A Paris Vacation at a Glance

Anytime you take a Paris vacation, you forget just how large the city really is.  There are so many nooks and crannies to explore that covering it in one visit is near impossible.  So here’s a quick and dirty overview of some of the areas in Paris that you might be interested in and want to add to your Paris travels. In the upcoming posts we’ll give more information on each of them to help with making your Paris travels easier.

• Place de la Bastille located in the 4th, 11th and 12th arrondissements on the right bank, it  is a district of great historical significance, not only for Paris, but for France, too.
• Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement, right bank is a seventeenth century garden-promenade-turned-avenue connecting the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe. It is one of the many tourist attractions and a major shopping street of Paris.
• Place de la Concorde at the bottom  of the Champs-Élysées, built as the Place Louis XV site of the infamous guillotine. The Egyptian obelisk is Paris’ “oldest monument”.  The Place Vendôme  which is nearby is famous for its fashionable and deluxe hotels and its jewellers. Many famous fashion designers have had their salons in the square.
• Les Halles in the 1st arrondissement on the right bank was formerly Paris’ central meat and produce market, and, since the late 1970s, a major shopping centre around an important metro connection station. The original Les Halles was destroyed in 1971 and replaced by the Forum des Halles. The central market of Paris which is the biggest wholesale food market in the worldthen moved  to Rungis, located in the suburbs.
• Le Marais in the 3rd and 4th arrondissement is a trendy Right Bank district. You can a little bit of everything going on here.
• Avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement, is located next to the Champs-Élysées.  The area is home to luxury  labels well known world wide such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Dior and Givenchy
• Montmartre in the 18th arrondissement on the right bank is a historic area on the Butte, home to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. Montmartre has been well known as an area for artists and has many studios and cafés of many great artists in that area.
• Montparnasse in the 14th arrondissement is a historic Left Bank area.  It is also famous for artists’ studios, music halls, and wonderful cafes.
• Avenue de l’Opéra in the 9th arrondissement on the right bank is located  around the Opéra Garnier.  It is the capital’s densest concentration of both department stores and offices. A few examples that are located in this area are the Printemps and Galeries Lafayette department stores, and the Paris headquarters of financial giants such as Crédit Lyonnais and American Express.
• Quartier Latin in the 5th and 6th arrondissements on the left bank is a twelfth-century scholastic center which used to stretch between the Left Bank’s Place Maubert and the Sorbonne campus.  Various higher-education establishments, such as the École Normale Supérieure, ParisTech, and the Jussieu university campus, make it a major educational centre in Paris. A lively area with many dining options and night life.
• Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the 8th arrondissement on the right bank is premier high-fashion districts, home to labels such as Hermès and Christian Lacroix.

There are more highlights to note and we will explore them as well in upcoming posts.  So, consider adding some of these to your Paris vacation to make it a really wonderful trip and experience.