Paris in 4 days

Notre-Dame is the cathedral of Paris brought back to life: reopened in late 2024 after the restoration of the century, it shows pale stone and freshly cleaned vaults that can be seen like this only once in a lifetime. Entry is free but comes with a timed slot to book on the official app: take the first one of the day and keep the confirmation saved offline on your phone — at 9 the nave is almost yours, and the morning light on the new stone repays the early alarm on its own. The tower climb is booked separately. You have a comfortable two hours before the next stop: the Sainte-Chapelle is seven minutes away on foot, on the same island.

Suggested time here: 1h 53m

The Sainte-Chapelle is the thirteenth-century glass box hidden inside the Palais de Justice: Saint Louis built it to house the Crown of Thorns, and its 15 windows tell more than a thousand biblical scenes. The itinerary places it at the end of the morning for a precise reason: it's the hour when the sun comes in full and the windows catch fire — the very show you come for. The ticket costs €13 and is worth booking online: the real queue here isn't at the till but at the Palais security checks, which the booking skips. Three quarters of an hour inside, nose in the air, is enough. Then you pass behind the apse of Notre-Dame and over the Pont Saint-Louis: fourteen minutes towards the quietest island.

Suggested time here: 1h 1m

The Île Saint-Louis is the island that stayed in the seventeenth century: a single central street, period mansions and the historic ice-cream makers Parisians pass down through generations. After a morning of cathedral and stained glass it's the right pause: a slow loop of Rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île, with nothing to visit and perfect precisely for that — here the programme is browsing shop windows, choosing your ice-cream flavour and letting the island do the rest. It's the natural bridge between the two banks, and should be taken that way, unhurried: then you cross the Pont Marie and take Rue Malher into the heart of the Marais — twelve minutes, and lunch is served.

Suggested time here: 48 min

Rue des Rosiers is the street of the Marais's old Jewish quarter, and at lunchtime it's at its best: between here and Rue des Écouffes you eat falafel, pastrami and Ashkenazi pastries, often standing, following the most reliable rule in the quarter — join the longest queue, always a good sign around here. It's the right lunch for the day: quick, honest and unlike anything else on the trip. All around, the Marais boutiques are made for the digestive stroll: the Musée Carnavalet, next stop, is four minutes away.

Suggested time here: 1h 41m

The Musée Carnavalet is Paris telling its own story: the history of the city in two Renaissance mansions of the Marais, from Roman times through the Revolution to Proust's bedroom. And it's free, like all of Paris's municipal museums: two hours well spent without paying a euro, on an afternoon that asks for no tickets at all. Recently renovated, it's a pleasure to walk through: take the rooms in order and the city you've been walking since this morning falls into line by itself — the squares, the boulevards, the revolutions. On the way out, the Place des Vosges is five minutes on foot.

Suggested time here: 1h 40m

The Place des Vosges is Paris's first royal square, completed in 1612: 36 identical pink-brick pavilions above the arcades, the lawn in the middle and Parisians stretched out in the sun whenever the season allows — in spring it already does. It's the quiet drawing room of the Marais: you sit on the grass, take in the symmetry and understand why in four centuries nobody has wanted to change it. Under the arches, art galleries to browse for free and Victor Hugo's house, also free to enter: half an hour among the writer's mementoes, if curiosity calls. Dinner is ten minutes away, in a Marais that is lighting up in the meantime.

Suggested time here: 2h 35m

In the evening the Marais lights up, and the best of it gathers between Rue Vieille-du-Temple and Rue des Archives: neighbourhood bistros, wine bars and world kitchens one door after the next, with tables spilling onto the pavements. The rule about tables matters here more than anywhere: book, or show up by 7:30 pm — after that, the good spots go fast. It's the right close to the first day: everything happened within a square kilometre, without a single metro ride, and even the way back is a stroll — the hotel area, towards Châtelet, is within walking distance.