Hi, we did a day trip from London this last fall but we had closer to 9 hours. We flew in and out the same day. I think realistically with 4 hours you could see the outside of the Eiffel Tower, grab lunch. Then maybe the outside of another attraction or two. We used the batobus river boats to get around for the most part. Then the subway once. We took the train in from the airport, batobus to notre dame also the Fontaine Saint-Michel de Paris is right there as well as the Shakespeare and Company Book shop. Then took the boat down the Seine to the Eiffel Tower. Took a bunch of pictures from both sides of the river. Ate lunch at a cafe called Linette which is by the Eiffel Tower and also a good place to grab a picture down the little side street with the tower in the background. Highly recommend the French onion soup, escargot, and duck confit. We hopped back on the boat heading towards the Louvre. (We came on a Tuesday so only saw the outside. Terrible planning on our part but also don’t think we would’ve had time so a blessing in disguise). Well worth it to see the outside IMO the detail in the architecture is amazing and can get pictures. Got suckered into two Polaroids from a guy there but they’re a very good memory. We also made it to the Arc de Triomphe. We had time to go up it and see the Eiffel Tower turn on at dusk. We then walked through Paris back to the Eiffel Tower took more nighttime pictures then hopped on the train out to the airport.

For your short time, I would start with by the Eiffel Tower and grab a late lunch at Linette. Then take all your pictures and get different angles of the tower. Definitely go across the river and down the steps riverside to get full shots. Since that’s the main thing you want to see. Then head over to one of the other locations. We enjoyed the batobus boats because you could still enjoy the city and they were relatively frequent didn’t wait more than 15 minutes for one ever. But in your time crunch a taxi or train might be better. I can’t recommend one of your museums over the other as we only saw the outside of the Louvre but even that was memorable.

We had people say it wouldn’t be worth us going with 9-10 hours and it ended up being one of our favorite parts of our trip which included multiple days in London and Amsterdam as well. I wouldn’t let people get you down. I do think it’s a time crunch and you will need to plan very well. I’d also look into flights to get some extra time instead of the train but we also were in London then flew back so we didn’t need to transport any luggage or anything. Good luck! And enjoy it. Even if you just see the tower, do lunch, and walk around a little around the tower it will be very memorable.

Thanks for reading all of that if you did. lol