Travel Guide

Places To See

Au Rocher de Cancale

Rue Montorgueil was the oyster market of the old halles, and this timber-lined restaurant opened in 1846 is its legacy. Virtually unchanged since the days of the markets, there's a choice of three plats du jour plus two chef's suggestions, alongside oysters from Cancale, Brittany's foremost oyster port. Everything here, including the wine, is great value.

Georges

Encased in aluminium sheeting with modular arctic-white seats, the Pompidou Centre's hyper-industrial dining room has stunning views over Paris' rooftops, especially from its terrace. But a cautionary tale from a non-French-speaking friend: 'The menu's words don't necessarily mean anything - my main course translated to "the Crying Tiger". It was divine, but I still have absolutely no idea what it was.'

Musée d'Orsay

This former railway station houses a superb collection of French Impressionist and post-Impressionist works, making it a must-see for any art lover. The museum displays France's national collection of paintings, sculptures, objets d'art produced between 1848 and 1914, including the fruits of the Impressionist, Post Impressionist and Art Nouveau movements.

The Museum fills the chronological gap between the Louvre and the Musée National d'Art Moderne at the Centre Pompidou. Austerely housed along the Seine in a former railway station built in 1900, it was reinaugurated in its present form in 1986.

Many visitors head straight to the upper level (lit by a skylight) to see the famous Impressionist paintings by Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas and Manet and the Post Impressionist works by Van Gogh, Cézanne, Seurat and Matisse, but there's also a great deal to see on the ground floor, including some early works by Manet, Monet, Renoir and Pissarro. The middle level has some magnificent Art Nouveau rooms.

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, perched at the very top of Butte de Montmartre (Montmartre Hill), was built from contributions pledged by Parisian Catholics as an act of contrition after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. Construction began in 1873, but the basilica was not consecrated until 1919.

Although the basilica's domes are a well-loved part of the Parisian skyline, most of its architecture is not very graceful. It's always dark in the nave, and the enormous mosaic of a plainly angry Christ over the main altar does little to dispel the gloom.

A 234-step climb up narrow spiral staircases takes you up to the dome, which affords one of Paris' most spectacular panoramas. It is, however, outside on the steps where the action takes place - lovers, buskers, locals and foreigners all converge to take in the vistas and each other.

Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris

If Paris has a heart, then this is it. Notre Dame de Paris is not only a masterpiece of French Gothic architecture, but has also been Catholic Paris' ceremonial focus for seven centuries. The cathedral's immense interior, a marvel of medieval engineering, holds over 6000 people and has spectacular rose windows.

Although Notre Dame is regarded as a sublime architectural achievement, there are all sorts of minor anomalies, the result of centuries of aesthetic intervention. These include a trio of main entrances that are each shaped differently, and are accompanied by statues that were once coloured to make them more effective as Bible lessons for the hoi polloi. The interior is dominated by a 7800-pipe organ that was restored but has not worked properly since.

It's well worth the effort of climbing the 387 steps of the north tower. This will bring you to the top of the west facade and face to face with many of the cathedral's most frightening gargoyles, which enjoy a spectacular view of Paris.

Musée du Louvre

The Louvre may be the world's greatest art museum - but it's also the one most avoided by visitors to Paris. Daunted by its size and overwhelming richness, many people head to smaller galleries. But if you have even the merest interest in the fruits of human civilisation from antiquity to the 19th century, then visit you must.

The former fortress began its career as a public museum in 1793 with 2500 paintings; now some 30000 are on display. The most famous works from antiquity include the Seated Scribe, the Jewels of Rameses II and the armless duo - the Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo. From the Renaissance, don't miss Michelangelo's Slaves, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and works by Raphael, Botticelli and Titian. French masterpieces of the 19th century include Ingres' La Grande Odalisque, Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa and the work of David and Delacroix.

The Grand Louvre project has rejuvenated the museum with many new and renovated galleries now open to the public. To avoid queues at the pyramid, buy your ticket in advance and/or enter through the underground shopping mall.

Eiffel Tower

Built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World Fair), held to commemorate the centennial of the Revolution, the Tour Eiffel was the world's tallest structure at 320m (1050ft) until Manhattan's Chrysler Building was completed. Initially opposed by the city's artistic and literary elite the tower was almost torn down in 1909.

The tower's salvation came when it proved an ideal platform for the antennas needed for the new science of radiotelegraphy. Just southeast of the tower is a grassy expanse that was once the site of the world's first balloon flights and is now used by teens as a skateboarding arena and by activists bad-mouthing Chirac.

When you're done peering upward through the girders, three levels are open to the public. There are elevators to the top but they have long queues. You can avoid the queues by walking up the stairs in the south pillar to the 1st or 2nd platforms. Guided visits are also available.

Barrio Latino

You can salsa your socks off in this vast triple-decker establishment. The crowd is as mixed as a well-shaken cocktail: gay, straight, locals and visitors. There's also a Latin-inspired restaurant.

Forum des Images

This archive cinema beneath the sprawling Forum des Halles is a superb place to see rarely screened and little known films, especially ones that deal with Paris as a theme or have the City of Light as the setting. There are usually between four and five screenings a day.

China Club

Opulent red-lacquered walls, chesterfield sofas, and a basement jazz club, Sing Song, styled like 1930s Shanghai, have made Paris' China Club a fixture on the international party circuit. From 19:00 to 21:00 you can swill a Long Island iced tea or stellar martini at the main bar; and you can tuck into Peking duck and spring rolls until midnight.

Chez Nicos

The blackboard outside crêpe artist Nicos' unassuming little shop chalks up an overwhelming variety of fillings, but ask by name for his 'La Crêpe du Chef', which is stuffed with aubergines, feta, mozzarella, lettuce, tomatoes and onions. There's a handful of tables inside; otherwise head to a nearby park.

Events

Most museums and shops are closed on France's jours fériés (public holidays). When a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, expect to see a lot of shuttered storefronts on that Monday or Friday as well. The doors of banks are good places to check for announcements of long holiday weekends.

France's national day, 14 July, commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison, the event that kicked off the French Revolution. Across the country, the holiday is celebrated with serious abandon, especially in Paris, where the day ends with a massive fireworks display and throngs of people in the streets.

Pre-Departure Information

Electricity

230V

50Hz

Electrical Plugs

European plug with two circular metal pins

Weather Information

The Paris basin lies midway between Brittany and Alsace, and is affected by the climates of both. The Île de France region records the nation's lowest annual precipitation, but rainfall patterns are erratic; you're just as likely to be caught in a heavy spring shower or an autumn downpour as in a sudden summer cloudburst. Paris' average yearly temperature is 12°C (54°F) (3°C/37°F in January, 19°C/66°F in July), but the mercury sometimes drops below zero in winter and can climb to the mid-30s (high-80s/low-90s°F) or higher in the middle of summer.

History and Culture

Pre-20th Centure History

Paris was founded towards the end of the 3rd century BC on what is now the Île de la Cité by a tribe of Celtic Gauls known as the Parisii. Centuries of conflict between the Gauls and Romans ended in 52 BC, when Julius Caesar's legions took control of the territory. Christianity was introduced in the 2nd century AD, and the Roman party was finally crashed in the 5th century by the arrival of the Franks. In 508 AD, Frankish king Clovis I united Gaul as a kingdom and made Paris his capital, naming it after the original Parisii tribe.

Paris prospered during the Middle Ages: In the 12th century, construction began on the cathedral of Notre Dame (work continued for nearly 200 years), while the Marais area north of the Seine was drained and settled to become what's known today as the Right Bank. The Sorbonne opened its doors in 1253, the beautiful Sainte Chapelle was consecrated in 1248 and the Louvre got its start as a riverside fortress around 1200.

Scandinavian Vikings (also known as Norsemen, or Normans) began raiding France's western coast in the 9th century; after three centuries of conflict, they started to push toward Paris. These conflicts gave birth to the Hundred Years War between Norman England and Paris' Capetian dynasty, eventually resulting in the French defeat at Agincourt in 1415 and English control of Paris in 1420. In 1429, a 17-year-old stripling called Jeanne d'Arc re-rallied the French troops to defeat the English at Orléans, and, with the exception of Calais, the English were expelled from France in 1453.

The Renaissance helped Paris get back on its feet at the end of the 1400s, and many of the city's signature buildings and monuments sprang up during the period. By the late 16th century Paris was again up in arms, this time in the name of religion. Clashes between the Huguenot Protestants and Catholic groups sank to their darkest levels in 1572 with the St Bartholomew's Day massacre of 3000 Huguenots in town to celebrate the wedding of Henri of Navarre (later, King Henri IV).

Louis XIV, known as le Roi Soleil (the Sun King), ascended to the throne in 1643 at the tender age of five and held the crown until 1715. During his reign, he nearly bankrupted the national treasury with battling and building. His most tangible legacy is the palace at Versailles, 23km (15mi) south-west of Paris. The excesses of Louis XVI and his capricious queen, Marie-Antoinette, led to an uprising of Parisians on 14 July 1789 and the storming of the Bastille prison - kick-starting the French Revolution.

The populist ideals of the revolution's early stages quickly gave way to a Reign of Terror, wherein even a few of the original 'patriots' got uncomfortably cosy with Madame la Guillotine. The unstable post-revolution government was consolidated in 1799 under a young Corsican general, Napoleon Bonaparte, who adopted the title First Consul. In 1804, the Pope crowned him Emperor of the French, and Napoleon proceeded to sweep most of Europe under his wing. Napoleon's hunger for conquest led to his defeat, first in Russia in 1812 and later at Belgium's Waterloo in 1815. His legacy in modern France includes the national legal code, which bears his name, and monuments such as the massive neoclassical Arc de Triomphe.

Following Napoleon's exile, France faltered under a string of mostly inept rulers until a coup d'état in 1851 brought a new emperor, Napoleon III, to power. In 17 years, he oversaw the construction of a flashy new Paris, with wide boulevards, sculptured parks and - not insignificantly - a modern sewer system. Like his namesake uncle, however, this Napoleon and his penchant for pugnacity led to a costly and eventually unsuccessful war, this time with the Prussians in 1870. When news of their emperor's capture by the enemy reached Paris the masses took to the streets, demanding that a republic be created. Despite its bloody beginnings, the Third Republic ushered in the glittering halcyon years of the belle époque.

Modern History

The belle époque was famed for its Art Nouveau architecture and a barrage of advances in the arts and sciences. By the 1930s, Paris had become a worldwide centre for the artistic avant-garde and had entrenched its reputation among freethinking intellectuals. The flowering of that era was cut short by the Nazi occupation of 1940, and Paris remained under Germany's thumb until 25 August 1944. (The Allied forces that retook the city were spearheaded by Free French units in order to give the French the honour of liberating their capital.) After the war, Paris regained its position as a creative hotbed and nurtured a revitalised liberalism that reached a crescendo in the student-led 'Spring Uprising' of 1968. The Sorbonne was occupied, barricades were erected in the Latin Quarter, and some 9 million people nationwide were inspired to join in a paralysing general strike, drawing attention to their increasing dissatisfaction with the rigidity of French institutions.

During the 1980s, President François Mitterand initiated the futuristic grands projets, a series of costly building projects that garnered widespread approval even when the results were popular failures. Responses to the flashier examples, like the Centre Pompidou and the glass pyramids in the Louvre, have ranged from appalled 'mon Dieux' to absolute doting rapture; if nothing else, the projets invigorated dialogue about the Parisian aesthetic.

In the late 1990s, the city seized the international spotlight with two front-page events: the rumour-plagued auto-accident death of Princess Di in 1997 and France's first-ever World Cup victory in July 1998.

Meanwhile, the political party behind Jacques Chirac (France's president since mid-1995) lost the parliamentary elections in 1997 to a coalition of Socialists, Communists and Greens headed by then Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. In the 2002 presidential elections, far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen was highly successful in the first round of the elections due to a low voter turnout. A subsequent strong show of support for Chirac - and a powerful slap in the face for Le Pen - gave Chirac a landslide victory, knocking Jospin out of the race in the process.

Recent History

On 31st May 2005 Chirac named Dominique de Villepin as prime minister following the resignation of Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

In 2001 Paris elected its first openly gay mayor, Bertrand Delanoë. He continues to enjoy widespread popularity, particularly for his efforts to make Paris more liveable by promoting bicycles and buses and to create a more approachable and responsible city administration.

In October 2005, the deaths of two teenagers who were accidentally electrocuted while allegedly hiding from police sparked riots that quickly spread across other regions of Paris, and then across France.

Further country-wide demonstrations in 2006 were a response to government attempts to shake up the rigidly protected labour market. The action forced a policy backdown, but left the issue of unemployment as intractable as ever.

In 2007 France voted in Nicolas Sarkozy as president, the same Sarkozy whose dismissal of the 2005 Paris rioters as hoodlums and rabble had only poured fuel on the fire scorching across the country.