Ready-made routes

Ready-made itineraries, each one built so that no day runs past ten hours including the travel between stops.

• The island and the LouvreThe oldest part of Paris and the largest museum in it, with the river between them.
• MontmartreThe hill: the white basilica, the painters' square, the windmill at the bottom.
• The Left BankImpressionists in a station, Rodin's garden, and the streets of Saint-Germain.
• Le MaraisThe quarter the nineteenth century forgot to rebuild: mansions, squares and two fine museums.
• The Latin QuarterTapestries, a pendulum, a mosque and a botanical garden, all within a few streets.
• The grand axisGarnier's opera house, the great avenue and the two palaces of the 1900 fair.
• The Eiffel Tower and the InvalidesThe tower from below and above, the gilded dome, and the terrace that frames it all.
• VersaillesA full day given to the palace, the Hall of Mirrors and the gardens behind it.
• FontainebleauThe quieter royal château, an hour south, with far fewer people in it.
• ChantillyA moated château north of Paris holding the best paintings outside the Louvre.
• La VilletteThe science museum, the mirrored sphere, the red follies and Nouvel's concert hall.
• Modern ParisGehry's glass sails, the hollow cube at La Défense and the wood between the two.
• The canal and the eastIron footbridges, a planted viaduct, projected art and the great cemetery.
• Markets and arcadesA glass-roofed passage, a store under a dome, a market street and the island shops.
• Gardens and squaresFour very different pieces of green, from formal parterre to English folly.
• The churchesGothic, Renaissance and Roman revival, plus the abbey where it all began.
• Museums beyond the LouvreFour collections that would each be the main museum of a smaller city.
• Beyond the PériphériqueThe first Gothic church, a medieval keep and Le Nôtre's terraces above the Seine.
• Paris from aboveFour high places, ordered so the light and the queues fall the right way.
• Along the SeineBridges, quays and the two islands, walked end to end.
• Paris in three daysThe short list, ordered so each day holds together and nothing is crossed twice.
• Paris in five daysA fuller first visit: the island, the Louvre, the Left Bank, Montmartre and Versailles.
• Paris at lengthEverything the other routes cover, spread over unhurried days with nothing rushed.