![]() A two-day Paris Pass costs £108 per person. Paris Passes are available from Attraction Tickets Direct ( .uk). ![]() Graham stayed at the Hilton Paris Opera, 108 Rue Saint Lazare, Paris 75008 (call +33-1-4008 4444, or visit ). Eurostar’s new 200mph e320 trains include free Wi-Fi and an onboard entertainment system. One-way fares start from £29 (based on a return journey). Kennedy, feeling overshadowed by his glamorous wife during a visit in 1961, famously told the French press, “I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.”Įurostar operates up to 21 daily services from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord. We’re already planning our next trip to the city that inspired Thomas Jefferson and so many of his successors. If you’re heading to Paris over the next couple of months, you may also want to check out major new exhibitions on Rembrandt, at the Musé Jacquemart-André, and surrealist René Magritte, at the Pompidou Centre. This museum houses more than 5,000 of the artist’s paintings and sculptures, and has just opened a new exhibition, linking his work to that of Swiss post-Impressionist Alberto Giacometti. Inspired by our visit to the city’s most famous artists quarter, we decided to spend our final day exploring the recently refurbished Picasso Museum in Le Marais. Don’t miss Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters for the Moulin Rouge, and Théophile Steinlen’s iconic Le Cabaret du Chat Noir. Housed in 17th-century buildings that were once home to many famous artists and writers, including Renoir, Suzanne Valadon and her son Maurice Utrillo, the museum contains paintings, posters and photographs depicting Montmartre’s colourful bohemian history and extraordinary cabarets. Having had our fill of panoramic views, we strolled down Rue Cortot to the Musée de Montmartre. This is the highest point in Paris, and if you climb to the top of the Sacré-Coeur’s glistening white dome you have breathtaking 360º views of the city. ![]() The final stop is the Sacré-Coeur, the iconic Roman Catholic church at the summit of the butte Montmartre. The train heads for the Café de 2 Moulins, made famous by Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 film Amélie, then rattles past Bateau Lavoir on Place Emile-Goudeau, where Picasso invented cubism. We saw parts of the neighbourhood we’d never explored before. It’s a real bone-shaker, but this 40-minute ride clattering through the streets of Montmartre is well worth a little discomfort. We booked tickets on the Petit Train de Montmartre, a little road train that departs from Place Blanche, opposite the Moulin Rouge, and winds its way uphill to the glistening white dome of the Sacré-Coeur. During the Belle Epoque, from the late 19th Century to early 20th, low rents and a creative atmosphere attracted some of the art world’s biggest names: Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali all lived and worked here. This was once Europe’s hippest artists quarter. Having explored those galleries on previous visits, we elected instead to head for Paris’s highest hill, Montmartre, in the 18th arrondissement. This city has inspired artists for centuries, and you could easily spend your entire break looking at masterpieces in the Louvre, Musée de l’Orangerie and Musée d’Orsay. You should definitely check out the art galleries. The pass also gives you fast-track access to many attractions, so you can skip the queues. The free attractions include all the usual suspects – the opera house, Notre Dame cathedral and the Château de Versailles, to name just three – as well as the city’s best museums and galleries. Not only does this give you free entry to more than 60 of the city’s most famous attractions, it also entitles you to free travel on the Metro, buses and city centre RER rail network. Talking of planning, I’d recommend buying a Paris Pass. Decorated in imposing Napoleonic style – all chandeliers, statues and Scottish granite columns – the Grand Salon bar is the perfect place for a pastis while you plan your break. We loved the Hilton, with its friendly staff, marble-columned lobby and beautiful Grand Salon. Here you’ll find two of Europe’s best department stores – Printemps and Galeries Lafayette – on the elegant Boulevard Haussmann. It’s also 10 minutes’ walk from the iconic Palais Garnier opera house and a short stroll from the Grands Boulevards, the city’s premier shopping destination.
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