Notre-Dame-des-Victoires

Numerous artists paint portraits of tourists and also sell their paintings.

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.

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

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.

Recently reconstructed, the Paris branch of the National Maritime Museum, one of the three museums in the Palais du Chaillot, cannot accommodate any full-size ships, but has a wide range of smaller artifacts, artworks and models, covering both the Navy and commercial shipping.

19th-century bridge.

The sleaze of boulevard de Clichy between place Pigalle and place Blanche can provide a moment of distraction. Be warned if you are male it is better to do this in the company of a female fellow traveller, as the clubs often send the girls outside to attempt to physically drag passing men off of the street. These strip clubs are big ripoffs. They tempt you with a free drink for €10 entry; once in the girl who starts dancing orders a couple of drinks (Red Bull) and then before you realise you are presented with a bill ranging from €500-700. They have these big bouncers who threaten/manhandle you till you arrive at some settlement with them. The whole of Pigalle is a rip off, best avoided. The police know about these places but nothing is done.

One of the last remnants of medieval Paris outside of the 4th, this tower was once part of a castle called l'hôtel de Bourgogne.

The foundation opened its doors in May 2003. It preserves Henri Cartier-Bresson and Martine Franck’s archives. Exhibition of photographs, paintings, sculptings, and illustrations.

This museum is in the historic Invalides complex and presents the history of the French Army. It is co-located with Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb (entry to which is included in the ticket price). Most of the exhibitions are very old fashioned, and the coverage of the First World War is surprisingly limited. A highlight is the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, which displays painstakingly accurate models of French fortresses and includes its own shop.

One of the three islands on the river Seine

Many feel that this, Paris' town hall, is one of the loveliest buildings in the city. You might not get that from the front view, but try watching the light change on its roofs and towers during sunset from one of the cafés on the Ile de St. Louis, the Lutece for instance. Alternatively, go to the top floor of the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville (BHV) department store opposite, on rue de Rivoli and walk up a flight of stairs to the roof terrace (terrasse), from which there is a dramatic view of both the roof of the Hôtel de Ville and the immediate surroundings and river. The present Hôtel de Ville replaced the 16th century original which was burned down during the Commune in 1871. A pastiche of its predecessor, but on a far larger scale, it was designed by the architects Ballu and Deperthes, chosen after a competition, and was mostly completed by 1882. The building is lavishly, and some would say heavy-handedly, decorated both inside and out, and finished in an arrestingly white stone, similar to that used for the even more eye-catching Sacre-Coeur basilica. The statue on the garden wall on the south side is of Etienne Marcel, the most famous holder of the post of "prevôt des marchands" (provost of merchants) which pre-dated the office of mayor. Marcel came to a sticky end, lynched in 1358 by an angry mob after trying to assert the city's powers a little too energetically. The Hôtel de Ville was for many years the private fiefdom of Jacques Chirac, France's president before Sarkozy, and was the site of a scandal centring on both illegal jobs given to Chirac's party members and an immense entertainment budget. General de Gaulle greeted the crowds from a front window in 1944 when Paris was liberated from the Germans and Robespierre was shot in the jaw and arrested in the original building in 1794. Admirers of Hôtel de Ville's architecture will want to know that Ballu also built the Church of La Trinité in the 9th arrondissement and the belfry of the town hall of the 1st arrondissement, opposite the Louvre's east façade. Ballu also restored the Tour St Jacques (see below), which was uncovered after restoration work lasting over a decade.

This wedding cake-white church rises visibly above the north part of Paris. The striking building, with its towers and white onion dome (83 m high), was built between 1875-1914 on the birthplace of La Commune, officially as an act of penitence for the sins committed during the civil war in which thousands of Communards were executed, as well as for the previous bloodshed of the 1870 Franco-Prussian war. A number of prominent businessmen put up the money, and a dizzying combination of architects worked to put together the mock Romano-Byzantine extravaganza. Consecration followed in 1919. The view over Paris from the dome and from the square before it (200 m above sea level) is unsurpassed, apart from that enjoyed at the Eiffel Tower (50 km on a clear day). For the athletic traveller there are stairs from several directions to the top of the hill; otherwise there is also a funicular which runs every few minutes during the daytime from Place St. Pierre. Follow the signs that say "Funiculaire De Montmartre". Beware that the guards don't like it if they catch you taking pictures inside and will even yell "No photo!" and chase you down if they see you with a camera. Be warned: along the lower steps leading up to church, groups of mostly young African men gather and reach toward you with a small string, offering to loop it round your finger. In case it happens, pull back your hand, brush them off and move on. They might claim that "This is for the church." In case your feel that things go sideways, raise your voice to get people's attention and ask them call the police.

Housed in a former Beaux-Arts railway station (completed in 1900 for the Exposition Universelle, later saved from demolition and converted to its present use), the rambling, open-plan museum is home to the works of the great artists of the 19th century (1848-1914) - Impressionists, post-Impressionists, and the rest - that were formerly displayed in the l'Orangerie. This is perhaps the most spectacular collection of European impressionism in the world—breath-taking rooms full of Manet, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, and many others. Impressionist represent the biggest draw, but there is much more to explore.

For many visitors one of the must-see places in Paris is the Avenue des Champs-Elysées which was first created in 1667 by Louis XIV's gardener, Andre Le Nôtre, in order to improve the view from the Tuileries garden. This elegant and broad avenue was extended towards the end of the 18th century, now running from the place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. It is noted today as one of the most prestigious shopping boulevards of Paris.

The Museum of Mankind, accommodated in the Palais du Chaillot, is an anthropological museum covering the history of mankind and human societies.

CLOSED UNTIL LATE 2024 OR 2025 FOR RENOVATION WORKS. Built in 1900 for the universal exposition, the Grand Palais was an engineering feat and a milestone of design, marking the transition between historicism and modern architecture. It remain impressive today due to its unique, exquisite style and sheer volume of its main nave. The Grand Palais, managed by the state-owned institution Rnm who also manage the Musee de Luxembourg, is used both for temporary exhibitions of historic and contemporary art collections (both beaux arts and applied) and unique events, such as catwalk shows during the Paris Fashion Week, Bonhams car auctions and prestigious galas.

Ordered by Cardinal de Richelieu (1585-1642), King Louis XIII's prime Minister in 1629 (completed in 1636); originally called Palais Cardinal; it became Le Palais Royal when Anne d'Autriche, Louis XIII's wife, came to live here to get away from the Louvre palace. It eventually housed Louis XIV until the move to Versailles. It includes also a beautiful garden Les jardins du Palais Royal, enclosed by the buildings. It's been the theatre of one of the seminal events of the French Revolution (Camille Desmoulins made a famous declaration here in 1789). The Théatre Français nearby was built in 1716. There are numerous restaurants inside the garden , including famous Le Grand Véfour. There's also the controversial Colonnes de Buren, striped columns installed within the inside yard amid the 17th century architecture.

A must for anyone interested in the history of the American Revolution. This small cemetery includes three mass graves from the French Revolution, plus a section that includes many of France's most noble families that lost members during the French Revolution and consequently have a continuing right to be buried there. In the farthest right hand corner is the tomb of General Lafayette, the friend and fellow soldier of George Washington. Beside him is his beloved wife plus other members of her family, the de Noailles, who were almost completely wiped out during the French Revolution because of their closeness to the Court. Since 1834 the American flag has apparently flown continuously over his grave, even during the German occupation of Paris during World War II. Well worthy of a visit.