Paris is the capital of France and a European highlight for many people. If you travel to Paris, you will be greeted by fantastic cuisine, lots of friendly people, beautiful museums and fascinating buildings.
Here you will find a little guide to make your trip to Paris somehow easier.
The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is the symbol of Paris. The elegant steel tower is probably the first thing that comes to mind for people all over the world when they think of Paris. Yet, the iron lady had a very difficult start. Architect Stephen Sauvestre’s project originally met with great resistance. In 1887, there was even a petition against the project, signed by several artists. They complained about the plan to disfigure the image of their city by building a “gigantic and ridiculous black chimney”. Today, the Eiffel Tower is loved all the more!
When does the Eiffel Tower light up?
As soon as it gets dark, the Eiffel Tower flashes on the hour. The spectacle lasts about 5 minutes and ends at 1am.
Popular sights
Besides the Eiffel Tower, Paris has countless other sights to offer, which are visited in large numbers every day. These include:
- Arc de Triomphe
- Notre Dame
- Sacré-Cœur
- Opéra Garnier
- Champs Élysées
- Pont Alexandre III
- Grand Palais and Petit Palais
- Lots of museums, including the famous Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Centre Pompidou, etc.
- Panthéon
- Invalidendom
- Catacombs
- Montmartre
- Jardín du Luxembourg
Restaurants
Are you already looking forward to a wonderful dinner in a Parisian restaurant right next to the Seine? Then you’d better start saving – because Paris is one of the most expensive cities when it comes to eating out! But you have to admit one thing about the Parisians. They are incredibly friendly, courteous and you get free water! Just the thing after a long day of sightseeing!
Metro
The most important means of transport in Paris is the metro. To find the right metro ticket for your stay in Paris, it’s worth taking a look at the Paris metro map. There you can see, among other things, which metro or RER station is closest to your accommodation and in which of the five Parisian tariff zones possible excursion destinations are located.
The Louvre
The Louvre is the largest art gallery and museum in the world and contains around 480,000 works of art within its walls, although only less than 40,000 of these are open to the public. Among them there is the most famous painting of all time, the Mona Lisa. To really see all the works of art in the Louvre, you would need almost 4 months. In the collections you can admire oriental, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities. But also sculptures, paintings and art objects. In addition to the Mona Lisa, the Louvre is home to, among others:
- The Venus de Milo
- The Coronation of Napoleon by David
- The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault
- Great Odalisque by Ingres
- The Nike of Samothrace
- Wedding at Cana by Veronese
- The Lacemaker by Vermeer
- Liberty Leading the People
Museums
Besides the Louvre, Paris is home to many other wonderful museums, all of which are well worth a visit. Our favourite: Musée d’Orsay. You can find some treasures of art in this museum as well. It is particularly famous for having the world’s most important collection of Impressionist art. You can find there, among other things:.
- The Circus by Georges Seurat
- Starry Night over the Rhône by Vincent van Gogh
- Self Portrait (1889) by Vincent van Gogh
- The Luncheon on the Grass by Édouard Manet
- Lunch on the Grass by Claude Monet
- Houses of Parliament London by Claude Monet
- Blue Water Lilies by Claude Monet
Other museums in Paris well worth visiting are: Centre Pompidou, the Grand Palais, Picasso Museum, Rodin Museum and Orangerie.
P.S.: Since 2009, many museums and monuments have been free of charge for EU visitors up to and including the age of 25. These attractions are mostly institutions managed by the state.
Arrondissements
Did you know that the arrondissements in Paris are numbered from 1 to 20 and form a spiral? The first one starts in the centre of Paris and forms a spiral that goes outwards from the capital.
Catacombs
Beneath the Parisian street ceiling there is a secret world – the kingdom of the dead. The catacombs were built in the 18th century as a kind of underground city. Their corridors extend over an incredible length of 322 kilometres. However, only 274 kilometres of these corridors are open to the public. In these ancient stone quarries, twenty kilometres underground, lie the bones of more than 6 million people. The reason for this: cemeteries were overcrowded due to severe epidemics and famine. Thus, another place had to be found to bury the dead.
