Paris Travel Guide: The City in Four Arrondissements

Paris is the most visited city on Earth — 40+ million tourists per year — and yet it remains possible to have a genuinely Parisian experience if you understand the city’s geography. The tourist Paris (Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre-Dame) and the lived-in Paris (the covered passages, the neighborhood bistros, the weekend markets) coexist in the same arrondissements and are separated by no more than two blocks.

The city is organized in 20 arrondissements spiraling outward from the Île de la Cité. Knowing which arrondissement you’re in orients you immediately. This guide covers the four that matter most for a first visit.

The Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissements)

The best-preserved medieval neighborhood in Paris — narrow streets, Renaissance hôtels particuliers (townhouses), the Place des Vosges (the oldest planned square in Paris, built 1612), and the highest concentration of contemporary art galleries in the city. The Marais is also the historic center of Parisian Jewish life (the rue des Rosiers area) and the LGBTQ+ social center.

What to do: The Musée Picasso (hôtel Salé, 5 floors of Picasso’s collection), the Centre Pompidou (modern art, architecture as event, the view from the terrace), and the Musée Carnavalet (the history of Paris, free entry). Walk the rue de Bretagne to the Marché des Enfants Rouges (the oldest covered market in Paris, 1615 — still functioning, with food stalls from Morocco, Italy, and France). The Place des Vosges arcades in the late afternoon.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés (6th arrondissement)

Intellectual Paris — Sartre and de Beauvoir wrote at Café de Flore, Hemingway lived on the rue Notre-Dame des Champs, the publishing houses cluster on the rue Jacob. Most of that life is now expensive mythology, but the physical neighborhood remains — cobbled streets, antique bookshops (Librairie Flammarion, Librairie La Hune), the Luxembourg Gardens, and the Marché Saint-Germain.

What to do: The Musée d’Orsay (impressionist and post-impressionist collection in the former Gare d’Orsay — Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cézanne; book timed entry). The Luxembourg Gardens in the morning. Dinner at a traditional bistro on the rue de Buci or rue Saint-André des Arts — look for handwritten menus on a chalkboard (ardoise), prix-fixe three-course lunch (formule déjeuner), and house wine poured in a carafe.

Montmartre (18th arrondissement)

The hilltop village absorbed into Paris in 1860 — the Sacré-Cœur basilica at the summit, the place du Tertre (now thoroughly tourist-trapped), and the vine-covered streets that slope down from the summit toward the Pigalle and Barbes neighborhoods below. The view from the Sacré-Cœur steps at sunset is the best free panorama in Paris.

What to do: Visit the Sacré-Cœur (free entry; skip the expensive funicular — the stairs take 3 minutes). Walk the rue Lepic (Victor Hugo’s street) down from the summit past the Moulin de la Galette (a surviving windmill). The Musée de Montmartre on the rue Cortot occupies Renoir’s former studio and has the best account of Montmartre’s bohemian era. Avoid the place du Tertre entirely.

Canal Saint-Martin (10th arrondissement)

The Paris that Parisians actually inhabit for leisure — the 4.5 km canal with its iron footbridges and lock mechanisms, flanked by the quai de Valmy and quai de Jemmapes, lined with café terraces and bookshops. On Sundays the quais are pedestrianized; the canal becomes a linear park.

What to do: Walk the entire canal from the Bassin de la Villette (north, where the canal widens into a lake) to the Place de la République (south). Stop at Du Pain et des Idées (the most beautiful bakery in Paris, on the rue Yves Toudic — the escargot pistache framboise is unmissable). The 10th arrondissement has the best natural wine bars in the city: Le Verre Volé, Chez Prune.

The Essentials

Louvre vs. Orsay: The Louvre is enormous (you need 3 hours for the top 10 works, 2 days to be thorough) and dominated by the Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and the Mona Lisa crowds. The Orsay is more manageable in a single visit and the collection is arguably more consistently engaging. Book both in advance (ticketmaster.fr for the Louvre, musee-orsay.fr for the Orsay).

Notre-Dame: Reopened December 2024 after the 2019 fire. Book free timed entry in advance — the restored interior is the most significant cultural event in Paris in a generation.

The Eiffel Tower: Buy summit tickets 3 months in advance (toureiffel.paris). The view from Trocadéro across the Seine is free and better for photography.

Practical Notes

Metro: 16 lines, comprehensive, €1.73/journey (or day passes). The Navigo Easy card is the most convenient option for visitors
Language: French first, always. A bonjour before any interaction is obligatory social infrastructure
When to go: April–June and September–October. August is when Parisians leave and tourists fill the city; July–August is hot and crowded
Budget: Paris is expensive. Coffee at a terrace: €4–5. Bistro lunch menu: €16–22. Museum entry: €15–20