How to Travel Paris (LOVE it from First Visit)

We're going to show you how to travel Paris from the most famous destinations to the hidden gems. From the best restaurants to everything you need to know before you arrive in Paris. This is the video I wish I had before arriving here. Let's get right into it. To start this Paris guide I want to show you how to hit almost all the famous landmarks in one to two days while also enjoying some hidden gems along the way. Any Parisian trip is going to spend a lot of time on this. This behind me is the Seine River and it's basically the lifeline of Paris. All of the famous attractions basically built up right on this river. And if you're gonna do it by foot, be prepared for a lot of walking. But if you want to spare your feet and have way more fun, Paris travel hack number one. You gotta rent one of these Lime scooters. Way cheaper than a taxi, just as fast, and way cooler. Our two friends who have been living here in Paris hadn't even tried them till today. And now they're Limers for life. That is the world famous Notre Dame Basilica. As you may remember there was a massive fire that absolutely scorched this entire building. I heard that apparently approximately like 80% of people who said that they're gonna donate to like rebuild this never donated the money. And so five years later still under construction. But the good news is they say it should be done by the end of this year. Won't be in time for the Olympics, but hopefully in time for you. If you do choose to come here in the next few months, here's what you can expect. Scaffolding, cranes, a podium to try and get a view. It ain't the same, but still beautiful. But just around the corner was a lesser known gem. Philippe-Maurice-Jean-Claude the accordion player. Oh okay. You gotta pay to play. I respect that. If the Notre Dame's a bit of a disappointment, I can guarantee you that man won't be. Jean-Claude. He knows the way to my heart. With our hearts full of amour in the city of amour, we got back on a seat and started pedaling. All that biking, we've earned an appetite here. And we're coming to a pâtisserie. One of the words you must learn. I'll teach you a few others on this trip. What did you get? Fresh ombre croissants. The tea is silent. Oh my god, anytime Christian says croissant, he says English words and then he goes croissant. I'm like, no, you just say it in English. You're just jealous. No, I'm not. Also, it's a great sign when there's a French person in line. It means we probably found a good bakery. We didn't find a good bakery. Ruby found us the best croissants in Paris, as rated by some local food critics. And they were not lying. Maison d'Isabelle for the win. It turns out they actually won the best croissant award of all of Paris in 2018. I don't know what's been going on these last six years, but in my eyes, they're still winners. Add this one to your list. That croissant was bomb.com. Right behind me here, this is Saint-Chapelle. And it is basically right next door to Notre-Dame. While this may be a B-lister in terms of Paris, this is a phenomenal chapel to come and visit. You've got the beautiful stained glass windows. You've got the stunning gothic design. If you've never had a European vacation, this is somewhere you're definitely going to want to add to your list. And it's not that expensive to go in. Now, after you finish here, we're going to break a few rules. We're eating across the street from a major tourist destination. Kaya says that her and her mom love to come have goat cheese here, so... The goat cheese salad on here is really good. And it's so pretty. Like, go inside. It's the prettiest place on earth. Oh, that's nice. Aperol, Saint-Chapelle, good combo. Wow, so good. A lot of amazing cheeses around this world, but very few places can keep up with France. It is so good. Now, look, guys. On this Parisian tour, you may know Paris is the city of love, but that's a thing of the past. This right here, you are looking at Le Pont des Arts. Each of the different ponts, bridges, have names. This is the bridge where people used to come and clip on a lock, signifying that their love would be eternal. But then Paris said this bridge might just collapse because there's too many love locks, and it was not built for that kind of weight. So today, it's glass. And that is the tragic story of how a love died in Paris. Once upon a time, I came here with someone. We locked our love on this bridge, and let's just say it didn't work out. But it's not our fault. It's because the Parisian government chopped off our love lock. I think she's allergic to l'amour. It's a sad one. Leave a like if you cried. All right, next spot. This is another hidden gem on my tour with you. And this one here is a little unsung hero of Paris. This is the Louvre, the world's most famous museum, and easily one of the largest and most impressive. Now, just because it's the most famous and has some of the biggest names in art inside of its walls, it doesn't mean you need to come here. If you don't appreciate art, if you hate being side by side with crowds, then just don't bother. But if you are an art lover or you want to experience something new, this is a place that houses some of the finest pieces. It is literally a tapestry of the world's history inside these walls, from the Mona Lisa to every single other piece you could ever dream of. I've been here twice, and I will say it's an impressive museum. But it's just one of the many museums in Paris. Literally right on the other side of the same river, just basically across from here, is... So this right here is the Musée d'Orsay. It's not as well known as the Louvre, but if you ask many people, they'll say this is their museum of choice. If you are into impressionist art, you're into getting away from the most overwhelming museum of all time, the Louvre, then this is a really good option for you. Entry was 14 euros. If you're getting real detailed with it, you can be busy all day. If you're a power museumer like myself, you got yourself a good couple hours here just to skim through. The building itself is actually an old train station. The details of the building are just as much part of the art here. It's so beautiful here. Now one thing I will add about these scooters is that while they're incredibly amazing, fun, and practical to get around the city, you can't just leave them like this. Right now they're actually unparked, and someone could literally jump on it and roll off. In order to stop your ride, you need to be in a designated parking spot. So while they have a lot of them, just know you won't be parking in places too close to the main attractions. My next stop was frankly a stop for Mademoiselle. The most famous chocolat chaud is here, and the only thing standing in our way was a 40-minute wait. 30 minutes later. Since I woke up this morning, it has been my mission to come to a place called Angelina. And I've heard that this place has the best hot chocolate in all of Paris. So we are about to find out if that is true. My accent didn't really hold very well there, but yeah. What accent was that? Let's go! The macarons were worth the wait. I will say, this place, very famous, not a hidden gem. But just know that behind these beautiful photos and spots, it does feel a little bit like an assembly line. Service so far, not great. But if you can put the blinders on and take a nice photo and get out, then enjoy the hot chocolate because it is amazing. Back on the bicyclette, we go. All right, fun fact. So everybody knows the French loved a little thing called the guillotine. And this right here is where Marie Antoinette departed from her head. When Egypt and France collabed. Look at that. I think it's pretty dang old. Now this place right here behind these gates is something I'm very interested in. This is Les Invalides or La Musée des Armées. It's a place where you can come and learn about the military history of France and also see where Napoleon was buried. And for those of you that are history buffs like myself, you will know that Napoleon is the one that won the high school talent competition. Napoleon Dynamite? Yeah, him and Pedro. Yeah, he ran for president. Anyways, he's in here. Look at that. Jokes aside, I actually loved the new Napoleon movie. The man that almost conquered the world, the former French emperor, he's buried right in there. And this building is so stunning with its golden dome and this beautiful long driveway that takes you directly to it. It's one of the most impressive buildings in all of France. And as you come down that driveway from Invalides, you're brought to easily the most beautiful bridge in all of Paris. And this is Pont Alexandre, a bridge dedicated to Alexander III. It is such a glamorous bridge. There's just so many details from the columns, the railing. Everything is just decked out. Check this out. Right on the Seine are these beautiful river cruises. And depending on the price point, you can actually get some really fine dining on the water as you cruise down it, seeing all these amazing monuments, all the Parisian life as you eat an amazing meal. It's a pretty cool idea. But if you're not into that and you want to save a bit of money, you can also just keep it low-key. They got little riverfront restaurants. And I give you the famous road. Wow. This is rue Saint-Dominique and this is what you get. And the final piece of the day, the one and only Eiffel Tower. We actually went to a little Carrefour next door, got these little goblets, little champagne glasses, and a couple bottles of wine. We were planning to basically hang out in this grassy area, but with the Olympics coming, they've actually barred it off. But that's okay. We're going to go find a little spot somewhere and enjoy the beautiful sunset and the end of a perfect crazy day in Paris. Plan B. What is it, Allison? Plan B is actually plan A. Plan A. Yeah. I like that. Way better. That's a way better attitude than mine. We're going to sit along the Seine and look at the Eiffel Tower from afar. So it's actually better because you get a view of it, you get the water. Tell me. This is a secret gem. No one else thought about it besides us. That's beautiful. We found a good spot. The sunset over the Eiffel Tower was so stunning. And I'm so grateful that Lost Creator Academy brought Allison, Kaya, Ruby, and I all together to share this moment. There was one last spot we had to come to. This is one of my favorite spots. If you have a nice long lens, little photography guide here, the 100 millimeter right on this ledge up on these stairs. I'm dropping the location. Gets you the most magical outcome. But most of all, it's another place to come watch the bedazzling, the glimmering, and the shimmering that happens every hour. What an epic way to end day one in Paris. Time to call it a night because tomorrow we're going to be focusing on some places you gotta eat at and some hidden gems. But I am not a local here, but I'll show you who is. This is Lucille. And Lucille, she's French. I'm French, yes. Lucille is one of Paris' most famous travel guides. And she knows all the top spots and hidden gems. And she offered to show us her perfect day in Paris. And so we met her at Liberté. Lucille, one thing we're noticing is there's no crowds. Yes. No, there's no one here. This is such a beautiful bakery. It smells so good and the food looks amazing. Lucille is going to be taking us to a bunch of different places all around Marais. Marais is basically like still in cool Paris, still part of downtown, but it's a lot more local. And so like, what are we going to be seeing today? Yeah, I'll be showing you all my best spots today. Food, coffee shops, different cool streets, but mostly a lot of food. I think we have at least three different spots on it today for food. And it all starts with petit-déjeuner. Usually like during the week, French breakfast is just this, a baguette with like butter or jam. But during the weekend, we take things up a notch and we just get some viennoiserie, which is any like pastries, like croissant. This is plain au raisin as well. Would a croissant be a weekend? Yeah, I'd say it's a weekend thing. I think also it's the French equivalent of bringing donuts to the office as well. Like you bring it to work, to share it with people, and also on weekends, you just have that as well. Smells delicious. Oh my god, it's just, oh my god. You might think to yourself, why are the French so skinny when they eat jam and croissants for breakfast? And the answer is steps. You get in a lot of steps when you're living in Paris. We are in North Marais and this is our next stop. What is it? Yeah, just a cute coffee shop. It serves really good coffee. It's really hot. I need an iced coffee right now. Check it out, a little tiny hole in the wall. So you should know that the two kind of hip spots for Parisians, where the actual locals would come, are Selfie Gal and North Marais. Yes, that's it. I'm becoming an expert by proxy. Lucille won me over at first sip. As we walked around, I got a real feel for Marais. It's a super trendy neighborhood and it's the place to go for boutique clothing stores, hip restaurants, and of course, Gram coffee. If somebody wants to go shopping in Paris, like... Oh yeah, they should come here. This street, Rue des Frambourgeois, and this street, Rue des Dutons, is where they need to go. Okay. Like, they'll walk 10 minutes and they'll find many cool things. France is known for truffles. You can get it here, it's a lot cheaper, it's more affordable. I'm so excited. Lucille insisted that we had to try... And it's just like a dressed up sandwich. You don't just go into a boulangerie and ask for this, you go into a restaurant. It's like a fancy grilled cheese. Yes, and I love that about the French. I have proclaimed it, this is the best sandwich in the world. And the mac and cheese was 11 out of 10. Now, I had thought that this would be the best sandwich in Paris, but we would soon find an old wise Frenchman that would say otherwise and steal my girl. But before eating more, we need more steps. So, Lucille brought us here. And what's this place called? It's called Les Archives Nationales. Lucille was saying that after eating some truffles, coming down in a food coma, she brings a coffee, a tea here, and just relaxes here. And it's totally free to enter, and it's right here in Marais. It's literally like your own personal palace that you can visit at any point. The tour kept going as we walked from one castle to another. So, this is a castle that's called Hotel de Suilly, and it's just an office building, you can visit it. Basically, Versailles on a budget. Steps, steps, and more steps. We've earned ourselves some food, but not just from one cool restaurant. We've earned ourselves our next meal. And where I'm taking you next isn't just one restaurant, but a whole bunch of local gems. All right, the next on our stop is this. This is Le Marché des Enfants Rouges. There's a lot of different food stands from different regions of France, different countries as well, and a lot of really good fresh food. I didn't know it yet, but I was just about to have my life changed by a man. A man that loves sandwiches even more than I do. I heard that you make the best sandwiches in all of Paris. No, from Taddy. The best sandwich in your life. Okay, I guess we gotta try it. Alain says the best sandwich of my life. Let's see if I'm actually going to join the Miam Miam Club. This is pretty much one of the better sandwiches I've ever had. Is it the best I've ever had? I'm not sure. But it's definitely outstanding. The cheese has like oiled its way through the bread, through all the ingredients. Everything's like become one. Look, the sandwiches are great, but just make sure you're okay with the fact that he's probably going to steal your girl. At this point, we were on an absolute roll and had to try one of Paris's most famous macarons. We are trying a Jean Paul Helvin. This is a crème brûlée macaron. These are like two and a half dollars each. But this one is low-key worth it. We are going hard today. Dessert to coffee shop to restaurant. We're touristing hardcore. It's all worth it. I'm so excited for you guys to try everything that we've been having because truly it's such a bomb itinerary. Like you guys are gonna have so much fun. Okay, thank me later, but you're gonna have so much fun. I'm ready to go. So part one was the famous landmarks around the Seine. Part two was becoming a local Parisian with Lucille. And part three, well, these are the shout outs I need to give for the places that just didn't fit into part one or two. But I also want to give you a budget traveler or just any traveler's advice how to get free water in any restaurant. This right here is a cahat d'eau. And it basically just means I love the service water, the tap water. I don't know about you, but free tastes better than a fine wine. That's amazing. So first of all, you're gonna want to check out a sunrise at Montmartre, especially from Sacré-Coeur. The hills of Montmartre are a stunning view over the city. And if you're not an early morning person, hey, make it a sunset. But be prepared for crowds. Next up, you're gonna want to check out the catacombs of Paris. This is a tour where you go down the old tunnels and meet one of my past relatives, Jean-Claude Philippe III. Another cool spot is the Pantheon. The Pantheon was built 100 years after death. It's so old that they don't even have good records on it. They know it was built by the Romans. It's one of the best kept Roman temples to this day. But they don't really know who built it, who designed it, how long it took. You just have to come here and appreciate the fact that something that's nearly 2,000 years old is still standing in the city. And another couple cool highlights are Galerie Vivienne, which is a stunning mall with these beautiful skylights. And if you take my suggestion on staying in Pigalle, this place definitely knows how to make a cheeky pastry. Now, I gotta give you a fair warning. If anyone has told you to go to Champs-Élysées, I think it's incredibly overhyped, except for maybe one exception. And that is the Arc de Triomphe, which is a real part of the French history. And if you go up top, a pretty remarkable view. And lastly, a super cool day trip just outside the city is the Château Versailles, which is quite literally the most over-the-top palace of all time. It's fair to say the king was definitely compensating. And if you're coming to Paris during the summer, you just can't go wrong. Anywhere you walk looks like something out of a movie. The energy is seriously electric. Enjoy your time in Paris, and let's get lost again in the next one.