Paris

One of the masterpieces of Gothic architecture, Notre-Dame was commissioned in 1160 by Bishop Maurice de Sully, who wanted to rival the smart new abbey that had just gone up in St-Denis. It replaced the earlier St-Etienne basilica built in the sixth century by Childebert I on the site of a Gallo-Roman temple to Jupiter.

Phone:

+ 33 01 42 34 56 10

Opening hours:

7.45am-6.45pm daily. Towers Apr-Sept 9am-6.45pm daily. Oct-Mar 10am-4.45pm daily.

Address:

pl du Parvis-Notre-Dame, 4th arrondissement

Montmartre is the highest point in the whole city and resembles some perched southern hill village, with its tight-packed houses spiralling up round the mound underneath the oversized dome of Sacré-Coeur. Commissioned as an act of penance after the nation’s defeat by the Prussians in 1870, work began on this enormous mock Romano-Byzantine edifice in 1877. The interior is lavishly adorned with gaudy neo-Byzantine mosaics.

Phone:

+33 01 53 41 89 00

Opening hours:

Basilica 6am-10.30pm daily. Crypt & dome Winter 10am-5.45pm daily. Summer 9am-6.45pm daily.

Address:

35 rue du Chevalier-de-la-Barre, 18th arrondissement

The radical cast-iron tower was built for the 1889 World Fair and the centenary of the 1789 Revolution by engineer Gustave Eiffel (whose construction company still exists today). Construction took more than two years and used some 18,000 pieces of metal and 2,500,000 rivets. The 300-metre tower stands on four massive concrete piles, and was the tallest structure in the world until overtaken by New York’s Empire State Building in the 1930s.

Phone:

+33 01 44 11 23 45 (recorded information) +33 01 44 11 23 23

Opening hours:

14 June-31 Aug 9am-midnight daily. 1 Sept-13 June 9.30am-11pm daily.

Address:

Champ de Mars, 7th arrondissement

The most famous museum in the world is a vast palace of architectural styles dating from the Middle Ages to modern times. There are treasures from the Egyptians, Etruscans, Greeks, Romans, the Middle East and Islamic world. European decorative arts from the Middle Ages up to the 19th century are also exhibited. The main draws are the paintings and sculpture, notably Italian and French painting, and Dutch masters.

Phone:

+33 01 40 20 50 50 (recorded information), +33 01 40 20 51 51 (disabled access), +33 01 40 20 59 90,

Opening hours:

9am-6pm Mon, Thur, Sat, Sun; 9am-9.45pm Wed, Fri.

Address:

rue de Rivoli, 1st arrondissement

The primary colours, exposed pipes and air ducts make this one of the most well-known sights in Paris. Italo-British architectural duo of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers created it with their ‘inside-out’ boilerhouse approach. The multi-disciplinary concept of modern art museum, library, exhibition, performance spaces and repertory cinema was revolutionary. The centre holds the largest collection of modern art in Europe – 50,000 works of art by 5,000 artists.

Phone:

+33 01 44 78 12 33

Opening hours:

11am-9pm (last entry 8pm) Mon, Wed-Sun; until 11pm some exhibitions.

Address:

rue St-Martin, 4th arrondissement

The building was originally a train station, designed by Victor Laloux to coincide with the 1900 Exposition Universelle. Today it houses exhibits spanning the fertile art period between 1848 and 1914. The arrangement has its drawbacks – upstairs, the Impressionists and post-Impressionists are knee-deep in tourists, while too much space is given downstairs to Couture’s languid nudes and Meissonier’s history paintings – but it somehow manages to keep its open-plan feel.

Phone:

+33 01 40 49 48 14 (recorded information), +33 01 45 49 11 11

Opening hours:

10am-6pm (from 9am June-Sept) Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat; 10am-9.30pm (from 9am June-Sept) Thur; 9am-6pm Sun.

Address:

1 rue de la Légion-d’Honneur, 7th arrondissement

This remarkably cool bar shows just what you can do with a little art, a fine taste in music, the most mundane of furniture and the right connections. If you want to launch a CD, introduce a DJ or throw any kind of bash where word of mouth counts, do it here. Savvy owner Hubert has also brought in choice wines from little-known producers in South-west France charging just €2-€3 a glass.

Phone:

+33 01 58 30 87 07

Opening hours:

5pm-2am Tue-Sat. Closed Aug.

Address:

58 rue de la Fontaine, 11th arrondissement

Best new bar in Paris? It’s certainly got an awful lot going for it. A little turquoise-framed corner bar, it’s set back from a canal embankment. Inside, Ourcq is a vivacious, boho cabin of parrot wallpaper and busted sofas, with an intimate raised area at the back. €7 pastas, exhibitions and a regular DJ agenda keep the cool clientele sated and entertained.

Phone:

+33 01 42 40 12 26

Opening hours:

3pm-midnight Wed-Sun.

Address:

68 quai de la Loire, 19th arrondissement

Chef Yannick Alléno has hit his stride and is doing some glorious, if understated, contemporary French luxury cooking. Alléno has a light touch, teasing the flavour out of every leaf, frond, fin or fillet. Turbot is sealed in clay before cooking and then sauced with celery cream and a coulis of flat parsley, while Bresse chicken stuffed with foie gras and served with truffled sarladais potatoes is breathtakingly good.

Phone:

+33 01 44 58 10 10

Opening hours:

Noon-2pm, 7.30-10pm Tue-Fri; 7.30-10pm Sat. Closed Aug.

Address:

Hôtel Meurice, 228 rue de Rivoli, 1st arrondissement

One of the city’s outstanding modern bistros, L’Ardoise is one of the few to open on Sundays. The rather anonymous room gets packed with gourmets eager to explore the €31 blackboard menu of Pierre Jay’s reliably delicious cooking. A wise choice might be six oysters with warm chipolatas and a pungent shallot dressing, an unusual combination from Bordeaux. A lightly chilled, raspberry-scented Chinon provides a perfect complement.

Phone:

+33 01 42 96 28 18

Opening hours:

Noon-2.30pm, 6.30-11pm Tue-Sun. Closed Aug.

Address:

28 rue du Mont-Thabor, 1st arrondissement