[PARIS] — I’ve been to Paris a bunch of times over the last several decades, sometimes for a week, sometimes just a couple of days in/out. Several times over a quick Thanksgiving or Christmas bop-over. Sometimes I didn’t take any pictures, other times I just roamed around shooting everything. These are my favorite things, You Should Go Here in Paris. The best things to do in Paris. What to do in Paris.

There are lots and lots of Paris guides, so I won’t go into much detail here, just think of this post like an old postcard rack at the train station, look for places that look good, then go find them. These are all my favorite places in Paris.

I won’t go into much detail here, just think of this post like a cluttered old postcard rack at the train station. Look for places that look good to you, then go find them.

This is a long post, so forgive me. I consolidated a bunch of smaller earlier posts into one comprehensive post. Here’s another more detailed post I made about where to eat in Paris. As you’ll see, I was most often in Paris during off-season, over the winters, so a bunch of these pics are from cloudy, dark winter days. An abundance of holiday decorations, but in tasteful Parisian fashion. I assure you, it is only better in the Spring and Summer.

Forget my long dribbles of words, just bookmark Paris Je T’aime and follow every suggestion on there. And HipParis. And check out this curated list by the lovely shopgirls at Elsie Green, fantastic recommendations for about everything. Those are a few of the best websites on Paris.

The Best Things to Do in Paris

Wander in Jardin des Tuileries

Skip the Crowds, See The Louvre at Night

Hang Out in the Lesser Known Museums

Everyone goes to The Louvre, everyone. There are so many amazing museums in Paris, most very crowded. I’m spotlighting a couple of lesser-known ones to check out and miss the crowds.

Here’s Conde Nast Traveler’s story on the best museums in Paris. And here’s TimeOut’s museum guide.

The Musée du Quai Branly is a newer museum, designed by one of my favorite architects, Jean Nouvel. It’s a cool design that focuses on art and history from all the former colonial outposts of France. Modern, ancient, ethic and interesting. Loved the Living Wall on the Seine side.

The Maison Européenne de la Photographie, La MEP, always has interesting exhibits on photography, old and new. When I was last there they featured my favorite artist, JR. At the time, he was just starting to become famous. I loved everything about it. It’s amazing how much and how varied his work is.

Always Notre-Dame

These are all from before the Big Fire. I’m just so amazed how fast they will be able to completely rebuild The Louvre in just five years. Like everything in Paris, go visit at night. Everything is better at night.

Ooogle at Place Vendome

This is the Ritziest place in Paris, including The Ritz and the most expensive shops. Great people-watching. Go have a drink with Collin in the Hemingway Bar at The Ritz.

Take a Night Boat On The Seine

If you’re only going to do one thing in Paris, do this. Take a tourist boat up and down the Seine at night. Don’t bother doing it during the day when everybody else does. It’s not the same. All of Paris is lit up at night, this is your front row seat.

Watch this quick little video to s:

Always Something Going on at the Hôtel de Ville

As the heart-center of the city and the city’s Town Hall, the plaza out front of the Hotel de Ville is always changing, with all sorts of exhibits, events or protests.

Funny story: when I was a college kid backpacking through France, in every town we went to the Hotel de Ville was always the prettiest building in the best location in every city we went to. I was so naive, I said to my buddy “Wow, that Hotel de Ville chain sure has the greatest looking hotels, always in the best parts of every city. ” I had no idea the “Hotel de Ville” was every town’s city hall. 🤣

Take The Paris Sewer Tour

If you saw Phantom of the Opera, you’ll get it. Paris has miles of gorgeous sewers and you can take a tour of them. This is a really interesting tour and highly recommend it. It gets a little stinky in parts, but fascinating how all these old sewers still function today. Including how they use a giant boule to flush out the sewers, still today. A giant metal sphere that is designed to roll down the sewers and push all the tush down the way. Hundreds of years later. No machinery, just gravity. Genius.

Play Hide-and-Seek at Palais Royale

Palais Royale is one of my favorite spots in Paris, so calm, so repetitive, so beautiful. Check out these better pictures here. It’s just as fun to walk through at night, the maze of columns ideal for playing hide-and-seek. Go eat at Verjus, just right on the perimeter.

I’ve been in Palais Royale so many times, I stopped taking pictures. These last two are from Wikipedia:

Stop In on Île de la Cité

Île de la Cité is the cool little island in the middle of the Seine. If you’re crossing between the Left and Right banks, definitely duck in here, there’s a gorgeous quiet park in the western pointy end, La Place Dauphine, surrounded by cute cafes. Amazing how quiet it is at night, right smack dab in the center of busy Paris.

It’s one of the oldest parts of the city, going back to a Roman fort in the 100 AD. You can see the Roman ruins in the crypt under the big church. The island is mostly government buildings, a big church, a police station and a huge military hospital, but the west end has apartments, including one you can rent. We stayed in that Paris Perfect apartment the last time and it was absolutely perfect and an amazing central location to hit everything cool in Paris. She bought the whole building and converted it into gorgeously decorated apartments with views over the square, each with its own personality.

PRO TIP: Grab a baguette or jambon buerre and some wine and go sit in the cute little park on the tip of the west end of the island (the far left side in the photo). A great picnic place right on the water, with all the boats cruising by.

Go Eat in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Everybody knows about the Left Bank. Chock full of cool apartment buildings, the best shops and a great restaurant about every ten feet. Just go walk around and get lost, head for the Latin Quarter.

Head up to Montmartre

Montmartre is the hilly, twisty area that rises above Paris. Loaded with cool streets and steep steps you see in movies, amazing restaurants and incredible views. Check out this Conde Nast Traveler article.

Head up here at night and stop for an aperitif or dinner before or after you check out Sacre-Coeur.

Take in the Night Views from Sacré-Cœur

Skip heading up here during the day, the best views are from sunset, on. Crowds gather on the slope behind the cathedral and ooooh and ahhhh as it gets darker and all of Paris lights up below you.

Have Lunch in The Marais

Like the left bank, this is the area where you just want to get lost wandering around. It’s also a great center of all the best restaurants in Paris. I made a huge post on all my favorite places to eat right here.

Buy the Perfect Cooking Tool at E. Dehillerin

If you like to cook, this is your St. Peter’s…. erhm, Notre-Dame. This cool little warren of rooms has been selling the best cooking tools to all of Paris for close to two hundred years. So many useful little gadgets, most not expensive at all. It’s priced more like a restaurant supply store, so, save your Williams-Sonoma markup and come spend it all here.

Shop the Flea Markets Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen

There are lots of flea markets in Paris, that’s what it’s known for. Some are on certain days, some are professional shops geared towards antique dealers. Everything from nicknack sellers to Louis IV antiques. Too many for my short-attention span to mention here. But here’s a great flea market guide from TimeOut and a more upscale tips from the tasteful ladies at Paris Perfect. Some are a trek, so make sure to read up on details.

Walk Along Canal Saint-Martin

Canal Saint-Martin is the very cool and hip area centered around a centuries-old canal that used to deliver good inland from the Seine. It’s just so unique and different from the rest of Paris. I’ve only been over two winters, but it summer this place is teaming with walkers, bikers, punters and picnicers all up and down its picture-perfect banks. I made another post on it right here.

Shop at the Super Cool Merci

This taste-making curated of cool things is a legend in retail. All well-designed things inside, from lamps to tables to rugs to books to everything. Just go spend hours here. There’s even a little cute cafe attached.

Chill Out in Little-Known Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

I’d always looked at a Paris map, looking for parks to discover. There’s one big kidney-shaped green area on maps that always drew my curiosity. Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, a real mouthful. I could never really find info about in any guidebooks, never saw a story on it in travel magazines. When I googled it, there was always a weird picture of a collapsing limestone cliff.

Finally, on a short layover on the way to Morocco I was able to make it one cold December day. The fading winter light casting long shadows across its up-and-down meandering paths. It used to be a quarry, a dump, a horse-slaughtering place until Baron Haussmann had it all cleaned up in the 1860s and turned into a park. You can see more pics about it in the this post I made.

Have a Seat in Saint-Eustache

I remember reading about the famed Saint-Eustache from the old Dan Brown novels, after many trips to Paris, I finally got a chance to check it out. Forget the mysticism in the book, come look how gorgeous this monochromatic palace is. Soaring columns and chairs, lots of perfect little chairs, herding like scared sheep in groups around the nave. No idea why there aren’t church pews in here.

Cool Off in Jardin du Luxembourg

Jardin du Luxembourg is everybody’s favorite park. Giant and every metre perfectly manicured, big rounds fountains spraying in the sun, kids sailing beautiful, innocent toy boats in the wind.

It has the single greatest park chair design, ever. Not just a chair, but they lean back just-so, angled for the warm sun. You can see its instant affect on people as soon as they sit down, a smile appears, they stop talking to their friends and aim their sunglasses to the smiling sun.

Marvel at The Panthéon

There’s the busy, crumbly one in Rome, then there is the clean, pristine Panthéon on Paris’s Left Bank. Featuring one of my all time scientific favorites: the Foucault pendulum a marvelous, silently-swinging pendulum powered by the gentle rotation of the earth. I could sit there and watch it all day.

Okay, that’s all I got. If you’ve stuck around reading this long, thank you. Bookmark this page and I’ll keep updating Paris finds here.

— Last Visited 1997, 1999, December 2004, 2008, November 2011, December 2018; Post Updated July 2024 —

More Great Things to Do in Paris

Here’s an amazing Paris Black Book from the top-shelf YOLO Journal on all the best things to do in Paris.