It’s a place that we thought we would never see in our lifetime. Paris, city of romance — many people dream of visiting. When we were living in Malaysia, trips to Europe were a once-in-a-lifetime experience. My parents joined a tour that took them across multiple European countries in 3 weeks. This happened after their retirement and seemed to be the plan for most people.

Paris for Christmas

We were lucky to move to Ireland, where Paris is just a short flight away. There had been a plan to visit Paris, but it was not at the top of our list of places to visit. Then autumn came in 2025; we had just settled down in our new house in Ireland. We knew winter would be miserable and dark in Ireland so we were looking for a short trip during Christmas. Christmas was usually slow in Dublin where shops were closed and public transport came to a standstill. We were looking for warmer places like Spain or Portugal but the flights were expensive.

Then I noticed that flights to Paris were no more expensive than flights to London. I asked a colleague who used to live in Paris and he confirmed that Paris would be mostly open for Christmas. He also recommended Yooma Urban Lodge, a good hotel for families very near the Eiffel Tower. It was about a 10-minute walk to the Eiffel Tower, it was near 2 RER train stations and one Metro station. There was a shopping area nearby, where we bought pre-made food from Monoprix and warmed it up in the kitchen area in the hotel.

Our Paris Plans

We got ourselves the Navigo Pass at the airport, as we needed to buy the train tickets from Charles de Gaulle airport to our hotel. After that, we bought metro tickets to be stored in the Navigo Pass.

This is our itinerary for the trip

1. Day 1: Arrived at CDG, took the RER to the hotel. Went to the Christmas market at La Défense.
2. Day 2: Palace of Versailles and then to Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre
3. Day 3: The Louvre and Christmas Eve service at Notre Dame Cathedral
4. Day 4: Walked around the city since it was Christmas and we expected attractions to be closed
5. Day 5: Fly home.