Paris was my fifth stop on my backpacking trip in Europe to celebrate graduating university with two of my best friends! Before Paris, we started in Lisbon, Portugal, and then spent two days in Madrid, three days in Lyon, France, a day trip in Geneva, Switzerland, and then took a train at night to Paris. You can read more about those trips here!
This was my second time in Paris, and I was super excited to see the city again because I will be moving here at the end of summer to be an au pair for a year. I also had plans to meet up with my host family during my visit!
In this blog, I will be sharing my full detailed itinerary for spending two days in Paris while backpacking Europe on a budget!
Our Itinerary at a Glance:
Day 1:
Breakfast at Angelina’s (is it worth it?)
Champs Elysées and the top of the Arc de Triomphe
Notre Dame and Hôtel de Ville
Dinner & a Speakeasy!
Day 2:
Starting our morning at the Louvre
Picnic at the Eiffel Tower
Meeting my host family for an aperitif
Last dinner in Paris
Day 3:
Flying to Milan, Italy
Day 1:
Breakfast at the Famous Angelina’s
Since we arrived in Paris late at night on a Monday, we settled into our Airbnb so that the next day we’d be refreshed for exploring.
We started our first day off in Paris trying out the famous Angelina’s café! If you use any sort of social media, you’ve probably seen videos of this café many times. They’re known for their rich and indulging hot chocolate with mounds of whipped cream. My friends and I had been drooling over these videos for at least a year, so we knew that when we went to Paris we needed to try it.
We didn’t make reservations before hand, I’m not sure if you can, but we waited in line for about 15-20 minutes before being seated around 10-11am on a Tuesday, not bad!
To start, I ordered a mocha, which is a coffee mixed with their famous hot chocolate and topped with whipped cream. This mocha was unreal, I can’t even describe how good it was. The chocolate was very rich but not overpowering, and mixed with the coffee it was so tasty. Rohini isn’t a coffee drinker so she ordered the regular hot chocolate, but she tried mine and even said it was tastier than hers!
For breakfast, I had a pain au chocolat along with an omelette with herbs. The pain au chocolat was very good, and the omelette was light and fluffy which I liked, but I wish it had more flavor.
Emma had ordered the Petit-Déjeuner Angelina which came with an assortment of jams and honey, two mini croissants, a pain au chocolat, a baguette, plus eggs, juice, and yogurt! It was a lot of food but also a good way to taste many things. You can see the assortment of pastries and jams in the middle picture below.
I would 100% say that Angelina’s is worth it. It might be a small tourist trap because their prices are very high (a croissant is 3 euros and my omelette was 16), but with that being said, their food was very good. My favorite part was definitely the mocha and the pain au chocolat. The omelette had potential because the texture and way it was cooked was perfect but I wish it had more flavor.
Champs Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe
After breakfast, we walked down Champs Elysées which is right down the street from Angelina’s. This is a very famous street in Paris, known for all of it’s shopping, yet also for being one of the most beautiful streets in the world!
I had mentioned as we were walking that I really wanted to buy a new pair of sunglasses, and we happened to walk upon a cute store right after that coincidentally. This store was very high end and had Prada, Christian Dior, Gucci, and so many other luxury brands. We of course tried them on but couldn’t afford them.
Though, we ended up finding a display case there with 29 euro glasses and were so cute! We each bought a pair and you’ll see them throughout the rest of our trip. The brand of our sunglasses is called Afflelou and I’m actually obsessed with it!
After strolling down Champs Elysées, we came upon the Arc de Triomphe! We wanted to go to the top, so we took the tunnel under the street and then bought tickets to go up.
Tip: If you are a student or have a visa for France, you can get your ticket for free! I still had my student card from when I studied in Lyon so my ticket was free. Otherwise, tickets are 13 euro.
To reach the top of the Arc de Triomphe, you have to take these long and windy stairs up, so if you can’t walk up the stairs then I would suggest admiring it from below.
The views from the top are absolutely stunning! You can see a 360 degree view of all of Paris. My favorite part is seeing the streets all pan out like rays of a sun from the Arc de Triomphe.
Notre Dame and Hôtel de Ville
After the Arc de Triomphe, we walked by Notre Dame and Hôtel de Ville! Notre Dame is still under reconstruction unfortunately, but they had large posters surrounding the church with explanations of its history and the state of reconstruction. We spent time walking through and reading these.
Next, we walked by Hôtel de Ville which is right next to Notre Dame. I really wanted to show Emma and Rohini this because when I had visited the year before in April of 2022, they already had the Olympic Rings out in front for the Games in 2024! I thought this was super cool to see!
After seeing Hôtel de Ville and Notre Dame, we went back to our Airbnb to rest before going out for dinner!
Dinner & Speakeasies in Paris
For dinner, we found a highly rated ramen restaurant located in the 9th arrondissement called Neko Ramen Green. We ended up coming right before they were closing but we were completely unaware. Luckily, they let us stay and we didn’t feel rushed!
Everything here was super affordable. My cocktail was 6 euros and so tasty! I had the Neko Blossom. For dinner, I had the Shio Ramen: Boullion de Poulet which is a ramen with chicken broth and slices of chicken on top. It was amazing and I can’t wait to go back again!
After dinner, Rohini found a speakeasy for us to try out! It’s called Candelaria and it’s in the back of a Mexican restaurant. When we arrived, there was a small line outside waiting to get in, so we joined and waited maybe 15 minutes for a table.
Once we were let into the speakeasy, we were guided through the very dim lights to a corner table visible by candle light. The speakeasy itself was very intimate with the lighting and it fit about 10 tables inside. I honestly can’t remember what cocktail I ordered but it was very tasty. It is a bit more expensive because it was a speakeasy but we just stayed for one drink since the next day we would be meeting my au pair host family and I didn’t want to be too tired!
Day 2:
Morning at the Louvre
To start our second day in Paris, we booked our tickets to the Louvre in advance for admission at 10am. We woke up, grabbed a quick breakfast from a boulangerie near our Airbnb, and took the metro straight to the Louvre to get there for 9:30am. Our tickets said to get there early, and it’s a really good thing we did! Once we arrived, there was a huge line to go through security that absolutely wasn’t moving. We were in line for about 2 hours which was exhausting, especially being in the middle of a huge school group that kept trying to cut us.
The Louvre opens at 9am so I’m not sure why the line wasn’t moving for the longest time! For a while, we were stuck back around two corners where we first entered the line, and we were there for a while. I’m not sure if it normally takes this long to enter the Louvre.
Finally, we got through security around 11:30am and started to explore the museum! The first thing we wanted to see was the Mona Lisa since it was still early in the morning and there likely wouldn’t be a huge line. When we found her, there was a crowd of people taking pictures of her but no line, so we were able to get up close quickly and take a picture. Rohini said when she’d been there before, the line was really long and she had to wait a bit.
During the rest of our visit at the Louvre, we spent time walking through the sculptures and Napoleon’s apartments. We even saw Hammurabi’s Code! That was my favorite thing I saw in the Louvre, especially because I didn’t know it was held there. We spent about 2.5 hours walking through the Louvre and left around 2pm. I recommend going early like we did because you can easily spend hours and hours exploring every inch of the Louvre, and we only saw two sections.
Picnic at the Eiffel Tower
After spending 4.5 hours total at the Louvre and only having a little quiche for breakfast, we were all starving and dehydrated, even a little hangry, by the time we left at 2pm. Since we hadn’t seen the Eiffel Tower up close yet, we decided to pick up food on the way to have a picnic in the park nearby!
We picked up focaccia sandwiches from The Focaccia Club on the way from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower and then stopped at a boulangerie for some sweets. The focaccia sandwiches were really hearty and perfect for a picnic. For dessert, I decided to try an eclair because I don’t think I’ve had one before. I picked out a coffee eclair and the flavor was okay and it was a bit dry. I would try it again but from a different boulangerie.
We hungout for a while in the park just enjoying the view and the sunny day. Afterwards, we headed back to our Airbnb to freshen up before meeting up with my au pair family for an aperitif
Aperitif with my Au Pair Family
My host mom suggested we meet at Place de la Contrescarpe for an aperitif at one of the terraces for 7pm. My friends and I had gotten there first, so we sat down at the first bar with open spaces. When my host family arrived, they greeted us with kisses on the cheek (les bises) while we greeted them with big hugs. Just a little cultural difference! I should have remembered that they faire la bise instead of hugging!
My host parents brought their two kids, and we all enjoyed a drink and the kids had sodas. We spoke in French and would translate back into English every now and then for Rohini and Emma. It was so nice meeting them ahead of moving in with them, they are just as sweet as when we met on video chat for the first time!
Dinner at a French Restaurant
For our last meal in Paris, we had a really nice meal at a French restaurant called Madamador in the 6th arrondissement. We ordered a bottle of wine and started off our meal with an appetizer, and I had French onion soup (or soupe à l’oignon). The soup was so tasty and honestly pretty filling! This is one of my favorite soups. For my main meal, I ordered yellow chicken with tarragon and mashed potatoes (or Poulet Jaune Fermier). The flavor of everything was really good, but my chicken was a bit overcooked. The mashed potatoes were very rich, and actually reminded me of the flavor of a croissant because of how much butter there was!
Even though my main meal wasn’t a 10/10, I still really enjoyed the restaurant because the ambiance was great and the flavors were amazing. This dinner was a bit more expensive for us but since our dinner the night before was very cheap, it all balanced out.
After dinner, we went back to our Airbnb to pack for the next day because we’d be leaving at 5:30am to take the metro to the Paris Beauvais airport for our flight to Milan.
I hope this very detailed itinerary for spending two days in Paris while backpacking is helpful! Subscribe for more Paris content in the future as I will be living there for a year to be an au pair!