The Louvre takes a morning. France takes the rest of your life.
Which Versailles ticket covers the gardens. What the Seine dinner cruises actually feed you. Whether the Loire is a day trip or a base. Reviews of every tour you can book in France.
The Louvre, a boat on the Seine, the Landing Beaches, a Loire château.
Four days a first trip to France is usually built around. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The first morningParis: Louvre Museum Timed-Entrance TicketTimed entry to the Louvre. Take the earliest slot and walk to the Mona Lisa before the room fills up behind you.
02The eveningParis: Seine Cruise & Crepe Tasting near the Eiffel TowerAn hour on the Seine with a crepe, past the Orsay and the Conciergerie, with the tower lit on the way back.
03The long day outNormandy D-Day Sites & Cemetery Day Trip from Paris with LunchOmaha Beach, the American cemetery above it and the batteries along the coast, out and back from Paris in a day.
04The château dayLoire Valley Castles Day Trip from Paris with Complementary WineChenonceau on its arches over the Cher, Chambord in its park, and a cellar somewhere between the two.
Four French monuments, and the ticket that gets you through the door.
The big entries run on timed slots and sell the good ones weeks ahead. What each costs to walk into, and which of them a guide genuinely improves.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · Paris: Versailles Palace and Gardens Full Access Ticket
The LouvreTimed entry, or a guide who takes you straight at the Mona Lisa.
The Eiffel TowerLift to the second floor, stairs when the queue is long, summit if it is clear.
VersaillesPalace and gardens on one pass, forty minutes out on the RER.
Musée d’OrsayThe Impressionists, behind the old station clock.
All 77 tickets and monument tours →
Paris: book the monuments, then leave the afternoons empty.
Everything in Paris →
The queues are the only hard part of this city. Get the timed entries out of the way early, then let the arrondissements happen: a market street, a bridge, a table that turns into two hours.
An hour on the Seine, and what it costs
The cheapest good hour in the city. Boats leave from under the tower and from the Pont Neuf, and the late runs pass the Orsay and the Conciergerie with the lights on.
Montmartre, on foot and after five
The basilica is free and the view is the reason everyone climbs, but the lanes behind it are what the walk is for. Go late, when the cafés put the tables back out.
A food walk through one arrondissement
A baker, a fromager, a charcutier and a wine counter, all inside a few streets. You eat a full lunch without ever sitting down to order one.
The days out more travellers book than anything else in France.
Every tour in France →The tickets and trips that carry the most people through them, and what earns each one the slot.
1
Paris: Louvre Museum Timed-Entrance Ticket
Review of the Louvre timed-entry ticket, with tips on entrances, crowds, the Mona Lisa, value, timing, and planning your visit.
From · $26
Read our review →
2
Disneyland® Paris 1-Day Ticket
from $61
3
Paris: Versailles Palace and Gardens Full Access Ticket
from $17
4
Paris: Evening River Cruise with Music
from $27
5
Paris: Eiffel Tower Entry Ticket with Optional Summit Access
from $29
6
Paris: Eiffel Tower Summit or Second Floor Access
from $59
7
Paris: Louvre Guided Tour with Reserved Access & Boat Cruise
from $81
8
Paris: Moulin Rouge Cabaret Show Ticket with Champagne
from $115
Bordeaux cellars, Montmartre cheese counters, a lunch that runs to four.
Eating is not a break from the sightseeing here, it is most of the reason for the trip. A market walk before the heat, the tasting that finally explains left bank from right, and the long table at the end of it.
- 1Paris: Seine Cruise & Crepe Tasting near the Eiffel Towerfrom $23
- 2Authentic Parisian Gourmet Food Tour with 10 Local Dishes & Winesfrom $102
- 3Loire Valley Castles Day Trip from Paris with Complementary Winefrom $149
What a day out in France actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. A good number of the best French days come in under the fare from the airport.
Monument entry, walking tours, an hour on the Seine and most of the tastings.
The full days out: Versailles with transport, the Loire châteaux, Normandy, a run of Bordeaux cellars.
Private guides, dinner on the river at a window table, and the once-a-trip splurges that earn it.
Paris first. After that, pick a river, a coast or a mountain.
Six bases that each carry a week of their own: the capital, the Riviera, the wine city, the lavender plateau, the Normandy coast and the half-timbered north east. And the best day out from each.
South of Lyon the good day starts in the water.
Limestone inlets you can only reach by hull or on foot, the Esterel coast in red rock, and a Corsican reserve where the boats cut their engines to go in. The Mediterranean end of France runs on a different clock and it books like one.
Three things that happen in France and nowhere else.
Vineyards, gardens and coastline exist everywhere. A classified growth tasted in its own cellar, the garden Monet built in order to paint it, and the beaches of 6 June do not.
The Bordeaux Château Circuit
Bordeaux sells its wine by address. The gravel banks north of the city ripen cabernet, the clay across the river suits merlot, and that is the whole reason Saint-Émilion tastes nothing like Pauillac forty minutes away. Most châteaux take visitors by appointment rather than at the gate, and the afternoon tastings tend to end with somebody else driving.
- 1Bordeaux: Cité du Vin Entry Ticket and Wine Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 3,885 reviews
- 2Bordeaux: River Garonne Cruise with Glass of Wine and Canelé★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,630 reviews
- 3From Bordeaux: Afternoon Saint-Emilion Wine Tasting & snack★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,581 reviews
Monet at Giverny
Monet bought the house at Giverny in 1890 and spent the rest of his life turning the garden into a subject: the lily pond, the Japanese bridge, the wisteria over it. The place shuts for the winter and opens again around the start of April. Early is the hour, before the coaches out of Paris arrive.
- 1From Paris: Giverny Day Trip with Audio Guide or Live Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 2,372 reviews
- 2From Paris: Giverny, Monet’s House, & Gardens Half-Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,174 reviews
- 3Versailles Palace and Giverny Monet House Visit with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 1,948 reviews
The Landing Beaches
Eighty kilometres of Norman coast carry the sites of 6 June 1944: Omaha and Utah, the gun battery at Longues-sur-Mer, the remains of the artificial harbour at Arromanches and the American cemetery on the bluff above Colleville. Most visits run as a full day out of Bayeux or Paris, and a guide is what turns a stretch of sand back into ground.
- 1Normandy D-Day Sites & Cemetery Day Trip from Paris with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,877 reviews
- 2Normandy D-Day Small-Group Day Trip with Omaha Beach, Cemetery & Cider Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,786 reviews
- 3Normandy D-Day Beaches and American Cemetery Day Trip from Paris★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,673 reviews
Four French bookings that will not wait.
Most of a French trip can be decided over breakfast on the day. These four run on timed slots, closing days and seating plans that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Paris: Louvre Museum Timed-Entrance TicketEntry is timed and the museum closes on Tuesdays. The early slots go first, and they are the only quiet ones.
- 02Paris: Versailles Palace and Gardens Full Access TicketTimed entry, closed on Mondays, and the garden fountains only run on the days they are scheduled for.
- 03Paris: Eiffel Tower Entry Ticket with Optional Summit AccessSummit lifts sell out weeks ahead in summer. The stairs to the second floor are the fallback, and they are not a small climb.
- 04Paris: Moulin Rouge Cabaret Show Ticket with ChampagneTwo shows a night, and the tables are assigned when you book. The ones near the stage go months out.
Half of Paris shuts one day a week. Plan the week around it.
The Louvre closes on Tuesdays, the Orsay and Versailles on Mondays, and plenty of kitchens take Sunday and Monday off. None of that is a lost day. It is the day for the river, the market streets, a walk across four arrondissements and a lunch nobody hurries.
By place, from the Channel to the Med
By kind of day, ticket, table, boat or road
Paris, Versailles, the Loire, Bordeaux, Provence, Nice: the run most people do first.
The LoireThe newest French tour reviews.
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