Paris is the capital and most populous city in France, with an administrative-limits area of 105 square kilometres (41 square miles) and an official population of 2,206,488 (2015). The city is a commune and department, and the heart of the 12,012-square-kilometre (4,638-square-mile) Île-de-France region (colloquially known as the ‘Paris Region’), whose 2016 population of 12,142,802 represented roughly 18 percent of the population of France.
It hosts Europe’s third-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, the most of any country in the world. Below are some of the finest monuments and places worth visiting:
1. Villages Nature Paris
It’s an autumnal Sunday morning in France – couples sit on deckchairs in the sunshine drinking coffee while their kids run around, steam rises from an outdoor pool in front of a glass dome, a swan swims across the lake as a rowing boat splashes past. It’s hard to imagine that just a few years back this whole site was just a patch of muddy farmland in north-east France. Since then lakes have been created, trees and gardens have been planted, restaurants, shops and 868 apartments and cottages have been built. That empty patch of land has been transformed into a whole new, village-style eco resort.
2. Eiffel Tower
The crown jewel of the Paris skyline is even more spectacular up close. No one could imagine Paris today without it. But Gustave Eiffel only constructed this elegant, 320m-tall signature spire as a temporary exhibit for the 1889 World’s Fair. Luckily, the art-nouveau tower’s popularity assured its survival. Booking Eiffel Tower tickets in advance will let you bypass the tourist crowds and go straight to the top.
3. Seine River
Does it get any more romantic than a boat cruise down the Seine, taking in the sights and drinking champagne? Pro tip: You can get incredible Eiffel Tower photos from the river.
4. Musee du Louvre
It would take nine months to glance at every work of inside the Louvre museum. Prioritizing is key! A tour guide can help point out interesting pieces and keep you stress-free.
5. Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles, approximately 20km south-west of Paris is one of the most visited sites in Europe, and is on everybody’s to-do list while in the City of Lights. It is an absolutely spectacular place in the Paris region. When the château was built, the community of Versailles was a small village dating from the 11th century. Today, however, it is a wealthy suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of the centre of the French capital.
Versailles was the seat of political power in the Kingdom of France from 1682, when King Louis XIV moved the royal court from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789, within three months after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancient Régime.
6. Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most eminent monuments in Paris. If anything rivals the Eiffel Tower as the symbol of Paris, it’s this magnificent 1836 monument to Napoléon’s victory at Austerlitz (1805), which he commissioned the following year. The intricately sculpted triumphal arch stands sentinel in the centre of the Étoile (‘Star’) roundabout. From the viewing platform on top of the arch (50m up via 284 steps and well worth the climb) you can see the dozen avenues.
