Find out the best things to do in Paris from a sophisticated, slow travel point of view. Come to the number one tourist destination in the world and live like a local. Wether it’s your first time or your tenth time visiting, you can have a richer experience. This is not a list of ten best things to do in Paris. This is a slow and local living guide to Paris.
do, see, taste, find
If you’ve signed up for our newsletter you’ve received our Paris Loves mailer with a quick and dirty reference to our favorite things in Paris. That list of addresses is a good outline for your slow travel experience. Keep it in your pocket while you walk around admiring the architecture, review it during while pausing in a quaint café and refer to it often to remind you that slow is a luxury available to all. Even you!
As the years roll by my number one favorite thing to do in Paris remains the same: wandering. The French have a great word for it: Flâner. This word covers wandering but also extends to aimlessly following a trail of delights, stopping for ice cream and browsing books in riverside bookstalls. Be sure to try it.
A good neighborhood to flâner is the Marais, a tangle of ancient streets lined with trendy shops and boho-chic cafés. It is a Paisienne’s natural choice for sunday strolling on the day when the most businesses in other neighborhoods are closed. My most beloved cafe is Au Petite Fer à Cheval. Find a seat in the maddeningly
Hôtel de Ville
Another one of my secret spots is the Place Dauphine located on the Île-de-la-Cité which is a small island in the center of town with decorous bridges connecting to the right and left banks. Take the Pont Neuf bridge and find the entrance to this hidden square in the center of the bridge across from the equestrian statue of Henri IV. So full of history, I think I could tell you stories for a good hour over a glass of wine at one of the darling cafés that spill on to the quiet sidewalks. This is where you can take a moments respite from the crowded streets of central Paris. Tourists don’t seem to know about this super photogenic mini-park protected by a high ring of 16th century red brick townhouses
where to stay in paris
Imagine yourself in a stylish apartment in the heart of Paris where you can hoard French cheese in seclusion or pop in to the café on the corner and have a café au lait according to your whim. You’ll want to find a rental in the center to minimize your transport time and cost. While almost all listings claim to be in “the heart of Paris”, stick to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th arrondissement (district) if you truly want to be central. With the exception of Montmartre, these are also the best areas to walk and wander.
Or maybe you see yourself checking into a darling boutique hotel cached in a light-filled courtyard. Here are a few small boutique hotels that you might not know. Ones I’d recommend to visiting family. Hotels like the handsome L’Hôtel in chic Saint Germain de Près for my connoisseur aunt spending her IPO payout. Despite the name, it is anything but generic. Maybe the darkly lush Maison Souquet for my hipster but discerning cousin who wants to troll Montmartre with his fiancée. My sensible mom would be happy at the Hotel Lumen which is reasonably priced and probably the most central to all the points of interest mentioned above.
la vie parisienne
I invite you - the hopeless romantics, the side street explorers, the art lovers and francophiles - to share the delights of Paris. Come to the number one tourist destination in the world and live like a local. Wander like a gypsy and shop like a pro; or just daydream down by the river and watch the sun sparkle on the river. This is the La Vie Parisienne where you know the city like a old lover and want to take your time enjoying her many charms. So go ahead, get lost in her embrace, gasp with delight, lose track of time and pick up a still-warm baguette from the bakery on the way home. Cant you just see yourself sitting unrushed at sidewalk cafés, getting around on the metro - discovering the mundane alongside the fantastic?
A hidden gem in the Marais
cute exterior seating, but don’t sleep on peeping the authentic late 19th century horseshoe bar inside. Just around the corner from the café is the original 19th century Mariage Frères shop. Enter and breathe in the fragrance of 150 years of tea trade, browse the hundreds of varieties, chat with a tea expert or sit down with a tea infused pastry in the tea salon.
Mixed among the shops and cafés are several little parks and museums of interest. I recommend you to the Musée Carnevalet - not only because it is the museum of the history of Paris and the museum Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole rob in “How to Steal a Million”. But because it is housed in a 16th century hôtel Particulier which is something like a palace. This one is vast, newly renovated and has elegant garden courtyards visible from the upper rooms and accessible from the ground floor. For a deeper Marais experience full of secret gardens and breathtaking reveals, sign up for our Hidden Gems of the Marais tour. Discover the Marais on this private tour customized to your interests and your pace.
Pont Neuf bridge and entrance to Place Dauphine
where the neighborhood residents play pétanque in evenings. If you arrive ready for lunch or dinner, grab a table at Chez Paul and enjoy a classic Parisian menu popular with the judges and attorneys working at the adjacent law courts.
A delicious opportunity to play house on your Parisian vacation is to bundle off to the weekly market in your quarter, come home with your spoils and make a good boeuf bourguingnon….or maybe just a sandwich with choice charcuterie from the meat guy, fresh cherry tomatoes from the vegetable man and a good bottle of wine from a country gentleman. Each neighborhood has a market once or twice a week. Click here to find one near you. The biggest and most exciting market is the sunday market at Bastille, which, by the way, also has the best flowers and music. But the grandaddy of markets is the Wednesday, Friday and Sunday market at Place Monge. This small and picturesque market edged with fountains and flower shops is over five hundred years old.
If it’s a nice day, grab a basket full of goodies at the market and head down to the river for an impromptu picnic. Put down the phone and slow down to the pace of the river gliding past you. Just pretend you live here and have all the time in the world.
Your apartment in Paris
when to go TO PARIS
Most folks come in the summer (May-August). Yes, it’s warm and less rainy, but the tourist areas are crowded and advanced booking on everything is necessary. Be advised that in Paris and all over France, many businesses shut down in August. September & October is great as the weather is fine and the crowds have. For a real locals only feeling, I dare you to come in November or March. Paris has a melancholy beauty in winter which is a wonderful time to visit the architectural monuments that are so busy in the summer. In springtime (April & May), cherry blossoms and wisteria bring a femininity to Paris' classical lines but the weather can be unpredictable.
we got this
If you liked what you read here, contact Travellur to arrange your trip. It probably won’t cost you any more than what you would pay if you booked it yourself. In fact, you may even save money or get an upgrade. We’ll make sure you are staying the right neighborhood for the experience you want, so you'll spend your precious time being there instead of getting there. We can also handle for the rest of your European vacation.
