I have been to Paris several times before.  It is a city that I always enjoy.  It is filled with beautiful architecture, rich history and culture and of course fabulous fashion and food.   So when given the option of spending a 3 Hour Layover or 12 Hour Layover in Paris when booking our flight deal to the Seychelles on Air France, we opted for a 12 Hour Layover to give us an opportunity to visit the City of Lights for the day.  Want more information on how I find great flight deals, check our blog post on Flight Deal Alerts here.

On this trip, we wanted to see a few sights that we had not yet seen and visit one or two of our favorite locations and figured we would share exactly what we did to make the most of our 12 hour layover in Paris.

5:35 AM

We landed in Paris at 5:35am and the next leg of our trip to Seychelles departed at 5:00pm.  In order to be safe and not miss our flight, we wanted to be back by 2:30pm at the latest.  That gave a solid 9 hours.  Here is the timeline of our layover excursion.

5:45 AM

We exited the plane and made our way to the exit with our carry-on luggage to clear immigration and customs.

6:30 AM

We cleared immigration and customs and arrived at the baggage storage.  We carried backpacks with us so we could have what we needed for the day and left the rest of our carry-on luggage at baggage storage.

6:45 AM

We arrived at the ticket terminal and purchased roundtrip tickets for the RER B to Paris City Center. 

7:11 AM

We boarded the RER B to Paris.

7:50 AM

We exited the train at Gare Nord Station and made our way to the Metro.  Fun fact:  You get a free transfer to the Metro here so we promptly discarded our original plan to get a carnet of 10 tickets for our day trip because it was cheaper to buy individual tickets. 

8:00 AM

Took the 4 line toward in the direction of Mairie de Montrouge.

8:05 AM

Got off at the next stop (Gare de l’Est) (which was the wrong stop).  

8:07 AM

Reboarded the 4 train.

8:15 AM

Got off out Chatelet and transferred to the 1 Line. Took the train in the direction of Chateau de Vicennes.

8:20 AM

Got off at Chatelet.

8:25 AM to 8:45 AM

Walked and window shopped on Champs D’Elysee. It was only a light drizzle so window shopping was nice. 

8:46 AM – 8:55 AM

Tried unsuccessfully to find the Café we went to right before the Black Paris Tour we took in 2016.  

8:55 AM

Consulted my e-mail to try to find the name of the Café.  It was called Café Lateral. Pulled up the walking directions to Cafe Lateral on the offline Google™Map of Paris.

9:02 AM

Arrived at the Lateral Cafe and had a delicious Parisian Breakfast.

10:15 AM

After having Breakfast and checking email, WhatsApp, social media, etc., we head to the Charles de Gaulle–Étoile station on the 2 line to travel to our next stop.

10:30 AM

Purchase 3 sets of Metro Tickets.

10:35 AM

Board the 2 train in the direction of Nation.

11:00 AM

Arrive at Anvers station and walk a few blocks to the Sacre Coeur Basilica and explore.

11:40 AM

Take the 4 train toward La Defense.

12:00 PM

Arrive at La Defense station.  Discover we can take the RER B directly from La Defense, which means that there’s no need to travel back to Gare Nord and we will have more time to explore the Catacombs of Paris. 

I am excited because we just so happen to have scheduled to visit the Catacombs on All Saints Day (or the Day of the Dead or El Día de los Muertos).

12:10 PM

Discover that the entry line has reached a point in length where we would need to wait at least 3 hours in line.  We only have 2 hours including the time to explore the Catacombs because we need to back at the airport by 2:30pm at the latest.  The Airport is 45 minutes away.  I begrudgingly accept the fact that there is no way we can see the Catacombs. 

I’m still salty that we missed it. We should have bought skip the line tickets in advance, then we would have had more than enough time.  Husband wants to explore Notre Dame but I have zero interest in doing anything but moping plus didn’t it just burn down?!? I can see burned down buildings under repair in NYC. 🤦🏾‍♀️

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS: If you are less salty than I was and want to plug something in and have never been to Paris, then I suggest going to Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower. You probably won’t have enough time to climb either tower with 2 hours (without skip the line tickets) but the pictures and view are just as spectacular from down below.

12:25 PM

We board the RER B at La Defense station back to the airport.

1:00 PM

Arrive at the airport.

1:10 PM

Pick up our carry-on luggage from baggage storage and clear security.

1:30 PM

I decide that while we are here, we might as well do some window shopping (read: Retail Therapy) at the Duty Free French Luxury Boutiques In Terminal 2E – K GATES (i.e., Chanel, Longchamp and Hermès) to see if there is anything worth buying during our return trip.

And so ended our layover excursion into Paris.  Have you ever explored Paris (or any other city) on a long layover?  If yes, what did you do and what are your favorite long layover excursion tips.