Along the Seine, from the Pont Neuf to the Tuileries Gardens, running underground beneath the Louvre, lies a very different kind of museum. A former traffic tunnel that was first opened in 1967, the Tunnel des Tuileries is now a pedestrian and bicycle-only thoroughfare. The space serves two purposes. For many, it’s a car-free means … More Le Tunnel des Tuileries
If you take the train from Paris’ main airport (Roissy Charles de Gaulle) into the city, the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur will be your first glimpse of Paris intra-muros. As the trains clatter in from the north, after passing the Stade de France sports stadium, the back of the Butte Montmartre looms into view. This historic … More La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur
Paris universities are many things. They are places of learning, of youth culture, of intellectual and cultural history. In the revolutionary moment of May 1968, they were the birthplace of protest and ground zero for antiauthoritarian sentiment which changed post-war French society. But Paris universities are also home to some niche, little-advertised museums. The crystalline … More Le Musée d’Histoire de la Médecine
The Maison Auguste Comte is one of those quintessential Paris institutions: a house museum. House museums are sometimes shrines to the buildings they’re set in, such as the Belle Epoque Musée Jacquemart-André or the Ancien Régime-style Musée Nissim de Camondo. Others are odes to the famous people who lived and worked there: from painters like … More La Maison Auguste Comte
When my friend Emily and I recently realised we had a rare, spare day available together, we decided to make the most of it. We met at the Gare de Montparnasse early in the morning and jumped on a TER train headed south-west. We wanted to explore a new town, a new forest and a … More Le Château de Rambouillet
The Eiffel Tower was built in the late 1880s by industrial architect Gustave Eiffel in preparation for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, and was originally intended as a temporary structure for that World’s Fair. When it became wildly famous – both loved and hated by the French, much like the Centre Pompidou or the Louvre Pyramid … More La Tour Eiffel
The Cimetière de Picpus is a tiny, hidden cemetery that feels like a slice of 19th-century Normandy. It’s not a tourist destination, and you won’t be able to rely on signs from the Picpus metro to get there. It’s not like the Cimetières du Père-Lachaise, de Montparnasse or de Montmartre, which draw visitors for contemplative … More Le Cimetière de Picpus
It’s not often we get a new museum in Paris, and rare we get one as spectacular as the Bourse de Commerce. Located in the entirely round, 18th-century building in the 1st arrondissement that once housed France’s Commodities Exchange, the Bourse de Commerce reopened in 2021 as a contemporary sculpture museum. Subtitled the Collection Pinault, … More La Bourse de Commerce- Collection Pinault
Although châteaux can be found all over France (including very close to Paris), there’s something special about the Loire Valley. Only a couple of hours’ train or car ride from the capital, the lush, rural wine country of the Loire is home to over 300 castles. These majestic structures range from Medieval to Renaissance to … More Le Château de Montrésor
There are some French tourist destinations that you really shouldn’t visit in the summer if you can avoid it. Some, like the Musée du Louvre or the Tour Eiffel, are too crowded to be enjoyable. Others, like the bell towers of Notre Dame or the Arc de Triomphe, require some serious climbing in what can … More Le Mont-Saint-Michel
Les Musées de Paris 