Info on Paris

It's little wonder that so many wistful songs have been penned over the years about France's capital, Paris. Few cities leave the visitor with such vivid impressions, whether it's the drifting cherry blossoms in the tranquil gardens of Notre-Dame, the riverside quais on a summer evening, the sound of blues in atmospheric cellar bars, or the ancient alleyways and cobbled lanes of the historic Latin Quarter and villagey Montmartre.

Architecturally, the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle and the Palais du Louvre, in the city's centre, provide a constant reminder of Paris's religious and royal past. The backdrop of the streets is predominantly Neoclassical, the result of nineteenth-century development designed to reflect the power of the French state. Each period since, however, has added, more or less discreetly, novel examples of its own styles - with Auguste Perret, Le Corbusier, Mallet-Stevens and Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame) among the early twentieth-century innovators. In recent decades, the architectural additions have been more dramatic in scale, producing new and major landmarks, and recasting down-at-heel districts into important centres of cultural and consumer life. New buildings such as La Villette, La Grande Arche de la Défense, the Opéra Bastille, the Institut du Monde Arabe and the Bibliothèque Nationale have expanded the dimensions of the city, pointing it determinedly towards the future.

Paris's museums and galleries, not least the mighty Louvre, number among the world's finest. The tradition of state cultural endowment is very much alive in the city and collections are exceedingly well displayed and cared for.
Many are also housed in beautiful locations, such as old mansions and palaces, others in bold conversions, most famously the Musée d'Orsay, which occupies a former train station. The Impressionists here and at the Musée Marmottan, the moderns at the Palais de Tokyo, the smaller Picasso and Rodin museums - all repay a visit. In addition, the contemporary scene is well represented in the commercial galleries that fill the Marais, St-Germain, the Bastille and the area around the Champs-Élysées, and there's an ever-expanding range of museums devoted to other areas of human endeavour - science, history, decoration, fashion and performance art.

Please consider viewing hotel description readable in all suburb pages reachable through left menu. You will see an important list of hotels (the number is enclosed in brackets) for each suburb. Monmartre suburb has for example 33 hotels to choose from!

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