Luxury · 6-hour walk · Paris
The Louvre, Vendôme and Garnier in six hours
Half a day in the museum, lunch under a glass arcade, then the jewellers' square and the opera house.
Two kilometres of walking and six hours of it, because this is the half of Paris where the stops are the day. Give the Louvre two and a half hours and one wing — the Denon stairs to the Winged Victory, or Richelieu if you would rather not queue behind the Mona Lisa. Everything after it is a straight line north through the covered passages to Garnier, and every door on the way is worth going through.
The route, stop by stop
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Louvre Museum
Two and a half hours, one wing, booked in advance. Enter by the Porte des Lions or the Carrousel rather than the pyramid.
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Jardin du Palais-Royal
Out of the museum and straight across rue de Rivoli. Buren's striped columns at the front, a silent arcaded garden behind.
25 min here Walk here → -
Galerie Vivienne
The best-preserved of the covered passages and the right place to stop for lunch under the glass rather than on a terrace.
45 min here Walk here → -
Place Vendôme
Ten minutes west. The square is the shopfront of the Paris jewellery trade and costs nothing to stand in.
20 min here Walk here → -
Palais Garnier
Self-guided entry covers the grand staircase, the foyer and a box overlooking the auditorium. Chagall's ceiling is the payoff.
45 min here Walk here → -
Galeries Lafayette rooftop
Two minutes on and free: the terrace looks straight down the Opéra and across to Montmartre. The last stop of the day for a reason.
30 min here Walk here →
More walks in Paris
Pont Neuf · Sainte-Chapelle · Notre-Dame de Paris · Shakespeare and Company · Panthéon · Jardin du Luxembourg
Moulin Rouge · Le Mur des je t'aime · Le Bateau-Lavoir · Place du Tertre · Sacré-Cœur · La Maison Rose · Musée de Montmartre
Canal Saint-Martin · Hôpital Saint-Louis · Rue Sainte-Marthe · Rue Dénoyez · Parc de Belleville
Galerie Véro-Dodat · Galerie Vivienne · Passage Choiseul · Passage des Panoramas · Passage Jouffroy · Passage Verdeau
Trocadéro · Eiffel Tower · Champ de Mars · Les Invalides · Musée Rodin · Le Bon Marché · Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Place des Vosges · Musée Carnavalet · Rue des Rosiers · Musée Picasso Paris · Père Lachaise Cemetery
Notre-Dame Cathedral · Sainte-Chapelle · Louvre Museum · Jardin des Tuileries · Musée d'Orsay · Musée Rodin · Eiffel Tower · Trocadéro · Arc de Triomphe
Palace of Versailles · Grand Canal · Petit Trianon · Queen's Hamlet · Saint-Germain-des-Prés · Pont des Arts · Seine river cruise
More in Paris
Every walking route in Paris, the full Paris guide for where to stay and what a day costs, or walks in other cities.