Why go
Paris rewards the low-ambition day: one museum, one long lunch, one walk along a canal. The city is unusually compact — you can cross it on foot in three hours — and the outer arrondissements have most of the good bakeries.
Five things to do
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01
Musée d'Orsay
A railway station full of impressionists.
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02
Père Lachaise
Ninety-six acres of monumental sculpture.
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03
Rue Mouffetard on a market morning
Cheese, then bread, then a bench.
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04
Sainte-Chapelle
Fifteen metres of 13th-century glass.
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05
Buttes-Chaumont
The city's best park, and locals know it.
Neighbourhoods
Le Marais
Medieval streets, museums and falafel queues.
Canal Saint-Martin
Iron footbridges and evening picnics.
Belleville
Hill views, street art, Chinese and Tunisian food.
Saint-Germain
Bookshops, cafés and the Luxembourg gardens.
Getting around
Buy the transport card on arrival — every city on this list has one, and it is cheaper than single fares within about four journeys. Walking covers more than the map suggests: most of the districts above are within thirty minutes of each other on foot.
Taxis and ride apps are worth it late at night and when you are carrying luggage. Everything else is faster on the metro, the tram or the ferry, in that order.
Where to eat
The rule that holds in Paris is the rule that holds everywhere: eat at the busy place, at the hour the locals eat, and order the thing the kitchen makes most of. Reserve for dinner in the districts above; lunch rarely needs it.
Two days here
- Morning: Musée d'Orsay
- Afternoon: walk Le Marais
- Evening: Rue Mouffetard on a market morning
- Day two: Buttes-Chaumont
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