Every two-day itinerary for Paris is a list of what to see. The list is always too long, and the visitor spends two days in transit between famous places, seeing each of them through a crowd and none of them properly.
Two days in Paris is not a short version of a week. It is a different trip, and it starts with deciding what you will not do.
The rule
In two days you can do one museum well, walk two or three neighbourhoods properly, and have two good evenings. That is the whole trip. Everything you add beyond that comes out of those.
What to skip
Versailles. It is extraordinary, and it takes a day — travel out, queue, the palace, the gardens, travel back. On a two-day trip that is half your time spent outside Paris. Come back for it.
The full Louvre. You will not see it in two days, let alone in the half-day you can spare. If you go, go for one work and leave. If not, choose Orsay — it fits a morning.
The Eiffel Tower summit. The queue and the ascent can consume half a day. See the tower from the Trocadéro at night, when it sparkles, and keep the half-day.
The Museum Pass. Two days rarely contains enough paying museums to make it worth the price.
The Champs-Élysées as a destination. Walk a stretch of it if you are nearby. Do not build an afternoon around a street of international chain stores.
Day trips of any kind. Giverny, the Loire, Disneyland. Each is a day. You do not have one to give.
What to keep
The river. Walk the quays from the Île de la Cité towards the Louvre, ideally late in the afternoon. It is the single best way to understand how the city is built, and it costs nothing.
One museum, chosen. Orsay for the Impressionists, the Sainte-Chapelle for the stained glass if you want something short and unforgettable. Not three museums at a run.
The Marais. Narrow streets, the Place des Vosges, food everywhere. Half a day on foot without a plan.
One evening on the water or above the city. A sunset river cruise, or the steps of Montmartre at dusk. Not both.
The shape of two days
Day one: the historic centre on foot — Île de la Cité, the Sainte-Chapelle, the river, the Marais — and an evening in the Marais or along the canal.
Day two: one museum in the morning, a neighbourhood in the afternoon — Saint-Germain or Montmartre, not both — and the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro after dark.
This leaves time to sit down. On a two-day trip, the café is not wasted time. It is where you realise you are in Paris.
Who this does not suit
If you have been to Paris before, skip the historic centre and spend the two days in neighbourhoods you have not seen.
If you are with young children, cut this in half. One major thing a day, and a park.
If there is one place you came for — a museum, a restaurant, a view — build the two days around it and let everything else fall away.
What we do not know yet
We do not publish opening hours, prices or queue times. They change by season and day, and should be checked before you go.
What does not change is the rule: two days is a trip of choices, and the choices that matter most are the ones you leave out.