6 Essential Experiences For your First Time Visit to Paris

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On a first time visit to Paris, the biggest challenge you’ll face is what experiences and attractions to choose.

There is so much to see – the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, the Champs-Elysées…how can you visit the City of Lights without missing something essential?

In truth, you cannot. You could spend a lifetime in Paris and not see everything worth seeing.

So let’s do it differently. Instead of looking at individual Paris attractions, let’s look at essential experiences you must have on your first trip to Paris, France.

A Quintessential Parisian Experience: Enjoy Café Life

If there’s one experience everyone needs to try when visiting Paris for the first time, it’s sitting in a proper Parisian café and watching the world go by.

Whether you’re trying to recreate the bygone era of Left Bank intellectuals or simply out to gauge the proverbial abruptness of Parisian waiters for yourself, a few hours spent Paris-watching in a café is something you simply cannot miss.

But which café? Paris has nearly 1500!

Start with the most famous ones – you can work your way out from here: 

Beware that many cafés are also restaurants, and prices change dramatically at mealtimes. Go mid-morning or mid-afternoon to sit and people watch at reasonable prices.

A Popular Experience: Cruise along the Seine

Paris is along the water, on the Ile de la Cité, and the best way to get a sense of the city is from the river that slices through it: the Seine River.

Even if you’re not much of a cruiser and this feels a bit touristy, do it once, and do it early in your visit: this is the best way to discover Paris for the first time. 

Many of the city’s best attractions are along the water, and you’ll float by everything from the Eiffel Tower to the Musée d’Orsay and the Grand Palais, all the while passing under the city’s legendary bridges, like the impossibly gorgeous Pont Alexandre III.

A number of companies offer Seine cruises, which typically last an hour, unless you’re on a longer dinner cruise. You can catch boats from several points, depending on the company: 

• The Pont de l’Alma (the Bateaux-Mouches)
• The Port de la Bourdonnais near the Eiffel Tower (Bateaux Parisiens)
• Pont Neuf (Canauxrama)
• The Port de…