Paris: Getting Past the Postcard Version

Notre-Dame reopened in December 2024, and the towers followed in September 2025, including the 424 steps to the top and the gargoyles that have always been the better reason to climb than the view. The cathedral’s interior is now brighter than it has been for centuries: the restoration teams removed grime from the stone walls that had accumulated since the 19th century, revealing a lighter, more luminous space. The spire, which collapsed in the 2019 fire, has been rebuilt faithful to Viollet-le-Duc’s 19th-century design and is back above the Ile de la Cite skyline. Entry is free; timed entry booking is required via the cathedral’s website up to two days in advance. Go, even if you’ve been before – it’s not the same building.

Paris has roughly 15 million foreign visitors annually, and most spend their time within two kilometres of the Eiffel Tower. The 1st, 4th, and 7th arrondissements contain many of the city’s most famous buildings. But a trip built entirely around the tourist circuit misses a city that’s considerably more interesting than its highlights reel suggests.

The Louvre: Managing It Properly

The Louvre contains 380,000 objects across 72,000 square metres. You cannot see it in a day, and trying to will leave you exhausted and remembering nothing. Pick two or three specific areas and walk the rest at speed.

The Mona Lisa (Salle des Etats, room 711, first floor Denon wing), Venus de Milo (gallery 16, ground floor Sully wing), and Winged Victory of Samothrace (first floor Denon wing, top of the main staircase) are genuinely extraordinary objects – see them – but plan around the crowds. The Mona Lisa draws a crowd 10 people deep regardless of the hour; book the 09:00 first entry slot and go directly there.

The Mesopotamian antiquities in room 3 of the Richelieu wing include the Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest surviving legal texts in existence, inscribed in cuneiform on a 2.25-metre basalt stele around 1750 BCE. The Flemish and Dutch painting galleries on the second floor Richelieu have Vermeer, Rembrandt, and van Dyck in rooms that are often nearly empty. These are the rooms that justify the ticket price as much as anything the queues lead to.

Timed entry tickets are mandatory (16 euros adult). Book at louvre.fr. Do not queue at the pyramid on the day; the queue for day-of tickets can exceed two hours.

Musee d’Orsay in the former Gare d’Orsay railway station holds the world’s strongest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting: the largest Monet collection in the world, Degas dancer bronzes, Van Gogh’s self-portraits, Seurat’s Circus. If you’re doing one Paris museum, do this one. The building – a grand beaux-arts railway terminus with its original iron and glass ceiling – is part of what makes it. Entry 16 euros; walk-up is often possible on weekdays.

Neighbourhoods Worth Exploring

Le Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissements) was a swamp drained in the 13th century and became a fashionable residential quarter in the 17th. Now it’s the most consistently rewarding neighbourhood for walking: the Jewish quarter around Rue des Rosiers (L’As du Fallafel at number 34 has been the standard for 40 years, about 7 euros for a falafel sandwich), the Place des Vosges – Paris’s oldest square, built 1612, arcaded and slightly theatrical – the Picasso Museum (13 euros), and the Haut Marais around Rue de Bretagne, including the Marche des Enfants Rouges, the city’s oldest covered market, with lunch stalls running Moroccan, Japanese, and French options from Tuesday through Sunday.

Canal Saint-Martin (10th arrondissement) runs 4.5 kilometres between Bastille and La Villette. The locks operate throughout the day; watching a pleasure boat move through the three chambers takes about 20 minutes. The canal-side bars and restaurants have a younger, less tourist-facing crowd than the Marais. Du Pain et Des Idees bakery on Rue Yves Toudic – open 06:45 Tuesday through Friday, closed weekends – makes what is arguably the best pain des amis in Paris.

Belleville (20th arrondissement) is the most ethnically diverse neighbourhood in Paris: Chinese, North African, Jewish, and Caribbean communities occupying the same streets for generations. The outdoor market on Cours de Vincennes happens Tuesday and Friday mornings. Better Vietnamese food here than in most of Paris’s Vietnamese restaurants in the tourist zones, and at neighbourhood rather than tourist prices.

Where to Eat

Septime in the 11th holds a Michelin star and books out months in advance; the fixed tasting menu (around 100 euros per person without wine) is worth the advance planning if French technique applied to serious seasonal ingredients is your idea of a good evening.

Bistrot Paul Bert on Rue Paul Bert in the 11th is the honest neighbourhood bistro Paris guidebooks have recommended for 15 years, for good reason. Entrecote frites, creme brulee, good wine list. About 40-60 euros per person with wine. Book two weeks ahead for weekends.

Chez Denise (La Tour de Montlhery) on Rue des Prouvaires near Les Halles opens at noon and closes at 6am the following morning. The food is resolutely old school: tete de veau, andouillette, boudin noir – things that have largely disappeared from Parisian menus elsewhere. Not for everyone, but a genuine piece of the city that exists for reasons other than tourism.

Where to Stay

Hotel des Grandes Ecoles in the 5th is a family-run hotel on a courtyard garden in the Latin Quarter, from around 150-180 euros. Simple, not fashionable, and excellent value for a Paris central location.

Hotel du Petit Moulin in the Marais occupies a building that was a bakery in the 17th century, redesigned by Christian Lacroix. Each room has different decor (book specific rooms in advance). From around 220 euros.

Generator Hostel in the 10th near Canal Saint-Martin is among the better European hostels: clean, safe, design-conscious, good bar. Dorm beds from around 30-45 euros.

Practical Notes

The Paris Metro handles most journeys efficiently. A Navigo Easy card loaded with t+ tickets (about 2.15 euros each, or 17 euros for a carnet of 10) is the right tool. The Paris Museum Pass (48-hour 52 euros, 72-hour 66 euros) pays for itself on multiple museum days and bypasses ticket queues.

Paris in late August is pleasant but busy. September and October offer the best combination of weather, diminished school-holiday crowds, and the autumn light that painters have been coming here for since the Impressionists. The city is worth spending more time in than most people give it; five days lets you move between neighbourhoods at a pace where you actually notice things.