From the airport
The RER B train reaches Gare du Nord and Châtelet in about 30–35 minutes. Official taxis charge government flat fares — €56 to the Right Bank, €65 to the Left — from marked ranks only:
France
Paris
Grand, artful and effortlessly chic — the city break all others are measured against.
- Best forRomance · Culture
- Flight time1h 20m from London · Eurostar 2h 16m
- Best monthsApril – June · September – October
- VibeGrand, artful, effortlessly chic
Paris, France
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Paris curls around the Seine; CDG airport is about 23km northeast of the centre.
Paris rewards both the first visit and the fiftieth: the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower deliver exactly what they promise, while the real city carries on around them — market streets, corner bistros, canal banks and museums you could live in. Come in spring or early autumn, walk everywhere, and let at least one afternoon dissolve on a café terrace.
When to go
Daytime highs run from about 8°C in January to 25°C in August. Driest in April and July and August; wettest in October, with rain on about 15 days.
The year at a glance — pick a month for detail
August25° · rain 10 daysWarm with rain most weeks.
Monthly figures averaged from daily records for 2020–2024 at this location (ERA5 reanalysis). Live conditions from MET Norway, CC BY 4.0.
Getting around
Métro & passes
The métro goes everywhere, roughly every two minutes. Grab a €2 Navigo Easy card and load it with journeys — it also covers the RER in the centre and the Montmartre funicular:
Taxis & ride-hailing
Both big apps run dense fleets around the clock; licensed taxis wait at marked ranks (never accept an unmarked 'taxi' at stations or airports):
Car hire — for leaving town only
Driving in Paris is a sport best left to Parisians, but Versailles, Giverny and the Champagne country all reward a day with your own wheels:
Compare car hire pricesEurostar & the Seine
From London, the train beats the plane door to door. Once there, the Batobus river shuttle hops between nine Seine stops from the Eiffel Tower to the Jardin des Plantes:
Where to stay
Pick a budget to open live availability in Paris. Prices are per night for two people.
Our picks in this destination
The area · Canal Saint-Martin
Budget
Generator Paris
Canal Saint-Martin · hostel
Design-led dorms and a ninth-floor rooftop bar with Sacré-Cœur views, moments from Canal Saint-Martin — beds from around €10.
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The area · Place de la Bastille
Mid-range
ibis Paris Bastille Opéra
Bastille · 3★
A dependable, well-run base of 305 crisp rooms within strolling distance of Bastille's bars and the Opéra Bastille.
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The area · The Moulin Rouge, Montmartre
Boutique
Terrass" Hôtel
Montmartre · 4★
A 1911 Montmartre institution whose rooftop bar delivers the most painterly sunset view of the Paris skyline, mere steps below Sacré-Cœur.
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The area · Rue Montorgueil
Boutique
Hôtel Bachaumont
Montorgueil · 4★
Belle Époque bones and Dorothée Meilichzon interiors in the heart of pedestrian rue Montorgueil, Paris's most appetising market street.
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The area · Passage des Panoramas
Boutique
Hôtel des Grands Boulevards
Grands Boulevards · boutique
The Experimental Group's theatrical 50-room bolthole, with Giovanni Passerini's French-Italian cooking downstairs and cocktails in The Shed up on the roof.
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The area · Porte Saint-Martin
Boutique
Hôtel Providence
Near République · boutique
An 18-room velvet-swathed hideaway on the edge of the 10th, where each room comes with its own cocktail bar and the lobby feels like a Parisian salon.
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The area · Place de la Concorde
Luxury
Hôtel de Crillon
Place de la Concorde · palace
An eighteenth-century landmark on Place de la Concorde where gilded salons, hand-picked objets d'art and Paul Pairet's Nonos set the modern palace standard.
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The area · Parc Monceau
Luxury
Le Royal Monceau – Raffles Paris
Near the Champs-Élysées · palace
Philippe Starck's mischievous take on the grand palace, complete with Michelin-starred Il Carpaccio, Matsuhisa and a 23-metre pool beneath avenue Hoche.
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Luxury
Hôtel Lutetia
Saint-Germain-des-Prés · palace
The Left Bank's only palace hotel, an Art Nouveau grande dame of 1910 vintage where Bar Joséphine still hums with Saint-Germain's literary spirit.
View hotelEvery stay is real and bookable — links open the hotel's official site. Where a property's own photos aren't licensed yet, the image shows its neighbourhood instead (labelled on the photo).
Flights
Los Angeles Paris, France
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Roughly 11h 25m in the air from Los Angeles (LAX), estimated from the distance — check for a direct route. Pick a month to see every available flight with live prices — Charles de Gaulle (CDG) is the main gateway, with nonstop London flights on British Airways, Air France, easyJet and Vueling taking about 80 minutes.
Check dates and prices
Pick your departure date, then your return.
Search flightsNot sure when? Compare fares across a whole month.
From London, Eurostar is usually smarter: about 2h 16m from St Pancras straight into Gare du Nord, centre to centre. Prices open on Google Flights.
Things to do
The Louvre
Slip in early via the Porte des Lions and let the world's greatest museum unfold from the Mona Lisa to the Winged Victory hovering above her marble staircase.
The Eiffel Tower at dusk
Time it for nightfall, when the Iron Lady erupts into a five-minute shimmer of golden lights on the hour, best watched with a picnic on the Champ de Mars.
Montmartre at golden hour
Wind up the village-like lanes past Place du Tertre's easels to Sacré-Cœur's steps, where all of Paris spreads out below in the evening haze.
Notre-Dame reborn
Triumphantly reopened after its restoration, the cathedral's blond stone and blazing rose windows have never looked more luminous.
Musée d'Orsay
Inside a magnificent Beaux-Arts railway station, Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh hang beneath the great gilded clock that frames Sacré-Cœur across the Seine.
Le Marais
Drift between hôtels particuliers, falafel queues on rue des Rosiers and the arcaded perfection of Place des Vosges, pausing wherever a café terrace insists.
