4 days in Paris is enough for the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle, a full day at Versailles and a morning in Montmartre, as long as you book the timed tickets before you fly. Our plan: Day 1 on the islands with a sunset Seine cruise, Day 2 for the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, Day 3 at Versailles and Day 4 for Montmartre, the Musée d’Orsay and Le Marais. Entry tickets come to about €171 (about $189) per adult from November to March (prices checked October 2026). Versailles is the day most people want help with, and the guided Versailles tour by train from Paris handles the tickets and the RER for you.
4 days in Paris at a glance
| Day | Area | Main sights | Book ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Île de la Cité, Latin Quarter | Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, Seine cruise | Sainte-Chapelle slot, free Notre-Dame slot |
| 2 | Louvre to the Eiffel Tower | Louvre, Tuileries, Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower | Louvre slot, Eiffel Tower ticket |
| 3 | Versailles | Palace, gardens, Trianon estate | Versailles Passport slot |
| 4 | Montmartre, Left Bank, Le Marais | Sacré-Cœur, Musée d’Orsay, Place des Vosges | Musée d’Orsay slot |
The plan is built for a first visit and a steady pace, with the timed tickets set for mornings and evenings and walks in between. Most of it is walkable from a central hotel, with the metro for the longer hops.
What to book before you fly
Book the Eiffel Tower first: lift tickets go on sale 60 days ahead, and the tower says summit tickets usually sell out quickly. Everything else can be booked as soon as your dates are fixed. These are adult prices for visitors from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes Americans, checked on the official sites in October 2026.
| Ticket | When to book | Price | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eiffel Tower, summit by lift | Sales open 60 days before the date (stairs: 14 days) | €36.70 (about $41) | Official site, ticket.toureiffel.paris |
| Louvre | As soon as your dates are set | €32 (about $36) | Official site, ticket.louvre.fr |
| Versailles Passport | As soon as your dates are set | €25 Nov to Mar, €35 Apr to Oct (about $28 or $39) | Château de Versailles official site |
| Sainte-Chapelle | A few days ahead; timed e-tickets get priority | €22 (about $24) | Sainte-Chapelle official site |
| Musée d’Orsay | A few days ahead | €16 online, €14 at the museum (about $18 or $16) | Musée d’Orsay official site |
| Notre-Dame | Free slots open up to two days before | Free | Notre-Dame official site or app |
Our guides to Eiffel Tower tickets and Louvre tickets walk through each booking step, including what to do if your date is sold out.
Which day should you start the itinerary?
Start on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and the plan works as written. Three closures decide the order: the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, and Versailles and the Musée d’Orsay are closed on Mondays. Versailles is also busiest on Tuesdays and weekends, according to the château. If your Day 1 falls on another day, make one swap:
| Your Day 1 is a | Change | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Swap Days 2 and 4 | The Louvre would fall on a Tuesday |
| Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday | None | All four days fall on open days |
| Friday | On Day 4, see the Orangerie instead of the Musée d’Orsay | Day 4 is a Monday, when Orsay is closed (the Orangerie closes on Tuesdays instead) |
| Saturday | Swap Days 2 and 3 | Versailles would fall on a Monday |
| Sunday | Swap Days 3 and 4 | Moves Versailles from a crowded Tuesday to a Wednesday |
A Thursday start puts Versailles on a Saturday, which is busy. From April to October that’s also a Musical Fountains Show day, so you trade bigger crowds for the fountains.
Day 1: Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle and a Seine cruise
Day 1 stays on and around the Île de la Cité, the island in the Seine where Paris began. It’s gentle enough for an arrival day after an overnight flight from the US: two sights a few minutes apart, a walk and an evening on the river.
Notre-Dame (late morning). Entry to the cathedral is free. You can reserve a free time slot on the cathedral’s official site or app, released up to two days before your visit, which cuts the wait in busy months. The cathedral opens at 7:50 am on weekdays (8:15 am on weekends) and closes at 7 pm Monday to Friday, 10 pm on Thursdays and 7:30 pm on weekends, according to its opening hours page. The bell towers are a separate €16 ticket.
Sainte-Chapelle (early afternoon). The upper chapel’s 13th-century stained glass is the reason to come, so pick a sunny hour if you can. Tickets cost €22 for non-EEA adults. It opens at 9 am and closes at 5 pm from October to March and at 7 pm from April to September, with last entry 30 minutes before closing, according to the Sainte-Chapelle’s practical information. It sits inside the Palais de Justice, so expect a security check at the entrance. If you’d like the history explained, the Sainte-Chapelle and Conciergerie guided tour with tickets adds the medieval prison next door.
Latin Quarter (afternoon). Cross the Petit Pont to the Left Bank and wander up through the Latin Quarter to the Luxembourg Gardens, which are free. If jet lag hits, this is the part to cut.
Seine cruise (sunset). End the day on the river. Vedettes du Pont Neuf boats leave from the Square du Vert-Galant at the western tip of the Île de la Cité, a short walk from Sainte-Chapelle, for a 1-hour cruise with a live guide in French and English. The operator’s site lists €17 at the dock and €15 online. You can also book the 1-hour Vedettes du Pont Neuf Seine cruise on Viator. Time it for the hour before sunset and you’ll see the city in daylight and with the lights coming on.
Day 2: the Louvre, the Champs-Élysées and the Eiffel Tower
Day 2 is the long one: the Louvre in the morning, a walk west across the city and the Eiffel Tower in the evening.
Louvre (9 am). Take the first slot of the day. Allow about three hours, and remember the museum states that any exit is final, so finish the galleries you care about before you leave. The Louvre is open until 9 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays, which gives you a later option. A guide is worth it on a first visit if you only have a morning: the 2.5-hour Louvre masterpieces tour with entry covers the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Renaissance highlights without wrong turns.
Tuileries to the Champs-Élysées (afternoon). Walk out through the Tuileries Garden to the Place de la Concorde, then up the Champs-Élysées, about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) to the Arc de Triomphe. Tired legs can take metro line 1 from Concorde to Charles de Gaulle - Étoile instead.
Arc de Triomphe rooftop (late afternoon). Tickets cost €16 from October to March and €22 from April to September, except on Wednesdays, when the lower price applies, according to the 2026 national monuments rate card. It’s open until 10:30 pm in winter and 11 pm in summer. The Arc’s practical information says the elevator has been out of service since late July 2026 and isn’t due back until 2027, so the rooftop means 284 steps.
Eiffel Tower (evening). From Charles de Gaulle - Étoile, metro line 6 reaches Trocadéro in three stops, with the classic view of the tower across the river. Your ticket is for a set time, so arrive early enough to clear security. After dark the tower sparkles for five minutes at the start of every hour. If official lift tickets are gone for your date, the Eiffel Tower elevator tour to the summit, 2nd and 1st floors has its own reserved access, at a higher price.
If Day 2 looks like too much, move the Arc de Triomphe to Day 4’s evening. It’s open late, it’s on the Paris Museum Pass and it faces the Eiffel Tower across western Paris.
Day 3: Versailles day trip
Day 3 is a full day at Versailles, about 35 minutes from central Paris on the RER C. The palace is closed on Mondays and busiest on Tuesdays and weekends, which is why the start-day table above sometimes moves this day.
On your own, the day costs the Versailles Passport (€25 from November to March, €35 from April to October) plus €5.10 for two Métro-Train-RER tickets. Book a 9 am palace slot, then see the gardens and walk to the Trianon estate, which opens at noon. From April to October the gardens charge admission on Musical Fountains Show and Musical Gardens days, which the Passport includes. Our Versailles day trip guide has the train steps, the full ticket table and an hour-by-hour plan.
If you’d rather not do the logistics, the Versailles palace and gardens tour by train from Paris includes the palace, gardens and train tickets, and the operator’s coordinators ride the RER with you. Be back in Paris by early evening and keep dinner simple, near your hotel or in Saint-Germain.
Skipping Versailles? Use Day 3 for the Musée d’Orsay and Saint-Germain, then give Day 4 entirely to Montmartre and Le Marais at an easier pace.
Day 4: Montmartre, the Musée d’Orsay and Le Marais
Day 4 starts early on the hill, crosses town to the Left Bank’s Impressionists and ends in Le Marais.
Montmartre (8:30 am). Take metro line 12 to Abbesses and climb to the Sacré-Cœur, or ride the funicular, which takes a Métro-Train-RER ticket. The basilica is free and open from 6:30 am to 10:30 pm. The dome is a separate climb of about 300 steps with no elevator, for €8 (about $9), paid at the on-site ticket office only, according to the basilica’s dome page. Then walk the back streets to the Place du Tertre before the crowds build. For the stories behind the artists’ studios and cabarets, the Montmartre highlights walking tour with the Sacré-Cœur covers the back streets and the basilica with a guide.
Musée d’Orsay (afternoon). Line 12 runs straight from Abbesses to Solférino, a short walk from the museum. Orsay holds the big Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection, from Monet to Van Gogh. Tickets cost €16 online or €14 at the museum, and €12 online for Thursday visits from 6 pm, according to Orsay’s rates page. It opens Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30 am to 6 pm, with last entry at 5 pm, and until 9:45 pm on Thursdays.
Le Marais (evening). Cross to the Right Bank for the Place des Vosges and the lanes around the Rue des Rosiers, then dinner in the neighborhood. If food matters more to you than paintings, swap Orsay for the Le Marais food and wine tasting tour, a guided tasting walk through the district.
How much do the tickets cost for 4 days in Paris?
Entry tickets for this plan cost about €171 (about $189) per adult from November to March and €187 (about $207) from April to September. October falls in between, with the Arc on its winter price and Versailles on its summer price. Notre-Dame, the Sacré-Cœur basilica and the Luxembourg Gardens are free.
| Ticket | Day | Nov to Mar | Apr to Sep | On the Paris Museum Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Chapelle | 1 | €22 | €22 | Yes |
| Seine cruise (Vedettes du Pont Neuf, online) | 1 | €15 | €15 | No |
| Louvre | 2 | €32 | €32 | Yes, with a free time slot |
| Arc de Triomphe | 2 | €16 | €22 (€16 on Wednesdays) | Yes |
| Eiffel Tower summit by lift | 2 | €36.70 | €36.70 | No |
| Versailles Passport | 3 | €25 | €35 | Palace and Trianon only |
| Sacré-Cœur dome | 4 | €8 | €8 | No |
| Musée d’Orsay (online) | 4 | €16 | €16 | Yes, with a time slot |
| Total per adult | €170.70 (about $189) | €186.70 (about $207) |
Ways to spend less: take the lift to the Eiffel Tower’s 2nd floor instead of the summit (€23.50, saving €13.20), or climb the stairs (€14.80). Under-18s of any nationality enter the Louvre, Versailles, Orsay, Sainte-Chapelle and the Arc free, which cuts a family’s bill sharply. If you’re booking for January 2027 or later, the Eiffel Tower’s new prices apply from January 11, 2027, with the summit by lift at €37.70.
Is the Paris Museum Pass worth it for 4 days in Paris?
Only just, for this plan. The 4-day Paris Museum Pass costs €105 (about $117) and covers Sainte-Chapelle, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Musée d’Orsay and the Versailles palace and Trianon. Bought separately, those cost an adult from outside the EEA €111 from November to March, so the pass saves €6. From April to September they cost €127, but the pass doesn’t include the Versailles gardens on show days, so pass holders add a €15 gardens ticket and save €7.
Our rule: buy the 4-day pass if you’ll add at least one more covered sight, such as the Notre-Dame towers (€16) or the Orangerie (€12.50). Then it saves about €18 to €23 per adult. Skip it for children and teens. You still need free time slots for the Louvre, Orsay, Versailles and Sainte-Chapelle either way. The official site sells the pass for €105; resellers such as the Paris Museum Pass listing on GetYourGuide usually charge more. Our full Paris Museum Pass math covers 2-day and 6-day plans too.
Getting around Paris for 4 days
Walk where you can and use the metro for the rest. A Métro-Train-RER ticket costs €2.55 in 2026 and covers the metro, the RER and suburban trains across the Paris region, Versailles included, but not the airports, according to Île-de-France Mobilités’ 2026 fares. Load tickets onto a Navigo Easy card at any station ticket window or into the Île-de-France Mobilités app.
- Day pass: the Navigo Jour costs €12.30 and covers the whole region except the airports. It pays off from your fifth ride in a day, which this plan rarely needs.
- From Charles de Gaulle airport: the RER B to central Paris needs the €14 airport ticket, which is separate from the regular ticket.
- On Versailles day: two regular tickets (€5.10) cover the round trip.
Where to stay for 4 days in Paris
Stay central, so most of Days 1, 2 and 4 are on foot. Around the Louvre and Palais-Royal, Saint-Germain and Le Marais all work. For Hyatt members, the Hôtel du Louvre, part of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, faces the museum at the Palais-Royal - Musée du Louvre metro station, where line 1 runs straight to the Arc de Triomphe. Staying near an RER C station on the Left Bank, such as Saint-Michel Notre-Dame or Musée d’Orsay, puts Versailles on a single train ride.
Before you go: tips for US travelers
- Entry rules: US passport holders don’t need a visa for short visits, up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Since its launch on October 12, 2025, the EU’s Entry/Exit System registers non-EU travelers with fingerprints and a photo at the border. The ETIAS travel authorization hadn’t started as of October 2026, and the EU Delegation to the US says its start date will be announced at least six months ahead.
- Cards: official ticket sites charge in euros, and the Louvre’s online shop takes cards only, so use a card without foreign transaction fees.
- Tipping: service is included in restaurant prices in France. Paris’s tourist office suggests leaving extra only for especially good service.
- Your phone: most tickets in this plan are e-tickets on your phone, and Verizon’s TravelPass costs $12 a day per line, or $48 for four days. A France eSIM from Airalo is set up before you fly: use code GUIDEZ15 at checkout if you’re new to Airalo, or GUIDEZ10 if you’ve bought from them before. Our Airalo vs local SIM vs roaming comparison does the math.
Start with the booking that sells out first: set a reminder for the day Eiffel Tower lift tickets open, 60 days before Day 2, and book the Louvre and Versailles the same evening. For timed-entry tactics at other big sights, read our skip-the-line hacks for Europe. And for cafés, bakeries and shops to fill the gaps between these sights, open Maya Barkan’s Paris map on Guidez, which is in Hebrew.
