The Rough Guide to Paris (Travel Guide eBook)

By Rough Guides

This practical travel guide to Paris features detailed factual travel tips and points-of-interest structured lists of all iconic must-see sights as well as some off-the-beaten-track treasures. Our itinerary suggestions and expert author picks of things to see and do will make it a perfect companion both, ahead of your trip and on the ground. This Paris guide book is packed full of details on how to get there and around, pre-departure information and top time-saving tips, including a visual list of things not to miss. Our colour-coded maps make Paris easier to navigate while you're there. This guide book to Paris has been fully updated post-COVID-19.

The Rough Guide to PARIS covers: The islands, Montmartre, Versailles, the Champs-Élysées and around, the Louvre, the Opéra district, the Beaubourg and around, the Marais, Bastille, the 12e arrondissement, Quartier Latin, St-Germain, the Eiffel Tower quarter, Southern Paris, the Beaux Quartiers, Montmartre and around, la Villette and around, the eastern districts.

Inside this Paris travel guide you'll find:

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EVERY TYPE OF TRAVELLER
Experiences selected for every kind of trip to Paris, from off-the-beaten-track adventures in Buttes-Chaumont to family activities in child-friendly places, like The Centre Pompidou or chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas, like the Eiffel Tower.

PRACTICAL TRAVEL TIPS
Essential pre-departure information including Paris entry requirements, getting around, health information, travelling with children, sports and outdoor activities, food and drink, festivals, culture and etiquette, shopping, tips for travellers with disabilities and more.

TIME-SAVING ITINERARIES
Carefully planned routes covering the best of Paris give a taste of the richness and diversity of the destination, and have been created for different time frames or types of trip.

DETAILED REGIONAL COVERAGE
Clear structure within each sightseeing chapter this Paris travel guide includes regional highlights, brief history, detailed sights and places ordered geographically, recommended restaurants, hotels, bars, clubs and major shops or entertainment options.

INSIGHTS INTO GETTING AROUND LIKE A LOCAL
Tips on how to beat the crowds, save time and money and find the best local spots for live music, eating in brasseries and bistros, boat rides,  browsing modern art.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THINGS NOT TO MISS
Rough Guides' rundown of Versailles, Giverny, Belleville, Passy's best sights and top experiences helps to make the most of each trip to Paris, even in a short time.

HONEST AND INDEPENDENT REVIEWS
Written by Rough Guides' expert authors with a trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, this Paris guide book will help you find the best places, matching different needs.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Comprehensive 'Contexts' chapter of this travel guide to Paris features fascinating insights into Paris, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary.

FABULOUS FULL COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
Features inspirational colour photography, including the stunning Jardin du Luxembourg and the spectacular The Champs-Elysées.

COLOUR-CODED MAPPING
Practical full-colour maps, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys for quick orientation in Montmartre, the Quartier Latin and many more locations in Paris, reduce the need to go online.

USER-FRIENDLY LAYOUT
With helpful icons, and organised by neighbourhood to help you pick the best spots to spend your time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Release date: Mar 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781839059131

Rough Guides

Rough Guides are written by expert authors who are passionate about both writing and travel. They have detailed knowledge of the areas they write about--having either traveled extensively or lived there--and their expertise shines through on every page. It's priceless information, delivered with wit and insight, providing the down-to-earth, honest read that is the hallmark of Rough Guides.

Book preview

Introduction to Paris

Paris captivates and charms in equal measure. Heartbreakingly beautiful, impeccably stylish and unabashedly romantic, it is also a city of immense cultural importance, having spent much of the last thousand years at the centre of European artistic and literary life. And for all its magnificent monuments – the iconic industrial chic of the Eiffel Tower, the grandeur of the Panthéon, the jaw-dropping glasswork of the Louvre Pyramid – the real Paris operates on a very human scale. Some of the most memorable moments come when stumbling across exquisite, secret little nooks or village-like neighbourhoods that revolve around the local boulangerie and café. Even as the capital’s culture has been radically transformed by its large immigrant populations, even as extravagant new buildings are commissioned and erected, Paris never feels anything but timeless. Traditional and cosmopolitan, nostalgic and forward-looking – a dynamic combination that gives this unique city its profound emotional pull.

In the great local tradition of the flâneur, or ‘thoughtful urban wanderer’, Paris is a wonderful city for aimless exploration. Quarters such as the charming Marais, elegant Saint-Germain and romantic Montmartre are ideal for strolling, browsing the shops and relaxing in cafés, while the centre boasts some beautiful formal gardens and landscaped promenades that run beside the River Seine.

There are over a hundred art galleries and museums on offer, and barely any of them are duds. Places to eat and drink line the streets and boulevards, ranging from chic temples of gastronomy and grandly mirrored brasseries down to tiny, chef-owned neo-bistros and steamy Vietnamese diners. After dark, the city’s theatres, concert halls and churches host world-leading productions of drama, dance and classical music, and there is no better place in the world for cinema. There are also plenty of great places to enjoy clubbing and live gigs – not least jazz, world music and the home-grown singer-songwriter genre of chanson.

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What to see

The boulevard périphérique defines the boundary between Paris and its suburbs. At its widest point, the city is only about 12km across – roughly two hours’ walk. At the hub of the circle, in the middle of the River Seine, is the island from which all the rest grew: the Île de la Cité, defined by its Gothic cathedral of Notre-Dame.

The city is divided into twenty arrondissements. Centred on the royal palace and mighty gallery of the Louvre, they spiral outwards in a clockwise direction. On the north or Right Bank (Rive Droite) of the Seine, which is the smarter, more business-focused of the city’s two halves, the longest and grandest vista in all Paris runs west from the Louvre: this is the Voie Triomphale – comprising the Tuileries gardens, the grand avenue of the Champs-Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe. North of the Louvre is the commercial and financial quarter, where you can shop in the department stores on the broad Grands Boulevards, in the little boutiques of the glass-roofed passages or in the giant, underground mall of Les Halles. East of the Louvre, the enchanting Marais and vibrant Bastille quarters are alive with trendy shops, cafés and bars. Further east, cool Parisians from all over the city gravitate to the once seedy but rapidly regenerating Canal Saint-Martin and Ménilmontant for cutting-edge bars and nightlife.

The south bank of the river, or Left Bank (Rive Gauche), is quieter and a tad more raffish. The Quartier latin is the traditional domain of the intelligentsia – from artists to students – along with Saint-Germain, which becomes progressively more chichi until it hits the grand district of ministries and museums that surrounds the Eiffel Tower. As you move south towards Montparnasse and the southern swathe of the Left Bank, high-rise flats start to alternate with charming bourgeois neighbourhoods.

Back on the Right Bank, many of the outer arrondissements were once outlying villages. Hilly Montmartre, with its rich artistic and bohemian associations, is the most picturesque, but the residential districts of Belleville and Passy have also retained distinct neighbourhood identities – working-class in the east, wealthy in the west.

Central Paris abounds in wonderful gardens, notably the Jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin des Tuileries and Jardin des Plantes, all of them well used by the city’s inhabitants. For something a little wilder and more expansive, the best big parks are the Bois de Vincennes and the Bois de Boulogne, at the eastern and western edges of the city, respectively. Smaller pockets of green crop up all over Paris: not least at any number of museums, including the Petit Palais, Musée Rodin, Musée du quai Branly, Musée de Montmartre and Musée des Archives Nationales.

The region surrounding the capital, beyond the boulevard périphérique ring road, is known as the Île-de-France, and is dotted with cathedrals and châteaux. Sights such as the Gothic cathedral at Saint-Denis and the astonishing royal palace at Versailles are easy to reach, while full day-trip destinations include the stunning cathedral town of Chartres and Monet’s lovely garden at Giverny. An equally accessible outing from the capital is that most un-French of French attractions, Disneyland Paris.

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The Orsay Museum clock

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When to go

In terms of climate (see page 51), spring is deservedly the classic time to visit, with bright days balanced by refreshing rain showers. Paris in high summer is usually hot and can be uncomfortably humid, especially between mid-July and the end of August, when many Parisians flee south, leaving the city to the tourists. In autumn, things can be pleasingly mild and gratifyingly uncrowded (except during the autumn fashion show and trade-fair season, when hotels fill up early), but on overcast days it can feel somewhat melancholy. Winter can be harsh, with icy winds cutting down the boulevards; the winter sun, on the other hand, is the city’s most flattering light.

The Seine

Referred to by some as Paris’s main avenue, or its 21st arrondissement – and by others as a murky, polluted waterway – the Seine is integral to the capital, sashaying through its centre in a broad arc and taking in all the grandest monuments. It even makes its way into the city’s coat of arms, which depicts a ship sailing on choppy waters accompanied by the words ‘fluctuat nec mergitur’ (‘it is tossed but does not sink’), a singularly apt motto for a place that has weathered turbulent events such as the French Revolution, the Paris Commune and the November 2015 terror attacks, when the phrase was taken up by many Parisians as a sort of rallying cry of resistance.

The Seine brought the city into being and was for centuries its lifeblood, a major conduit of trade and commerce. Floods, however, have always been a regular hazard, sometimes sweeping away bridges, houses and lives. One of the worst recorded was in 1910, when the Seine rose to 8.5m; the water also reached dangerously high levels in 2016. Largely, however, the construction of quais in the nineteenth century helped to alleviate the problem, and these tree-lined walkways have today become one of Paris’s major assets – attractive, leafy havens away from the urban clatter. Meanwhile, more and more of the riverbank is being reclaimed for pedestrians and cyclists; cars are banned from the Parc Rives de Seine, a loop that takes in stretches of both the Left and Right banks, while in summer, during Paris-Plages, tonnes of sand are imported to create a kind of Paris-sur-Mer for overheated urbanites, complete with palm trees and deckchairs.

Wallace’s fountains

Moved by the suffering that Parisians had endured during the Siege of Paris in 1870–71 (see box, page 180), which had deprived the citizens of running water, a wealthy British resident called Richard Wallace came up with the perfect gift. In 1872, Wallace gave the city fifty cast-iron drinking fountains, each topped with a kind of miniature temple designed by the sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg, its roof supported by four caryatids representing Simplicity, Temperance, Charity and Goodness. More fountains were added in later years, and today over a hundred still stand. Painted in lustrous green, their usefulness is limited these days by the loss of the cups once permanently attached to them, but they still work (from mid-March to mid-November only, because of the risk of damage from ice in winter) and the water’s good to drink – it’s the same water that flows through all the city’s taps, although a recent study showed that only around 30 percent of Parisians actually drink from them. All the same, les fontaines Wallace remain quintessential symbols of Paris. Curiously, they have an unusual status in the French language, too, being one of the few Gallic words to begin with ‘w’; like le whisky, le weekend and le wi-fi, les fontaines Wallace are something of a linguistic collector’s item.

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Author picks

Our author recommendations don’t end here. We’ve flagged up our favourite places – a perfectly sited hotel, an atmospheric café, a special restaurant – throughout the Guide, highlighted with the ê symbol.

Our authors have explored every corner of Paris in order to uncover the very best it has to offer. Here are some of their favourite things to see, do, sip and savour.

Divine boulangerie It’s futile to resist anything made at Des Gâteaux et du Pain (see page 322), Du Pain et des Idées (see page 322) – try the rosewater and green tea croissants – or Le Grenier à Pain (see page 322).

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View from the roof of the Arc de Triomphe

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People-watching The quintessential Parisian pastime. Try the terrasses at Les Philosophes (see page 273), Bar du Marché (see page 288) or Café Fluctuat (see page 281); you could also simply head for the Jardin du Luxembourg (see page 148) or the Parc Rives de Seine (see page 102).

Foodie heaven How to choose? Our favourite places to pile our baskets high with crusty baguettes and fresh produce include the Marché d’Aligre (see page 325) and Marché Edgar-Quinet (see page 325) and rue des Martyrs (see page 181).

Quirky buys For a unique keepsake, check out the fossils, butterflies and stuffed beasts at Deyrolle (see page 324) and the one-off French artisan ceramics from Empreintes (see page 324).

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Fresh baguettes from a Paris bakery

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Perfect apéros Sipping a pastis or a kir in a Paris bar – life doesn’t get much better. Try Aux Deux Amis (see page 282), Chez Camille (see page 288), Maison Maison (see page 269) and La Palette (see page 277).

Blissful sunsets You’re spoilt for choice. It’s fun to go the whole tourist hog at the top of the Arc de Triomphe (see page 78) or the Eiffel Tower (see page 152), or to join the crowds on the Sacré-Coeur steps (see page 180). For an alternative, head for the roof terrace of Le Perchoir (see page 289).

Live music We love Hungarian gypsy music at La Bellevilloise (see page 291), chanson at Au Limonaire (see page 292) and Au Lapin Agile (see page 293), gypsy jazz at Lou Pascalou (see page 289) and grand symphonic concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris (see page 305).

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20

things not to miss

It’s not possible to take in everything Paris has to offer on a short trip – and we don’t suggest you try. What follows is a subjective selection of the city’s highlights, in no particular order, ranging from big monuments to intimate moments, which will help you find the very best things to see, do and experience. All highlights are colour-coded by chapter and have a page reference to take you straight to the Guide, where you can find out more.

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1 Jardin du Luxembourg

Page 148

The oasis of the Left Bank: students hang out on the lawns; old men play chess under the trees and children sail toy yachts across the pond.

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2 Musée Rodin

Page 157

Elegance matched with passion: Rodin’s powerful works are shown to good advantage in the sculptor’s beautiful eighteenth-century mansion and garden.

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3 Centre Pompidou

Page 98

The Pompidou’s radical ‘inside-out’ architecture looks just as ground-breaking as when it was built in the 1970s; the main draw, however, is the fine modern art museum inside.

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4 Eiffel Tower

Page 152

The closer you get to the Eiffel Tower, the less familiar and the more exhilarating it becomes.

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5 Puces de Saint-Ouen

Page 221

It’s easy to lose track of an entire weekend morning browsing the acres of fine antiques, covetable curios and general bric-a-brac at Saint-Ouen, the mother of Paris’s flea markets.

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6 Left Bank cafÉs

Pages 275, 276, and 279

The cafés of Saint-Germain and Montparnasse remain gloriously Parisian institutions.

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7 Notre-Dame

Page 62

A superb, early Gothic cathedral, Notre-Dame rises majestically from its island in the middle of the Seine.

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8 Père-Lachaise

Page 203

Pay homage to Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison – just some of the notables buried in one of the world’s most famous cemeteries.

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9 Brasseries

Page 264

Belle époque interiors, perfect steaks and white-aproned waiters: the city’s brasseries offer a nostalgic slice of Parisian life.

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10 Malmaison

Page 226

Paris is ringed by splendid châteaux. Versailles may be the grandest, but Malmaison is the most intimate.

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11 Palais de Tokyo

Page 158

This Modernist building harbours two fantastic modern art galleries, both of them off the tourist track.

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12 MUSÉE d’Orsay

Page 143

France’s greatest collection of Impressionist (and pre- and post-Impressionist) art, housed in a beautiful converted railway station.

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13 Chanson

Page 291

For something utterly Parisian, seek out a concert of the singer-songwriter genre chanson.

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14 Bistrots

Page 264

The really exciting cooking in Paris takes place at the city’s chef-owned bistrots.

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15 Fondation louis vuitton

Page 215

Frank Gehry’s astonishing ‘cloud of glass’ in the Bois de Boulogne holds an impressive collection of contemporary art.

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16 Hip nightlife

Page 289

Northeastern Paris, especially around South Pigalle, Oberkampf and the up-and-coming 10e, offers the city’s coolest nightlife and best bars.

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17 Sainte-Chapelle

Page 62

Sainte-Chapelle’s remarkable interior ranks among the finest achievements of French High Gothic.

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18 Parc rives de Seine

Page 102

Join the joggers and cyclists, have a picnic or just soak up the wonderful views along this scenic riverside loop.

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19 Musée Picasso

Page 114

This handsome museum features an unrivalled collection of Picasso’s paintings, sculpture, drawings and ceramics.

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20 Place des Vosges

Page 109

A superb architectural ensemble, lined with arcaded seventeenth-century buildings.

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Itineraries

Create your own itinerary with Rough Guides. Whether you’re after adventure or a family-friendly holiday, we have a trip for you, with all the activities you enjoy doing and the sights you want to see. All our trips are devised by local experts who get the most out of the destination. Visit www.roughguides.com/trips to chat with one of our travel agents.

Paris is made for exploring on foot. The following itineraries take in some of the capital’s most famous sights as well as a few lesser-known districts.

TWO DAYS IN PARIS

Day 1

Île de la Cité Begin at the beginning, on the island where Paris was founded by early Celtic tribes. See page 60

Notre-Dame Visit the magnificent Gothic cathedral of Notre-Dame, which graces the very centre of Paris. See page 62

Pont-Neuf Walk across the oldest bridge in the city to the Left Bank and the fashionable Saint-Germain quartier. See page 61

Lunch Enjoy amazing small plates and seafood tapas at Yves Camdeborde’s lively L’Avant Comptoir/L’Avant Comptoir de la Mer. See page 276

Jardin du Luxembourg Stroll through elegant place Saint-Sulpice to the Jardin du Luxembourg, the green heart of the Left Bank, and linger awhile on its iconic green chairs. See page 148

Musée d’Orsay The world-beating collection includes provocative works such as Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe. See page 143

The Eiffel Tower Do as other tourists do and make a sunset visit to the Eiffel Tower. See page 152

Dinner For a deliciously traditional French meal, served on red checked tablecloths, head to Les Marches, near the Palais de Tokyo. See page 278

Nightlife Wander across to the Palais itself to YOYO and dance the night away; experimental sound and two massive dance floors. See page 290

Day 2

Centre Pompidou This radical building is home to one of the world’s best collections of modern art. See page 98

The Marais Amble through the delightful Marais quartier, full of handsome Renaissance mansions and fascinating museums. See page 106

Musée Picasso The Picasso museum displays an extraordinary collection of works by this restlessly inventive artist. See page 114

Lunch The Marché des Enfants Rouges is an excellent place for street food; sit at one of the communal tables or get a takeaway and head for the nearby square du Temple. See page 273

Place des Vosges Take a break in arguably the city’s most beautiful square, with galleries and cafés under the arches, and buskers playing jazz and classical favourites. See page 109

Canal Saint-Martin Enjoy a stroll along the tree-lined canal, with its iron-work bridges, arty shops and cafés. See page 190

Dinner and drinks Soak up the canal bank vibe at locals’ favourite Chez Prune, then head for dinner at Le Verre Volé. See pages 281 and 282

Nightlife Drinking and dancing at Le Comptoir Général, a unique flea market-cum-museum-cum-bar-cum-music venue, is an exhilarating way to end the night. See page 289

PARIS ON A BUDGET

Despite Paris’s reputation as an expensive city, there are many treats to be enjoyed for free – and even some restaurants where you can sample wonderful food without breaking the bank.

Galeries du Panthéon Bouddhique Start the day with a short spell relaxing in the Japanese garden at this free gallery of Buddhist art. See page 158

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Palais de Tokyo Move on to enjoy a choice – and free – collection of modern art, including works by Chagall and Matisse, without the crowds and queues of the Centre Pompidou. See page 158

Bus ride Hop on the No. 63 near the Pont de l’Alma and enjoy an inexpensive sightseeing ride along the Left Bank, taking in Les Invalides and the Musée d’Orsay. See page 46

Lunch Alight at the Maubert-Mutualité métro stop in the Quartier latin and head down rue Mouffetard to Le Verre à Pied, an old market bar where you’ll get a good, inexpensive formule. See page 276

Centre Pompidou Check out the centre’s Galerie de Photographies, which stages free photography exhibitions taken from its extensive archive. See page 98

Vintage buys Wander through the Marais, browsing for bargains in the many vintage and secondhand clothes shops. See page 319

Dinner Chez Hanna, in the Marais, is a favourite with locals, who come for its reasonably priced Middle Eastern and Jewish delicacies. See page 273

Drinks Head north to Montmartre, strolling its romantic streets and enjoying an apéro or two in its laidback neighbourhood bars. See page 288

Nightlife As the night draws in the cool set moves on to SoPi, where hip DJ bars offer free music and club nights. See page 290

RIVERSIDE PARIS

The elegant riverbanks and bridges of the Seine provide some of Paris’s finest vistas. Spend a waterside day enjoying some of the city’s most memorable experiences.

Boat ride The classic way to enjoy the Seine is from the water. The popular Bateaux-Mouches leave from and return to the Pont de l’Alma. See page 46

Parc Rives de Seine Check out what’s happening on this landscaped riverfront promenade; there are frequent events, food festivals and activities, and it’s a great place simply to linger. See page 102

Lunch Enjoy a drink, tapas or a half-dozen oysters at the quirky floating barge Rosa Bonheur sur Seine. See page 277

Musée d’Orsay Walk along the riverbank to the Musée d’Orsay and track down paintings of the Seine by the Impressionists Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro and Monet. Don’t forget to take a peek through the huge clock window. See page 143

Bouquinistes All along the riverbank from the Musée d’Orsay to the Quai de la Tournelle you’ll see the distinctive green stalls of the bouquinistes; selling secondhand books, posters and postcards, they’re always good for a browse. See page 135

Pont des Arts The pedestrian Pont des Arts enjoys classic views of the Île de la Cité and the Louvre. See page 145

River islands The graceful Pont-Neuf will take you across to Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis, which, with its tranquil, leafy quais is especially good for a riverside stroll. Further south, the slender Île aux Cygnes offers a leafy river promenade that culminates in a mini Statue of Liberty. See pages 60, 63 and 168

Dinner Just a couple of streets inland from Île Saint-Louis, the cosy old-world restaurant L’Auberge de la Reine Blanche offers classic French cuisine in traditional surroundings. See page 267

Drinks At Péniche Le Marcounet, a canal barge moored on the quai de l’Hôtel de Ville by the Pont Marie, you can enjoy an aperitif on deck and a jazz or blues concert down below. See page 292

Nightlife If you’re up for more, head south to one of the quirky club/live music barges near the Gare d’Austerlitz. See page 291

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Basics

Getting there

Paris’s main international airports – Roissy-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly – along with the smaller, and less convenient, Paris Beauvais, offer direct connections with airports all over the world. Meanwhile, high-speed rail links mean that London can be as little as two hours and twenty minutes away on the Eurostar.

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The Eurostar

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By Eurostar from the UK and Ireland

The most enjoyable way to reach Paris from Britain is the Eurostar train service (http://eurostar.com). It’s competitively priced, and can be far quicker than the plane if you live in the southeast of the UK: flying time from London is around one hour ten minutes, but once you’ve added travel to and from airports and extended check-in times any journey time saved is negligible. The train is far less carbon-intensive, too. The Eurostar takes two hours and twenty minutes or two hours forty-five minutes from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord, with a few services stopping at Ebbsfleet International or Ashford International stations, in Kent.

Tickets can be bought online or over the phone. If you’re coming from outside London, it usually pays to buy a through ticket – available from any mainline station. Prices depend on how far in advance you book and how much flexibility you need. The lowest fares are almost always for early-morning trains, especially those departing midweek, but that is by no means set in stone. To get cheap tickets the key is to book early. Note, too, that Eurostar services are now covered by Interrail and Eurail passes.

If you are booking within thirty to seven days of travel, and have flexibility, head first for the Eurostar Snap site – you have to sign in with Facebook or Twitter – where you will be offered a range of non-exchangeable, non-refundable cheap morning or ‘afternoon’ (stretching into the evening) fares. You may well end up on a very early or very late service, but you’ll only be informed of your exact train 48 hours before travel.

For excellent and detailed advice on train travel to France, check the excellent Man in Seat 61 (http://seat61.com).

Flights from the UK and Ireland

The flight from London to Paris is around an hour shorter than the train journey – though bear in mind the caveats outlined in ‘By Eurostar from the UK and Ireland’ – and travellers using regional airports may find flying is the best bet. Airfares usually depend on the season, with the highest being around early June to the end of August; the lowest prices are available from November to March (excluding Christmas and New Year). Using a flight comparison site such as Skyscanner (http://skyscanner.net) will help you navigate the maze of fares: the most competitive prices from the UK tend to be with no-frills airlines such as easyJet (http://easyjet.com), as well as a number of other operators on regional routes – for example, Jet2 (http://jet2.com) flies to Paris CDG from the East Midlands and Leeds Bradford. National carriers British Airways (http://britishairways.com), Air France (http://airfrance.com), KLM (http://klm.com) and Aer Lingus (http://aerlingus.com) are sometimes no more expensive than the low-cost airlines and they may have special offers; students and people under 26 should ask about discounts on scheduled flights. Note that some budget airline flights land at Beauvais airport, inconveniently located around 80km northwest of Paris, although there is a direct bus service from the airport to central Paris.

Flights from the US and Canada

From the US, the widest choice of flights to Paris (around seven and a half hours from New York and eleven hours from the west coast) is offered by Air France, with regular nonstop scheduled services to Paris CDG. American Airlines (http://aa.com) may be slightly cheaper, as may non-French European carriers, including British Airways and Lufthansa (http://lufthansa.com), though you’ll probably have to change flights in their hub city within Europe.

Air France, Air Canada (http://aircanada.com) and Air Transat (http://airtransat.ca) fly nonstop to Paris from all the major cities in Canada. Return flights from Montréal, Québec and Toronto take between six and a half and seven and a half hours.

Flights from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

Airlines including Cathay Pacific (http://cathaypacific.com) and Malaysia Airlines (http://malaysiaairlines.com) offer flights to Paris from Auckland, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, usually with a transfer or overnight stop in Asia or the Middle East, but you can find a wider range of options by flying to another European capital – often London – and making a connection from there. Flights via the US are generally slightly more expensive.

From South Africa, Johannesburg is the best place to start, with Air France flying direct to Paris and British Airways, flying via London. The flight from Johannesburg to Paris takes about eleven hours.

By car, ferry and coach from the UK and Ireland

The most convenient way to take a car across to France is to drive down to the Channel Tunnel, load it on the frequent Eurotunnel (http://eurotunnel.com) ‘Le shuttle’ train service, and be whisked under the Channel in 35 minutes to Sangatte, just outside Calais, on the French side. The British tunnel entrance is off the M20 at junction 11A, just outside Folkestone. You can simply buy a ticket at one of the booths and drive straight on, as there are departures roughly every quarter of an hour (or hourly between midnight and 6am), but it’s cheaper to book in advance. In summer and around Easter you should definitely book in advance to avoid queues and higher tariffs – don’t worry if you miss your departure, though, as you can usually just roll onto the next available train. Once on the French side, it’s little more than a three-hour drive to Paris on the fast autoroutes A26 and A1 (tolls payable).

The car ferries from Dover to Calais (1hr 30min) or Dunkerque (2hr) – the drive to Paris from either takes just over three hours – are slower but less expensive than the Eurotunnel. P&O (http://poferries.com) runs regular services on the former route, DFDS (http://dfdsseaways.com) on both; DFDS also offers ferries from Newhaven to Dieppe (4hr; 2hr 30min drive to Paris), while Brittany Ferries travels from Portsmouth to Cherbourg (3hr; 4hr drive to Paris), Caen (5hr 45min; 3hr drive to Paris), Le Havre (8hr; 2hr 30min drive to Paris) and Saint Malo (11hr; 4hr drive to Paris), from Poole to Cherbourg (4hr 15min) and from Plymouth to Roscoff (5hr 30min; 5hr drive to Paris) and Saint Malo (10hr 30min). Fares vary according to season (school and bank holidays being the most expensive), and, on certain routes, depending on how many passengers there are. Lower fares are usually available if you can avoid travelling out on Fridays and Saturdays. It can be cheaper to book through a discount agent – check out Eurodrive (http://eurodrive.co.uk) or Ferrysavers (http://ferrysavers.co.uk).

Given the competitive prices and relative speed of the Eurostar, it is generally not worth the hassle to travel from the UK to Paris by coach, though it can be cheaper in high season. Eurolines (http://eurolines.co.uk) runs bus-and-ferry services from London’s Victoria Coach Station to Paris CDG and the gare routière in Bagnolet in eastern Paris (see page 45). The journey takes a tedious nine hours. Megabus (http://uk.megabus.com) runs a similar service, for similar prices, stopping at Paris CDG and in Paris at Porte Maillot, a couple of métro stops from the Arc de Triomphe. Ouibus (http://uk.ouibus.com), part of the French national train company, SNCF, runs coaches from London to Paris CDG and the Paris-Bercy train station.

PERFECT PARIS views

Few cities present such a harmonious skyscape as Paris. Looking down on the ranks of seven-storey apartment buildings from above, it’s easy to imagine the city as a lead-roofed plateau split by the leafy canyons of the boulevards and avenues. Spires, towers and parks – not to mention multicoloured art museums and glass pyramids – stand out all the more against the solemn grey backdrop. Fortunately, many of Paris’s tall buildings provide access to wonderful rooftop views. The following are some of the best in town:

Arc de Triomphe Look out over an ocean of traffic and enjoy impressive vistas of the Voie Triomphale. See page 78

Eiffel Tower It’s worth battling the queues for the unrivalled panorama of the city. Best at night. See page 152

Institut du Monde Arabe The ninth floor has a panoramic view overlooking the Seine. See page 139

Parc André-Citroën A tethered balloon rises 150m above this modern park. See page 169

Parc de Belleville Verdant and peaceful little park where you can watch the sun set over the city’s skyline. See page 202

Pompidou Centre An arty backdrop for rooftop ogling. See page 98

Sacré-Coeur Paris’s second-highest point, where on a clear day you can sit on the basilica steps and marvel at an unobstructed view of the city. Be warned – it’s a popular spot at sunset. See page 180

Tour Montparnasse The only panoramic view in Paris that takes in the Eiffel Tower too. Stunning. See page 164

Agents and operators

Even if you’re not interested in a package tour, if you’re aiming to stay in three- or four-star hotels it’s worth considering booking a hotel-and-flight package, as these can save you considerable sums. The drawback is that the hotels on offer tend to lack character, and of course you’re more restricted in your choice than if you book independently.

Abercrombie & Kent http://abercrombiekent.com. An upmarket travel agency running a variety of guided tours to France, some of which include days in Paris.

Eurostar http://eurostar.com. The website puts together rail-and-hotel packages which can represent significant savings on doing it yourself – though the choice of hotels is relatively limited.

French Travel Connection http://frenchtravel.com.au. Specialists in French travel, with a good selection of Paris packages.

Martin Randall Travel http://martinrandall.com. A regularly changing roster of high-quality, small-group cultural tours, led by experts in their field. Tours are designed around a specific topic, for example ‘Opera & Ballet in Paris – Liszt, Mozart, Puccini, Strauss’; accommodation and all travel is included, but you can opt to make your own way to Paris for a reduced price.

North South Travel http://northsouthtravel.co.uk. Friendly travel agency, offering discounted airfares – profits are used to support projects in the developing world, especially the promotion of sustainable tourism.

Trailfinders http://trailfinders.com. One of the best-informed and most efficient agents for independent travellers.

Visas

Citizens of EU countries do not need any sort of visa to enter France for a stay of up to ninety days. Currently, visitors from the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand enjoy visa-free access for short stay holidays. Since leaving the EU, British citizens are no longer allowed to stay indefinitely in France (or anywhere else in the EU). Instead, visa free entry is limited to ninety days within every 180 days. However, from November 2023 all of the above nationalities will have to pay a €7 fee to enter the EU. Known as the ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System). It’s not a visa fee as such (as some non-EU media has painted it), but the fee for conducting a security check on all non-EU arrivals. The form will have to be completed online and take only a few minutes. It will be required by most EU countries. Citizens of all other countries must obtain a visa before arrival.

Two types of tourist visa are currently issued. A short-stay visa (Schengen visa) is valid for multiple stays of up to ninety days in a six-month period. All non-EU citizens who wish to remain longer than ninety days must apply for a long-stay (long séjour) visa, for which you’ll have to show proof of – among other things – a regular income, or sufficient funds to support yourself, and medical insurance. Note that you can’t change your visa to long-stay if you’ve already arrived in France on a short-stay visa. Always check the current regulations with your embassy or consulate well in advance of travelling. A complete list of all French government websites, including embassies and consulates, can be found at http://gksoft.com/govt/en/fr.html.

Foreign embassies and consulates in Paris

Australia 4 rue Jean-Rey, 15e; MBir-Hakeim (01 40 59 33 00, http://france.embassy.gov.au).

Canada 35 av Montaigne, 8e; MFranklin-D.-Roosevelt (01 44 43 29 00, http://canadainternational.gc.ca).

Ireland 4 rue Rude, 16e; MCharles-de-Gaulle-Etoile (01 44 17 67 00, http://dfa.ie/irish-embassy/france).

New Zealand 103 rue de Grenelle, 7e; MVarenne (01 45 01 43 43, http://bit.ly/nzembassy).

South Africa 59 quai d’Orsay, 7e; MInvalides (01 53 59 23 23, http://afriquesud.net).

UK 35 rue du Faubourg-St-Honoré, 8e; MConcorde (01 44 51 31 00, www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/british-embassy-paris).

US 2 av Gabriel, 1er; MConcorde (01 43 12 22 22, http://fr.usembassy.gov).

Arrival

Many British travellers to Paris arrive by Eurostar at the central Gare du Nord train station, while visitors from more far-flung starting points are likely to land at one of Paris’s airports: Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, Orly or Beauvais. Trains from other parts of France or continental Europe draw in at one of the six central mainline stations (http://gares-sncf.com).

By train

The Eurostar (see page 42) terminates at Gare du Nord, rue Dunkerque, in the 10e arrondissement. Welcoming trains from Calais and other north European countries, this is a bustling convergence of international, long-distance and suburban services, plus the métro, RER and several bus routes. Coming off the train, turn left for the métro and the RER, right for the taxi rank – ignore the touts who approach you directly and wait in line in the specified spot. The station has a tourist office welcome centre (http://parisinfo.com), left luggage facilities (consigne; charge), and public toilets at the bottom of the escalators down to the métro. The station isn’t dangerous but keep your wits about you, and avoid scammers offering to ‘help’ with tickets or taxis.

Nearby, Gare de l’Est (place du 11-Novembre-1918, 10e) serves eastern France and central and eastern Europe. Gare Saint-Lazare (place du Havre, 8e) serving the Normandy coast and Dieppe, is the most central station, close to the Madeleine and the Opéra Garnier. Still on the Right Bank but towards the southeast corner is Gare de Lyon (place Louis-Armand, 12e), with trains from Italy and Switzerland and TGV lines from southeast France. South of the river, Gare Montparnasse on boulevard de Vaugirard, 15e is the terminus for Chartres, Brittany, the Atlantic coast and TGV lines from southwest France. Gare d’Austerlitz, on boulevard de l’Hôpital, 13e, serves the Loire Valley and the Dordogne. The motorail station, Gare de Paris-Bercy, is down the tracks from the Gare de Lyon on boulevard de Bercy, 12e.

All the stations have cafés and/or restaurants, tabacs, ATMs and bureaux de change, and all are connected with the métro system. Secure, but limited, left luggage facilities are available at all except Saint-Lazare and Paris-Bercy.

By plane

The city’s two main international airports, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, are well connected to the centre; Paris Beauvais (BVA), meanwhile, served by Ryanair, is quite a trek.

Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport

Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport (http://parisaeroport.fr), usually referred to as Charles de Gaulle and abbreviated to CDG or Paris CDG, is 26km northeast of the city. The airport has three terminals: CDG 1, CDG 2 and CDG 3.

The quickest and easiest way to get into town is on the Roissy rail train link that runs on RER line B. The train stops at Gare du Nord, Châtelet-Les Halles, Saint-Michel and Denfert-Rochereau, all of which have métro stations for onward travel. A number of regular RER stopping trains also serve the airport; these only take about five minutes more than the Roissyrail to get to the centre, though they aren’t designed to accommodate luggage.

Various bus companies provide services from Charles de Gaulle direct to a number of city-centre locations, but they’re slightly more expensive than Roissyrail and may take longer. The RoissyBus, for instance, connects the three terminals with the Opéra Garnier (corner of rues Auber and Scribe in the 9e; MOpéra/RER Auber). Le Bus Direct buses (http://lebusdirect.com) run from CDG 1 and 2: the green-coded line 2 runs to avenue de Suffren, near the Eiffel Tower, stopping near the Champs-Élysées and at the Trocadéro on the way (1hr 10min to the Eiffel Tower), while the orange-coded line 4 stops at Gare de Lyon before terminating near Gare Montparnasse (1hr 15min to Montparnasse).

Taxis into central Paris from CDG should take about one hour. Slightly less expensive is the minibus door-to-door service, Paris Blue, operates around the clock but bookings must be made at least 24 hours in advance via http://paris-blue-airport-shuttle.fr.

If your flight gets in after 12.30am, you could also use the Noctilien No. N140 bus, which links the airport to Gare de l’Est every thirty minutes until 4.30am.

Orly Airport

Orly airport (http://parisaeroport.fr), 14km south of Paris, has two terminals, Orly Sud (south, for international flights) and Orly Ouest (west, for domestic flights), linked by shuttle buses but walkable. One of the easiest ways into the centre is the fast Orlyval train shuttle link to the RER line B station Antony (http://orlyval.com), followed by métro connection stops at Denfert-Rochereau, Châtelet-Les Halles and Gare du Nord.

Two other services are also worth considering: the Orlybus, which runs to Denfert-Rochereau RER/métro station in the 14e; and tram T7, which runs to métro Villejuif Louis Aragon, on line 7. Finally, the Bus Direct line 1 (purple) service runs to Etoile/Champs-Élysées, stopping at Gare Montparnasse, the Eiffel Tower and Trocadéro on the way (http://lebusdirect.com).

Taxis take about 35 minutes to reach the centre of Paris.

Beauvais Airport

Beauvais Airport (sometimes called Paris Beauvais-Tillé; http://aeroportbeauvais.com), 80km northwest of Paris, is served by some budget airlines. Coaches (1hr 15min) shuttle between the airport and Porte Maillot in the 17e arrondissement, where you can pick up métro line 1 to the centre. The coach leaves around twenty minutes after the flight has arrived; on the way back to the airport it sets off three hours before the flight departs. Tickets can be bought online, at Arrivals, or, in Paris, at the Pershing car park where the bus sets off.

By bus and car

Almost all the buses coming into Paris – whether international or domestic – arrive at the main gare routière at 28 avenue du Général-de-Gaulle, Bagnolet, at the eastern edge of the city in the 20e arrondissement; métro Gallieni (line 3) links it to the centre. If you’re driving into Paris yourself, don’t try to go straight across the city to your destination unless you know what you’re doing. Use the ring road – the boulevard périphérique – to get around to the nearest porte. Apart from during rush hour, it’s very quick – sometimes frighteningly so – and relatively easy to navigate.

Getting around

A combination of walking, cycling and public transport is undoubtedly the best way to discover Paris. The bike rental service, Vélib’, is hugely useful for visitors, and the city’s integrated public transport system of bus, métro and RER trains – the RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens) – is cheap, fast and meticulously signposted. There are various tickets and passes available.

Free maps of varying sizes and detail are available at most métro stations: the largest and most useful is the Grand Plan de Paris avec rues (numéro 2), which overlays the métro, RER and bus routes on a city plan so you can see exactly how transport lines and streets match up; you may find these on the walls of the stations, along with interactive touchscreens to aid journey planning, but it can be difficult to get a hard copy from the ticket offices, who are far more likely to hand you a Plan des lignes (numéro 1), a simplified but useful pocket-sized métro/RER/bus map showing all the routes. Some RATP information leaflets, available at stations, do include the Grand Plan, and you can view it online (http://ratp.fr). If you have a smart phone, it’s also worth downloading the RATP app, Next Stop Paris, useful for planning your journey across Paris.

By métro and RER

The métro (underground) combined with the five RER (Réseau Express Régional) suburban express lines, is the simplest way of moving around the city and also one of the cheapest. Both the métro and the RER run from 5.30am to around 1am (the métro runs until 2.15am on Fridays and Saturdays, with fewer services on Sundays).

Many of the métro lines follow the streets that run above them; line 1, for example, shadows the Champs-Élysées and rue de Rivoli. Stations (abbreviated in this guide as: MConcorde, RER Luxembourg, etc) are evenly spaced and you’ll rarely find yourself more than 500m from one in the centre, though the interchanges at big stations can involve a lot of legwork. Train lines are colour-coded and designated by numbers for the métro and by letters (A–E) for the RER. You also need to know the direction in which you want to travel – signposted using the names of the terminus: for example, travelling from Montparnasse to Gare du Nord on métro line 4, you follow the sign ‘Direction Porte de Clignancourt’; from Gare d’Austerlitz to Maubert Mutualité on line 10 you follow ‘Direction Boulogne–Pont de Saint-Cloud’. The numerous correspondances (interchanges) make it possible to cover most of the city in a more or less straight line.

For RER journeys beyond the city, make sure that the station you want is illuminated on the platform display board.

By bus and tram

Buses are often rather neglected in favour of the métro, but can be very useful where the métro journey doesn’t quite work. They aren’t difficult to use and naturally you see much more, with bus lanes making journeys relatively unproblematic. Generally, buses run from Monday to Saturday from 7am to 8.30pm with some services continuing to 12.30am and a restricted night bus service, Noctilien, taking over between 12.30 and 5.30am. Around half the lines also operate on Sundays and holidays – bus maps list those that do. Every bus stop displays the numbers of the buses that stop there, a map showing all the stops on the route, and some form of timetable; you need to hail the driver if you want the bus to stop. You can buy a single ticket from the driver, or use a pre-purchased carnet of ten tickets or a pass. Press the red button to request a stop. All Paris bus lines are accessible for wheelchairs and prams.

Paris’s tram lines are mostly concentrated in the outer reaches of town – however, the T3a line, from Pont du Garigliano in the west to Porte de Vincennes in the east, is useful for getting from east to west in the south of the city, and convenient for Parc Montsouris (see http://ratp.fr for maps and schedules).

Seeing the city by bus

One good way to take in the city sights is to hop on a public bus. Bus No. 20 from the Gare de Lyon follows the Grands Boulevards and does a loop through the 1er and 2e arrondissements. Bus No. 24 between Bercy and Gare Saint-Lazare follows the left bank of the Seine from the Gare d’Austerlitz to the Pont de la Concorde. Bus No. 29 is one of the best routes for taking in the city: it ventures from the Gare Saint-Lazare past the Opéra Garnier, the Bourse and the Centre Pompidou, through the heart of the Marais and past the Bastille to the Gare de Lyon. For the Champs-Élysées, take a trip on bus No. 73 between La Défense and the Assemblée nationale, while bus No. 63 drives a scenic route along the Seine from the Assemblée nationale on the Rive Gauche, then crosses the river and heads up to Trocadéro, where there are some wonderful views of the Eiffel Tower. Many more bus journeys – outside rush hours – are worthwhile trips in themselves: take a look online at http://ratp.fr or get hold of a map from a métro station and check out route Nos 38, 42, 48, 64, 67, 68, 69, 73, 82, 87 and 95.

Tickets and passes

Greater Paris’s integrated transport system (http://ratp.fr) is divided into five zones; the métro system more or less fits into zones 1 and 2. The same tickets are valid for bus, métro and, within the city limits and immediate suburbs (zones 1 and 2), the RER express rail lines, which also extend far out into the Île-de-France. Only one ticket is ever needed on the métro system, and within zones 1 and 2 for any RER or bus journey, but you can’t switch between bus and métro/RER on the same ticket. For RER journeys beyond zones 1 and 2 you must buy an RER ticket; visitors often get caught out, for instance, when they take the RER to La Défense using a métro ticket. Be sure to keep your ticket until the end of the journey as you’ll be fined on the spot if you can’t produce one; you’ll also need it to exit the RER.

For a short stay it saves money (and time) to buy a carnet of ten tickets, available from self-service machines and ticket offices at the stations or from any tabac. Eurostar travellers can also buy carnets from the information desk in the St Pancras International departure lounge, or from the buffet car on the train. If you’re making a number of journeys in one day, it might be worth getting a Mobilis day-pass, which offers unlimited access to the métro, buses and, depending on which zones you choose, the RER – note that this is a day- rather than a 24-hour pass, so it pays to buy it in the morning.

If you’ve arrived early in the week, are staying more than three days and plan to use public transport a lot, it might be more economical to buy a Navigo Découverte swipe pass (http://navigo.fr ). You can only buy a ticket for the current week until Wednesday; from Thursday you can buy a ticket to begin the following Monday. You need to factor in the initial one-off purchase of the Navigo swipe card itself; you’ll also need a passport photo.

Paris Visite passes that cover one, two, three or five consecutive days, either in the central zones or extending as far as the suburbs and the airports, are not as good value as the Navigo and Mobilis passes, but they do give reductions on certain tourist attractions.

Boat trips

Seeing Paris from a boat is one of the city’s most enduring experiences – and a lot of fun. The Batobus river bus (see page 47) is the easiest option, but there are a number of alternatives if you want to enjoy a more leisurely cruise.

Bateaux-Mouches Trips start from the Embarcadère du Pont de l’Alma, on the Right Bank in the 8e http://bateaux-mouches.fr; MAlma–Marceau. Many a romantic evening stroll along the quais has been rudely interrupted by the sudden appearance of a Bateau-Mouche, with its dazzling floodlights and blaring commentaries. One way of avoiding the annoyance is to get on one yourself. You may not be able to escape the noisy narration, but you’ll certainly get a glamorous close-up view of the classic buildings along the Seine. You’re probably best off avoiding the overpriced lunch and dinner trips, for which ‘correct’ dress is mandatory.

River cruise companies The main competitors to the Bateaux-Mouches are: Bateaux Parisiens, from the Eiffel Tower all year round, or Notre-Dame from April to October (http://bateauxparisiens.com); Vedettes de Paris, from the Eiffel Tower (http://vedettesdeparis.fr); and Bateaux-Vedettes du Pont-Neuf, from the Pont-Neuf (http://vedettesdupontneuf.com).

Canal trips

Canauxrama http://canauxrama.com. Less overtly touristy than the river trips, Canauxrama boats offer a number of narrated cruises on the Saint-Martin, Ourcq and Saint-Denis canals, the Seine and the River Marne. Options include a romantic trip between the Port de l’Arsenal and Bassin de La Villette; at the Bastille end is a long, spooky tunnel, complete with light installation (reservations essential).

Paris-Canal http://en.pariscanal.com. Catamaran tours of the Canal Saint-Martin, between the Musée d’Orsay (quai Anatole-France by the Léopold-Sédar-Senghor Footbridge, 7e; MSolférino) and the Parc de la Villette (La Folie des Visites du Parc, on the canal by the bridge between the Grande Salle and the Cité des Sciences, 19e; MPorte de Pantin). Cruises last two and a half hours and run from February to mid-November (from Musée d’Orsay.

Marin d’Eau Douce Bassin de la Villette, 37 quai de la Seine; http://marindeaudouce.fr. For a bit more independence, you can hire your own electric boat to explore the canal. There are three sizes of craft, with the smallest accommodating up to five people. You can even order a picnic hamper too (or take your own). Book online.

By taxi

The best place to get a taxi is at a rank (arrêt taxi) – which is usually more effective than hailing from the street. Bear in mind that finding a taxi at lunchtime, during rush hour or after 7pm can be difficult; give yourself time if you’re aiming to get somewhere punctually. The green light on top of the vehicle signals the taxi is free and the red light means it’s in use. You can also call a company such as Taxis G7 (http://g7.fr) or Alpha Taxis (http://alphataxis.fr) – note, though, that calling a taxi out will cost more than picking one up on the street.

Taxis are metered and charges are fairly reasonable. Taxis can take up to four passengers. A tip of 10 percent, while optional, is generally expected.

Despite angry protest from regular taxi drivers, use of the app-based taxi service Uber (http://uber.com) has become very popular in Paris. In an attempt to challenge this competition, the French government launched eight free ‘official’ taxi apps; you can find a list on http://le.taxi.

By boat

The Batobus river bus (http://batobus.com) provides a thrilling way to get around Paris, stopping at nine points along the Seine, completing a loop from the Eiffel Tower at Port de la Bourdonnais (MBir-Hakeim/Trocadéro) to Beaugrenelle at Port de Javel (MBir-Hakeim/Charles-Michel). The total journey time for a one-way, straight-through trip is around two hours. You can buy tickets online, at Batobus stops and at the tourist offices (see page 56).

By car

Travelling around by car – in the daytime at least – is hardly worth it, not least because of the difficulty of finding parking spaces. Drivers are better off finding a motel-style place on the edge of the city and using public transport to get around. But if you’re determined to use the pay-and-display parking system, note that the meters don’t take cash. If you have a smartphone you can pay via the app P Mobile or PayByPhone, or you can pop into a tabac and buy a Paris Carte; you then look for the blue ‘P’ signs alongside grey parking meters, introduce the card into the meter and it gives you a ticket while automatically deducting the appropriate value from the card. Parking is generally free on Sundays and from 7pm to