A Weekend in Paris : Our Itinerary and Honest Hotel Review – The One Alma

My favourite kind of present is an experience or a trip, so when I was surprised on Christmas Day with a weekend in Paris, for just the two of us, written up on our kitchen calendar as my gift from my husband, I was so pleased. We had such a lovely time and it all felt so easy. So I thought I would share our itinerary as a short city break for couples in Paris, in case you have come to this page looking for fun ideas for a couples trip to the French capital.

Getting to Paris by Eurostar – Is It Worth It?

First up we went via the Eurostar, my first time travelling to Europe by train and I loved how simple it all was. So much quicker than flying because we didn’t need to get there so early and it’s lovely to arrive right in the centre of Paris. We needed to be there 30 mins – 1 hour before and the journey itself took two and a half hours.

Getting through check-in and security is quick too. You do both UK and French controls while on the London side, so when you get there you just get off the train and walk right out into the station. My only negative with the arrival is that Gare du Nord isn’t the nicest area to disembark into. The first thing we saw was a group involved in a police chase on foot through the streets past us! There’s plenty of taxis outside and although we were instantly approached and offered these, we chose to walk out a few minutes to a quieter street, as the traffic was at a standstill there and ordered an Uber. We’d been quoted €165 for a transfer from the hotel, so I was pleased we turned this down as the Uber in comparison cost €28 and arrived within three minutes of us ordering it.

Where to Stay on a Couples Weekend in Paris

The hotel was just my kind of thing. Boutique with lux interiors in a fab location that made it easy to walk or easily Uber to wherever we wanted to go. We stayed at The One Alma in Paris, who absolutely deserve their five star rating. If you are after a centrally located hotel in Paris, just a short walk from the Eiffel Tower and the Seine, then I would highly recommend where we stayed.

What Is The One Alma Paris Hotel Like?

Despite being part of a small hotel group it has an independent feel. Small enough that it felt like personal service from the staff (who were great at giving recommendations and organising our restaurant and attraction bookings) as well as a tranquil feel – it was nice to tuck ourselves away in the lounge or spa after spending time out in the busy city.

The rooms felt five star in terms of style and decor, painted a chic grey with French photography on the walls, high end fashion coffee table books and a good sized bathroom with luxury products to use. The only thing missing was a full length mirror, but there was a decent sized one in the bathroom, so it was fine.

A nice little touch when we arrived was the bedside radio playing when we went into our room for the first time, the French radio station music and DJ added a nice background atmosphere, that we wouldn’t have put on ourselves, but did then choose to whenever we were relaxing in the room. Talking of relaxing There’s also a spa area with hot tub and hammam and a small lounge area on the ground floor by the reception that was good to enjoy while planning our day.

We didn’t have breakfast included in our booking, so we thought we’d go to the hotel restaurant the first day (and pay the extra) but then probably skip it after that. However it was such a nice space and the food was great. You’re brought a basket of heavenly melt in your mouth pastries with your coffee as soon as you sit down (I was sold as soon as we started tucking into those!) so we ended up going there both days. It’s at the top of the building with floor-to-ceiling glass windows running the length of the room, flooding the space with natural morning light that frames a very Parisian view across the rooftops, with the Eiffel Tower quietly peeking through in the distance. It was a lovely peaceful space to start the day, that was bustling but not too busy whenever we went.

What to Do on a 48-Hour Couples Trip to Paris

We purposely didn’t book lots in advance for our time in Paris, as we were only there a couple of days, but eating amazing food, doing a bit of shopping, and just really having time to relax, chat and stroll through the beautiful city was our main criteria.

Here’s what we ended up doing…

First of all I just wanted to soak up the beauty of Paris, just wandering down the Parisian streets looking up at the ornate buildings, an array of colour, chic shutters and statues and street art everywhere. Strolling along with a strong coffee and sweet macarons, was just a treat in itself.

Finding the Emily in Paris Filming Locations

To give ourselves a purpose to our stroll we looked up the filming locations for Emily In Paris on Google Maps. I’m a big fan of the Netflix show itself, so thought it would be fun to see if we could find the places I know so well from the show.

I had a Google and within the Latin Quarter there is the exterior of Emily’s apartment, the gardens and benches that Emily and Mindy sit and chat on and Gabriel’s famous corner restaurant, all together in one spot.

Luckily it was an enjoyable walk in the sunshine as the reality didn’t quite match the Netflix glamour portrayed in the TV show. The garden is a few benches, in front of the building (that unfortunately had a car parked in front of the doors) and Gabriel’s restaurant wasn’t all that special (and had major building works and scaffolding surrounding it too). But it didn’t really matter, it was fun to see and really just gave us a reason to walk through the city, so I wouldn’t say don’t go, I just wouldn’t plan a big photoshoot in your head of you walking through an aesthetic area as it’s not even as nice as most of the other areas we walked through. If you’d like to look it up on your phone maps to follow the Emily in Paris address the location is – 1 place de l’Estrapade, 75005 Paris

The Best Department Stores to Visit in Paris

In contrast we also visited two department stores that totally exceeded our expectations. The first one: Samaritaine at 9 Rue de la Monnaie, we actually stumbled upon by chance. After a full day of sunshine it had started to rain so we popped in to take shelter, and so glad we did. It felt like Paris’s equivalent of Liberty or Selfridges in London, with beautiful interiors in amongst different designer sections.

We were then treated to more of the same at another upmarket department store the next day – Le Bon Marché. This one also had more affordable items as well as a huge beauty floor and we got some gorgeous boxes of matches, stationery and trinkets to bring home.

One other individual shop that’s definitely worth a mention is Shakespeare and Company, it’s a gorgeous bookshop that feels like stepping back in time as soon as you enter ( complete with a policy that you can’t film or take photographs inside) and a queue down the street, to limit the amount of people inside browsing. It’s definitely worth the wait though and the queue went down very quickly and we both got ourselves a couple of new books, that I’d not heard of before from their carefully curated collection. They also stamp the books, so it shows where they were bought which I thought was a nice touch.

Seine River Cruise and Cabaret – Two Paris Classics Worth Doing

The second day we had booked a boat trip through the hotel that again was blessed with good weather. I think after having so much rain recently in the UK any time outside in the sunshine feels a treat at the moment, but it also made a nice way to see the monuments and learn some more history of the city. The hotel had also given us the option of a couple of river cruises with lunch but these were so expensive in comparison (coming up at nearly 200 Euros each) so we chose a Croisières River Cruise that departs on the Seine right by the Eiffel tower. We could also buy flexible tickets which was handy so could then simply turn up anytime to hop on one of their half hourly tours. There were also audio guides by the seats which were good at talking through all the different buildings and sights we passed.

We also went to a cabaret show on the Friday night after dinner. There’s lots to choose from centrally including the classic Moulin Rouge or the edgier Crazy Horse (That also features in Emily in Paris Series 4 & 5). Such a French experience, we really enjoyed it.

Paris genuinely surprised me with how easy and enjoyable it was as a weekend away and the Eurostar really does make it feel far less effort than flying. If you’re thinking about a couples’ mini break somewhere that feels romantic without being try-hard about it, I couldn’t recommend it enough.