Most tourists who come to Paris visit the big and well-known sights. Actually, it’s quite a pity, because Paris of course has much more to offer and we present some Paris Insider Tips here.
The city is divided into 20 numbered districts, the arrondissements. These are arranged in a spiral from the inside to the outside. In the middle of the spiral is the historic centre of the city and the further out you go, the newer the districts become and the fewer tourists you meet. But even in the historic centre, there are always places that are well-known but tend to be left out or hardly noticed by many visitors to Paris. It’s a pity, because there are some real Paris insider tips.
During our stay in the city, we were lucky enough to have received some nice tips from our landlady. Other places we “discovered” by simply walking from our flat to see what there was to see in the area.
Paris Insider Tipps
The Metro or, even quicker, a regional train connects Paris to La Défense. The modern neighbourhood with its highrises doesn’t belong to Paris as I thought it might, it is to the west of the city and instead part of Courbevoie, Nanterre and Puteaux.
Paris is expensive, this realisation hit us time and again. But there is still a ton to do in Paris without you having to whip out the wallet all the time.
An evening walk brought us to Canal Saint-Martin and Basin de la Villette. This area is a popular place to meet after work for Parisians when the weather is nice.
Tradition is nice, especially when it can stand its ground against modern media. One can still find them even today, the traditional booksellers along the Seine in Paris.
The embankment of the river Seine is very inviting for a walk on a hot day in Paris. As the opportunity presented itself we used it and strolled from Île de la Cité to the Eiffel Tower and back on the other side of the river.
Paris is huge and many of its beautiful spots can only be discovered with a little expert help. We found a free guided tour by two locals through Paris Marais to join.
In the 19th Arrondissement, we found a charming park: The Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. It is not a naturally grown landscape, it was artificially created on the grounds of a slate mine next to a former landfill.