City breaks can be a little bit draining – not any more (Picture: Getty)
While many see holidays as a time to relax, recharge and recuperate, I often find that city breaks leave me feeling the complete opposite.
With just three or four days to see all the best a city has to offer, these quick trips are often characterised by franticness, excitement and, sometimes, stress.
Between darting from one landmark to another, navigating public transport and sustaining yourself with food, city breaks can be a little draining.
So when I visited Paris – the French capital – for a second time earlier this year, I was determined to come out the other side feeling refreshed.
I decided I was going to slow down.
If you, like me, often feel exhausted by European city breaks, here’s what my Paris trip taught me on how to break the cycle…
Stay away from the hustle and bustle
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Our accommodation, Hotel Cabane, proved to be the perfect option for such a break.
The three-star hotel is nestled in the city’s 14th arrondissement, a bustling area teeming with fruit stalls, cafes and restaurants, and harbours an extremely well kept secret: an actual cabin.
‘La Cabane’ is the only room of its kind in the 43-room hotel, and offers a real air of tranquillity and seclusion, despite being metres away from a busy road.
The cabin is made out of French timber and features a private garden, a high-end shower, a king-sized bed and a flat screen TV.
We got to eat our breakfast on our private terrace (Picture: Ella Glover)
When the curtains are open, French doors flood the cabin with natural light — and the toilet opens and closes automatically.
The hotel offered the perfect blend of privacy and serenity while being well-located and extremely convenient. Breakfast delivered to your door also really helped with the stress-free holiday mantra.
Of course we saw the Eiffel Tower herself (Picture: Ella Glover)
Make a loose plan
I visited Paris with my friend, Becky and, to my delight, she was very much on the same page as me: slow, steady and extremely relaxed.
We knew we wanted to tick the Eiffel Tower off the list, obviously, and visit some nice green spaces. Other than that, the only things on the agenda were coffee and pastries.
We kept our plan light and flexible so that we could change it up if we felt that was necessary.
Don’t rush
City breaks can feel go, go, go – and while this often means you get to see everything you want, it can often stop you from truly taking things in.
We only had one full day in Paris. In the past, this may have spurred me into a frenzy, planning the day hour-by-hour to make sure we could do everything.
Instead, we chose two activities and stuck to them, choosing to walk an hour and 45 minutes to Bois de Boulogne, a sprawling Royal Park on the other side of the river.
We stumbled upon a goldmine of an antiques market (Picture: Ella Glover)
On the way there, we stumbled across an amazing antiques market in a neighbourhood called Vanes. Instead of hurrying past in a bid to spend the whole day in the park, we allowed ourselves to wander up and down the stalls, picking up jewellery, old lighters and other treasures as we went.
We spent about two hours at the market before guzzling an espresso each and continuing on our way — and it was probably the best part of the whole trip.
To think, we’d have missed it if we had abided by our previous schedule.
Wake up early
When you’re on a short city break, it’s important to make the most of all of your time.
That means waking up early (yes, even on holiday).
We chose to wind down earlier in the evenings and wake up early so that we could actually seize the day.
This minimised rushing and allowed us to go with the flow much more easily.
Waking up early meant we had hours to get to the park, allowing us to do whatever we felt like on the way (Picure: Ella Glover)
Forget FOMO
Fear Of Missing Out… the curse of a generation.
When you’re visiting a city for the first time, it can be tempting to do every single thing, lest you feel the all-familiar dread of FOMO.
But it’s important not to let the anxiety that you might be missing something great takeover, especially when you can have just as much of a good time doing just a handful of those touristy activities.
We didn’t go to the Louvre or Versailles, two things we both would have loved to do, but we had a much better time doing what felt right in the moment.
Remember, you can always go back.
Where to go and what to see on a mindful trip to Paris:
Our trip to Paris was short and sweet. Instead of filling it to the brim with tourist activities, we went with the flow. This is where it took us:
Wandering around Bois de Boulogne Royal Park
Having a mooch at the friendly antiques market, Marché aux Puces de la Porte de Vanves
Visiting the Eiffel Tower for a photo op
Feed your body and your soul
One of my favourite things about travelling is trying all the amazing foods a different country has to offer, and if Paris isn’t the perfect destination for a foodie, I don’t know where is.
Nourishing your body with whole foods and vitamins is important, especially when you want to stay energised throughout the day and feel 100% when you return home.
But if you can’t eat a world famous macaron or chocolate eclair when you’re in Paris, when can you?
Nourishing your soul means choosing the eclair (Picture: Ella Glover)
We ate mindfully — starting when we were hungry, stopping when we were full — and merrily, choosing the foods we knew would make us feel the happiest, and that didn’t mean always opting for the fanciest option.
On our way to Bois de Boulogne we picked up picnic supplies in a convenience store and attempted to make sandwiches Bella Hadid-style.
Sometimes you’ve got to do it yourself (Picture: Ella Glover)
As we lay silently by the lake in the park, where a group of middle-aged men raced miniature speed boats, I spent 20 minutes writing in my journal.
Afterwards, I closed my eyes, listening to the boats buzzing furiously, dancing around one another and tormenting a yappy Yorkshire Terrier on the other side of the water.
I took a deep breath. It was the most relaxed I’d felt in months.
How to get to Paris from London – and where to stay
The price for one night in Hotel Cabane’s Cabin is £120.
Flights from London to Paris start from £52 return in January on Skyscanner.
Eurostar return tickets from London to Paris start from £39 each way.
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City breaks shouldn’t feel draining.
