The City of Light is the setting for many renowned novels, films, and paintings. You have probably visited it in your mind’s eye already. Paris is the capital of style, art, and cuisine.
Paris is a good starting point for visiting the rest of France.
MUST SEES
Sacré Coeur
Sacré Coeur is at the summit of Montmartre’s hilltop. The white travertine stones of the basilica’s Byzantine-Romanesque design glimmers in the sunlight.
Louvre
Philip II built the Louvre Palace in the late 12th century. Its most famous artworks include the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. In 1988, I.M. Pei designed the glass and metal Pyramide.
Notre Dame
Notre Dame is the most famous example of Gothic architecture with its rib vault, flying buttresses, and massive rose window. Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame led to the restoration of the cathedral. In 2019, the roof burned for 15 hours.
Versailles
Louis XIV commissioned the palace just outside Paris as the ideal royal residence. With the Hall of Mirrors and marble columns of the Trianon, Versailles was the model for all other palaces. The magnificent gardens, labyrinth, canal, and statues cover 800 hectares of land.
Bateau Mouche
Touring the Seine in a bateau mouche is a great way to see the central sights in Paris. Batobus uses the “hop on, hop off” concept to allow you to visit the top nine spots along the river.
Tuileries
Catherine de’ Medici created the Tuileries Garden, which is between the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre. Visitors now enjoy its fountains, sculptures, and flowers, as they leisurely stroll toward the Louvre.
Moulin Rouge
The Moulin Rouge is a cabaret in the Pigalle red light district, just southwest of Montmartre. Courtesans invented the can-can as a scandalous dance of revealing high kicks and cartwheels.
Montmartre
From Sacré Coeur, crowds enjoy views of the Right Bank and beyond. During the Belle Époque, many artists lived around Montmartre, such as Monet, Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Pissarro, and van Gogh.
Petit Palais
Built for the 1900 Exposition, the neoclassical Petit Palais contains the Paris Museum of Beaux Arts. The free museum displays paintings by painters such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Delacroix, Monet, Pissarro, Cézanne, and Rodin.
Bleu Coupole
At the high-end Gallerie Printemps shopping center, you can view the Bleu Coupole over a cup of coffee.
Eiffel Tower
France constructed the Eiffel Tower for the Exposition Universalle. With 7 million visitors a year, it is the most visited monument in the world. The Trocadéro is the best spot for taking photos of the tower. Today, there are characters from all over as well as hustlers and street performers of all stripes.
FOOD
Steak au Poivre
The filet is perfectly medium rare – soft and tender. The peppercorn sauce steals the show with a blend of butter, cognac, shallots, cream, and bold Sarawak black peppercorns. At Bistrot Paul Bert, they execute classic French dishes with precision.
Fromagerie
On Rue Montorgueil, you can arrange a lunch using La Fermette’s wondrous cheeses plus a crusty baguette and tapenade. One of the cheeses practically oozes and is the second stinkiest. Does stinkiest equal best? Absolutement!
Soupe à l’oignon
French onion soup is a dark brown savory soup of broth and onions. There’s a large piece of bread and copious amounts of melted cheese on top. Throughout history, it was a food for peasants.
Stohrer
Stohrer is the oldest patisserie in Paris, established in 1730. He invented the rum baba, puits d’amour, and religieuse. The strawberry tart consists of a sweet dough, almond cream, strawberry jam, light vanilla cream, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream.
Boeuf Bourguignon
Beef bourguignon is a beef stew of red Burgundy wine, beef broth, carrots, onions, garlic, bouquet garni, pearl onions, mushrooms, and bacon. The version at Bouillon Pigalle comes with pasta.
Berthillon
Berthillon is a legendary ice cream shop on the Île Saint-Louis. Their most famous flavors include: caramel au beurre sale, fraise de bois (wild strawberry), chestnut, and chocolate. If the line is too long, many other shops also sell Berthillon’s ice cream.
Paris Brest
The Paris–Brest is the most French pastry – crisp choux with hazelnut praline cream. It shares its name with the long-distance Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race and has a wheel shape. The best ones are at Philippe Conticini.
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