Forget those designer boutiques and get on the metro to head to the Place d'Aligre for a fascinating market full of clothes, antiques and world goods (particularly great for African crafts).

There really is something more enjoyable about grabbing a bargain at the market than flashing the credit card down the Champs Elysees!

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The chic Marais is the place to stay. Hotel Jeanne D'Arc is quite a lark. Close to Place St Catherine, where the prices are keen.

To start off your day, go to 'Au Levain du Marais'. The pain au chocolat will make you just weak, so buy quite a few and you'll have a pique nique.

Next, visit grand Pere Lachaise. Chopin and Piaf and dear Oscar Wilde - although they're now gone, you'll still be beguiled. To the Left Bank for dinner, a place called L'Ecurie, the locals eat here, run by petite Mini. Bon weekend!

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If you’re heading east from Paris and you’ve got some time to kill, there’s a quiet little park hidden away about 20m from the Gare de l’Est, but not that easy to find.

Stand with your back to the station and head down the road on the left, to the corner. Look for a green metal gate down the side of the rather imposing stone building. It leads into a small ornamental park with a great kids’ playground, and public toilets and baby change on the far side of the park.

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For a quick Gallic culture fix, catch a morning Eurostar to Paris and head to Auberge d'chez eux, an unashamedly old school bistro in the seventh.

Enjoy the rich, generous cuisine of south-west France from a window table, complete with traditional red checked cloth, overlooking Les Invalides. President Chirac liked to impress foreign leaders with lunch here, such is its reputation.

Later take in a cognac or two at Lipp on sophisticated Boulevard Saint-Germain, followed by a peaceful stroll around Ile Saint-Louis, before catching a late train home with the feeling that all is well with the world.

www.chezeux.com/

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For a formidable fondue feast, I recommend the Refuge de Fondues, 17 Rue de Trois Freres
(near bottom of Sacre Coeur). It's a fab little restaurant with graffiti-covered walls and long tables where you eat elbow to elbow with other diners.

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In the Marais district get away from the non-ending 18th-century embellishment and discover some of the finest 20th-century Scandanavian design and furniture. A modernist oasis.

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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.

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Escape the culture vultures at the Louvre or Musee d'Orsay - head out to the 16th district for the Musee Marmottan.

There, in a peaceful mansion, you'll find the largest Monet collection anywhere. See the entire range of his work, culminating in the Giverny Nympheas, displayed in a wonderful circular gallery.

Admire works of many other Impressionists, including one of the few women, Berthe Morisot, Manet's sister-in-law. Easy to get to (four buses, metro), opposite a delightful park, near good, cheap restaurants - a day out of Paris, in Paris!

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My top tip for Paris, especially if you’re a food lover, is to experience it like a Parisian and chose to stay in a self-catering apartment.

Paris has so many markets and beautiful specialist shops which you can’t take full advantage of if you’re staying in a hotel. You can have freshly baked bread and croissants for breakfast and then browse les marchés, boucheries, charcuteries, fromageries and other stores for fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, paté and cheese and prepare your own meals, including a tasty picnic for your return trip which will have your fellow passengers green with envy!

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Instead of booking a hotel, book a flat through Feels like Home in Paris. We have stayed in a beautiful studio flat in the heart of Montmartre - great for lazy breakfasts and midnight feasts taking advantage of the gorgeous local food and wine!

www.feelslikehomeinparis.com/

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After being on the road for a month, my boyfriend and I actually had the best meal on our last night! It was in a unique and friendly restaurant called Ave Maria, 1 Rue Jacquard (Metro Oberkampf/Saint Maur), the decor was beautifully gaudy, the veggie curry I had was heavenly and the mojitos so good I almost had to be carried home!

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The prefect way to end a day of wandering with a great meal in a really friendly atmosphere. They do a fantastic soup as a starter which is served inside half a crusty loaf of bread - ie the bread becomes the bowl - it really works and you won't end up with soup in your lap. Lively music and staff, with great artwork and writings all over the walls. Seek it out.

12 rue du Bourg-Tibourg, just south of the Marais.

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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.

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Most Paris visitors obviously look for the essence of France as they wander the city, but I found something exceptional and different in the Monique Wells "Discover Afro-American History in Paris" tours.

The haunts of Josephine Baker and James Baldwin come to life, and you see the wonderful Chateau Rouge area - a brilliantly vibrant mix of colours and cultures, boutiques and restaurants. Paris' varied international and colonial history is brought to life.

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In the bustling, attractive Place Georges Pompidou, there are some good places to eat. In the Rue St Martin, on the first floor above an art shop called ‘Images de Demain’, is a small, quiet, pretty café nestling among conservatory plants, and a good selection of clocks and attractive kitchen items for sale.

The café has tall windows overlooking the square, and serves teas, coffees, cakes and other delicacies. Nearby, on Rue Rambuteau, is Le Potager du Marais – a café/restaurant which has long refectory tables where the mainly local clientele lunch on reasonably priced, delicious organic, veggie food.

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Want to enjoy the sport of kings but not pay a king's ransom? Then head to Paris on the first Sunday in October where you'll experience a sporting extravaganza, with a difference.

Racing reaches its pinnacle at Longchamp where the focus is the richest prize in Europe, the Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe. But Arc day is much more than a day at the races. The Paris fashionistas compete as fiercely as the horses. So what would you expect to pay to rub shoulders with racing's elite in the world's style capital? How about £5 and that includes your racecard!

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In May, they hold Nuit des Musées - where the museums are open late into the evening and are free. So whilst everyone is eating you can go and see your favourites and with the entrance fees you have saved have a delicious meal.

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If, like me, you want on occasion to feel like a true Parisian and don't have an aversion to early mornings then why not try the Bastille open market on a Sunday morning.

The range of fresh fish, bread, vegetables, cheeses and wine is truly mouth watering and all at very reasonable prices. Your euro here goes a long way towards sampling the very best of French food.

The market is huge and the atmosphere intoxicating in terms of a real Parisian experience and can't be recommended highly enough to the discerning visitor.

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Lavinia wine bar on Boulevard de la Madeleine is a must for anyone who fancies themselves as a wine buff. You can browse three storeys of wine from around the world (but mostly French, of course) including an incredible selection of champagne magnums and a temperature-controlled fine wine cellar. But the best part is the top floor wine bar where you can choose from a decent selection of wines by the glass or pick any bottle of wine from the store and drink at shop price! And with bottles ranging from under 10 euro to 22,000 there’s something for all budgets.

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Eat the tarte aux tomates on the terrace of 'Les Philosophes' on rue Vielle du Temple (IVth) - great place for people watching.

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