Not long ago, a good friend of mine called and said, “I’m flying to Thailand and I have a 6-hour layover in Paris. What do you recommend I do?” I immediately thought of the famous urban legend about the American tourist who walked into the Paris tourist office and asked the clerk the same question. “Madame,” the clerk said with a straight face, “I suggest you go to the banks of the Seine, sit down, and start crying.”
So is that what I told my friend to do? Of course not 🙂
After finding out who he was traveling with and what hours he’d actually have in Paris, I built him a special route. I want to share that same route with you, in case you or your friends ever find yourselves in Paris for less than 24 hours.
A Paris layover: a few assumptions before we start walking
The route ahead is built on a few assumptions about your layover. Some of these might not apply to you. If that’s the case, try adapting the route to your own needs, and if that doesn’t work, feel free to browse the other Paris walking itineraries I’ve put together and adjust one of them to fit. Another option is to head to the Paris attractions page on the site, pick one attraction, visit it, and head back to the airport.
So, after that introduction, here are the assumptions behind this itinerary:
You have a long layover in Paris (more than 5 hours)
If your layover runs 4-5 hours or less, I’d recommend dropping the idea of heading into Paris and just staying at the airport. In theory, you could get from the airport into Paris in about half an hour and back in another half hour. But in practice, it rarely works out that smoothly. There’s always a chance you’ll get turned around, the train will run late, a sudden strike will break out, or some other small disaster will happen. It’s just not worth the stress.
Got only a few hours? Go grab a cup of coffee, browse the duty free, read a book, and board your next flight. Paris will patiently wait for the next time you visit.
You’re not arriving in the middle of the night
If you land between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. and only have a few hours, I’d recommend skipping the trip into the city. Public transit doesn’t run overnight (it stops around 1 a.m.), which makes getting to and from the airport a lot more expensive. On top of that, Paris isn’t quite a city that never sleeps, and by midnight most venues are closed and many parts of town feel pretty deserted. So if you were picturing a “midnight in Paris” layover tour, I’d think twice.
You’re arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport
Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) is Paris’s main airport, and most international flights to far destinations like the Americas or East Asia pass through it. The big advantage of this airport is that it’s connected to central Paris by a direct suburban train line (RER B). That gets you into central Paris in just over half an hour, as long as you take the express train and not the local one that stops at every station along the way.
If you’re arriving at Orly Airport instead, you’ll need to adapt the route I’m about to describe to fit your airport transfers. To understand the adjustments, I recommend reading the route as written first, and at the end I’ll explain the changes needed to adapt it for Orly Airport.
This route is modular
Since some of you will have 5-6 hours and others 8-12 hours or even more, and since everyone walks at their own pace, I decided to build a fairly long route that works for travelers walking quickly and spending a good chunk of time in Paris. But, as you’ll see, I’ve added several exit points along the way where you can head straight back to the airport. That way, you can take only the parts of the route that are relevant to you and pace it to your own schedule.
A 4-5 hour walking route for travelers with a layover in Paris
So, after all those introductions, it’s time for the route itself. From Charles de Gaulle Airport, take the RER B train. The station is in Terminal 2, and to get there, just follow the signs marked Gare SNCF. You can easily buy tickets at the station using the self-service machines, and once you’ve done that, head to the right platform and wait for your train.
Important: make sure to take only the train that goes directly to Paris, not the local one. That saves you quite a bit of time, since the local suburban train stops at every single station, making it especially slow. You can tell which train is which by checking the monitor showing which stations the train will stop at (the fewer stops between the airport and Gare du Nord, the better).
Get off at the Les Halles station and come up to street level at the Porte Saint-Eustache exit. We’ve started the tour!
In place of a map: under each stop’s heading you’ll find its address, and every address is a link. Click it, and the location will open right away in Google Maps.
Rue Montorgueil and Saint-Eustache Church
rue Montorgueil, and 2 impasse Saint-Eustache
Once you come up out of the metro, you’ll see the magnificent Saint-Eustache Church in front of you, which I consider one of the 10 churches in Paris you must see. If the church is open, feel free to step inside and enjoy its stunning beauty and often excellent music (if someone happens to be practicing on the organ).
Once you leave the church, I suggest finding somewhere good to eat (after all, nobody’s counting on airplane food, right?). You’ll be happy to discover that Rue Montorgueil is one of the most food-focused streets in Paris, packed with boulangeries, pâtisseries and fromageries. If you’d rather sit down at a restaurant, let me recommend one of these two:
- Au Pied du Cochon, a legendary Les Halles restaurant from the days when Irma la Douce used to wander the area and workers unloading goods at the wholesale market would stop in for onion soup. The wholesale market moved to Rungis long ago, but the legendary onion soup, which some say is the best in Paris, is still there.
- Lobster Bar, located on the same street as Au Pied du Cochon, just a few minutes’ walk away. It serves excellent seafood at perfectly reasonable prices.
- Le Cochon à l’Oreille, an excellent French bistro just a bit north of Saint-Eustache. Besides great food and warm service, you’ll find painted tiles there showing what the wholesale market used to look like in its day.
The Pont Neuf
pont Neuf, and place Dauphine
Once you’re done eating, head back to Saint-Eustache Church and cross the park heading south. Walk south on rue de Pont Neuf, and keep an eye out at number 31, where a plaque marks the (supposed) birthplace of the famous playwright Molière (1622-1673) (others claim he was actually born on Rue Saint-Honoré 96, where there’s also a plaque, but that’s not on our route).
Continue straight to the bridge and cross it. If you’d like to learn a bit about this remarkable bridge, check out the article Pont Neuf: The Revolutionary Bridge That Changed Paris. It’s a great spot to look west and see the Louvre, the Pont des Arts, the Left Bank, and the Eiffel Tower.
If you’d like to rest a bit, head down into the Vert Galant garden, and if not, step into the charming Place Dauphine, once home to Yves Montand and Simone Signoret. If you didn’t eat around Rue Montorgueil, feel free to sit down at La Rose de France, a lovely little restaurant right on the square.
Île de la Cité and Notre-Dame
Once you’re done at Place Dauphine, walk east along the banks of the Seine until you reach Boulevard du Palais. On the corner, you’ll see the oldest clock tower in Paris. Head south on the boulevard and take a look at the impressive buildings of the courthouse and Sainte-Chapelle. If you have time, if the line isn’t too long, and the weather is nice, it’s worth going inside Sainte-Chapelle. Another option is to visit the flower market east of the courthouse (cross the street and keep walking straight with the courthouse behind you). After the flower market (which turns into a bird market on Sundays), go back to the boulevard, turn south, and walk to the banks of the Seine. Turn east there and keep walking straight until you reach Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Until recently, I would have recommended going inside the cathedral, but on April 15, Notre-Dame caught fire and is currently closed to visitors. Instead, I recommend walking east along the south side of the cathedral until you reach the Pont de l’Archevêché.
Cross the bridge to the Left Bank while looking at Notre-Dame and the damage caused by the fire. If the sight of the scorched cathedral makes you want to treat yourself to something sweet, let me recommend the excellent pâtisserie A. Lacroix, located at 11 Quai de Montebello.
Square René-Viviani and Shakespeare & Company
square René-Viviani, and 37 rue de la Bûcherie
Continue west on Quai de Montebello and cross the street toward Square René-Viviani. If the weather is nice and you feel like resting for a bit, this is simply a wonderful spot, thanks to the flowers, the view of Notre-Dame, and the oldest tree in Paris, which stands right there.
Once you’ve enjoyed this lovely garden, feel free to continue west to the Shakespeare & Company bookstore. You’ll find a wonderful bookshop there and a charming café (if all the food so far wasn’t enough for you). If you’re not a book lover, just keep heading west until you reach the Saint-Michel metro station.
Check your watch: is it time to head back to the airport? If so, go down into the station and take the RER B toward Charles de Gaulle Airport. Still have some time left? Let’s keep going.
Musée de Cluny, the Sorbonne, and the Luxembourg Gardens
28 rue Du Sommerard, place de la Sorbonne, and jardin du Luxembourg
Head south on Boulevard Saint-Michel, and glance left to see the Roman baths. Continue a bit further and turn left onto rue de Sommerard. You’ll find a charming little square there, and to your left, Musée de Cluny, dedicated to the Middle Ages. If you have time, go inside the museum, and if not, just sit in the lovely garden across the way. And while you’re there, go find the statue of Michel de Montaigne, rub his foot, and make a wish. If it works for the students of the Sorbonne, it just might work for you too :).
Once you’re done rubbing Montaigne’s foot, go back along rue des Écoles toward Boulevard Saint-Michel and continue south. On your left, you’ll see the grand main entrance of the University of Paris, better known as the Sorbonne. The guard won’t let you in, but you can at least enjoy the lovely square and its cafés.
Keep heading south until you reach the Luxembourg Gardens. Feel free to go in and enjoy one of the loveliest gardens in Paris. If you happen to have time, you’re welcome to follow the walking route through the Luxembourg Gardens that I put together with the kind help of Yoel Thamanlis.
Time to head back to the airport? Right outside the Luxembourg Gardens is an RER B station that will take you to Charles de Gaulle. Still got time and some energy left in your legs? Keep going.
Montparnasse
Leave the Luxembourg Gardens and continue south along Avenue de l’Observatoire. Enjoy the garden and the lovely statues inside it (some of them by the famous sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, about whom Amiram Tzabari wrote the article Carpeaux’s Scandalous Dance). Continue on to the statue of General Ney and the famous café La Closerie des Lilas, once a favorite spot of Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). From here, you have two options:
The first option, if you have enough time, is to follow the Montparnasse walking route, which starts not too far from here. If you don’t have the time or energy for that, head into the Port Royal station and take a train back to Charles de Gaulle Airport.
And that wraps up the route. I hope you enjoyed it.
Two questions you’ll probably have after reading this
Before we wrap up, here are two questions I suspect quite a few of you are already asking. So let me get ahead of them 🙂
What if you land at Orly Airport?
You probably remember that before I laid out the route, I mentioned my assumption that you’d be landing at Charles de Gaulle Airport. If you land at Orly instead, I recommend taking the Orly Bus from the airport to Place Denfert-Rochereau. From there, go down into the metro station of the same name and take the RER B toward Charles de Gaulle Airport. Get off at Les Halles and start the tour.
When it’s time to head back, take the RER B heading south from Saint-Michel, Luxembourg, or Port Royal station, get off at Denfert-Rochereau, and take the Orly Bus to the airport. Another option, if you’d rather not deal with too much public transit, is simply to take an Uber to Orly Airport. It’s not too expensive and should take around 25 minutes (assuming there’s no traffic, of course).
What if you really want to go up the Eiffel Tower?
In that case, from Charles de Gaulle Airport take the RER B to Saint-Michel station. From there, take the RER C toward Versailles and get off at the Eiffel Tower station. Since the lines can be long and your time is especially short, I highly recommend buying tickets in advance. You’ll find various ticket options in the article covering attractions in the 7th arrondissement.
After going up the Eiffel Tower, if you still have enough time left, you’re welcome to follow the Art Nouveau walking route, which starts not too far from the tower. For the bold and those with time to spare, I recommend the walking route in the footsteps of Julia Child, which will eventually bring you close to the Les Halles station, where you can catch a train back to the airport.
Got a taste of Paris and fell in love?
If you’ve decided your next layover needs to turn into a real trip, everything you need to plan it is in the Paris guide I put together for you.
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