TRAVEL TO PARIS

PARIS

We admit that when you set out to organize a trip to Paris for a few days you can go crazy to string together a coherent itinerary. The capital of France has so many interesting corners and attractive experiences that it is very difficult to discard or select the most suggestive ones. The city that fell in love with Victor Hugo, Picasso or Van Gogh is wonderful, and that causes you to get suitors everywhere. However, for many tourists there is a city to stroll, wander around and lose yourself in search of your own history with the Ville Lumière.

Although it seems a true daring, let's go straight to the point. In an attack of madness we are going to get down to work and select a dozen essential Parisian corners. It is not going to be the most original or elaborate list in the world, but a collection of essentials for a first trip to the French capital that can be very useful. Without further ado, this is our top 10 essential places to visit in Paris.

Eiffel Tower, the symbol of Paris

If you notice, we go through the second picture of Paris in this article and the Eiffel Tower has already appeared in both. Surely Alexandre Gustave Eiffel did not imagine the repercussion that the project he had for the Universal Exhibition of 1889 in Paris would have. Its Eiffel Tower has become the icon of the city, of France and probably one of the most recognizable monuments in the entire world. For its own merits (and also thanks to marketing) has become the dark object of desire for all those who want to undertake a trip to Paris. Would you leave Paris without going up to the Eiffel Tower? Well yes friends, we are from that strange group of people who did not want to stand long lines of several hours to photograph the City of Light from one of the best known viewpoints of the French capital. We are left without the big prize and with the tail between the legs. We took a few pictures around the monument, but seeing the panorama and the amount of people we had passed on to something else, butterfly. If you have time, you are in good shape and you do not have vertigo, you can climb on foot. Even so it is undeniable that it is the most iconic monument of Paris and should head this list.

How to get to the Eiffel Tower in Paris: On the C line of the RER you can stop at the Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel station. By Metro you can access with line 9 stopping at Trocadero station, line 6 at Bir-Hakeim or line 8 at Ecole Militaire. By bus, the nearest stop is line 82, just 3 minutes walk from the EIffel Tower or 42 to 5 minutes.

Advice Where to eat in Paris?

Probably Paris is one of the cities in the world with the largest variety of restaurants per square meter. However, it is hard to find the triple B (good, nice and cheap) or if you are lucky enough to find a place that meets these requirements you probably will not find a table even in dreams. Whether in the French capital or in many other places in the world we usually use the guide of the best restaurants in ElFenedor. There always tend to be excellent promotions or it makes life a lot easier when booking a table. Check out the best restaurants in Paris according to TheFork.

Louvre Museum, the home of La Gioconda

The Louvre itself is overwhelming. Continent and content are dizzying. The pyramid of Pei Leoh Ming is really wonderful. It does not matter its apparent simplicity or that you have seen it thousands of times on TV or in magazines. It leaves you speechless. With such a wrap, imagine what the gift is like. 60,000 square meters of museum exhibiting more than 30,000 pieces, many of which would be the main attraction of any other museum in the world. There compete only first swords, the creme de la creme, the fine cinnamon of the works of art. La Gioconda by Leonardo da Vinci, the Venus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace, The Wedding of Cana by Veronese, Bathsheba in Rembrandt's Bath, The Lacemaker by Vermeer ... and up to 30,000 masterpieces ranging from Egyptian antiquities to European painting from the 19th century, going through Islamic art or Asian antiquities.

How to get to the Lovre Museum in Paris: Metro can be reached by lines 1 and 7 and get off at the Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre stop. By bus you have stops relatively close to the museum with lines 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81 and 95.

Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris

Victor Hugo said that "inspiration and genius are almost the same thing" and when contemplating the Cathedral of Notre Dame you can only agree and think that it deserves all the nicknames and compliments that writers and artists have dedicated to it over the centuries. The rosettes, the flying buttresses, the columns, the stained glass windows, the famous gargoyles and their heart-rending expressions. You are, by all accounts, before the zenith of Gothic architecture. If you want to climb the towers prepare for several hours of queue and then climb up a steep spiral staircase. However, the views more than compensate for the long wait. The panoramic views and the flirting with the famous gargoyles are a wonderful sensation. It was there that we decided that we would not make any more queues. Paris is worth a Mass, but we do not have all the eternity to celebrate it.

How to get to the Cathedral of Notre Dame: if you get the Metro line 4, you must get off at cité. If it is better to get on one of the RER trains, the nearest station is Saint-Michel-Notre-Dame on lines B and C. By bus, you can take lines 21, 38, 47, 85, 96.

Arch of Triumph

Some of our childhood idols reached glory under the Arc de Triomphe. Perico Delgado or Indurain savored the honeys of victory in Paris and sweetened many afternoons to the Spaniards. The truth is that when you get there is impossible not to feel a Lilliputian before a mass of 50 meters high by 45 wide. It is the epicenter of the largest rotunda in the world. Once you enter, step by step you reach the top. The Arc de Triomphe gives you a privileged view of Paris. From the top, it is spectacular to contemplate the star shape of the Place Charles de Gaulle, and how huge avenues that look like stelae start from its corners. Everything is tiny, except some icons like the Eiffel Tower or La Defense.

Champs Elysees of Paris

Stopping to think a little, I can think of few streets as famous in the world as the Champs Elysees. The walk along this famous avenue is really delicious. From the Place de la Concorde to the Charles de Gaulle is like a parade of high fashion models ... and not only because of the expensive shops that adorn the facades, but because of the collection of spectacular buildings that mark it. Between step and step it is inevitable that the gaze be fixed on monuments that are designed to attract the attention of the traveler. The Petit Palais and the Grand Palace, compete with the stores of the most glamorous firms of the City of Light. The starting point or the end, depending on how you look at it, is the imposing Arc de Triomphe.

How to get to the Champs Elysees in Paris: they can serve the same references as to reach the Arc de Triomphe. However, there is a metro stop at Concorde, Champs-Élysées-Clemenceau, Franklin D. Roosevelt or George V.

Montmartre and the Sacre-Coeur Basilica

The cinema has been commissioned to forge an image of Paris equivalent to that which can be seen through the streets of Montmartre. Paris is a constant film, wants to export to the world its image of romantic, glamorous, charming city. Woody Allen with his Midnight in Paris, Moulin Rouge by Baz Luhrmann and, above all, Amelie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet have created the stamp that tourists expect to find in Paris. Montmartre is probably the most charming district of Paris, although we doubt that Parisians will walk through its streets. It is the exclusive territory of tourists ... and yet it is charming. Stoned streets, the colors of the canvases of artists who pray to their muses, romantic cafes that decorate their corners or glorious vestiges of the cabarets and their siren songs. Its lighthouse is the Sacre-Coeur, a colossus that has no loss. You just have to climb and climb the slopes of La Butte. They are paved with cobblestones and adorned with the most chic shops, coffee shops or fromageries. Another essential point of the neighborhood is the Place du Tertre. Formerly known as the artists' square, nowadays it is a hotbed for tourists. You can see many easels trying to show beautiful prints of Paris or to immortalize some traveler in a caricature.

How to get to Montmartre:

 There are several metro stations to get to this neighborhood. Anvers can be reached with line 2, A Abbesses with line 12, Blanche (very near Moulin Rouge) with line 2 or on the other side of the Hill to Lamarck Caulaincourt station with line 12.