I come to this post with similar feelings I had when writing my entries on the Musée du Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay. Didn’t I start Les Musées de Paris to avoid world-famous tourist traps? Isn’t the point of this blog to introduce readers to Paris’ unfamous, forgotten-feeling museums and sights? Of course, the lesser-known … More La Tour Eiffel
You’d be forgiven for spending years in Paris and never visiting the Picpus neighbourhood. The 12th is a sleepy arrondissement as it is, and Picpus is several metro stops away from its busiest centres of Nation and the Gare de Lyon. In fact, I only ever went there to visit my dear friend, Patricia Parisienne, … More Le Cimetière de Picpus
The Musée Carnavalet, or the museum of the history of Paris, was one of the first museums I ever visited in the city. An elegant (though traditional) collection displayed in the 16th-century Hôtel de Carnavalet in the heart of the Marais, it was one of the reasons I decided I wanted to write about Paris … More Le Nouveau Musée Carnavalet
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 Romanesque 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 with tourists to be enjoyable. Others, like the bell towers of Notre Dame or the Arc de Triomphe, require some serious climbing in … More Le Mont-Saint-Michel
If you’re ever wandering the cobbled laneways on the border between the first and second arrondissements, perhaps after a visit to the Louvre, you may come across a pedestrian oasis tucked away off the Rue St Honoré. Across the expansive Place Colette and through the stone archways of the Conseil d’état lies the forum-like open … More Le Palais-Royal
On the outskirts of the Bois de Vincennes, at the eastern edges of the city, lies a garden of ghosts. You wouldn’t know it, however; few travel guides will send you here, and even once you alight at the suburban Nogent-sur-Marne RER station, it’s still easy to miss. This remnant of history is tucked away … More Le Jardin d’Agronomie tropicale
When I first started this blog in 2011, I imagined it as a guide to the hidden museum gems of Paris. I wanted to show my readers the dozens of niche, little-frequented museums that dot the cityscape but may not show up in travel guides. I was interested in the places that continue to open … More Le Musée du Louvre
For over 100 years, Paris has had a tradition of controversial, polarising public works projects. It kicked off in the 1880s with the Eiffel Tower, which many Parisians found brutal and ugly. There was a similar reaction to the Centre Pompidou in the 1970s: the blockish experiment of a building, with its primary-colour pipes and … More Le Palais Garnier (l’Opéra de Paris)
Les Musées de Paris 