Mon Paris

With the launching of the Eurostar, Paris became a place you could skip over to for lunch, but with its bottomless romance and constant renewal, the city of light has lost none of its lustre. We asked Peter Clark, who has spent decades in France’s capital, to guide us to the places currently occupying his ever-changing favourites list.      

Paris local –
Peter Clark

I’ve lived in Paris for 30 years, on and off. The terrace and café lifestyle is by no means a myth and the city is as packed with culture as you’d imagine, but while it’s a big place, it always feels a reasonable size. Take an early morning walk around some areas and you’ll soon agree that Paris is really a collection of villages, with the differences between their character and flavour, the thing that makes living here endlessly enchanting. 
 

Do

  • Every day should start with a classic Parisien croissant! Then perhaps a stroll. Several years ago, the city of Paris decided to hand over the urban motorway built on the banks of the Seine in the sixties, to pedestrians and cyclists. Today, you can take a long relaxing walk along the river, just a stone’s throw from the city centre. It’s also a great place to hang out in the evening; there are several bars on moored barges and new ones keep popping up
  • Galleries and museums could fill your afternoons and evenings for months, so here are a couple of favourites. The Bourse de Commerce, which showcases the collection of François Pinault, the Palais de Tokyo, the Picasso Museum, the Institut de Monde Arabe, and Paris’ own history laid out in the Musée Carnavalet
  • The flower market Marché aux fleurs Reine Elizabeth II, on the Ile de la Cité in the heart of historic Paris, is a complex of iron and glass pavilions that houses a huge array of flower stalls, making it a lovely place to wander, even if you aren’t buying anything. Similarly, the Latin Quarter (an area in the 5th arondissement) is great for wandering and full of bookshops, while over the river is another personal favourite, the figurine and model shop, Les Drapeaux de France.

Eat

  • You can and should get a classic coffee and croissant in a Parisian café every morning, but brunch is solely a Sunday affair in Paris, so wait for the right moment and visit Le Trésor, in the Marais, for some of their famous Auvergne regional cuisine
  • Have lunch at a Boullion for a truly traditional experience, although the menus are a bit more varied than the one-dish original, opened in the 1850s by a butcher looking to sell his poorer cuts of meat. Bouillon Chartier in the 9th (there’s also one near Gare de l’Est) is a good example, or Bouillon République. Other fun lunch options are Falafel at Chez Marianne in the rue des Rosiers, the heart of the Jewish sector of the Marais or Salon Marie Antoinette in the 4th arrondissement
  • Superb dinner options include Acte II, a rooftop restaurant in the Marais, which is a little expensive but has a fantastic view, or Amici Miei, an excellent Italian restaurant on the rue Saint Sabin in the 11th arrondissement. Then there’s the traditional guinguettes down on the banks of the Marne, a few stops from the centre of the city on the RER suburban express train. They often have music and on a summer night it’s a fabulous, fun way to dine. 

See

  • The view from the roof terrace restaurant of the BHV department store is great. It’s in the Marais, which is still a lively place, but has had its title as the place for the younger, Bohemian crowd to hang out stolen by the 11th arrondissement, a little further east
  • If you can catch a show at Comédie Française, I’d recommend it. The theatre company, the oldest active company in the world, dates from the reign of Louis XIV. They have subtitles in English. The Grand Rex cinema is a little younger but also a striking and historic venue in its own right
  • The Bois de Boulogne offers the perfect combination of a countryside stroll and a bit of culture. The park manages to feel quite forested and wild in places, a surprise given its proximity to the city centre, but also offers the chance to visit the Louis Vuitton Foundation, a spectacular piece of architecture and impressive art space.  

Featured places to stay in Paris

52 Clichy - Gallery

52 Clichy

Paris

 

Getting there

Don’t even think about using a car! Paris has a highly developed public transport system. Buses are generally frequent and rapid and are ideal for seeing the sights. The metro and the RER suburban express network are ideal for getting somewhere fast. In recent years Paris has made huge progress in adapting the city towards cyclists.

 

Getting around

By train:

This couldn’t be simpler – the Eurostar takes a couple of hours to land you from central London into the Gare du Nord. If you’re coming over on the boat, trains from ferry ports like Le Havre, Caen and Calais take two to three hours but beware of driving in Paris!  

 

By ferry:

While you could get the ferry to a few places (see above) Calais offers the shortest crossing, if a slightly longer onward journey.  

 

By plane:

If you’re anywhere near London, Eurostar is far better than flying for several reasons, but from further north you might end up flying. There are two airports in Paris, Charles de Gaulle in the north and Orly in the south, so choose whichever is best for timings and your eventual destination.  

Top tip!

Getting around by bicycle is generally very easy with many dedicated cycle paths separated from motor traffic. Several short-term hire networks exist, with the city’s Velibs being the best known. 

Two nights in Paris with Carolyn Boyd and her teenage daughter

To give you a feel for a real trip to Paris, we turn to Carolyn Boyd once again, who went back after a few years’ absence, in the company of her teenage daughter. They squeeze in some major sights and attractions alongside shopping and a bit of culture, which was almost as good as ice cream. 

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