Planning Your Paris Experience
Paris can be overwhelming...so much to experience, and so little time. Tour books tend to focus on hitting the cultural highlights of a particular city. For Paris, this includes visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Notre Dame, and walking up the Champs Èlysées or through the Latin Quarter.
However, these highlights only show one dimension of the Paris experience. Paris is a living city, not a historic relic. If history and art aren't your forté, you can still have the vacation of a lifetime in Paris. To help you maximize your time, determine what your favorite pastimes are and use our broad categories below to help you figure out what will be "a hit or a miss".
Shopoholic
Admit it. The idea of shoe shopping in Paris is far more attractive to you than viewing Renaissance art in the Louvre. Don't feel guilty. In Paris, good design and living well is a form of art. So, explore the "art" of Paris outside of the museums and monuments by reading our Paris shopoholic suggestions.
Explorers
Your philosophy is that "you don't know a city unless you've experienced it on foot". You love to walk, climb, explore, and go where your curiosity takes you. Paris is one of the most walkable cities in the world, so put on your shoes and follow our suggestions on how to see Paris on foot.
Art Lover
You adore art and history, and love books like the Da Vinci code that intersperse the two in a modern context. To you, Paris is a feast of the senses and the mind. Follow a few of our suggestions on how to digest the myriad of cultural and artistic experiences available to you on a trip to Paris.
Night Owl
You have the attitude that "nothing is worth doing if it takes place before noon", and you wake up when the sun is setting. The City of Light is simply stunning at night. Sleep in, then view our suggestions for enjoying Paris after sunset.
Author: Cheryl Montgomery
