Paris is a fast but highly civilised pleasuredome of design, lights, good living and al fresco world-watching. Old but always modernising, the city refuses to become a beguiling relic. So, yes, instantly recognisable attractions line the streets of rives Gauche and Droit, while the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Pompidou are the visitors’ essentials – but smaller museums, like the Musée Rodin, the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the Bourse du Commerce, have more cachet and much shorter queues. And although super-sized, world-class luxury is for sale within the golden triangle of Avenue Montaigne, Avenue George V, and Avenue des Champs-Élysées, even a brief wander off-route – to Pigalle, Montmartre and Saint-Germain, Rue des Francs Bourgeois in the Marais or the Bon Marché in the 7th arrondissement – will reveal a different Paris and some wonderful discoveries in the world of boutique shopping.
Renaissance Hotels has six Paris properties – Renaissance Paris Vendome Hotel, Renaissance Paris La Defense Hotel, Renaissance Paris Nobel Tour Eiffel Hotel, Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe Hotel, Renaissance Paris Republique Hotel and Renaissance Paris Hippodrome de St. Cloud Hotel. The Renaissance Vendome is a short walk from the Louvre museum, the Opera Garnier and the Tuileries Garden, but your hotel Navigator will tell you how to take a few detours and find the best cafés, shops, gaufre vendors and galleries along the way. Bonne chance!
