[France Summer Vacation] Day 06: Shopping outskirts of Paris + Visiting the Moulin Rouge in Paris

Before traveling to Paris, I did some research for outlet-styled malls, and I found a place named La Vallée Village. We made the trip outside of the city to visit the Village, and it is about an hour by train from Paris. It is located pretty close to Paris’ Disneyland.

When we arrived, we found a fairy-tale-like, European-inspired villages which was rather quaint. The Village is made up of more than 120 boutiques from French and international designers which include Gucci, Prada, Balenciaga, Celine, YSL, Coach, Tory Burch, Michael Kors and many more to name. Unfortunately, the big 4 French brands - Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Dior and Hermes will never be found in an outlet in France!

Gucci had an unbelievably long line (no surprise), but we decided to join the line too. We took a queue number by registering our mobile numbers instead. A Gucci Men's Clutch was going on sale for a very discounted price of  €290 (about SGD430) only! OM! It was so cheap, and do note that you can still get back a VAT tax refund of 12% from sales prices. I picked up a pair of earrings from Tory Burch at €59 (about SGD88).

Whether you are in Paris or in any other French city, do try to look for an outlet! I would definitely recommend a visit here if time permits. Why not see if you can hunt down a discounted version of the designer item that you’re lusting for! A deal is still a deal!

At the La Vallée Village, we also picked up some high-end 'Alain Ducasse' Chocolate which is a very well known and luxurious chocolate brand in France!

Although the chocolates were kind of expensive, it is worth it! The chocolates tasted fabulous and we will definitely buy them back again if we go back to Paris.

Apart from shopping at the village outlet, we also went to the Centre Commercial Val D'Europe which was literally beside the village. This mall holds a large food hall where you can have lunch or relax for a coffee. I love shopping at Primark, and I spent a total of €75 (about SGD110) at Primark. Yes, I picked up many things such as shoes, home living, beauty products, accessories and cute pouches.

Before heading back to Paris, we went to Auchan Hypermarket to purchase hair products, chocolates, biscuits, bread jam, maple syrup and bath & body products. 

We left the shopping premises around 530pm to take the train back to Paris, as we needed to rush back to the hotel to get dressed up for our ‘main event’. Baby had purchased tickets for Moulin Rouge online prior to our trip!

The Moulin Rouge is located at the district of Pigalle, and the nearest Metro station is Blanche. We decided to settle our dinner at Le Sanglier Bleu which was less than a one-minute walk from Moulin Rouge.

We were there around 745pm, and the sun was still scorching. I really have mixed feelings about having a longer summer day. On one hand, there are many things that we can do while the sky is still bright, but on the other hand, I hate the scorching sun which lingered in the sky for many hours!

I really enjoyed my dinner at Le Sanglier Bleu as they delivered quality food, prompt service. The damage was quite fair too!

There is a dress code for the Moulin Rouge, and the requirement is to come in smart dress, which essentially means that shorts, flipflops, sportswear, and sport shoes are not permitted.

As neither of us had been to the show before, the whole experience was new to the both of us! There are two shows per night, a 9pm and an 11pm show, and we chose the 9pm show. The Moulin Rouge experience that we booked was for a non-dining ticket but came with a bottle of champagne!

After queuing to get through security screening, we were shown to our table. We were a bit surprised that we were sharing our table with other guests, but on looking around, everyone was sharing a table. I suppose this is a very French thing to do!

The Moulin Rouge show is an amazing cabaret performance that featured beautiful performers and stunning costumes. We were not allowed to take pictures of the show during the performance, which meant I diverted all my focus on enjoying the approximately 90-minute performance. I really enjoyed the show, as it had champagne and it was with the man I love in one of my favorite cities, so this was never going to be a disappointment!

I highly recommend the Moulin Rouge if you’re visiting Paris – it’s a great show and is a lot of fun to attend. However, there are many of the scenes that involve topless ladies – but there is no full nudity as with some of the other cabaret shows.

Baby purchased the souvenir programme during the show, and after the show, we purchased some Moulin Rouge’s featured souvenir such as magnets, playing cards and a poster!