A France Expert’s Guide To The ‘City of Light’ / By Susan Gough Henly

The French capital’s seductive charms are legendary, and for good reason. Inviting sidewalk cafes, gleaming boutiques, world-class museums, endless things to do, and a fabled restaurant scene make Paris the runway model of cities – beautiful, fashionable, confident and inspiring envy at every turn.

The Olympics have upped the ante, proving that the City of Light never goes out of style.

A few years ago, I was exploring the streets north of the serene Jardin du Palais Royal and happened upon the neo-classical Galerie Vivienne passages couvert, one of more than 40 or so covered pedestrian passageways built in Paris in the 19th century. It felt like walking into a secret jewel box as I explored its wood-framed shops, light streaming in from the ornate glass roof, intricately patterned mosaic tiles beneath my feet.

An apothecary offering handcrafted perfumes and candles; a tea salon; an historic bookshop; a wine merchant and gourmet purveyor; a whimsical toy shop; a comforting bistro; and a luxe fashion boutique offering preloved gems from the likes of Dior, Louis Vuitton, Isabel Marant, Kenzo and Issey Miyake. Each bijou vendor I encountered was as enticing as the next.

No crowds here, just another remarkable day where, if you take the time to look around, you’ll discover a rich lode of culture and beauty – and the simple art de vivre – hiding in plain sight. This is the luxury of Paris.

Forget what you thought you needed to do and see in the French capital – you’re not on safari trying to tick off the ‘Big Five’. Besides, the Eiffel Tower and Sacré–Cœur are much better admired from a distance, casting their spell in that pearly Parisian light.

Paris is for flâneurs

Paris is for flâneurs, those who are happy to wander while soaking up its beauty at every turn: its grand buildings crafted from pale limestone, its art nouveau metro signs, its plane-tree-dappled boulevards, its voluptuous sculptures and sun-slanted cafe terraces.

Savour those wanderings. But remember, the Moulin Rouge posters and red-checked tablecloths that evoke nostalgic Paris aren’t the goal here. Embrace the living, breathing city that’s in constant evolution and keep asking yourself this question: How does the best spirit of Paris inform what I’m doing and where I’m exploring? If you can answer with, “I’m undeniably in Paris and nowhere else,” then you are where you should be. And there’s nowhere else you would want to be.

It could be a gentle Japanese-inflected restaurant like Narro in the Latin Quarter, rather than a corner bistro serving heavy French onion soup on a hot July evening. Or, skipping the tourist lines at the Louvre entirely and discovering the edgy installations of the Pinault Collection underneath the spectacular dome of the Bourse de Commerce. Or, instead of merely designer shopping along Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, adding a visit to la Galerie du 19M, Chanel’s artisanal centre that has brought its embroiderers, pleating specialists, milliners, feather workers and shoemakers under one spectacular roof up in Porte d’Aubervilliers, not far from the Olympic athletes village.

Keep it current. Take it up a notch. Follow the locals.

That said, much of the Paris we know and love was fashioned during the Second Empire in the mid-19th century, when Napoleon III hired Baron Haussmann to reimagine the medieval city of narrow winding streets into a brave new cosmopolitan metropolis.

To do this, Haussmann carved grand boulevards, which he lined with five-storey buildings fashioned from the local cream-coloured Lutetian limestone that reflected the opalescent skies above to give Paris its moniker, the City of Light – the fact it was the first city in Europe to use gas lighting to illuminate its streets also contributed. The buildings may be ornate, but it’s their curvaceous consistency that acts like dopamine on our locals and visitors alike. We fall in love.

The Haussmann effect

Haussmann also planted thousands of trees along the boulevards and created expansive green spaces including the Bois de Boulogne in the west, the Bois de Vincennes in the east, the Parc Montsouris in the south and the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in the north.

During this time, some of the city’s grandest public buildings were erected, including the opulent Palais Garnier opera house, as well as the Palais de Justice and Tribunal de Commerce, those elaborate castle-like buildings on the Île de la Cité, an island in the River Seine.

As Paris geared up to host the Exposition Universelle of 1900, the Eiffel Tower, the Grand and Petit Palais, and the Belle Époque Pont Alexandre III bridge – with its bare-breasted nymphs, trumpet-blowing angels and gilded candelabras – became the symbols of a proud, effervescent city.

Paris Olympics

These icons and others again take centre stage during, and after, the Paris Olympics: beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower, fencing and taekwondo in the Grand Palais, equestrian events at the Palace of Versailles. Indeed, Paris approached the Olympics with the goal of keeping new building to a minimum while using its grand patrimony to the max. Perhaps most remarkable of all, the marathon swimming and triathlon water events will take place in the clean waters of the Seine, thanks to a massive underground engineering program. And by 2025, we’ll all be able to swim at three bathing spots in the river – for the first time in 100 years.

All of Paris was on show during the opening ceremony – the movable feast saw athletes parading in a flotilla of boats along the Seine from the Pont d’Austerlitz to the Pont d’Iéna at the Eiffel Tower.

No crowds here, just another remarkable day where, if you take the time to look around, you’ll discover a rich lode of culture and beauty – and the simple art de vivre – hiding in plain sight. This is the luxury of Paris.

A river runs through it

Whatever the time of year or season, you’ll find Parisians strolling or picnicking along the Seine – or, if they’re young and hip, along the Canal Saint-Martin in the city’s east. Wander alongside them on Le Parc Rives de Seine, which offers 10 hectares of walking routes on the river’s Left and Right Banks. Enjoy an apèro at the Rosa Bonheur sur Seine glass barge or join the locals on the Quai Saint-Bernard, near the Jardin des Plantes, to dance the tango or salsa in dusk’s golden light.

As for dining, sure you can dress up to worship at the Michelin-starred temples of haute cuisine. But make time to include a few nouveau bistronomie boîtes in the edgy 11th arrondissement. Think Septime, Clamato, Chateaubriand, Clown Bar, Le Servan, Mokonuts and more. Go there in a whisper-quiet Turtle electric tricycle taxi on cycling trails created by mayor Anne Hidalgo, who’s made it her mission for Paris to be carbon neutral by 2050.

While the City of Light has possibly the world’s most enviable collection of museums, it’s clearly no museum piece. As you wander its atmospheric quartiers, perhaps you’re on a walking safari after all – a hunt for beauty in all its surprising manifestations, with Paris as your Serengeti and new discoveries to be made at every turn.

Two under-the-radar museums

• The Musée d’Orsay may be hosting a major exhibition to mark the 150th anniversary of the Impressionist movement this year. If you want to avoid the crowds, head instead to the Musée Marmottan Monet in the leafy 16th arrondissement to discover the world’s largest collection of works by Claude Monet and Berthe Morisot, one of the world’s most notable female Impressionists. marmottan.fr
• Don’t miss the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris, located in the mansion that was the headquarters of the renowned couture house for almost 30 years. Here, you’ll discover the fashions, sketches and films that highlight the couturier’s creative process. museeyslparis.com