Ahh, Paris… the city of romance! You learn pretty quickly that the best days here aren't about doing the most, they're about doing a few things really well and leaving space in between to just sit somewhere and watch the street.
The cool thing about this city is that you can walk, bike, or metro everywhere. If we had 12 hours to spend in Paris, here’s how we’d do it:
9:00 — The Slow Start
A good day in Paris always begins with a coffee. There has been a rise in coffee shop concepts in this city in the last three years, but there’s nothing like Daark3. Order an iced latte with coconut milk, a cortado, and a banana bread on the side.
After enjoying a little coffee, walk over to Place des Vosges, the oldest square in Paris, for a morning stroll through the park. If you’re feeling curious, head over to the Maison de Victor Hugo — the apartment where the writer himself lived in for sixteen years and in which he wrote a big part of Les Misérables. Entry to the permanent collection is generally free outside of June to November.
Also, if you’re a huge hot chocolate lover, stop by Carette on the square for the best hot chocolate you’ll ever have.
12:00 — Lunch
Once its time for lunch, walk towards Marché des Enfants Rouges — the oldest covered market in the city. Fun fact, the name means “Market of the Red Children”, opened by Louis XIII, which comes from a nearby orphanage where the children were dressed in red at the time.
There are many amazing options for food at the market, but I would head straight to the Enfants du Marché and order mussels, oysters, and a glass of white wine. You might have to wait for a table, but it’s worth it.
Once you’ve had a quick lunch, head to the Gentle Monster store a few meters away and experience their impressive installations. If you’re looking for vintage shopping, two stores that have us in a chokehold are Nuovo and Erem on Rue de Turenne.
3:00 — Art and a Pause
The nice thing about Paris is that there are museums everywhere, where you can unplug and immerse yourself in culture. One of our favourites is the Musée National Picasso, housing Picasso’s own personal collection of his work. Get the audio tour — it makes the visit worth it.
6:00 — The Neighbourhood Drink
Le Saint Gervais. This is where everyone gathers after work for a drink. No tourists, locals only. This is the best place to people watch.
The one thing we love about Paris is that no matter what time of the year, people will be grabbing a glass of wine outside on the terrace after work. This is the place to go to for an aperitif before dinner.
9:00 — Dinner Time
Yes, 9pm. Parisians don’t eat any earlier than that, its bad form if you do ;)
Next stop is Café de l’Usine 11th arrondissement. It was opened by Alice Arnoux, a former Noma chef. The space and food makes you feel transported to the French countryside. The menu changes weekly, but everything she’s made in the past has been 10/10.
Stay out a little longer with a night cap at Cave Canaille, then get a good night’s sleep at Hôtel Balzac, a Michelin Keyed hotel, tucked into the much more quieter neighbourhood of the 8th arrondissement.
What Paris Gets Right
Paris doesn’t announce itself like other cities do. It shows up in smaller details, like the way the market vendor shucks an oyster, the way the morning light hits a café, and the way Parisians casually carry a baguette under their arm on their way home from work.
Another cool thing about Paris is that it has never had to reinvent itself to stay interesting. Every restaurant, cafe, store, bookshop, hotel etc makes you feel like a part of the city’s history.
That’s what makes Paris, Paris.
Parismaxxing in late August can’t come sooner 😍😍
The nine to nine format works in Paris and breaks in Milan, and the reason is worth knowing before anyone books a table here. It is not a cultural difference, it is service hours. Our kitchens shut in the afternoon and do not reopen until half past seven; the aperitivo, which we invented, occupies the slot in which other cities are already having dinner; and a visitor who turns up at half past eight without a booking finds a room that has already turned once. The twelve hour ribbon has a hole in the middle of it here, and nobody tells people that. The second thing, which you will recognise as a designer of spaces: in Milan you eat outside in June and inside in January, and the same address is effectively two different rooms. An itinerary that ignores the season sends people to sit in the wrong half of the restaurant. Your closing line is the part I would defend hardest. A city that never had to reinvent itself to stay interesting is a city where somebody kept doing the same thing long enough for it to become the thing. That is not conservatism, it is just the only way a place gets a memory.