I went to Paris during Halloween 2025 with only a simple list of expectations like seeing the Eiffel Tower, walk under the Arc de Triomphe, taste a few macarons and capture some pretty photos. I wasn’t hoping for more than a pleasant escape, but despite the chilly weather and a few minor travel hiccups, Paris managed to surprise me. The city’s beauty unfolded in ways I didn’t anticipate and I found myself unexpectedly enchanted by its charm.
Off To A Rough Start
Going to Paris, I went with my boyfriend, but since we live in different countries, we met up at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Our holiday started off with a delay on his flight and I ended up having to wait 2 hours at the airport by myself, which wasn’t the biggest deal. I sat down and had some sushi for lunch, charged my phone and had a look around. When he eventually arrived at the airport, he was at a different terminal and I had to take the shuttle over to meet him. It was actually pretty smooth and easy to take the shuttle between terminals. After getting out of the airport, we found our way to public transport on our journey to our apartment we had rented. The public transport wasn’t bad at all, even though we had some issues with metro cards and finding the right tracks.
After delays, finding each other at a new airport and several different public transport systems, we finally made it to our apartment we had rented late in the evening. This is where it didn’t go as planned.
Hotel
We had booked an apartment on booking.com called Rosewood Rooftop Eiffel Paris Porte de Versailles, which stated that it had its own bedroom, private bathroom, private kitchen, private terrace and so on. We were surprised to say the least once we got there, as it was nothing like we had imagined. It felt like we came into someone else’s home and stayed in their guest room, not what we had paid for. There was no private kitchen, no private bathroom and sure, we had a bedroom, but it wasn’t that private as you could hear every word being spoken by everyone else who were also in this apartment, since we weren’t even alone. We immediately felt uncomfortable and started looking for an actual hotel to escape to.
Mind you, it wasn’t the easiest to find a hotel available in Paris during Halloween week that didn’t cost a fortune. But we eventually found a room at B&B Hotels and ordered an Uber to take us there as soon as possible. After all this traveling back and forth across Paris in the cold, when we finally checked into the hotel it was late and we were both really tired. We took a nap and when we woke up it was already 11 pm, and the only thing open that was close enough for us was a Burger King, so that was our first meal in Paris.
Second Day
On our second day we got up, got ourselves ready for a nice, French breakfast at a café across the road from our hotel. Unfortunately, after this breakfast I got terrible stomach pain, and we had to go back to the hotel room for about an hour to rest up. The part that sucks about chronic illness is that you never know when it will hit. Eventually tho I got better and we set off for a day in Paris!
Despite the day being interrupted by chronic illness, it was still such a nice day! We even ended up having a lovely charcuterie board near the Eiffel Tower, and even tho it was November and only a few degrees out, we were still able to sit outside with some blankets and enjoy the view.
Third Day
On Saturday, we set out for yet another day in Paris. We started off the day with Starbucks. Why, you might ask? Well, I have this “thing” where I try to collect Starbucks mugs from every city or country I go to, so that I have a little travel collection of mugs. So while we were there, why not have breakfast? Although I must say, many places were tempting me with sweets for breakfast, everything looks so delicious in Paris!
After shopping for mugs and getting some food into our stomachs, we set off again out to the cold. We got to see the famous Galeries Lafayette, where we bought some adorable macarons from Ladurée. We also got to see the Arc de Triomphe, which was so much bigger than we expected. I was stunned by its size!
My boyfriend, who’s never tried crêpes before, got to do so as well.
Travel Home & Final Thoughts
As the day for traveling back home arrived, we both felt like we wanted to stay longer, like there was so much more to see and do! We didn’t get to see the Louvre, for example, and many other things. Maybe Next time! Unfortunately, once again, my illness decided to be a menace for this trip and make me feel sick. I did not feel very well for the whole journey to the airport, although not as bad as I did when traveling back from Positano! It eventually got better at the airport thank goodness.
If I were to sum up this whole weekend, I’d say we had a really great time, despite the many hiccups that occurred.
Some of my favorite things to do and see were definitely:
- The Eiffel Tower
- Arc de Triomphe
- Macarons
- The beautiful architecture everywhere
- The many cute bakeries
- Wine
If you’re considering traveling to Paris in November, I definitely think it’s worth it! The streets were never too crowded, the same with restaurants and cafés. The weather was not too terrible either, it rained a little bit during the time we were there, but for the most part it was ok. The wind however, is what made it cold, so be sure to dress for the weather!
