Hotel Monte Cristo

Originally an 18th-century church dedicated to Sainte Genevieve, now a grandiose mausoleum housing the tombs of France’s ‘great men and women’, including Voltaire, Hugo, and Marie Curie.

Paris’ official museum of the Middle Ages, set one of Paris’ oldest and finest medieval buildings. It’s home to the world-famous 15th-century La Dame a la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) tapestry, and Paris’ oldest sculpture (1349 AD).

Paris has everything from luxury fashion and indie boutiques, to hip department stores, markets and quirky antiques bazaars.

This vast Medieval palace was most famous as the ‘antechamber to the guillotine’ in the French Revolution. Three thousand prisoners were tried and convicted here, including France’s last queen Marie Antoinette.

Founded in 1793 during the French Revolution, this impressive museum has four substantive galleries, with dinosaurs galore, all dedicated to preserving and educating about the natural world.

These eerie bone-lined passages, set in a former quarry 20m underground, contain the remains of several million Parisians. The residents – including many victims of the notorious guillotine – were buried here when existing cemeteries overflowed during the French Revolution.

Head to this grand train station brasserie, originally opened to serve passengers travelling to the 1900 World Fair, is to ogle the incredible decor – the room is laden with gilt, carved cherubs and blowsy frescoes of southern landscapes.

Paris’ most exquisite Gothic monument was built by Louis IX in 1248 to house his collection of Passion relics, including Christ’s Crown of Thorns (now at Notre-Dame Cathedral). It has one of the most extensive 13th-century stained-glass collections anywhere in the world.

Crammed with iconic buildings, world-class art and a culinary scene steeped in history, Paris is one of the world’s great capitals, overflowing with style, romance, and art de vivre.