The French capital might be nicknamed the City of Love, but it’s the perfect place for a girls’ weekend with your best friends from high school or college or a mother-daughter trip. Just ask Gossip Girl and Emily in Paris! With iconic landmarks, rooftop cocktail bars, incredible shopping boutiques, and a busy international airport, a girls’ trip to Paris is the best way to reconnect with friends near and far. Whether you’re planning a long weekend or a longer stay (one week is perfect) in the beautiful City of Light, this travel guide has got you covered.
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Table of Contents
Where To Stay in Paris on a Girls’ Trip
The city center is the best area of Paris to stay in on a girls’ trip. Neighborhoods like the 7th arrondissement, Le Marais, the Latin Quarter, and Saint-Germain-des-Prés are ideal places. It’s a good idea to find a hotel that suits everyone’s budget so you have more to spend exploring the city.
Assuming high-ticket options like Hôtel de Crillon are out of the question but you still want a little luxury, check out Hotel Brighton and Le Narcisse Blanc Hôtel & Spa.
Hotel Brighton teams elegant decor with modern amenities and is in a prime location near Place de la Concorde and Jardin des Tuileries. Le Narcisse Blanc Hôtel & Spa is a five-star boutique hotel and the perfect way to squeeze in some spa time.
Some mid-range options without compromising on comfort are the Chouchou Hotel and Hôtel Duquesne Eiffel. They’re both modern, stylish, and centrally located. Hôtel Duquesne Eiffel even offers an Eiffel Tower view!
How To Get Around Paris on a Girls’ Trip
Some attractions are only a short walk away, but Paris is a big city with unpredictable weather in the off-season. Luckily, Paris has efficient and convenient metro and regional train services.
There are also buses and trams but you shouldn’t need to use those. Tickets are currently €1.90 per single journey across the Paris metro system, bus network, and local trains.
Although hopping in a taxi isn’t always the best option considering the city’s traffic, it might not be as expensive as you think. Especially if you’re a big group on a girls’ trip to Paris! It’s a great way to arrive in style at the opera house and to avoid walking on the cobblestoned streets of Paris in your best heels. Grab a cab recommendation from your hotel and keep their business card in your purse.
Things To Do on a Girls’ Trip to Paris
1. Check Out the Famous Paris Museums
Let’s face it, you can’t miss visiting the top museums in Paris if it’s your first time in the city. Regardless of whether you’re visiting with girlfriends or your entire family! The museums and galleries in Paris contain some of the most valuable and important artwork and artifacts in the world.
The Louvre Museum is a must-visit. Housed in a former palace with an iconic pyramid-shaped entrance, you can see the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, the Venus de Milo sculpture, and 380,000 other historic exhibits. However, the Louvre suffers from super long lines year-round. Unless you and your besties want to stand and wait, a better way to visit the Louvre is to book a skip-the-line tour of the highlights.
Another essential museum stop is the Musée d’Orsay. It’s a 19th and 20th-century European art museum located in a former railway station. Check out works by Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, and more as well as stand on the other side of the museum’s famous big clock.
If you have a little bit of time to spare, some other museums to check out on your girls’ trip to Paris include Musée Rodin or Musee de l’Orangerie.
2. Shop at the Top Paris Malls and Boutiques
Paris is a great place for shopping (perhaps the best, aside from Milan and New York). It’s a rite of passage to spend the last day of your girls’ trip to Paris struggling to fit all of your new purchases in your suitcase. There’s something for everyone in Paris whether you love haute couture or hunting for bargains.
On the high end of the spectrum, there are the French fashion houses on the Champs-Élysées. This street runs from the Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Bastille and is where you’ll find Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Dior.
You should also check out the beautiful Art Nouveau Galeries Lafayette department store which sells everything from skincare to toys, and designer brands. It’s a must-visit during the holiday season for its spectacular decorations!
Fans of local fruit and vegetable markets which also sell antiques and flowers should head to Marché Monge or Marché d’Aligre. Rue Mouffatard known for al fresco shopping stalls. The Le Marais neighborhood is filled with retro boutiques like The Parisian Vintage and Tragic Vintage Store.
3. Join a Paris City Tour With Context Travel
On the first day of your girls’ trip to Paris, book a city tour with a local tour guide from Context Travel. This perfect half-day city tour is an informative yet fun way to get to know the city and see lots of top attractions like the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame Cathedral, bridges like Pont des Arts, and neighborhoods like the Latin Quarter.
By traveling as a group, booking a private tour can be pretty cost-effective. Next time you all visit on a girls’ trip to Paris together, you’ll know the city like locals!
4. Evening Dinner Cruise on the River Seine
Another tour to make time for on your Paris girls’ trip is a Seine River Cruise. This storied river stretches right through the heart of Paris and the only thing that could make it more enjoyable is by booking a dinner cruise with a glass of wine or champagne at the end of the day around sunset.
Paris is gorgeous at night, particularly with the Eiffel Tower lit up. You’ll also be able to sail under Paris’s famous bridges like Pont Neuf and Pont Alexandre III and the islands of île Saint-Louis and île de la Cité.
5. Day Trip to Versailles
Versailles is only a stone’s throw from Paris and another must visit on a girls’ trip to Paris. The 17th-century Palace of Versailles is one of the most opulent, extravagant, and famous royal residences in the world, but there’s so much more to see in this beautiful city.
You can take a regional RER trail from several Paris stations including Gare du Nord to Versailles and then join a tour. Book a private tour or a Fat Bike Tour if you’re visiting Versailles any time from spring to fall.
Traveling through Versailles by bike is so much easier than you might think, so don’t worry if one or two of you haven’t ridden a bike in years! You’ll get to visit way more places than if you were on foot the entire day.
The Fat Bike Tour includes the Notre Dame Market, Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet, the Trianon pleasure palaces, and, of course, the Palace of Versailles and a chunk of its 2,000+ acres.
6. Witness the Iconic Views of Paris
Paris is beautiful whether you’re walking along its quaint streets with 19th-century townhouses or from a viewpoint. And Paris has some amazing viewpoints that you should all check out during your girls’ weekend!
One of the most obvious views is from the top of the Eiffel Tower which is the highest structure in Paris. But all the best vistas in Paris include a view of the Eiffel Tower which is impossible when you’re standing on it!
Head to the Arc de Triomphe, Montparnasse Tower, the Ferris Wheel at Place de la Concorde, or the Sacre Coeur Basilica in the Montmartre neighborhood which is one of the highest points in the city for epic photos.
7. Take a French Cooking Class
Indulging in French cuisine, wine, and sweet treats is one of the best parts of visiting Paris with your friends! One of the best ways to sample the best food the city has to offer is to take a food tour, patisserie lessons, or cooking classes. Luckily, La Cuisine Paris offers all three.
If you’re all chefs in the making, take a technical class on mastering French sauces. But if you’re more adept at the art of dining than cooking, choose a class where you can shop for seasonal products at a market or grocery store and turn them into a four-course meal you eat afterward. Bon appétit!
8. Day Trip to the Loire Valley or Champagne or Giverny
Spending a week or more in Paris with your besties? Lucky you! If you’ve already visited Versailles and don’t have anything planned for the next day, you have lots of options. You could visit the Loire Valley wine region, the Champagne region outside of Reims, or the village of Giverny. There are plenty of private tour options for all three of these top Paris day trip destinations.
Enjoy wine tastings with nibbles and tours of vineyards and wine cellars in the Loire Valley or in the Champagne region. Make sure you have enough room in your suitcase to bring back a bottle of wine or five! Or, explore the gardens where Monet painted his famous waterlilies in Giverny and the Museum of Impressionism.
Suggested day tours
9. Catch a Burlesque or Opera Performance
Pack your best dresses and head out for a night on the town. Make it extra special by booking tickets for the Féerie Revue Show at the Moulin Rouge Cabaret or a performance at the Palais Garnier Opera House. Prepare to be whisked back in time and enjoy French history through song, dance, and spectacle!
10. Stroll in the Beautiful Paris Parks
If you think Parisian streets are pretty, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve strolled through a park or two. They are the perfect place for you to all enjoy a casual, al fresco lunch in warm weather courtesy of a nearby boulangerie and delicatessen!
Sprawling 17th-century parks like Jardin des Tuileries, Jardin du Luxembourg, and Parc Des Buttes-Chaumont are perfect for picnics. Enjoy strolling through Place des Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris, along the Canal Saint-Martin, or next to the Left Bank of the Seine.
11. Book a Professional Photoshoot with Flytographer
Let’s be honest, this girls’ trip to Paris has probably been a long time coming! Everyone has such hectic lives these days that it can be difficult to plan a trip together, so you want to make this one count. While selfies and photos taken by strangers are okay for most trips, you should hire a professional photoshoot for special vacations like this one.
Book a professional vacation photographer in Paris via Flytographer, a database of skilled photographers around the world. They know all the best places to take photos near the Eiffel Tower and all the most photogenic spots around Paris. They will ensure you have stellar photos to post on social media and for you to look back on over the years.
12. Sip Cocktails in the Best Parisian Bars
No weekend in Paris with your girlfriends is complete without tasting all the best French cocktails in all the best Parisian bars. Le Perchoir, Terrass Hotel‘s rooftop bar, and Le Louxor are three of the best rooftop bars in the city. But for the tastiest drinks, Cambridge Public House, Sister Midnight, and Bar Nouveau are the hot spots.
13. Join a Haunted Tour of the Catacombs
Descend 131 steps and head 65 ft underground to experience a unique tour of the Paris Catacombs. It’s a labyrinthine burial ground filled with human remains built for religious practices although it’s now open to the public. Book a group ticket for an hour-long semi-private tour of this haunting place and see a different side to the glitz and glam of Paris above ground.
14. Visit Sainte-Chapelle (Near Notre Dame)
With Notre Dame Cathedral closed until the end of 2024, you and your girlfriends should check out another of Paris’s most beautiful and historic churches only a 10-minute walk away. Sainte-Chapelle is a 14th-century Gothic chapel with the most impressive panels of stained glass windows.
15. Explore Les Passages Couverts
If the stores on the Champs-Élysées or in Galleries Lafayette aren’t enough to satiate the shopping habits of you and your besties, check out Les Passages Couverts. These are 19th-century covered shopping arcades which are now mostly home to antique, vintage, and small gift stores.
With tiled floors and wrought iron gates, they’re also incredibly pretty! There are 25 Les Passages Couverts remaining, but some of the best are Passage du Grand Cerf, Passage des Panoramas (the oldest), and Passage Jouffroy.
Where To Eat in Paris on a Girls’ Trip
Paris is the best city for delicious meals and bottles of incredible French wine shared with girlfriends. Whether you’re in the mood for a quintessential French tasting menu, cute local cafés and boulangeries, or something different then you’ll find it all and more.
Pink Mamma is your go-to place for Italian cuisine, although you’d be forgiven if you thought it was a greenhouse from the exterior. It pairs first-class dishes with high windows and a homey feel.
Le Train Bleu at Gare de Lyon is a hot spot for classic French cuisine complete with gilded chandeliers and frescoes that wouldn’t look out of place in a cathedral.
Le Refuge des Fondus is a popular place for meat and cheese fondue which has a cozy communal cellar feel, whereas Girafe Paris is the polar opposite. It’s an upmarket seafood restaurant with a terrace offering stunning views of the Eiffel Tower during spring and summer.
And if you’re celebrating a special occasion on your girls’ trip to Paris, you have to dine at Origines. It’s a Michelin-starred restaurant near the Champs-Élysées serving contemporary French dishes.
If you’re used to winging your meals when you travel, it’s a good idea to make reservations on your girls’ trip to Paris. It’s always harder to find tables for bigger groups. Most restaurants have booking forms on their website or reach out via Facebook or Instagram if you don’t want details to get lost in translation over the phone.
Book a Fun and Unforgettable Girls’ Trip to Paris
Booking a girls’ trip to Paris is the perfect opportunity to spend quality time with your besties while exploring this incredible, bustling city. There’s no better place to visit with girlfriends because there are endless things to do in Paris to guarantee that you have a fun time!
You will have a good time baking macarons, sipping French 75 cocktails, and shopping for Parisian souvenirs whether you book a short trip or a one-week vacation. Hopefully, you’ll find lots of inspiration from this list of my favorite places in Paris and things to do on a girls’ trip.