Paris

Ask a Parisian why they love this city and you’ll usually get a shrug, then somehow a twenty-minute answer. Paris rewards walking: it’s a compact, dense city where world-famous museums, quiet residential streets, and neighborhood markets sit a few blocks apart. Its neighborhoods each have a distinct character, from Le Marais’s medieval lanes to the grand boulevards near the Eiffel Tower, which is part of why a guide organized street-by-street, not just hotel-by-hotel, is actually useful here.

The French even have a word for the kind of aimless wandering this city is built for: flânerie, strolling with no real destination, just to see what’s around the next corner. Beyond the landmarks, that’s really what Paris runs on: sitting outside with a coffee, browsing a neighborhood market, wandering between the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, and Notre-Dame. Even a first trip built around sightseeing ends up mostly on foot, block by block.

Spring (April–June) and fall (September–October) bring mild weather and thinner crowds than the July–August peak, when the city is warmest, busiest, and some smaller restaurants and shops close for the August holidays. Winter is quietest and coolest, with shorter days but the lowest hotel prices of the year.

Getting around is easiest on the Metro and RER, which reach almost every sight, with buses and trams filling the gaps. Paris is also a good city for cycling: Vélib’ bike-share stations are all over the center, and a growing network of bike lanes runs along the Seine and the main boulevards. The Batobus river shuttle hops between the big riverside sights, from the Eiffel Tower to Notre-Dame, and doubles as a slow sightseeing cruise. From Charles de Gaulle Airport, the RER B train runs straight into the city, and metro line 14 now reaches Orly.