Top Ten Lists – Have Fun & Get To Know Paris While You Plan Your Trip

The only thing more fun than planning your next visit to Paris is reading about the city's fascinating quirks while you plan your trip! We love top ten lists because we always learn something new, something fascinating, and maybe even something to help us plan our next trip to the City of Top Tens.

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Visit the Champagne Region from Paris

A Day in the Champagne Region, with Hotel Pick-up & Lunch
A small-group tour led by an expert guide to the Land of Champagne for a day-long tasting of the bubbly. Inclues lunch & pick-up at your Paris hotel.
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VIP Champagne Private Day Tour
On this exciting day trip you travel by high-speed train to the Champagne region where your guide, a vineyard owner and wine exporter, introduces you to the best of the bubbly.
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Ten Top Tips For Visiting Paris

Ten Top Tips For Visiting Paris

Knowing a few tips about French customs and courtesies can make your Paris visit more fun. Heck, you might even feel like an Insider! From bonjour to boulangeries, here are ten things you'll want to know.

9 Things We Bet You Didn't Know About Paris

Place de la Concorde, photo by Mark Craft

There's so much to know about a city like Paris — with its long history and fascinating nooks and crannies — that even an easy question, like "How many arrondissements are there in Paris?", might have an answer different than you expect. Discover more in our fun list of some things that you may not have known about the city we all love.

14 City of Paris Museums You Don't Want To Miss

City of Paris Museums

Did you know that some of the best Paris museums are owned by the city? Or that entrance to most of them is free? Come along on a virtual tour to discover the best cultural bargains in the City of Light.

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The Best Evenings in Paris

Dinner & Cabaret at the Moulin Rouge
Take your seats at the world’s most famous cabaret – delight in the spectacular show while enjoying a traditional French multi-course dinner. Choose the Belle Epoque Menu for the best experience.
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VIP Dinner Cruise with Bateaux Parisiens
This romantic dinner cruise includes champagne, wine & a classic meal. Choose the Service Privilege option for the best seating, best meal, and the ultimate experience.
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7 Vestiges of Roman Paris You Can Still See Today

Roman Baths in Paris

The Romans ruled Gaul (France) and Paris (Lutetia) for five centuries, ending about 450 CE. During that time they did the usual Roman things — establishing a town, laying out streets in a grid pattern, creating a local forum, putting up bridges, and building baths and an amphitheater.

Though the Romans are long gone and their works have been pulled down or built over, there are still a handful of remnants from the period that can be seen today. We'll take you to seven of them.

8 Remarkable Fountains of Paris

8 Remarkable Fountains of Paris

When you think of places with fountains, Rome might be the first city that springs to mind. (Get it? "Springs"?) But Paris is a city built on water, and fountains supplied the city's drinking water for centuries. Today there are hundreds of these historic gems still to be seen. Let's visit eight of the most remarkable, built between the 16th and the 19th centuries.

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Find Hotel Deals for Your Dates in Paris

Check with Booking.com to find today's sale prices on hotel rooms in every arrondissement of Paris. Save 20% to 30%… or even more!

Booking.Com Paris Hotel Deals
Find hotels in the Latin Quarter, Saint Germain, the Right Bank, the Marais, near the Eiffel Tower.
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Save on hotels in every arrondissement of Paris – the Latin Quarter, Saint Germain, the Right Bank, the Marais, near the Eiffel Tower. Save 20% to 30%… or even more!
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Secret Paris – 10 Hidden Places

Secret Paris

With over 2,000 years of history, you know Paris is bound to have a few secrets. We're all familiar with the Louvre and Jardin de Luxembourg and the Eiffel Tower, but how much do you really know about the hidden, secret artifacts and places?

Did you know about the bust of a poet by Pablo Picasso located in a small square in Saint-Germain-des-Prés? Or about the 14-meter high statue of the patron saint of Paris? Or the 17th century architectural-marvel of a fountain that barely delivered any water? We'll tell you more about secret Paris so you can do your own exploring.

The Top 10 Ways To Skip The Lines In Paris

10 Ways To Skip The Lines

It makes sense that Paris is a very popular and very busy place — after all, there's so much to see and do. Where the difficulty arises is when millions of visitors and glorious attractions results in long line-ups waiting to get in. As you know, our #1 goal in life is to avoid standing in lines. Luckily, there are quite a number of things you can do to skip past the queues at some of the most popular places in Paris — usually by joining a skip-the-line guided tour.

We'll share our best ideas and the best activities that save you time in Paris by getting past the lineup. We call it "Eiffel Without Effort".

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Visit Versailles the Royal Way

Best of Versailles with Skip-the-Line Access + Grand Canal Lunch
Skip the long lines to experience the grandeur of Versailles on a guided tour. Stroll through the stunning gardens then meet up for lunch on the Grand Canal. Hotel pick-up is included.
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Your Own Private Versailles – Private Tour with Hotel Pick-up
Experience Versailles on an exclusive private tour with access to areas seen only by dignitaries. See the Hall of Mirrors, the king and queen's private residences, as well as the magnificent gardens.
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10 Ways To Find The Best Paris Restaurant

And Feel Like You've Discovered It

10 Ways To Find The Best Paris Restaurant

Wouldn't you just love to figure out how to find the best Paris restaurants? You know, the ones that serve the classic french dishes and are filled with locals, not tourists? As it happens, the answer is easier than you might have thought. In fact, we're going to share 10 tested insiders tips that we think will help you find Paris restaurants so perfect for you that it will feel as if you've discovered them.

The Top 14 Paris Packing Tips

Top 14 Paris Packing Tips

We'll give you a hint — Less is More.

You're going to Paris ! Yippee ! It'll be a great trip and you'll have a great visit. But, spend a little time planning first. Before you leap into creating a massive wardrobe for Paris, and before you panic about figuring it all out, take the time to read about the 14 things you must think about.

The 10 Top Paris Museums That Aren't The Louvre

Musée Jacquemart André

The Louvre is amazing, and also amazingly popular and crowded. Luckily, Paris is filled with over 100 museums that are just as amazing, and most of them don't have the same kind of long line-ups. So, once you've finished visiting the Louvre (or if you simply want to avoid long lines) what do you do? We have ideas for you in our list of the top 10 museums in Paris we love visiting again and again.

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Seine River Dinner Cruises In Paris

VIP Dinner Cruise with Bateaux Parisiens
This romantic dinner cruise includes champagne, wine & a classic meal. Choose the Service Privilege option for the best seating, best meal, and the ultimate experience.
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Dinner Cruise by Maxim's of Paris
The legendary Parisian restaurant takes you on a dinner cruise complete with champagne and wine. Choose the 2-hour cruise for a stellar evening in Paris.
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10 Delightfully Wacky Places in Paris

10 Delightfully Wacky Places in Paris

As we said, the past 2,000 years has gifted Paris with a lot of history, its share of secrets, and a certain level of the downright unusual. One of the things that make a great city great is its room for the odd and the unexpected. You might think of this as its Wack Factor. We've talked a lot about the wonders of Paris, maybe we should take some time to look at its wonderful wackiness.

The 10 Best Christmas Markets In Paris

The 10 Best Christmas Markets In Paris

Since Paris abounds with Christmas markets during the holiday season there's bound to be one near you, wherever you are staying in Paris. But if you want to go a bit farther afield, and explore the city a bit more, here are our picks of the 10 best Christmas markets in Paris, with maybe just a couple of bonuses!

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Skip-the-Line at the Louvre Museum

The Louvre's Greatest Masterpieces
Skip the lines make the most of your time in Paris with a whirlwind tour of the must-see works of art in the Louvre. and see a lot of art on this professionally-guided tour. The top choice.
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Louvre Private Tour with Priority Access
Head straight to the front of the line, then journey through art history on a 3-hour private Louvre visit. On this complete tour, an expert guide reveals subtle details about the artwork.
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20 Questions to Ask When Renting an Apartment in Paris

Renting an  Apartment in Paris

If you're going to be in Paris for more than five days, renting a vacation apartment might be a great option for you. You get more space to spread out in, and you usually will have a kitchen to whip up delicious meals using the food you've bought at the markets. Before you decide on an apartment, though, we've put together the 20 questions you want to be sure to ask.

5 Hidden Paris Museum Cafes

5 Hidden Paris Museum Cafes

Paris is a cultural capital with something like 140 museums. Since Paris is also a city of food, it's not surprising that these two trends come together in five great cafes and tearooms in five great Paris museums. From the Petit Palais to Jeu de Paume in the Tuileries garden, let's go on a culinary tour of a handful of Paris museums.

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Skip the Lines at the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Priority-Access Tour
For the ultimate Eiffel Tower experience, this guided tour walks you past the long lines, into the elevator, and up to the very top of the tower for stunning birds-eye views of Paris
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Eiffel Tower Guided Tour to Level 2
Why waste your precious time in Paris standing in line? Take our Insiders advice and book this skip-the-line, guided tour of the Eiffel Tower. While others wait in line, you'll be enjoying the views.
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5 Metro Stations with Unusual Names

5 Metro Stations with Unusual Names

Many of the Metro stations in Paris are named for more than one of the streets or crossroads above the station. Since those streets are often named for historical figures or memorable events, unusual juxtapositions can result — for example, the mash-up of a 17th-century Benedictine Abbess with a puzzled revolutionary from the 19th century.

10 Paris Planning Mistakes Not to Make

10 Paris Planning Mistakes

There are some mistakes first-time travelers make that we hear about over and over. They range from not doing enough up-front planning to trying to fit too much in too few days — and not really getting a chance to enjoy simply being in Paris.

Don't worry, though. We're going to share the top ten mistakes with you so you can avoid them and have a fabulous time in The City of Light.

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See the Magnificent Castles of the Loire Valley

Small-Group Loire Valley Chateaux & Wine Tasting Trip from Paris
Journey to the magical castles of the Loire Valley in on a day trip that also features a guided tasting of the best regional wines. Your small group travels in a luxury Eurovan.
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Private Loire Valley Chateaux by Minivan with Hotel Pickup
Visit three of the most stunning castles in the Loire Valley with a knowledgeable guide who brings 700 years of history to life. A wine tasting is included as part of the day.
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13 Little-Known & Hidden Places In Paris

13 Little-Known Hidden Places In Paris

Paris is dense. That is, jam-packed with history, art, shopping, food, architecture, and so much more. There are a lot of fascinating things crammed into the area surrounded by the périphéérique (the ring road that encircles the city) that is central Paris. There's an awful lot to discover, no matter if it's your first trip or your fifteenth.

To help you do something just a little bit different, we've put together a list of little-known, hidden places that most tourists will never see.

10 Belle Epoque Wonders in Paris You Should See

10 Belle Epoque Wonders

The Belle Epoque was the period between the Franco-Prussian War (1871) and World War I (1914), peaking with the architecture and decoration of the Paris 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. Think of the new Metro system and its decorative entrances, the Grand Palais, and Pont Alexandre III. The achievements in science, technology, and art were unprecedented.

Fortunately for visitors, Paris has preserved many of the landmarks from that period, so you can still take a journey to Belle Epoque Paris and marvel at the wonders of the era. Come along with us to take a peek at ten of those Belle Epoque wonders.

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Delicious Food Tours Of Paris

Discover the Food & Wine of the Marais
Visit the top food & wine shops in the historic Marais, tasting the best of French foods. There's plenty of sampling on this small-group tour.
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Cheese & Wine Tasting in a Paris Cellar
In the cheese-aging cellar of a Paris fromagerie you discover 7 classic French cheeses and the wines that pair with them. Lots of sampling!
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15 Secrets of île de la Cité & île St-Louis

Secrets of Ile de la Cité

You probably know that islands in the Seine are where you find Notre Dame Cathedral and a few other sights.

But did you know that Île de la Cité is also home to one of the best flower markets in the city? Or that it's served by the oldest bridge? Did you know that there's a memorial to the deported of World War II? Or that there's a hidden crypt where you can see the oldest Roman vestiges in Paris? Didn't think so!

Best of Paris 2018

Best of Paris 2018

Paris keeps getting better. For 2018 we found fewer cars; more green space; better food shopping; great restaurants, old and new; an exciting sports event; and a renewed appreciation for Jardin du Luxembourg. Discover our picks for best of Paris 2018.

The Best of Paris in 2016

The Best of Paris in 2016

Every time we're in Paris we always remark that it just seems to be getting better. And 2016 was no exception. We found better, more friendly customer service. We found the airport improved with easier check-in, boarding, and arrival. We found the car rental experience pleasurable. We also discovered Burgundy wines, Sunday shopping in Paris, and a great new hotel in the 5th Arrondissement.

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Skip-the-Lines at Paris Museums

The Louvre's Greatest Masterpieces
Skip the lines and see a lot of art on this professionally guided tour. Choose from a private tour or semi-private (max 6 people.) The top choice.
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Private Orsay and Louvre Museum Tour
Enjoy skip-the-line access and learn the stories behind some of the world's greatest art at the greatest museums.
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10 Things Expats Tell You Not to Do in Paris…

But They're Wrong !

10 Things Expats Tell You Not to Do in Paris

Expats should know a lot about Paris, they live there everyday.But you don't. If you lived there, you'd probably not go to the tourist attractions very often. But since you are a tourist you want to see those things. That's why the things that expats tell you not to do are often the very things you should do, as a visitor! See what we mean —

Our Paris Top 10 for 2015

Our Paris Top 10 for 2015

We love all those end-of-year lists, and this was ours for 2015.

We chose the top ten things in Paris that left us with great memories in 2015. There were some new discoveries as well as some old favorites. The memories we love best include some food, a museum or two, a chateaux (naturally!), even an airline… and lots and lots of champagne!

12 Great Things We Did in Paris in March 2012

12 Great Things We Did in Paris in March 2012

We remember March of 2012 with fondness. That was when a month that had started out as winter suddenly and gloriously turned to summer, virtually overnight. That's also when our book placed first among North American books at the International Gourmand Cookbook Awards (in the category French Cuisine). We recently dusted off the diary where we kept track of our wonderful month. Here are twelve of the best things we did, along with the photos we shot.

The Best of Paris – The Readers' Poll

The Best of Paris Readers' Poll

Paris is always cited as one of the top places in the world to visit, and clearly there are a lot of reasons for that.

Some years ago we set out to ask Paris Insiders Guide readers what they liked best about our city. So we created Parisopoly, taking readers on a virtual trip around the city and letting them pick some of their very favorite things. Here's what they said —

Six Free Paris Planning Guides

A Gift from Us to You.
Bon Voyage !