Paris
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Paris - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Place des Vosges
Marais QuarterThe oldest square in Paris and—dare we say it—the most beautiful, Place des Vosges represents an early stab at urban planning. The precise proportions offer a placid symmetry, but things weren't always so calm here. Four centuries ago, this was the site of the Palais des Tournelles, home to King Henry II and Queen Catherine de Medici. The couple staged regular jousting tournaments, and Henry was fatally lanced in the eye during one of them in 1559. Catherine fled to the Louvre, abandoning her palace and ordering it destroyed. In 1612, the square became Place Royale on the occasion of Louis XIII's engagement to Anne of Austria. Napoléon renamed it Place des Vosges to honor the northeast region of Vosges, the first in the country to pony up taxes to the Revolutionary government. At the base of the 36 redbrick-and-stone houses—nine on each side of the square—is an arcaded, covered walkway lined with art galleries, shops, and cafés. There's also an elementary school, a synagogue (whose barrel roof was designed by Gustav Eiffel), and several chic hotels. The formal, gated garden's perimeter is lined with chestnut trees; inside are a children's play area and a fountain. Aside from hanging out in the park, people come here to visit the house, now a museum, of the man who once lived at No. 6—Victor Hugo, the author of Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (aka The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). One of the best things about this park is that you're actually allowed to sit—or snooze or snack—on the grass during spring and summer. There is no better spot in the Marais for a picnic: you can pick up fixings at the nearby street market on Thursday and Sunday mornings. (It's on Boulevard Richard Lenoir between Rues Amelot and St-Sabin.) The most likely approach to Place des Vosges is from Rue de Francs-Bourgeois, the main shopping street. However, for a grander entrance, walk along Rue St-Antoine until you get to Rue de Birague, which leads directly into the square.
View Tours and ActivitiesOff Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, near Rue de Turenne, Paris, Île-de-France, 75004, France -
2. Carré Roland Dorgelès
MontmartreThis unassuming square is a perfect place to take in two of Montmartre's most photographed sights: the pink-and-green Au Lapin Agile cabaret and Clos Montmartre, Paris's only working vineyard. While the former, famously painted by Camille Pissarro, still welcomes revelers after almost 160 years, the latter is closed to visits except during the annual Fête de Jardins (Garden Festival) weekend in September. The stone wall on the northwestern edge of the square borders the peaceful Cimetière St-Vincent, one of the neighborhood's three atmospheric cemeteries.
Corner of Rue des Saulnes and Rue St-Vincent, Paris, Île-de-France, 75018, France -
3. Place de la Concorde
LouvreThis square at the foot of the Champs-Élysées was originally named after Louis XV. It later became Place de la Révolution, where crowds cheered as Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and some 2,500 others lost their heads to the guillotine. Renamed in 1836, it also got a new centerpiece: the 75-foot granite Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt quarried in the 8th century BC. Among the handsome 18th-century buildings facing the square is the Hôtel Crillon, which was originally built as a private home by Gabriel, the architect of Versailles's Petit Trianon.
View Tours and ActivitiesRue Royale, Paris, Île-de-France, 75008, France -
4. Place des Abbesses
MontmartreThis triangular square is typical of the countrified style that has made Montmartre famous. Now a hub for shopping and people-watching, the place is surrounded by hip boutiques, sidewalk cafés, and shabby-chic restaurants—a prime habitat for the young, neo-bohemian crowd and a sprinkling of expats. Trendy streets like Rue Houdon and Rue des Martyrs have attracted small designer shops, trendy secondhand clothing stores, and even a pâtisserie specializing in meringues. Many retailers remain open on Sunday afternoon.
Rue des Abbesses at Rue la Vieuville, Paris, Île-de-France, 75018, France -
5. Place du Tertre
MontmartreArtists have peddled their wares in this square for centuries. Busloads of tourists have changed the atmosphere, but if you come off-season—when the air is chilly and the streets are bare—you can almost feel what it was like when up-and-coming Picassos lived in the houses that today are given over to souvenir shops and cafés.
View Tours and ActivitiesPl. du Tertre, Paris, Île-de-France, 75018, France -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Place St-Michel
Latin QuarterThis square was named for Gabriel Davioud's grandiose 1860 fountain sculpture of St. Michael vanquishing Satan—a loaded political gesture from Napoléon III's go-to guy, Baron Haussmann, who hoped St-Michel would quell the Revolutionary fervor of the neighborhood. The fountain is often used as a meeting point for both local students and young tourists.
Paris, Île-de-France, 75005, France -
7. Place Vendôme
LouvreJules-Hardouin Mansart, an architect of Versailles, designed this perfectly proportioned octagonal plaza near the Tuileries in 1702. To maintain a uniform appearance, he gave the surrounding hôtels particuliers (private mansions) identical facades. It was originally called Place des Conquêtes to extoll the military conquests of Louis XIV, whose statue on horseback graced the center until Revolutionaries destroyed it in 1792. Later, Napoléon ordered his likeness erected atop a 144-foot column modestly modeled after Trajan's Column in Rome. But that, too, was toppled in 1871 by painter Gustave Courbet and his band of radicals. The Third Republic raised a new column and sent Courbet the bill, though he died in exile before paying it. Chopin lived and died at No. 12, which is also where Napoléon III enjoyed trysts with his mistress; since 1902 it has been home to the high-end jeweler Chaumet.
View Tours and ActivitiesPl. Vendôme, Paris, Île-de-France, 75001, France
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