Four Parisian Hotels 

The Ritz

There are two things the uninitiated always want to know about the most famous hotel in Paris. First off, is it really as ritzy as the name would imply? That's a definite yes - after all, the adjective itself derives from the hotel. Second question: Is it worth it? The answer here is an unequivocable "perhaps." Staying here is a fantastic experience, but be aware that you will pay an arm and a leg for it. What can you expect for your money? Well, to begin with, you get to breathe the rarified and perfumed (it is) air of the place from the moment you step through the front doors...

L'hotel du Petit Moulin

In the most happening corner of Paris - the northern edge of the Marais in the third arrondissement - this 17-room hotel with 17 different interiors by designer Christian Lacroix is an instant, inevitable hit with the international style set. Hipsters love the location, the very laid-back atmosphere, and the lushly funky Baroque look that is Lacroix's signature...

Hotel Axial Beaubourg

The edgy new look and excellent location of this friendly, family-owned 39-roomer have made it one of the most popular good-value hotels in Paris. With original exposed beams, white walls, matte-metal wall sconces, and dark Wenge wood, the spacious rooms here have a decidedly Parisian contemporary chic but are cozy, comfortable, and quiet. The basement breakfast room features chairs with chocolate-colored slipcovers and sea-green carpeting. Lighting is excellent in rooms and public spaces, and the staff is young and friendly but efficient. Book well in advance.

Four Seasons Hotel George V

It's all kid-glove from the moment you arrive - as your ears are serenaded by a chorus of "bienvenues," your eyes feast on a marble-floored lobby bursting with amazing flower arrangements (American Jeff Leatham, the in-house floral designer, goes through thousands of dollars of perfect blooms a week)...

Delicious French Food 

(Book well in advance.)

More on Food 

Dominique Bouchet

At a time when many new restaurants in Paris spin on a "concept" or a gimmick of some kind, chef Dominique Bouchet's eponymous new table next to the Marche de l'Europe has taken up a time-honored theme that's made it a rapid word-of-mouth success: excellent traditional French cooking...

Taillevent

This grande dame has held three stars non stop for 30 years, and since the arrival two years ago of brilliant chef Alain Soliveres, the cooking has become even more ethereal. Soliveres, a native of Montpellier, won his reputation with the brilliant modern riffs he did on Southern French classics...

L'atelier de Joel Robuchon

The three-star chef once acclaimed as the best cook in France came out of retirement last year with an unlikely new vehicle: the world's best coffee shop cum sushi or tapas bar. It's fun, too, as long as you don't mind the counter-only service and the lack of reservations...

Notre Dame 

Photos from Flickr

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris
6 Pl. du Parvis-Notre-Dame
Paris
Ile de France
Tel: 42 34 56 10

Commissioned by Bishop Maurice de Sully in 1160, Notre-Dame is one of the most profoundly moving and elegant Christian sites in the world. After a recent restoration, the facade again displays the soft toast-color of the stone from which it was built, and given the ferocity of the city's air pollution, you should profit from this chance to see the cathedral before it's sullied again. The church was built on holy ground - the site of a Gallo-Roman temple to Jupiter - and has evolved through the centuries, with a heavy-handed 19th-century restoration giving the interior the look it has today. The exterior, on the other hand, remains beyond compare. The delicate stone filigree on its twin towers and above its doors could only have been accomplished in a trance of faith.

Parisian Sights. 

Champs-Elysees

The Champs-Elysees, or Elysian Fields, was designed by landscape architect Andre Le Notre in the 17th century and quickly became a favorite place for au courant Parisians to promenade or take carriage rides in search of fresh air and the urban sport of seeing and be seen...

Maison Europeene de la Photographie

Paris was one of the pioneering cities in the birth of photography: it was recognized as an art form long before it achieved similar status in other places, and this handsome 17th-century stone mansion in the Marais was an immediate hit when it opened several years ago...

The Eiffel Tower

It's hard to imagine just how avant-garde this cast-iron girder tower was when it was built in 1889 to celebrate that year's World Fair and the centenary of the French Revolution (1789). The great majority of Parisians loathed it, and the press brayed on about how it was an industrial pimple on the face of the city. A century later, the elegant slope-legged tower has become the quintessential emblem of the City of Light...

Then, there's the shopping... 

Didier Ludot

Though his boutique is frequented by some of the richest and most fashionable women in the world, Didier Ludot is just a friendly, low-key, English-speaking Parisian guy with a passion for vintage fashion.

Laduree

This elegant little tea salon opened in 1862 in its original location on Rue Royale. There, you'll experience a fly-in-amber vision of 19th-century French style, with gilt display cases and basalt-topped tables under a frescoed ceiling. It's not only a perfect pit stop during a day out-drop in for a pastry and a cafe or maybe a sandwich - but a great place to shop for one of the most highly appreciated, elegantly packaged, and reasonably priced gifts you can bring home from Paris: macaroons...

Conde Nast Traveler 

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