indoor day. And, if the weather changes, change lists.

I figure you'll finish your list by your third trip to Paris.

Thank you so much everyone for your help. That's what I was afraid of. I saw that guide that seemed really nice, but I was afraid that there were so many things that at the end I will see too much, but not see anything at all.

Yes, do rethink the days you have 2 major museums to cover. Go to the one you think you'd like best first.

I agree about leaving some wiggle room in case the day disappears before you've covered your scheduled visits. A day with nothing planned might work or some time in the afternoon. Remember also, the long lunch hours that can affect church closings.

It took us 2 trips to Versailles and we still had a couple of things left to see. The major museums are huge. As we got older, we took a cab to the furtherest thing and worked our way back on foot or by bus.

You haven't used the word "we" so I'm assuming you're on your own so you can go at a faster pace. I agree with the other advice above as well.

ok. let's try again, this time trying to group things together more efficiently: and i've just spotted that your dates go wrong around sunday, but no matter]

Thurs Aug 15 - arrive in paris

Fri Aug 16 - Trocadero Gardens, Eiffel Tower, Champ du Mars, Musee Rodin, Hotel des Invalides

Saturday Aug 17 - Versailles

Sunday Aug 18 - Musee d'Orsay, Luxemburg Gardens, Pantheon.

Monday Aug 19 - Louvre, Tuilleries Garden, La Madalene, Opera Garnier, Galeries Lafayette.

Tuesday Aug 20 - Notre Dame plus Tower, Saint Chapelle, La Conciergerie, Boat trip on Seine,

Wednesday Aug 20 - Musee de l'orangie, Grand and Petit Palais, Centre Pompidou

Thursday Aug 21 - Leave Paris

That leaves you with the following:

Arch of triumph, Pere-Lachaise Cementery, Montmartre, Sacre-Coeur, Hotel de Ville,

personally i would drop the Grand et Petit Palais and the Pompidou Centre from Wednesday, and go up to Montmartre instead, unless there is an exhibition at the Grand Palais that you really must see. [and if it's a very popular one, you may need to get tickets in advance - they often have evening openings which are worth looking out for]. The others you could leave to another time.

You will have seen everything in Paris but whether you will have enjoyed Paris may be another question.

[sorry about leaving in some of the odd spellings but i got bored with altering them!]

@TDudette Thank you. I completely agree, I don't wanna visit 2 museums in one day. It is actually me, my wife, my brother and his girlfriend, so yeah, it'll be hard to conviced them all to do the same thing. (all mid 20s to early 30s)

@annhig Thank you so much! that is extremely helpful, and so much better than what I have. What would you suggest doing with the ones we left out Arch of triumph, Pere-Lachaise Cementery, Montmartre, Sacre-Coeur, Hotel de Ville. Not worth it with the time I have? I'll try the Montmartre instead of the Pompidou Center, I've heard that a lot. Do you feel this is still way too much to do? or I should be able to do it all and still enjoy my time?

@Gretchen That's my greatest fear

Then I suggest you build your own itinerary based on what you want to do. Get a guide book--I like the DK Eyewitness for a start because the way it is organized, you can see a number of sites that are within an area so you stay in one area to "do" that.
Then I like the Michelin Green Guide for deciding what to see in museums (and other things) but their museum descriptions of wings, areas are very helpful to mapping what I want to see IN the museum.
Then there are the times sitting in a cafe just people watching and seeing what makes Paris Paris.
Do you just love modern art--that is the Pompidou. Do you just love Impressionists--that is the Orsay. You cannot see all of every museum. You will have to choose.
Montmartre is worth a quick morning to see what the hoopla is and a view from Sacre Coeur. It is interesting but this is far from the prettiest church in Paris.
Pere Lachaise--maybe. Look at areas and see if you can pick some things for YOU,

dsauna - it all depends, as gretchen says, on what YOU want to do and also on how much energy you have.

for example, imagine you've just walked through the Tuilleries, and see the Champs Elysees stretching before you, with the Arc de Triomphe shining in the sun at the end. you've loads of energy and can't resist walking up to inspect it. Great! do it.

OTOH, perhaps you've slogged through the Louvre, are throughly fed up and just want a nice rest in a cafe in the sun in the Tuilleries - then do that instead.

you really won't now til you get there. this is why it's useful to have fall-back plans and an idea of how to get from one place to another.

but unless you have a strong interest in modern art, you may feel that the pompidou Centre is something you could leave for another time. Montmartre, OTOH is fun, and the view from sacre Coeur alone, IMO, is worth the effort of getting up there.

However, better than both, to me, is the Place des Voges and the house of Victor Hugo, which isn't on your list at all! but that applies to any number of wonderful places in Paris, most of which you couldn't see in a lifetime of visits. in the end, any visit is a compromise - you'll never see it all.

Thanks so much guys! yes I was thinking about it. I live very close to NY, and have access to MOMA and the MET every time. I would love to see all of the museums, but I know after a couple of those i will get tired. I would love to see for example Rodin museum, I've heard the building and the garden itself is beautiful enough to take pictures and give it a quick look. I will spend more hours in the Louvre and Musee de Orsay.

I will buy a guidebook to visit the museums more efficiently. I remember going to MOMA in New York, and paying attention to every detail in the first few floors (modern art) and after 4 hours I made to the last floor where all of the important pieces were, I was so tired, I couldn't pay attention to any of it. I really wanna avoid that.

You are on both the road to Paris and the road to wisdom. It is at last the right time for me to give you the real secret key to enjoying Paris: Have a different pastry every day.