If you’re older and wiser, then this is the smart Paris plan. Avoid weekends and try to visit off-season in the cooler months (Nov-Mar). Don’t stand in queues trying to get into the key museums. Plan ahead and book online. Make the most of late-opening hours, and buy tickets to the opera or church concerts in advance.
Le Café Marly
Louvre-weary? Under the arches, overlooking I. M. Pei’s sublime Pyramid, there’s no better place to kick back. Outdoors, there‘s ideal people-watching seating, while indoors you can relax within the café’s elegant interiors.
Metro: Palais Royal (line 1, 7)
Address: Palais du Louvre
Tel: +33 (0)1 49 26 06 60
Opening times: Daily 08:00-01:00
Prices: €5 for a coffee, €13 for a Cosmopolitan
L’Orangerie
After six drawn-out years in the dark, Monet's sublime 'Water Lilies' are back in the spotlight. Architect Olivier Brochet has carried out a beautiful gallery restoration which transports you right to the banks of Monet's pond in Giverny. Muted daylight streams into the oval-shaped rooms, which contain wall-to-wall pastel panels painted specially for the space by Monet. Get in line before the doors open at 12:30 when most people are having lunch.
Metro: Concorde (line 1, 8, 12)
Address: Jardin des Tuileries
Opening times: Wed-Thu, Sat-Mon 12:30-19:00, Fri 12:30-21:00
Tel: +33 (0)1 44 77 80 07
Prices: €6.50, reduced €4.50; under-18 free; free to all on the first Sunday of every month
Web: www.musee-orangerie.fr
Benoit
Started in 1912 by Benoit himself, whose portrait in the restaurant suggests a bon viveur and whose legacy lives on here in this classic French bistro, this restaurant, around the corner from the Pompidou Centre stayed in the family until 2005. It was then that a savvy Alain Ducasse took the reins and, even more savvily, chose to alter very little. Paul, one of the waiters from the old days, looks after guests flawlessly. Try roast pork and black pudding or fish with mussels in white sauce. The warm Madeleine cakelets, served in a baking tray, melt in the mouth.
Metro: Châtelet (line 1, 4, 7, 14) or Hôtel de Ville (line 1, 11)
Address: 20 rue St Martin
Tel: +33 (0)1 42 72 25 76
Opening times: Daily 12:00-14:00, 19:00-22:00
Prices: Lunch menu (3-course) €38; A la carte (3-course) €60
Web: www.alain-ducasse.com
Musée Jacquemart André
A grand sweeping driveway leads to this former private residence off the Grand Boulevard. You come here to feel the spirit of the 18th century, rather than to see the individual works of art. Daydream back to the era of aristocratic Paris, before the bourgeoisie were all beheaded by Madame La Guillotine.
Metro: Miromesnil (line 9, 13) St-Philippe du Roule (line9)
Address: 158 boulevard Haussmann
Tel: +33 (0)1 45 62 11 59
Opening times: Daily 10:00-18:00
Prices: €9.50; reduced €7; under-7 free
Web: www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com
Batobus
There are dozens of tour boats cruising up and down the River Seine but you may feel a bit stuck after boarding. Instead, use the hop-on, hop-off Batobus, which acts as a shuttle as well as a tour boat. There are eight stops along the river, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Hôtel de Ville.
Prices: Day pass €12; reduced €6
Web: www.batobus.com
Ladurée
An Art Nouveau pile on the Champs Élysées, decorated in pale, elegant mint-green with frescoes of angelic pastry-chefs. If you’re shopping for pistachio macaroons in the patisserie next door, you’ll just have to give in to temptation and hit the tearoom. The original shop (established in 1862) is at 16, rue Royale, close to Madeleine.
Metro: George V (line 1)
Address: 75 avenue des Champs Élysées
Tel: +33 (0)1 40 75 08 75
Opening times: Daily 07:30-00:30
Prices: €30 for 3 courses
Web: www.laduree.fr
Petit Palais
Another fine arts museum, another treasure trove of history. The Petit Palais’ eclectic collection begins in Ancient Greece and continues to the First World War, and includes Flemish painting, Louis XVI-era furnishings and Japanese objets d’art. The seeming chaos is eased with an audio guide, which explains who influenced what, where and why. There’s also a lovely café just off the courtyard garden.
Metro: Champs-Élysées Clemenceau (line 1, 13)
Address: 5 avenue Dutuit
Tel: +33 (0)1 53 43 40 00
Opening times: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00
Prices: Free entry to permanent collection
Web: www.petitpalais.paris.fr
Opera
The belle-époque Opéra Garnier is the fictional home of Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera, and offers up a mixed season of opera and ballet. In contrast, the modern Opéra de la Bastille has a more varied programme, as might be expected in its grungier neighbourhood.
Opéra Garnier:
Metro: Opéra (line 3, 7, 8)
Address: Place de l’Opéra
Prices: from €5-160
Web: www.operadeparis.fr
Opéra de la Bastille:
Metro: Bastille (line 1, 5, 8)
Address: Place de la Bastille
Prices: from €5-150
Web: www.operadeparis.fr
Le Dhokan’s
For a true flavour of belle-époque Paris, the Hôtel Trocadéro Dhokans (now part of the Sofitel empire) has the finest champagne bar in town: discreet service, restrained music, but with a touch of pop and fizz. Special introductory tastings can be organised.
Metro: Trocadéro (line 6, 9)
Address: 117 rue de Lauriston
Tel: +33 (0)1 53 65 66 99
Opening times: Daily 11:00-01:00
Web: www.sofitel.com