Visiting Paris!

 As a little winter holiday I went with a few friends to Paris! This was a surprise for my friends little sisters 13th birthday! She had no idea we were going until she was at the airport! We stayed at the Explorers hotel which is very close to Disneyland Paris and has a free shuttle bus right to the front entrance to the park. This trip cost just under £200 which is a great price however when you get there you can easily spend triple that if you're not careful.

On day 1 of our trip we arrived at about 4pm and decided that instead of heading back to the hotel we thought we would brave the cold weather and the metro and head into the centre of Paris. Our first stop was Notre Dame which was absolutely beautiful!

After Notre Dame we headed to the most iconic tourist attraction in Paris which was the Eiffel Tower. Seeing it all light up at night was amazing, as pretty as any pictures I'd seen. 

Day 2 we got up bright and early and headed to Disneyland Paris! I am a massive Disney fan although this was my first time visiting any of the disney land parks and I felt like a big child!  We got our tickets online and this cost us £39 each. If you're going to visit any of the parks I highly recommend buying your tickets in advance as it is a lot cheaper that way rather than buying them at the gate which would have been twice as much. 

In Disneyland Paris they have two parks. The normal Disneyland park which has the castle and all the classic disney films and their rides like space mountain and the Indiana Jones ride, or you have the Disneyland studio which had the tower of terror and toy story rides. Each park is amazing and have rides for all different age groups. We managed to do the two parks in one day as we were there from 10am when it opened till 8.30pm. At about 6pm they had the parade and the fireworks started at 8pm. After we went to the Disney Village to the rain forest restaurant. 

Me and my friend Anthea on space mountain! 

Day 3 saw us head back into the centre of paris and as it was the weekend, and we were all under 24, we got all day tickets for 8€ which was a really good price! We first visited the Arc de Triomphe then we walked down the  Champs-Élysées all the way down to the Louvre. Afterwards we paid 14€ to go up the Eiffel tower!

Day 4 was our last day in Paris, we checked out of our hotel for 11am and headed to the train station as we decided to use the metro to get back to the airport. We stopped at disney village before getting on the train and went to the Aviation Museum to see the Concorde and other planes before we went to the airport to head home to the UK.

We had an amazing time in Paris and I really can't wait to go back in the future. As there has been many acts of terrorism in Paris over the last year I can understand why some people may be nervous to travel to Paris however I felt 100% safe as it is clear they have stepped up their security in the airports and in any big tourist attraction. Paris is a beautiful city and I would highly recommend it to families and weekend get aways. 

Also I would highly recommend the Explorers Hotel! The hotel has a pirate theme and is great for kids as it has a swimming pool and play area to keep them entertained! The hotel has many different restaurants for a variety of choice and Breakfast was included in the price of the room. The staff were excellent and very friendly and helpful and I would definitely visit again. The free shuttle service between the hotel and the Disneyland park is great and it only takes 10 minutes. There are many different sizes of rooms and they also offer themed rooms! As this trip was for a birthday the hotel also put balloons, sweets and a card for her which was a great touch. They also offered to get her a cake for 18€.

My Travel tips for Paris:

• Plan out each day you are there. There is a lot to do in paris and I would highly recommend having a plan so that you get everything done.
• Even though you are abroad it is still freezing if you're going in Februrary like I did, so make sure you're taking warm clothes and wrap up warm.
• Buy tickets for tourist attractions before you go. This will save you a lot of money rather than buying them there. Like when I was in Berlin, Paris offer a travel card as well which can help with the cost.
• Take plenty of spending money. Although our flight and hotel was a reasonable price, Paris is expensive.
• Get a map of the subway and plan what metro lines you need to use to get you to the tourist attractions you want to see.
• Check before you get on the train that its going the way you want it to... Or you'll end up taking a detour like we did! 

Love,

Spare bit of Sparkle! x

Email-sparebitofsparkle@gmail.com

Twitter-@bitof_sparkle