Paris Off the Beaten Path: 4 Day Itinerary
Four days keeps the 3-day plan ’s first three days intact, then adds a cemetery most visitors treat as a rumour and a tower most visitors treat as the entire trip. Want less time? Drop back to the 3-day version . Want more? The 5-day version adds the Catacombs.
Book these before you go
- Sainte-Chapelle 30-minute slot : EUR16 EEA / EUR22 non-EEA, mandatory, morning slots go first.
- Louvre timed entry : EUR22 EEA / EUR32 non-EEA, closed Tuesdays, no walk-up at all.
- Eiffel Tower timed entry : EUR23.50 to the 2nd floor, EUR36.70 to the summit, bookable up to 60 days ahead.
The 4-day plan at a glance
| Day | Focus | Must-book |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Ile de la Cite, Sainte-Chapelle, the Seine | Sainte-Chapelle |
| Day 2 | The Louvre, Palais-Royal, Le Marais | Louvre |
| Day 3 | Montmartre, Sacre-Coeur, the windmills | None, but arrive early |
| Day 4 | Pere Lachaise, Canal Saint-Martin, the Eiffel Tower | Eiffel Tower |
Day 1: The island where Paris started
Base yourself on the Ile de la Cite and the Left Bank today; it keeps the walking distances short. Start at Notre-Dame’s nave, free, no ticket, though a same-week reservation online skips the second queue. Notice the new spire’s rooster while you are outside: it was refitted in 2024 with relics sealed inside its base, including a sliver of the crown of thorns and the names of everyone who worked on the rebuild. Walk five minutes to Sainte-Chapelle . Use the timed slot you already booked; a 10am booking has to be used by 10:30am, and morning slots go first in high season. After lunch, cross to the Seine’s Left Bank quais and browse the bouquinistes , the green book stalls that have worked this stretch of riverbank since the 16th century. In the evening, walk toward Ile Saint-Louis for Berthillon ice cream, then loop back for a Seine cruise at dusk if the light is right, about EUR19, no booking urgency. If you still have energy, the Passages Couverts in the 2nd arrondissement stay open under glass roofs well past dark, a good rain-proof option if the evening turns wet.
Day 2: The museum with 35,000 objects and the palace next door
The Louvre needs a booked, timed slot for every visitor now, no exceptions in July and August 2026, and it is closed on Tuesdays; check that before you build this into the calendar. EUR22 for EEA residents, EUR32 for everyone else, under-18s free. Go straight for the Denon wing’s Greek sculpture and the Egyptian Antiquities rather than fighting the crowd around the Mona Lisa in Room 711, unless you actually want that specific photo. Afterward, walk through the Tuileries Garden and the Palais-Royal’s arcaded courtyard, striped Buren columns, quiet even when the Louvre queue outside is not. In the evening, cross into Le Marais for dinner around Rue des Rosiers or Place des Vosges, one of the few Paris neighbourhoods where shops stay open on Sundays too. Reserve a table if you want a sit-down dinner there on a Friday or Saturday; the neighbourhood’s better bistros fill up fast once the Louvre crowd disperses for the evening.
Day 3: The hill built as an apology
Arrive at Sacre-Coeur before 9:30am. The basilica itself is free, and arriving early matters less for the building than for the steps outside, where the bracelet scam works the crowds all day. Someone will try to loop a string around your wrist before you can decline; pull back, say non, and keep walking. The basilica was funded partly as penance after the Paris Commune, on a hill that was one of the Commune’s last strongholds, a piece of political history most people photograph without knowing. Skip Place du Tertre’s marked-up crepes and walk instead to Rue Lepic for Montmartre’s two surviving windmills, Moulin de la Galette, now a restaurant, and Moulin Radet, then to Rue des Abbesses, where the neighbourhood actually eats. The Musee de Montmartre, in the building where Renoir once kept a studio, covers the hill’s artistic history and has a garden view of the basilica without the queue.
Day 4: A cemetery worth an afternoon and a tower worth the wait
Pere Lachaise is 44 hectares of tombs, tree cover, and cobbled paths, easily worth two hours even if you only look for Jim Morrison, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Moliere. It is free and open daily. From there, Canal Saint-Martin, Metro or a 25-minute walk, has iron footbridges and cafes that serve the neighbourhood rather than tour groups. Use the Eiffel Tower slot you booked for the evening: the 2nd floor by lift is EUR23.50, the summit is EUR36.70, and both are timed-entry, with sunset slots the first to sell out. Arrive within your slot window rather than early; there is no benefit to waiting outside it.
How do you get between these days without a car?
You do not need one. Central Paris runs on a flat EUR2.55 Metro-train-RER fare and a EUR2.05 bus-tram fare regardless of zone, loaded onto a Navigo Easy card for EUR2. Paper carnets stopped selling, and stopped working, after 31 December 2025. Pere Lachaise and Canal Saint-Martin sit close together in the east; the Eiffel Tower is a straightforward Metro or RER hop back west.
Book a Marais or Saint-Germain stay before either neighbourhood’s well-reviewed rooms sell out. Book the Eiffel Tower slot as early as your dates allow; sunset entries on this itinerary sell out weeks before the Louvre does.