we hadn't been to there before.

[nininaz]

Hello all,
What is the suitable verb choice for the bold part? ans why? and do we have to use 'clause' after expression 'first time ' or not?

Last summer my younger sister and I planned to go on a trip. It was Paris where we decided to make a visit, as It was our first time to visit this city and we hadn't been to there/ we had't gone to there before.


Thanks.

[Matthew Wai]

I would omit 'to' before 'there' in both cases.

[nininaz]

I would omit 'to' before 'there' in both cases.

Thanks.
I got it. as 'there' is an adverb like 'home' and we shouldn't put preposition, but in 'I have been to china', 'china' is a place not adverb.
Am I right? and both of them are correct? (had gone there, and had been there'?

[Matthew Wai]

I think you are right about 'China' being a noun rather than an adverb, so 'to' should be there.
I consider both 'gone' and 'been' correct.

[nininaz]

I think you are right about 'China' being a noun rather than an adverb, so 'to' should be there.
I consider both 'gone' and 'been' correct.

Original sentence: Last summer my younger sister and I planned to go on a trip. It was Paris where we decided to make a visit, as It was our first time to visit this city and we hadn't been to there/ we had't gone to there before.

I also have to revise as the following (I did googling):

Last summer my younger sister and I planned to go on a trip.
It was Paris where we decided to make a visit, as It was first time that we wanted to make our journey to this city, and we hadn't been there/ we had't gone there before.

[Matthew Wai]

I would say it briefly as below:
We decided to visit Paris because we hadn't been there before.