Insider's guide to Paris

Our 'guide rapide' to the best of the French capital

Perfect department store

Rather than Galeries Lafayette and Au Printemps, head for the oldest of the city's grands magasins - Au Bon Marché (24 rue de Sevres). Partly designed by Monsieur Eiffel, it has fashion, homewares, men's clothing and perfumes, as well as a food hall, La Grande Epicerie.

Perfect deli
Fauchon (26 place de la Madeleine) is a palace of gastronomy. It stocks some 20,000 wonderful edibles. Among their souvenirs: decorative tins of biscuits that would be a delight to re-use after the contents have gone and some attractive silver items including egg timers (yellow sand equals three minutes, white sand four minutes and red sand five), at around £20.

Perfect sight
It may be touristy but the Eiffel Tower is still the ultimate urban Parisian icon. Mountaineers have scaled it and parachutists leapt from it, but you can take the lift up to the very top (1,000 feet), or compromise on the first or second étages (entry prices depend on level). Night-time is especially magical.

Perfect pictures
There's lots of competition but the French impressionists in the Musée d'Orsay are Paris' best, especially, in my view, the collection of Degas ballet pastels. The museum, a magnificent old railway station, also has a café behind the giant station clock, where you can watch the passage of time in front of the Paris skyline.

Perfect walk
Follow the banks of the Canal St Martin, known as the ‘liquid Champs-Elysées'. Starting just west of place de la Republique and running north, the once shabby, now going-on-chic quaysides have sprouted a number of boho-arty bars, trendy shops and stylish restaurants.

Perfect tea
A glass of mint tea sipped in the exotically Moorish patio café of the Great Paris Mosque (39 rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire) will transport you straight to the heart of Arabia.

Perfect hotel
The ivy-clad Pavillon de la Reine (00 33 1 40 29 19 19), which is tucked behind a garden courtyard just off the arcaded place des Vosges in the heart of the Marais, feels more like a country château. With its ancient beams, antiques and oils, this peaceful oasis is the most romantic hotel in town - and you can order breakfast in bed at any time you like. One night in a standard room costs from 380 euros.

Perfect hat
Planning on Ascot this year? Attending a glamorous wedding? Marie Mercié (23 rue St Sulpice) is small but full of dare-to-wear chapeaux. How about a cat's head? A beret with eyes and a mouth? One like Saturn in the middle of its rings? Or another sprouting Kew Gardens?

Perfect book for shopaholics
For a peep inside the little black book of eight of the chicest women in Paris (Nathalie Rykiel and Loulou de la Falaise, to name but two), get a copy of 'Chic In Paris: Style Secrets & Best Addresses' by Susan Tabak (Seline Editions, £15) says GH's Lucia van der Post. You'll get the low-down on salons, scents and body pampering, plus some of the best fashion addresses around.

Perfect surprise
You're unlikely to buy anything at Deyrolle (46 rue du Bac), but you shouldn't miss the show. The 19th-century taxidermist's stock includes stuffed polar bear, lion, wildcat, snakes and other beasts, birds and insects. Check UK customs regulations before bringing back that baby elephant!

Perfect market
Every quartier has one but there's only one bird market - on the Ile de la Cité (place Louis Lépine), held every Sunday in 19th-century wrought-iron stalls and pavilions.

Perfect ice cream
Berthillon (31 rue St Louis en l'Ile) has been in the glace business since 1854 and showcases 70 flavours.

Perfect aperitif
You can't get any closer to a traditional Parisian waterhole than a zinc bar, where you can soak up the buzz of Parisians sipping their favourite tipples. One of the last remaining is La Palette (43 rue de Seine).

Perfect gift
Not one for a teetotaller, but how about a bottle of vintage Armagnac with a personal label made on the spot for less than £20? The delightful Ryst Dupeyron (79 rue du Bac) also sells 500 wines, including premier crus at premier prices.

Perfect for kids
Disneyland Paris (0870 242 4900) is a useful counter-balance to more cultural, grown-up pleasures. Monsieur Mickey is easy to get to - just 20 miles east of the city and a 40-minute run on the RER A line from Chatelet to Marne la Vallée Chessy.

Perfect lingerie
Nowhere does saucy, chic underwear better than Sabbia Rosa (73 rue des Saints Péres). Barely bigger than a large armoire, it's where Madame Moana Moatti sells silks and satins, negligées and camisoles.

Perfect platter
Take your seat at La Coupole (102 boulevard du Montparnasse; 00 33 1 43 20 14 20), the most famous brasserie in Paris, and order the groaning, big-as-a-dustbin-lid, plateau des fruits de mer, prepared at the seafood counter by men in jaunty Breton hats. The restaurant is an official historic monument, with 1930s chandeliers, a cavernous Art Deco interior and columns painted by struggling artists in lieu of cash (Léger and Chagall among them). A meal costs around £65 for two including the crustacean feast.

Perfect lady
In a mansion built by the abbots of the Cluny monastery, there's a dark rotunda on an upper floor where six exquisite 15th-century tapestries of the Lady and the Unicorn are on display. Full of humour and tiny details, the series is a celebration of the senses. The Musée de Cluny is on boulevard St Germain.

Perfect tour
See the sights in retrospect aboard a 2CV. A company called Four Wheels Under an Umbrella offers tours in these classic, two-horsepower vehicles, last made in 1990. In good weather, your driver will roll back the canvas top for a view of the city's fine architecture. A 90-minute jaunt costs around £36 per person, based on two or three sharing (00 33 6 67 32 26 68; www.4roues-sous-1parapluie.com).

Perfect bookstore
Shakespeare and Company (37 rue de la Bûcherie) is an American/English language bookstore that is as Parisian as pastis and poodles. This legendary and historic Left Bank institution, where ‘the streets of the world meet the avenues of the mind', is not only for books (including guidebooks and maps) but also for atmosphere, which has changed little since Hemingway and his literary peers made it their regular pied à terre.

How to get there
Cheapest round trip fares with Eurostar (0870 518 6186; www.eurostar.com) start at £59, with no advance booking, if you spend a Saturday night away or just go for the day on a Saturday or Sunday. Otherwise, book 21 days ahead. Flights to Paris operate from around a dozen UK airports.

 

Feature originally published in 2007; updated 2009

 

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