Paris Travel Guide

General

Paris cannot be approached without expectations and preconceptions. For some, it represents a city of romance, with the celebrated photographer Doisneau’s lovers clinched in an eternal embrace. For others, the French capital is a sparkling mix of writers and artists or an unhealthy concentration of proud Parisians. While the first visit to the French capital may surprise, it is unlikely to disappoint. On all sorts of levels – historical, architectural, cultural – this is a fascinating city.

The River Seine splits the city into the Rive Droite (Right Bank) north of the Seine and the Rive Gauche (Left Bank) south of the river. Paris is just ten kilometres (six miles) by 11km (seven miles), easily explored on foot or via the efficient transport system. Orientation is facilitated by the 20 arrondissements (designated here as 1st to 20th, in French as 1er to 20e), which spiral outwards in a snail-shell from the central Île de la Cité to Porte de Montreuil on the eastern edge of the city.

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Sights

The sightseer can choose their own Paris. The nostalgic should wander around the mansions of the Marais district, past the Musée Carnavalet, 23 rue de Sévigné, 3rd; Hôtel de Sully, 62 rue St-Antoine, 4th and Place des Vosges, home to the Maison de Victor Hugo. Monet’s Water Lillies can be glimpsed at the Musée de l’Orangerie when it re-opens in December 2002 and changing exhibitions of modern art at the Galerie National du Jeu de Paume, both in the Jardin des Tuileries.

Those interested in modern design should opt for the Centre Georges Pompidou, place Beaubourg, 4th; Jean Nouvel’s Institut du Monde Arabe, 1 rue des Fossés-St-Bernard, 5th; or the Grande Arche de la Défense with its high-speed glass lift offering a spectacular view of Paris. The Grande Arche, which lies along the same geographical axis as Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysées, was built a century and a half later. This incongruity – the modern city juxtaposed with the old – is all part of the charm of Paris. Serious sightseers may wish to plan their day, others may prefer simply to wander.

Paris is overrun with museums, ranging from the vast collections of the Louvre to the small and quirky – such as the Musée des Arts Forains, 53 avenue des-Terroires-de-France, 12th, a shrine to fairground art. Those who have not been to Paris for a few years will be surprised at the number of new additions. The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme (Museum of Jewish Art and History) is one example, in a lovely town house in the Marais, Hôtel de St-Aignan, 71 rue du Temple, 3rd. Also now well-established are the Musée de la Musique, Cité de la Musique, 221 avenue Jean-Jaurès, 19th, and the Musée de la Mode et du Textile (Fashion and Textile Museum), 107 rue de Rivoli, Palais du Louvre, 1st. The Musée de la Publicité (Museum of Advertising) opened in 1999, also at the Palais du Louvre, 107 rue de Rivoli, 1st.

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