Paris, France + Add a trip

Automobiles

Parking can be a challenge in Paris, and expensive; you're better off without the bother of a hire car. Instead, rent Vélib pushbikes from one of the 24-hour self-service stands (www.velib.paris.fr). From about €8.50, you can get a multi-trip ticket (Paris Visite) to use on the Métro, buses and trams.

Planes

A taxi from Charles de Gaulle international airport to the centre costs about €50; buses and trains run regularly into town at a fraction of the cost. RER/TGV trains run from CDG to Gare du Nord every 15 minutes from 5.30am to 10.30pm, and take 35 minutes. Orly airport, southeast of Paris, handles domestic and European flights.

Trains

There are six main stations in Paris, all of which are central and link to the fantastic Métro underground system (www.ratp.fr). Eurostar is by far the best way to travel there from London: trains from Kings Cross (and mainland Europe) arrive into Gare du Nord. GoldSmith members have access to exclusive Leisure Select rates on Eurostar - visit the Mr & Mrs Smith members' area for details.

Dialing

Country code for France: 33. Paris: 1.

Reads

Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire; A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens; A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway; Paris: Capital of the World by P L R Higonnet; Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell; Perfume by Patrick Süskind. Three to Kill by Jean-Patrick Manchette; The Shoe Queen by Anna Davis.

Do go / Don't Go

Paris grinds to a halt in August, the national holiday. We love springtime, when the blossom is out.

Cuisine

If you only do one thing in Paris, let it be sipping a crème or a pastis at a boulevard bistro: whatever your wont (still-walking steak, croque monsieur, rillettes, warm chèvre salad or tarte tatin), it will taste immeasurably better eaten at a round alfresco table on a cane chair. Paris is also renowned for its dainty tea houses and French fancies - by which we mean mouthwatering millefeuilles, melting macaroons and buttery pastries. Ladurée is beloved of fashionistas for its pretty pastel macaroons; Mariage Frères is one of the finest tea rooms; and you'll often see a scrum queuing outside haute pâtissier Pierre Hermé on Rue Bonaparte in chic St Germain (+33 1 43 54 47 77; www.pierreherme.com). We love his praline-packed 2,000 Feuilles.

Taxis

Can be hailed in the street if you're more than 100 metres from a rank (these are all over Paris and have phones if no taxi is waiting).

Tipping

In bars, leave small change amounting to about 10 per cent. Restaurants usually state service compris, but it is polite to leave change.

Currency

Euro (€).

Packing

Sunglasses, silk scarf, cigarette holder, Edith Piaf CD. Maps: taxi drivers can be uncertain sometimes. If you don't speak French, a phrasebook is useful, especially in restaurants.

Arts

The Louvre (www.louvre.fr) houses some of the world's most famous art (open late Mondays and Wednesdays; closed Tuesdays and some holidays). The Musée National d'Art Moderne is on level four of the Pompidou Centre (www.centrepompidou.fr); Richard Rogers' radical architecture is another draw. Musée National Picasso Paris (www.musee-picasso.fr) occupies an old house in the Marais, and is full of the artworks Pablo couldn't bear to part with; the venue is as alluring as the art itself, also the case for Musée d'Orsay, a converted train station packed with arty treats (www.musee-orsay.fr).

And...

Marvel at Paris' unique layout from atop the 200-year-old Arc de Triomphe, one of France's most iconic monuments and the epicentre of bravura city-planner Baron Haussmann's star of boulevards; it's worth clambering up its many internal stairs to peer down the Champs Elysées and enjoy photogenic views down to Place de la Concorde and up to La Défense. Open daily, 10am-10.30pm (11pm in summer), excluding 1 January, 1 May and 25 December. Tickets cost €8 and must be bought 30 minutes before closing.

Shopping

Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré is chock-full of designer boutiques; our favourite is Colette (www.colette.fr), a celebrated lifestyle shop with fashion, books and a café. There are quirky independent shops, cafés and bars plus cutting-edge fashion in the bohemian Marais district (aka the quartier Juif) - also the only area largely open on Sundays. Porte de Clignancourt market is a fleamarket for clothes and antiques, open Monday-Saturday until 7pm. Or arrange to have a selection of Parisian vintage pieces brought to you by Ooh La La! (ring +33 6 84 76 58 65 ahead of your trip for details). If you're a sucker for department stores, head to Le Bon Marché on Rue de Sèvres. Splurge with a healthy conscience at Merci (+33 (0)1 42 77 00 33) on Boulevard Beaumarchais. The luxury emporium donates profits from its cut-price Annick Goutal perfumes, Baccarat crystal vases, Stella McCartney and Yves St Laurent glad-rags and hip homeware to a children's charity in Madagascar.

Viewpoint

Crowded but irresistible, the Eiffel Tower is open 9.30am-11pm (midnight in high season). If all that steel doesn't take your fancy, visit L'Institute du Monde Arabe (www.imarabe.org): as well as an interesting modern façade and Islamic art exhibitions, its top-floor terrace offers great views across the Seine to Notre Dame and Ile de la Cité.

Something

Follow in the footsteps of Degas, Toulouse Lautrec and Amélie, wandering through Montmartre (the bohemian hill streets that saw the birth of the can-can), and up to the Sacré-Coeur for more resplendent Parisian panoramas.

May Saint Germain Jazz Festival gets the Rive Gauche swinging into life and tapping its Louboutin-clad toes. May-June The French Open tennis championship brings grand-slam glamour to the City of Lights (www.fft.fr/rolandgarros). June La Fête de la Musique on the 21st celebrates the start of summer and sees the streets lined with stages for live bands (www.fetedelamusique.culture.fr). June-July Paris Jazz Festival - free weekend concerts in Parc Floral (www.parcfloraldeparis.com). July Bastille Day, a public holiday with a huge parade down the Champs-Elysées on the 14th, is followed a week later by the opening of Paris Plage, the city's temporary urban beach. August- September Open-air Classical Music Festival in Parc Floral (www.parcfloraldeparis.com). October Paris stays up all night for the nocturnal arts party dubbed Nuit Blanche.