Places/France

Île-de-France

Paris

A river city of villages, with more good ordinary days than monuments.

Paris is not one atmosphere. The islands are ceremonial, the Left Bank performs being literary, and the 11th is where people actually book dinner. Treat it as a cluster of villages with unusually good bakeries between them.

Four nights is a beginning, not a compromise. You will not “do” the city. You will learn one neighbourhood and cross the river on purpose. That is the better souvenir.

See

• One wing of the Louvre, or the Orsay

  Orsay if you want the visit to end. The Louvre if a particular wing is already the reason. Leave through a garden either way.

• The islands in the morning

  Notre-Dame’s surroundings, Sainte-Chapelle if you have the time slot, then off the island before the day hardens.

• A market lunch

  Marché d’Aligre or a neighbourhood street market. Sit afterwards. Do not turn the stall into your only meal and a story.

• The river without a cruise

  Walk from the Musée d’Orsay toward the Tuileries, or the opposite bank at dusk. The bridges are free and they do not have a commentator.