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France
It is very romantic for couples, also a great treat for the family. The four-course meal is fantastic, also you get to see all the Paris sights as you take your time eating dinner and drinking wine and listening to the sounds of the piano. A great way to spend lunch or dinner.
Go to Sacre Coeur for the best view of Paris. Take a walk up to it and you can visit the small shops and cafes on the way up. It is the highest point in Paris, also a visit to the church inside is absolutely beautiful. Bonus: no need to queue for hours to see Paris and it is free! You can also take your pets up as well.
The Galleries Lafayette is a stylish department store in Paris. By taking the escalator to the top floor and then walking up the single flight of stairs from the restaurant, you can walk out on to the roof terrace and get a splendid view over Paris.
The height is about the same as the first level of the Eiffel Tower - but you won't have to queue, you can stay as long as you like (so long as the shop is open!), and it's TOTALLY FREE!
Galeries Lafayette, 40 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris 75009
Nearest Metro: Chaussee d'Antin Lafayette
Love art? Love food? Overload your senses and combine the two. Le Georges sits like a crown at the top of the Centre Pompidou. Seat yourself next to the reflective pool and indulge in the beauty of the Sacre Coeur and Notre Dame.
The sleek modernist style seeps through from the galleries below and encourages a creative flair to the food. This restaurant infuses Parisian chic and fiery Thai flavours with an artistic hand. Enjoy an exquisite meal and a long stemmed rose to accompany your hedonists' view of Paris.
Directions to one of Paris’s best-kept secrets: Take the Metro's Line 5 and get off at Laumière. Climb up Rue Laumière until you reach the main entrance of the most beautiful Parisian garden: Les Buttes de Chaumont.
Climb up the hill around the lake, up to the view point. Now the real secret: if you happen to be there on August 30th at about 8.20pm, you'll see the sun setting right behind the Sacre Coeur and the Montmartre hill, now that's a view that will stay with you for a while.
I love this place, they always have some crazy exhibition going on, the shop is full of silly postcards and amazing art books. And the café is definitely worth a visit, go to the terrace outside for fantastic views over the Seine and the Tour d’Eiffel. They also organise special events with DJs and live bands.
Visit the Cafe Marly opposite the Louvre, which serves evening meals. It has a great view of the Louvre lit up and you can also watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle by evening.
A no-star hotel in the front garden of Notre Dame Cathedral. The wallpaper is bizarre, there is no lift (five floors though), and the bathroom door (yes, we had an en suite) came away in my hand.
But the view from the window is breathtaking and the owner is friendly and helpful. Shakespeare Books is just across the street. Doubles from €60 per night.
4 rue St-Julien-le-Pauvre, Paris 75005
+33 (0)1 4354 1920
Take a packed lunch bought in the fine food department on to the rooftop of Le Printemps for the most luxurious/cheapest/freshest lunch with the best views over the city.
Go to Ciel de Paris Restaurant (57th floor) in Montparnasse for an evening meal and watch Paris light up, especially the Eiffel Tower which faces the restaurant. It is a wonderful sight.
Hire a bicycle from Vélo et Chocolate by Canal St Martin just around the corner from Rue Riquet Metro and peddle around Paris.
It is a lovely cycle to the Sacre Coeur where you can view the whole of Paris. The more adventurous might want to peddle out to St Germaine En Laye where you have more wonderful views, but this time you can park up in the park by the Chateau and sip chilled rose wine while seated in a hired deckchair. Take your own knotted hanky to feel at home.
The grounds of Parc du Chateau de Versailles are beautiful and particularly worth a visit during April through to September when they are host to different spectacles.
The events are a true feast for the senses and lie only a 20 minute RER journey off the typical tourist route. An unforgettable experience.
When visiting Paris, try to visit Montmartre in the early evening. There are lots of wonderful street artists and street sellers selling their wares and if you reach Sacre Coeur as it is turning dusk, it is a truly beautiful sight to behold. So much so that it's where my husband proposed.
Stay at the Paix Republique hotel. Book room 606 on the top floor, which will give you views of the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur.
Visit the mini-Statue of Liberty in Paris as seen in Polanski's film Frantic. A short walk from the Eiffel Tower, it is well worth the visit, providing refreshing views of the city.
Next to the Pont de Grenelle, 1.5 km south of the Eiffel Tower.
There is a bench in Montmartre, two minutes' walk from Sacre Coeur, which has the most stunning views of Paris.
Buy a picnic of baguettes, some cheese, ham, olives and a bottle of wine from one of the many little shops in the village and just enjoy the amazing views.
Hopping on and off the bus round the sights of Paris is cheaper and better than taking either the metro (you see more) or taxi (feel safer!).
You can get a ticket for 48 hours, see Trocadero - walk through to the Eiffel Tower and catch it again, get off at Louvre, catch it again, get off at Musee d'Orsay etc.
Or, on your first day, just stay on for the whole round trip to see where you will want to visit later.
Stops all around centre of Paris, pay on the bus.
It's a restaurant. Just a few minutes from Paris, you can eat in the beautiful gardens of Chez Clément, and look at the wonderful view, near the river, surrounded by exquisite scenery. The prices are reasonable, about 25 euros for a 3 course meal.
Chez Clément Bougival, 15 bis quai Rennequin Sualem 78380 Bougival
www.chezclement.com
For a trip on the Seine at a fraction of the cost of Bateaux-Mouches, buy a day (or longer) ticket for the Bato-bus.
There are eight stops on both banks of the river, and you can get on and off as you fancy. All the stops are alongside tourist attractions, such as Notre Dame or the Eifel Tower, and there is a useful little outline map of the major sights to be seen from the boat when you buy your ticket.
It is not only a splendid way of seeing some of the main attractions of the city, is is a delightful way of getting about from one end of Paris to the other.
Eight stops from the Eifel Tower to the Botanic Gardens, including Hotel de Ville, Notre Dame, etc. There is a web-site.
The new communal bike scheme operating since July 2007 is fantastic! Easy to use (once you get the hang of the terminals) you can cycle around Paris and cover far more ground than on foot and get a better view than you would by bus or car or metro!
There are over 10,000 bikes which are very solid and adjustable, and numerous 'bornes' or terminals where you can pick up and drop off.
You can get a day ticket for one euro and, provided you drop off each bike within half an hour of pick up, it won't cost any more. You can pick up and drop off as many times as you want within the 24 hour period. There are plenty of cycle lanes and, provided you have some road sense, it's a safe, interesting, very cheap and much healthier way to get to know Paris.
Mairie de Paris say there have been more than 2 million individual hires in the first 39 days of operating. Vive le velo! / Get on a bike!
Terminals all over central Paris. Go to www.velib.paris.fr/
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