Paris

Free’P’Star

A cult Marais vintage store giving piles of secondhand clothing a cheap, cheerful second life.

Climb 284 steps atop the Place de l’Étoile for a 360° view straight down the Champs-Élysées.

Climb the hill of artists to Sacré-Cœur, the Place du Tertre and Amélie’s café with a guide who knows the back lanes.

The postcard view of the Eiffel Tower across the Seine – best at sunrise before the crowds. Free.

The 1903 tea house famous for its thick ‘African’ hot chocolate and Mont-Blanc pastry near the Tuileries.

Design-led hostel near the Canal Saint-Martin with a Sacré-Cœur-view rooftop bar; dorms to private rooms.

A Gothic jewel-box of 1,113 stained-glass windows; go late morning for the light.

Walk the island around the reopened Gothic masterpiece with a guide unpacking 850 years of history and the 2024 restoration.

Iron footbridges, plane trees and a young, café-lined waterway – picnic spot of choice for locals. Free.