Mémorial de la Shoah

The building has a freely accessible rooftop which allows for a beautiful bird's-eye view of the northern half of Paris.

The official residence of the President of France since 1848. Dating to the early 18th century, it contains the office of the President and the meeting place of the Council of Ministers. It is located near the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, the name Élysée deriving from Elysian Fields, the place of the blessed dead in Greek mythology. Not open to the public, except occasionally during the annual National Heritage Days (usually a weekend in mid-September). Important foreign visitors are hosted at the nearby Hôtel de Marigny, a palatial residence.

For a taste of the French countryside, a visit to Bercy Village brings to life the spirit of market shopping inside Paris.

One of the largest collections outside Asia of Southeast Asian, Indian, Afghan, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean art.

One of the best-known and most beautiful churches in Paris, in the guise of a Corinthian order classical temple. Construction started in 1764, although the church was not finally consecrated until 1845. The Madeleine has a lavish interior of marble and gold.

Once the dye works for royalty, it is now a museum.

Famous people who stayed here include Marie de Rohan, intriguer during the Fronde; Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, future mistress of a duke of Savoy; Marie Angélique de Fontanges, mistress of Louis XIV, died here giving birth to his child who also died. Today its main cloister (illustration) forms part of the modern Hôpital Cochin.

The massive parish church of the Les Halles area is a notable example of late Gothic interspersed with Renaissance details (including the entire front façade), as it was only completed in the 17th century. Its unique form results from a combination of relatively short length and impressive height of over 30 metres inside. The latter allows room not only for an array of stained glass windows and paintings, but also France's largest church organ of 8,000 pipes. The sculpture Écoute, depicting an oversized human head, was placed in front of the church's southern facade and has become a favourite photo spot.

A museum dedicated to the life and work of the great sculptor. The house contains an extensive collection, which is unusually well presented in a spacious building with big windows that are open in nice weather, which makes this museum double pleasant.

A monument to the French art de vivre, housed in a 19th-century wing of the Louvre that has been restored to beaux-arts splendour, its galleries and period rooms showcase eight centuries of Gallic taste in interior decoration.

St. Geneviève was responsible for saving Paris from the Huns in 451 and her shrine in the church has been a popular place of pilgrimage ever since. The church as it stands dates from between 1492 and 1626 and is a mix of Gothic and Renaissance architectural styles. A unique feature is the Renaissance rood screen, the sole survivor in the city.

One of the most eye-popping sights of Paris, the catacombs represent a network of labyrinthine tunnels, first excavated in the Roman period, that now house the remains of over 6 million burials removed here from the various overcrowded cemeteries and charnel houses all over Paris in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Well worth a visit: the atmosphere is suitably morbid and gloomy (without being too scary), the dark tunnels containing neatly stacked piles of skulls and long bones. There is a limit to the number of visitors allowed within the Catacombs at one time (200 persons). So, if you arrive just after opening, you must wait until someone exits, approximately 45–60 minutes, before anyone is admitted. Steep stairwell on the exit of the catacombs. Can be challenging for the elderly or the unfit. Tickets can be purchased online at a small premium (€29, includes audioguide), allows you pick a date&time and to skip the long line

Enter Bastille station through any entrance or on any train and then make your way to the Bobigny/Pablo Picasso-bound platform. All that's left of the fortress whose front steps used to lead up from place de la Bastille are some foundation stones which you can see while waiting for a north bound train on this metro platform. There are maps and explanations showing where the fortress used to be relative the place and surroundings (basically the location of the old front steps are now occupied by Café des Phares).

If you were a city planner in one of the great cities of our Earth and you discovered that a railroad right-of-way had been abandoned and would never be used again what might you do? Perhaps if you knew your stuff you'd convert it into a 4 mile long park, about half of which is elevated above street level on the old rail viaduct. This long narrow park pretty much allows the visitor to walk in carfree bliss from Place de Bastille to the Bois de Vincennes.

There are many beautiful footpaths, a Buddhist Temple, and a lake with rowboats available for rental (about €10 as of 2009). The lake has many different kinds of birds, and islands accessible by footbridge.

Private collection of French, Italian, Dutch masterpieces in a typical XIXth century mansion.

The Jewish quarter, with many small delis and shops. Lively on most days except for Saturdays.

The burial place of existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, feminist Simone de Beauvoir (both of whom lived nearby); musician Serge Gainsbourg; artist Man Ray; the poets Charles Baudelaire, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Sainte-Beuve, and Marguerite Duras; the founders of the Theatre of the Absurd Samuel Becket and Eugene Ionesco; the sculptors Constantin Brancusi and Ossip Zadkine; the composers Camille de Saint-Saens and César Franck; the actors Maria Montez and Jean Seberg; the French officer Alfred Dreyfus; the founder of the Larousse encyclopedia, Pierre Larousse; the industrialist André Citroen, and many others.

Mainly used as a concert hall and venue for fashion shows today, the Cirque d'Hiver was built in 1852, as the name would suggest, as a winter venue for circuses.