Where to stay

Avenue Montaigne, George V and the Champs-Élysées: palace hotels, couture houses and easy taxis. Polished and familiar.

Classic Left Bank cafés, bookshops and galleries, a short walk from the Luxembourg Garden and the Orsay.

Aristocratic mansions, small museums and boutiques on narrow lanes. Lively at weekends, central for everything.

Between the Palais Garnier and the Louvre: grands magasins, Palais-Royal and the Tuileries on foot.

Student streets around the Sorbonne and the Panthéon, close to the Grande Mosquée and the Jardin des Plantes.

Wide, calm residential streets facing the Eiffel Tower; good for families who want quiet evenings.

A village on a hill, with steep stairs, vineyards and views. Charming, but tiring with pushchairs.

Iron footbridges, tree-lined locks and independent cafés; a younger, more local Paris.