5 Fall Days in Paris
A Return Trip for Some of What Was Missed
My first time in Paris was a quick three days (more about it here), just before my wedding in the French countryside in 2017 (more about the wedding here). We flew into Paris with some friends and family in tow and stayed together in a large Airbnb. As you might imagine, there was a lot going on, and while we did make it to Notre Dame — thankfully, since it burned down the following spring — we left Paris having barely seen anything. I've been longing for another crack at the City of Light ever since, for the past eight years.
Fall 2025 finally presented that chance.
The Second-Chance Plan
As part of a larger trip to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France, our time in Paris was split into two parts: two nights and three days at the front end of our trip, and three nights and four days at the back end. We clustered two "must-do" tourist sites into the front end so that we could follow our bliss during the back end, knowing we'd be feeling a bit travel-weary by the time we returned to Paris nearly two weeks later.
The travel plan looked like this:
Day 1 – Depart USA
Day 2 – Arrive in Paris / Visit Eiffel Tower
Day 3 – Evening visit to the Louvre
Day 4 – Depart Paris by train / visit other cities
Day 15 – Arrive in Paris
Day 16 – Shopping
Day 17 – Shopping
Day 18 – Depart Paris for USA
The Front End: Visits to Paris's Top Two Tourist Destinations
I'm a huge advocate for going off the beaten path while traveling, but let's face it — sometimes things are popular for a reason, and there's just no getting around joining the herd. That said, there are ways to mitigate some of the chaos of visiting crowded places, especially if you're flexible and book early.
The Eiffel Tower — Ordinarily, I would never advise making structured plans on your arrival day somewhere new. Too many things can go sideways when traveling, and the last thing you need is the added anxiety of running late for a reservation while stuck in a customs line. I also don't recommend scheduling multiple activities on the same day — but sometimes rules must be bent, and this was one of those occasions.
A bit of backstory: our flight from the US to Paris changed a few days before we left. We were still departing at the same time, but our arrival in Paris shifted by nearly four hours. Unfortunately, when that change happened, we only noticed that the departure time was the same and missed the later arrival time — and the ripple effect it would have on our first day. But such is international travel: you have to expect and accept that things will go wrong.
We landed much later than anticipated, and by the time we were off the plane, through immigration, and on our way to the hotel, we had already missed our prepaid appointment with the travel photographer we had booked. I also learned that Viator has little sympathy for travel hiccups — rebooking was not an option. Anyway, having missed our first reservation — an hour-long walking tour that was supposed to end at the Eiffel Tower — we still had pre-booked tickets to the top of the tower at that same time. We threw our bags in the hotel room, quickly changed out of our travel clothes, and raced over.
It was 5:30 p.m. on a Tuesday in mid-October, and there were still more people than I would have liked, but it was awesome.
One piece of advice: book your tickets directly through toureiffel.paris and nowhere else.
The Louvre — Did you know the Louvre stays open late a couple of evenings per week? I'd heard horror stories about how crowded this museum can get, and I really didn't want to spend our limited time waiting in long lines at an already massive place we'd only get to see a fraction of. With that in mind, we chose a late-entry visit — which, as it happens, was the evening before the tragic theft of the French crown jewels.
I would still describe the museum as "busy," but those who have seen it at peak capacity have assured me that it was, in fact, not. If you watch my vlog of our Paris visit, you'll get a sense of what I mean — lots of people, but never enough to keep us from reaching any area we wanted to see. We had a short list of things we wanted to see and had decided ahead of time not to stay longer than it took to see them, so we wouldn't burn out and leave on a sour note.
In the end, we spent about two and a half hours in the Louvre, which included a stop at the café for a sandwich. We left having seen everything on our list except one piece (which was in a closed exhibit), and felt genuinely thrilled with the experience. Afterward, we walked to a nearby crêpe shop — an absolute gem — followed by an evening stroll along the Seine. Perfect.
Did Someone Say "Shopping?"
It should be considered a minor crime to go to Paris and not go shopping. I'm not saying you have to buy anything, but the experience of shopping in Paris is a whole thing unto itself — magical window displays, niche little specialty stores, and don't even get me started on the clothing. Shopping in Paris is like a love story, and to skip it, a tragedy.
Back in 2017, my only brush with retail was a brief stop at Galeries Lafayette to help my mother-in-law buy underwear she'd forgotten to pack, and a quick detour into a hat shop where I bought a beret. The tragedy of having gone to Paris without really shopping has hung over me like a dark cloud ever since, and I was not going to miss my chance this time around.
For our final few days in Paris before heading home, I had three things on my shopping agenda:
Visit E. Dehillerin — the famous restaurant supply store where Julia Child once shopped
Explore the vintage and resale shops in Le Marais
Make the trek up to Montmartre to see the street artists
I'm happy to say that not only did all three get accomplished, but a few extras as well — including a stop at a Fragonard store to pick up another bottle (my fourth) of what has become my everyday scent, ever since I discovered it on a trip to Grasse in 2022 (more here).
Also worth noting if you're planning a Paris trip in October: the weather can be wildly variable. Of the 16 days we spent in France, the only days it didn't rain were our very first day (when we went up the Eiffel Tower) and the final two days we spent shopping. The dry days were glorious — sunny, crisp fall weather that only called for a cardigan — while the rest of the trip was spent keeping our feet dry and our rain jackets on. The rain did give those of us willing to brave it a slight advantage out on the streets, but the sheer number of wet, windy, rain-in-your-face days will give me pause when planning my next autumn trip.
In Conclusion
To say I've now seen and done everything I want to do in Paris would be completely inaccurate. Paris is one of those places where the more you look, the more you find. Between 2017 and this most recent trip, I've checked off a few of the biggest must-dos, but still not enough to say I truly know the city, even as a traveler. The best I can say is that a combined seven days in Paris is barely enough to scratch the surface.
I'll have more detailed posts about where I shopped and other places we visited coming soon.
Questions? I'd love to hear from you — leave a comment below!
