Flight time
1h 15m (or 2h 15m by Eurostar)
Best season
April–June & September–October
Budget
Mid-range to splurge
Best for
Art, food, culture, architecture, romance
Overview
Why Paris for a city break?
Paris is the most visited city on earth and, on its best days, justifies every superlative ever thrown at it. The Louvre is the greatest art museum in the world. The Musée d'Orsay is the finest collection of Impressionism ever assembled. Notre-Dame — reopened in December 2024 after five years of reconstruction — is once again one of the most extraordinary Gothic buildings in existence. The food, from the corner boulangerie croissant to the three-Michelin-starred tasting menu, sets a global standard. And the city itself — Haussmann's boulevards, the Seine, the rooftops, the light — is simply beautiful in a way that rewards the thousandth visit as much as the first.
From London it's an hour by air or two hours fifteen minutes by Eurostar — direct from St Pancras to Gare du Nord, no airport transfer faff, arriving in the city centre. The Eurostar is genuinely the better option for Paris: faster door-to-door, more comfortable, and you arrive at the heart of the city. Spring (April to June) and autumn (September to October) are the ideal months. July and August are hot, crowded and the city empties of Parisians who know better. The Christmas season is beautiful. Book the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay and Versailles (if you're going) well in advance.
Where to stay & explore
Paris's best neighbourhoods
Le Marais (3rd & 4th)
The finest medieval neighbourhood in Paris — the Place des Vosges, the Jewish Quarter, the best independent boutiques and the LGBTQ+ heart of the city. Stay here for maximum walkability and authenticity.
Montmartre (18th)
The hilltop village above Paris — the Sacré-Cœur, the vineyard, the Place du Tertre artists' square and, in the streets below the tourist centre, genuinely local boulangeries and neighbourhood restaurants.
Saint-Germain-des-Prés (6th)
The Left Bank intellectual heart — Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots (Sartre and de Beauvoir's offices), the Musée d'Orsay, the Luxembourg Gardens and the finest food shopping streets in Paris.
Things to do
What to see in Paris
1
Musée du Louvre
The largest art museum in the world — the Mona Lisa (smaller than expected, more moving than you think), the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Vermeer, Caravaggio, Delacroix. Book timed entry online well in advance; the queue without a ticket is hours long. Go in the first hour and head to the Denon wing for the Italian paintings before the crowds build. Give it a full morning — the building alone, a former royal palace, is extraordinary.
2
Musée d'Orsay
The world's finest Impressionist collection in a converted Beaux-Arts railway station — Monet's Water Lilies studies, Renoir's Moulin de la Galette, Van Gogh's self-portraits, Degas's dancers, Manet's Olympia. The top-floor Impressionist galleries are the centrepiece; the station clock faces at each end give the extraordinary view over the Seine. Book online; go on a Thursday evening (open until 9.45pm, less crowded).
3
Notre-Dame de Paris
Reopened in December 2024 after the April 2019 fire — the cathedral has been restored to a condition arguably finer than before, with new interior lighting and the repaired spire rising above the Île de la Cité. Free entry; timed entry booking required. The reconstruction story — craftsmen using medieval techniques to rebuild the spire with oak from French forests — is extraordinary in itself.
4
Père Lachaise Cemetery
The most famous cemetery in the world — 70,000 tombs, 300 acres, and the graves of Chopin, Proust, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Molière and Balzac among thousands of others. A beautiful park in which the dead are extraordinarily good company. Free, open daily. The map available at the entrance gate is essential; Morrison's grave is always surrounded by people.
Food & drink
Where to eat in Paris
Au Passage
Natural wine bar / small plates
The restaurant that defined Paris's new bistronomy movement — a narrow bar in the 11th arrondissement serving small plates of extraordinary quality alongside one of the most exciting natural wine lists in the city. The cooking changes daily; everything is excellent. Arrive early, sit at the bar, eat everything they recommend.
Du Pain et des Idées
Boulangerie / Canal Saint-Martin
The finest boulangerie in Paris — Christophe Vasseur's sacristain (flaky pastry twisted with pistachio and rose), the chausson aux pommes, and the pain des amis (the sourdough) are among the finest things baked in France. In a beautiful 1889 shop on the Canal Saint-Martin. Closed weekends; queues from 7am.
Septime
Bistronomie / one Michelin star
The most sought-after reservation in Paris — Bertrand Grébaut's 11th arrondissement restaurant serves the finest expression of modern French bistronomie: seasonal, local, technically brilliant, at a price point well below comparable restaurants elsewhere. Book exactly three weeks ahead (reservations open on a rolling three-week basis) at 9am on the dot.
Itinerary
3 days in Paris — a suggested itinerary
Day 1
Louvre in the morning, Le Marais, Notre-Dame at dusk
Eurostar arrives at Gare du Nord — Metro Line 4 south to Châtelet or Les Halles, five minutes. The Louvre opens at 9am: go directly to the Winged Victory on the Daru staircase, then the Vermeer and Dutch masters (Room 38, Richelieu wing), then the Mona Lisa (Room 711, Denon — go via the Italian rooms not through the crowd corridor). Two and a half hours, then escape to lunch. Le Marais for the afternoon: the Place des Vosges (the oldest planned square in Paris, 1612), the Picasso Museum, the Jewish Quarter on Rue des Rosiers for a falafel at L'As du Fallafel. Notre-Dame at the late afternoon slot: the restored interior in the golden hour light through the rose windows. Aperitif on the Île Saint-Louis before dinner in the Marais.
Day 2
Musée d'Orsay, Saint-Germain, Montmartre at sunset
Du Pain et des Idées at 7.30am for a sacristain — worth the early start. Musée d'Orsay opens at 9.30am: the top-floor Impressionist galleries first (Monet's haystacks, Renoir's Moulin), then Degas's dancers (ground floor), then the stunning view through the station clock to the Tuileries. Lunch in Saint-Germain: the covered Marché Saint-Germain or one of the bistros on the Rue de Buci. Luxembourg Gardens in the afternoon — the Medici Fountain, the boules players. Montmartre in the late afternoon: take the funicular up, the Sacré-Cœur terrace for the Paris panorama at golden hour, then down through the village streets below the tourist zone for dinner. Au Passage if you're in the 11th; Septime if the reservation came through.
Day 3
Père Lachaise, Canal Saint-Martin, one last café crème
Père Lachaise opens at 8am — map from the gate, Chopin first (Division 11), then Wilde (Division 89, still covered in lipstick kisses), then Morrison (Division 6). Two hours in the cemetery is the right amount. Canal Saint-Martin in late morning — the iron footbridges, the locks, the plane trees, the most Instagrammable canal in Europe. Lunch at one of the canal-side restaurants. The Centre Pompidou (the inside-out Renzo Piano building) has the finest modern art collection in Europe after MoMA if you haven't visited before; the view from the rooftop over Paris is extraordinary. One last café crème at any zinc-bar counter, standing up, 80 cents, the correct way to take coffee in Paris. Eurostar from Gare du Nord: the terminal is 10 minutes by Metro from most of the city.
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