Qué hacer en Paris

Do you really need a reason? The City of Lights means the Eiffel Tower, the Pompidou Center, the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Arc de Triomphe, Versaille, Montmartre, the Pantheon and Notre Dame. Then there’s the food, the street life, the history . . . Alas, you’re not the only person arriving in Paris – it pays to do some planning. In Paris, the quality of your experience can depend on the kind of ticket you have. Avoiding the crowds is good. Privileged access is good. Expert guides can reveal more than your guidebook could ever tell you. Sometimes, you discover that a nighttime or early-morning visit is quieter and more atmospheric. If you’re going to ‘do’ Paris, do it right. At the same time, remember there’s a whole other city waiting to be explored. In the laid-back districts of Belleville and Ménilmontant, you can tour the distinctive street art and learn more about such Parisian legends as Seth, Clet, Mesnager or Invader. A historical walk could introduce you to a bloodier history of massacres, executions, plague, torture and imprisonment. At the Fragonard Perfume Museum, you can create your own cologne. War enthusiasts, meanwhile, may be tempted to visit the nearby beaches of Normandy and see the D-Day battlefields first hand. The Dôme des Invalides allows the martial-minded to feast on the activities of Napoleon Bonaparte and explore one of the world’s greatest collections of antique arms and armor.