Paris city guide
Juan Ordonez
Paris is so much more than its headline sights. A city of 20 arrondissements, each has its own character. It's a city where you can walk through a park built on a disused railway line, spend an afternoon in a museum dedicated entirely to the Middle Ages, sit down to a steaming plate of couscous royale or duck confit in a packed restaurant in the 18th, and pick up a second-hand tome from a bookstall on the Seine to read with a glass of wine and a jambon-beurre.
Paris received almost 48 million visitors in 2025, and the pressure on the city's world-famous attractions (and its residents) is increasing: breaking away from the beaten path in Paris can feel like a challenging task. But exploring neighbourhoods like the 11th or 20th, instead of confining yourself to the Champs Élysées, will give you the chance to eat where locals eat, shop where they shop, and generally pay lower prices. Getting out of the hotspots supports local communities, keeps independent businesses alive, while spreading tourist spend around, and your trip will be all the better for it.
If you want to eat well, see something unexpected, and get a feel for how the city works beyond its most famous landmarks, this is our (non-exhaustive) guide.
Jeff Frenette
Paris arrondissements: a quick guide
Paris is a spiral of 20 arrondissements, numbered from the centre outward:
1st (Louvre/Les Halles): The historic centre of the city. You've got the Tuileries Gardens, the Palais Royal arcades, and the Forum des Halles underground shopping complex. A convenient base, but you'll pay tourist prices.
2nd (Bourse): This area is quieter than its neighbours. It has some of the city's best 18th-century shopping arcades. Galerie Vivienne is one of the most beautiful, with mosaic floors and neoclassical detailing.
3rd (Haut-Marais): The Musée Carnavalet is here, as are a growing number of independent galleries. It has the charm of the Marais without the heavy footfall.
4th (Marais/Île de la Cité): Place des Vosges, Notre-Dame, the historic Jewish quarter on Rue des Rosiers (get the falafel at L'As du Fallafel or Miznon and pick your side). Busy, yes, but the 17th-century townhouses and medieval street plan make it worth the visit.
5th (Latin Quarter): Bookshops on every corner, the Sorbonne, the Panthéon, and the Jardin des Plantes. It still has a real student energy and restaurants that don't charge you extra for the view.
6th (Saint-Germain-des-Prés): This is a polished and literary spot. Sartre drank coffee in the cafés here, and it's where you'll find the Le Bon Marché department store, and the Luxembourg Gardens.
7th (Invalides/Tour Eiffel): Yes, the Eiffel Tower is here, but so is the Musée Rodin with its sculpture garden and the open-air food market on Rue Cler, where the fromageries alone will eat up half of your morning.
8th (Champs-Élysées): Come here for the grand avenues, the Arc de Triomphe, and flagship luxury stores. The Haussmann-era façades are some of the most uniform in the city, but expect crowds.
9th (Opéra/South Pigalle): Opéra Garnier and the big department stores (Galeries Lafayette, Printemps) are the headline acts. But, South Pigalle, aka SoPi, has a neighbourhood feel. Rue des Martyrs is lined with foodie delights: fromageries, chocolatiers, and boulangeries. Stop at Sébastien Gaudard at number 22 for one of the best millefeuilles in Paris.
10th (Canal Saint-Martin/Gare du Nord): Two major stations sit here: Gare du Nord (Eurostar, Thalys) and Gare de l'Est (trains east to Strasbourg, Germany, Luxembourg). Away from the stations, the Canal Saint-Martin is one of the nicest spots in the city for a drink on the banks of the Seine.
11th (Bastille/Oberkampf): This is where young chefs come to open their first restaurants, and where the neo-bistro movement started: creative, seasonal cooking in casual settings. Head to Le Servan on Rue Saint-Maur to start, then onwards for natural wine bars and after-hours spots on Rue Oberkampf and Rue de Charonne.
12th (Bastille/Bercy): Gare de Lyon lives here, with trains to Lyon, Provence, the Riviera, Switzerland and Italy. It's also where you'll find the Coulée Verte, the elevated park that inspired New York's High Line.
14th (Montparnasse): Gare Montparnasse sends trains west and southwest to Brittany, Bordeaux, the Pyrenees and on to Spain. The neighbourhood itself is residential and low-key, with a strong crêperie tradition and the entrance to the Catacombs.
Anastasia Zhenina
How to get around Paris: metro, buses, bikes and boats
Paris is very walkable, and most of the central arrondissements can be covered on foot in 20 to 30 minutes. But if your legs get tired, the public transport system is extensive and reliable.
Metro: Paris has 16 lines covering every corner of the city. Trains run from around 05:30 to 01:00 (02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays). A single ticket costs about €2.50, but buying a carnet of ten or using the Navigo Easy contactless card is cheaper. You can also load tickets onto the Île-de-France Mobilités app.
RER: These express suburban trains are often faster than the metro. RER A runs east to west through the centre and is the quickest way to reach Versailles (Versailles-Château Rive Gauche station). RER B runs north to south, connecting Gare du Nord with Châtelet-Les Halles and Saint-Michel-Notre-Dame. The RER D connects Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon in about 10 minutes.
Buses: Paris' buses are an excellent way to see the city while you travel. Line 69 runs from Gambetta to the Champ de Mars and passes through some of the most scenic parts of Paris. It's a cheaper and better sightseeing route than any tourist bus.
Vélib’ bikes: The city’s bike-share scheme has stations every few hundred metres. You can buy a day pass (€5) or a 3-day pass from any terminal or the app. The expansion of protected bike lanes over the past few years has elevated the city’s cycling scene.
Batobus (river shuttle): This is a hop-on, hop-off boat service along the Seine with nine stops. It's not the cheapest way to get around (a day pass costs around €25), but points for novelty and scenery, and the service connects the Eiffel Tower, Musée d’Orsay, Louvre, Notre-Dame, and Jardin des Plantes.
DAT VO
Best museums and galleries in Paris you might not know about
We can’t talk about museums in Paris without mentioning the Louvre, and while the cultural giant is a rite of passage for first-time visitors, there are over 130 museums in this city to explore. Here are three alternatives that deserve your attention.
Didier Descouens/Public Domain
Musée de Cluny (Musée National du Moyen Âge) puts you inside a 15th-century abbey built on top of Roman thermal baths. On the ground floor, you walk through the remains of the frigidarium where ancient Parisians once bathed. Upstairs, the collection runs from carved saints to medieval pharmacy jars, but the room you'll remember is the one housing the Lady and the Unicorn: six tapestry panels from the late 15th century, each representing one of the five senses and a mysterious sixth. The museum reopened in 2022 after extensive renovation, with a new entrance and better accessibility, and entry is free on the first Sunday of each month.
The
Lionel Allorge/CC BY-SA 3.0
Musée Carnavalet is in the Marais, and it's completely free. It covers the full history of Paris across two connected townhouses. You get reconstructed period rooms, Napoleon's personal effects, and Marcel Proust's bedroom, which has been reassembled to the last detail. The collection of old shop signs from centuries of Parisian commerce is worth the visit on its own.
PHGCOM/CC BY-SA 3.0
One for the science buffs. Foucault's original pendulum swings in the nave, early flying machines are suspended from the Gothic ceiling, and Cugnot's 1770 steam carriage sits idle nearby. Housed in a former priory, the Musée des Arts et Métiers sits in the 3rd, and the collection spans over two centuries of scientific and industrial invention.
Yiwen
Parks, green spaces and urban gardens in Paris
The Jardin du Luxembourg and the Jardin des Tuileries are the parks you’ll find in every guide, and they are absolutely beautiful, but Paris has some other surprising green spaces that deserve a look.
Guilhem Vellut/CC BY 2.0
A linear 4.5 km park built on an abandoned railway, Coulée Verte René-Dumont, or Promenade Plantée, was the first project to turn elevated rail tracks into a city park. The walk starts near the Opéra Bastille and follows the old Vincennes railway to the Bois de Vincennes, passing through a mix of elevated viaducts and ground-floor gardens, and plant-covered tunnels. Below the viaduct, the arches have been converted into the Viaduc des Arts, where artisan workshops and galleries sit in each arch. It is free to enjoy, and quieter on weekdays.
Matej Pribanic
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont was once a limestone and gypsum quarry, then a rubbish dump. Located in the 19th arrondissement, it was built in the 1860s and commissioned by Napoleon III as part of his plan to create a major park in every Parisian district. It's a dramatic collection of cliffs, waterfalls, a lake with an island, and a suspended bridge giving panoramic views of the park and the Temple de la Sibylle, a small Roman-style pavilion perched above the water. There’s a guinguette (open-air bar) called Rosa Bonheur at the top of the park where you can get a drink and sit on the grass in the spring sunshine.
Kamilla Isalieva
France's main botanical garden, the Jardin des Plantes, is a park with a plethora of museums on the grounds. Including the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution, where thousands of taxidermied specimens are arranged around the theme of evolution in a grand 19th-century hall, to a palaeontology and comparative anatomy gallery with floor-to-ceiling skeleton displays, and a mineralogy museum that has been open since 1837. There are also greenhouses with tropical and arid-climate collections, a small zoo (the second oldest in the world), and the garden itself, with rows of labelled trees, a hedge maze, and seasonal flower displays.
Diogo Fagundes
Books and antiques in Paris
Paris has more bookshops per square kilometre than almost any city in Europe, and the local bookshop is very much alive here. Skip the queue at Shakespeare and Company to explore some other bookish corners.
Pi3.124/CC BY-SA 4.0
An institution for English-speaking readers in Paris, Librairie Galignani has a history going back to 16th-century Venice, where the Galignani family were printers and publishers. The Paris bookshop opened in 1801 as a reading room and bookshop. Hardwood shelves from the 1930s and a skylight over the central staircase frame two floors of carefully chosen art, photography, literature, and travel writing in both French and English, , with the top shelves accessed by ladder.
Celine Ylmz
Les bouquinistes de Paris are part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of the Seine River. These green, open-air stands have been around since the 16th century and sell second-hand books, vintage posters, antique books, and old maps. The best bit runs between the Pont Marie and the Pont Royal. You won't find rare original first editions at rock-bottom prices, but you might pick up a beautiful old illustrated book or vintage French movie poster (a much better gift than you'll find in a souvenir shop).
Federico Chionetti
One of the largest antiques markets in the world, the Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen is the place to go for vintage finds. There are over 2,000 dealers spread across multiple covered markets and five shopping streets, selling everything from mid-century furniture to vintage clothing and vinyl records. Saturday mornings are less busy and the best experience.
Meizhi Lang
Where to eat and drink in Paris: a food lover’s guide
It's not hard to eat well in Paris, with seasonal produce and high-quality ingredients a mainstay of most menus. Some classics that will never fail to satisfy: croque-monsieur (a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, coated in béchamel); steak frites (chargrilled steak with chips); soupe à l'oignon (French onion soup topped with a melted Gruyère crust); or œufs mayo (hard-boiled egg dipped in homemade mayonnaise). For a quick lunch, grab a jambon-beurre (ham and butter on a fresh baguette) from any good boulangerie.
Ahtziri Lagarde
Paris’s best pastry and bread
Bread and pastry are serious business here. When ordering a baguette, which is a rite of passage, ask for a baguette tradition (sometimes also called baguette à l'ancienne or baguette de campagne). By law, it must be made with only flour, water, salt, and yeast, with no additives or freezing. Check that the bakery has the word boulangerie on its sign or window, as French law requires any establishment using the name to bake its bread on-site. Look out too for a small blue-and-yellow sign, which indicates a genuine artisan baker.
Tanya Barrow
Boulangerie Utopie, which won the Grand Prix in 2024, uses organic flour and sourdough for everything. Opened by two friends who met on their first day of pastry school, they spent years travelling before setting up shop together in 2013. Try the roule sésame, a black charcoal sourdough spiral with black sesame cream, topped with toasted sesame.
Housed in a 19th-century shopfront with original gilded mirrors and painted ceilings, Du Pain et des Idées lives up to its, quite well-known, reputation. Open Monday to Friday, the escargots, spiral pastries in pistachio-chocolate or apple-cinnamon, are what most people come for.
If you're a plant-based foodie after a pastry fix, VG Pâtisserie was the first fully vegan patisserie in Paris when it opened, and its pastries are so good that you won't even know they're not laden with butter Vegan or not, order a croissant (or two).
Estera
The Parisian bistro
Paris has a few distinct dining categories, and although you'll see blurred lines on the signage (café-restaurant, brasserie-bistro), the main differences are worth knowing when you’re planning what to eat that evening. A café is for coffee, a glass of wine, and maybe a croque-monsieur or salad; a brasserie is larger and serves a broad menu (shellfish platters, steak frites, choucroute); a restaurant is a more formal affair with fixed courses. And then there's the bistro, which is where we'd point you first: a neighbourhood haunt with a seasonal, home-style menu, a French-focused wine list, and a place where you can sit for as long as you like without feeling rushed.
Close to the Luxembourg Gardens, Bistroy Les Papilles operates on a principle that takes the stress out of deciding what to order: there is no menu. Everyone eats the same four courses, which change daily based on what's come in from the market. A soup to start, a braised meat dish served in the middle of the table, and dessert to finish (and sometimes, cheese). The walls are lined floor to ceiling with wine bottles, all sold at shop prices with a €7 corkage fee if you want one with your meal.
Theo
Café les Deux Gares serves some of the best bistro food within walking distance of any major train station in Paris. Chef Jonathan Schweizer runs a changing menu alongside a natural wine list, and the terrace between Gare de l'Est and Gare du Nord is ideal for a long lunch before or after a train. Order the crispy ris de veau (sweetbreads) if they're on the menu.
The ardoise (slate) at Bistrot Rougemont changes based on what's come in that day, and you pick from the board. The kitchen has a close relationship with a Normandy farm and a dedicated charcutier who supplies the meats, poultry, and cheeses. Order the truffle ravioli or the slow-cooked lamb shoulder, and leave room for the chocolate mousse. The wine list celebrates smaller French producers, and the prices are fair for this part of Paris.
Halyna Tsiupa
Apéro, cocktails and where to drink in Paris
Apéro, short for apéritif, is the French tradition of an early-evening drink before dinner. The drink can be anything: a glass of wine; a pastis (anise-flavoured spirit, diluted with water); a kir (white wine with blackcurrant or other fruit liqueur - make it royale with sparkling wine); or a happy-hour cocktail. It's almost always accompanied by something to snack on (olives, sliced saucisson, cheese, or a bowl of crisps).
Antoine Pouligny
Female-run and sustainability-focused (seasonal ingredients, no single-use plastic), Combat in Belleville is run by mixologist Margot Lecarpentier, and the cocktails use French spirits and produce. The Dashima, made with tequila reposado, dry vermouth, mango, and chilli oil, is spicy, warming and fruity. The terrace fills up fast on warm nights.
Dirty Lemon is an inclusive, women-led space opened by chef Ruba Khoury, who trained at Septime, Yam'Tcha, and Frenchie. The cocktails change with the seasons, and the food is Palestinian-Mediterranean: hummus, fried oysters with spicy mayo, halloumi, and harissa chicken wings.
If wine and cocktails aren't for you, Patoche is a microbrasserie that brews on-site and keeps 12 beers on rotation. The taproom is small, and everything is brewed with mostly organic, French-sourced ingredients. They also run brewing workshops if you want to give brewing a go.
Where to stay in Paris
Le Grand Mazarin
A five-star hotel with bold, luxurious interiors, every room at Le Grand Mazarin is different. Think bespoke Aubusson-style tapestry canopies hang above beds, rich floral fabrics and prints in clashing colours, with furniture handcrafted in the French heritage tradition. The bar is wrapped in patterned wallpaper with velvet stools, and the restaurant feels like walking into a pastel-coloured greenhouse. Below ground, the swimming pool sits beneath a vaulted ceiling painted in a sweeping fresco of tangled branches and green-striped tiles. For food, the restaurant, Boubalé, serves Levantine and Mediterranean dishes, and the cocktail bar draws inspiration from One Thousand and One Nights. Later in the evening, Le Petit Bazar, the hotel's speakeasy in the basement, runs DJ sets. Stay here if you want to live out your maximalist Wes Anderson-inspired dreams in the Marais.
Maison Mère
Maison Mère is a Byway customer (and team) favourite. It’s a family-run boutique hotel in the Village Montholon neighbourhood in the 9th, where founder Aziz Temimi grew up. He has filled the modern, cosy rooms with work by local artists: ceramics, prints, and photographs that rotate regularly and are all for sale. The ground-floor restaurant serves French-South American fusion (the cactus and comté tacos are the thing to order), and the cocktail bar runs a creative seasonal menu. Rue des Martyrs, one of the best food streets in Paris, is an eight-minute walk away, and Gare du Nord is 15 minutes on foot. It works well for couples, families (connecting rooms and a family suite for up to six), and longer stays thanks to the coworking space on the ground floor.
Hôtel Barnett
If you want to be near Montmartre, without paying Montmartre prices: Hôtel Barnett Paris, in the 18th arrondissement, has a polished, contemporary feel, and the rooms are done in deep teals, warm golds, and dark wood panelling. There's a wellness space with a hammam, and a planted inner courtyard where you can have a drink away from the street. The bar and lounge areas feature a warm, amber-toned palette, walnut floors, and sepia photographs of Paris on the walls. Sacré-Coeur is within walking distance, but this part of the 18th is quieter and more residential.
Where to go after Paris
Paris is one of Europe’s best-connected rail hubs and is home to six major railway stations. Gare du Nord is the Eurostar hub, and sends trains north to Hauts-de-France. Gare de Lyon is for trains heading south and east toward Lyon, Provence, and eastern Spain. Gare Montparnasse covers the west and southwest, from Brittany to Bordeaux and on to Spain. Gare de l’Est handles Strasbourg, eastern France, and Germany.
South into France and the Mediterranean
From Gare de Lyon, the TGV reaches France's gastronomic capital, Lyon, in under two hours, and from there, Provence, the Calanques (a series of deep, narrow inlets cut into the limestone cliffs near Marseille, now a national park), and the Côte d'Azur open up. The Riviera Railway runs along the coast from Marseille to Ventimiglia, right on the Italian border, with the sea on one side for most of the journey. From Ventimiglia, you can connect to Genoa and on to the Cinque Terre.
East into Switzerland
Direct TGVs from Gare de Lyon reach Basel in about three hours, or Zúrich in four. Strasbourg is an easy place to stop over on the way, with its half-timbered buildings and flower-box-lined canals. In Switzerland, the scenic railways and Alpine vistas take over. Choose from the Bernina Express route from Chur to Tirano via 55 tunnels and 196 bridges, the Glacier Express route connecting Zermatt and St. Moritz through the Alps (and many, many more). From there, you can continue south into Italy's Lake District for a spritz by the water.
Southwest into Spain
Gare Montparnasse connects to Bordeaux in about two hours. From there, Bay of Biscay stretches along the Atlantic coast with Basque seaside villages, and into Spain to San Sebastián, where the surf culture and the food scene are world-famous. On the Mediterranean route, TGVs from Paris reach Barcelona in about six and a half hours, passing through the historic city of Girona. The Spanish coast then runs through Catalonia's coves and hilltop towns, then onwards through Valencia's rice fields and beaches, and into Andalucía for flamenco and Moorish architecture.
Want to plan a trip to Paris by train?
Here are a few of our favourite Parisian sojourns:
Galicia to Catalonia by way of Paris
Italian and Swiss lakes via Paris
Marseille and Nice (with Paris)
Or check out more rail holidays to France.
Read about the art of slow travel, why we love to take the local train, and why we don’t believe in flight-shaming.
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