Places to visit in Paris
My favorite special places to visit in Paris
Paris is known by everyone for its beauty and tourism.
I lived in France for 20 years, part of that time in Paris, when I was working for Navision France and following Microsoft France.
In this article, I will share my personal favorite places to visit, with some inside observations and stories you might not have heard before.
Bonus: I will share my three favorite Champagne 🍾 brands and the opportunity to flash Space Invaders 👾 in Paris. Have fun!
Places in Paris
Grande Arche de la Défense
In 1982, on the initiative of French president François Mitterrand, Danish architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen and Danish engineer Erik Reitzel won the competition with their design of a Grande Arche. Erik Reitzel is especially known for his minimalistic structures, which you can see when visiting the inside of the roof of the building.
Before building this monument, Spreckelsen had only built four churches and his own house.
The building is turned 6.3 degrees due to standing over an underground motorway and train lines.
The oldest houses in Paris
You know Paris for its big avenues like Champs-Elysées. You should go there. For sure. But how was Paris before Haussmann started renovating Paris?
Three addresses to visit:
- 13 Rue François Miron, 75004 Paris
- 3 Rue Volta, 75003 Paris
- 51 Rue de Montmorency, 75003 Paris
Île Saint-Louis
Île Saint-Louis is one of my favorite places in Paris. Sitting at a café outside in the sun or finding a restaurant of your taste. Don’t forget to taste the famous Berthillon ice cream.
Le Train Bleu
One of the most surprising restaurant experiences in Paris is Le Train Bleu, located inside the Gare de Lyon train station.
The Train Bleu restaurant is also known for a scene in Luc Besson’s 1990 movie La Femme Nikita. Nikita gets her first (test) mission on her birthday.
They are drinking Champagne Taittinger millésimé (not on the list below).
Panthéon
The Panthéon is an impressive monument, but it is actually the inside that I come to visit.
The Foucault pendulum is a near-perfect pendulum swinging uniformly relative to the fixed stars. You can thus see the Earth turning.
In the crypt of the Panthéon you will find the graves of great men and women honored by France. My favorites are:
- Louis Braille enabled blind people to read and write. At the age of 12, he started working on a new system to enable blind children to read and write. After working day and night for three years, at the age of 15 his first version was ready.
- Maria Skłodowska Curie won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and in Chemistry in 1911. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize and the first person to win it twice. She was the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris. The first woman to enter the Panthéon for her own merits.
- Joseph-Louis Lagrange. Maybe you heard that the James Webb Space Telescope and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope were sent to Lagrange point 2. Well, he figured it out in 1772.
- Simone Veil survived Auschwitz, became a leading defender of women’s rights, and as Minister of Health secured the legalization of abortion in France in 1975.
Observatoire de Paris
The Paris Observatory is actually not easy to visit. You will find it near the Jardin du Luxembourg. The reason I mention it is to tell a story.
A story of giants standing on the shoulders of giants.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) published De revolutionibus orbium coelestium just before his death. The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) made precise observations of the planet Mars. His student Johannes Kepler (1574-1630) used Tycho’s records of the motion of Mars to deduce the laws of planetary motion. In January 1610, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) observed Jupiter and its four largest moons with a telescope he built himself. He named them Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto — now called the Galilean moons. In 1671 the Paris Observatory sent the French astronomer Jean Picard (1620-1682) to Denmark to determine the exact position of Tycho Brahe’s former observatory at Uraniborg on Hven. While in Denmark, Picard met Ole Rømer (1644-1710), recognized his talent, and brought him back to Paris in 1672, where Rømer joined the Paris Observatory. Here he observed eclipses of Jupiter’s moon Io. In 1676, Rømer established that light has a finite speed. In 1862, Léon Foucault (1819-1868) (see the Panthéon just above) measured the speed of light by reflecting a beam from a rapidly rotating mirror, obtaining about 298,000 km/s—remarkably close to the modern value.
In 1905, Albert Einstein concluded that the speed of light is invariant, so space and time must be relative.
More places in Paris
My daughter is currently studying in Paris and asked me to add some of her favorite places to the list. I completely support her suggestions. These are all places I love to visit myself.
La crêperie Beaubourg
La crêperie Beaubourg is right next to the Centre Pompidou, overlooking the colorful Niki de Saint Phalle and Tinguely fountains. It is a great place for traditional Breton galettes and crêpes, with good cider, whisky, Mariage Frères tea and homemade chocolate. The atmosphere is relaxed, and sitting outside by the fountain is especially nice.
Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre
Sacré-Cœur is one of the best places to look out over Paris.
During the night of 20–21 April 1944, thirteen bombs fell extremely close to the Sacré-Cœur. Despite the explosions striking the basilica and nearby houses, nobody was killed. Inside the basilica, you will find a plaque recalling the event, showing where the bombs fell.
Some think it was divine intervention; others think it was pure luck.
The fact is that had the bombs been just a few meters to one side, the basilica could have been completely destroyed.
Petit Palais
The Petit Palais is an art museum today. It is located just in front of the Grand Palais, which you might have seen transformed into a sports arena during the Olympic Games in 2024. Both buildings are iconic and are located close to the Champs-Elysées.
Sculptures in Paris
I love sculptures. Here are my four favorite sculptures in Paris.
Lion of Belfort at Place Denfert-Rochereau
The lion symbolizes the heroic French resistance during the Siege of Belfort, a 103-day Prussian assault from December 1870 to February 1871.
Ours blanc by François Pompon at Musée d’Orsay
François Pompon worked as an assistant for Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel. At the age of 67 he made the polar bear.
An entire life leading up to this moment.
Sculptures at the Louvre
The Louvre has a fantastic collection of sculptures. My favorites are the slaves by Michelangelo.
Imprisoned in stone, The Louvre
The Thinker by Rodin
The Thinker was originally entitled The Poet, representing Dante, the author of the Divine Comedy.
This powerful man, lost in thought, maybe observing the world.
If he could, he would be shaking his head.
My favorite Champagne brands
I lived in a Champagne village for many years. The list is ordered by how much I drink of it.
Champagne Henri Chauvet in Rilly-la-Montagne
The Chauvet family has complete control over the entire process. The wine fields, when to pick the grapes, the pressing, maturing the wine, bottling, and selling.
I always have a bottle of Chauvet in my fridge. Rosé, Brut Nature (dry) or Réserve. Because, you never know when there might be something to celebrate.
If you want a great champagne at a fair price, go with Henri Chauvet. Do like me, buy two boxes with a mix of your favorite bottles and keep one in the fridge at all times.
Champagne Vilmart in Rilly-la-Montagne
Laurent Champs leaves nothing to chance. The wine is aged in barrels. I have seen an article where Vilmart beats the next on the list. It is not cheap, but you get what you pay for.
If you want an extraordinary champagne at a fair price, go with Vilmart.
Champagne Bollinger in Aÿ
Of course, you think James Bond, Agent 007, but Champagne Bollinger is actually an incredible Champagne. Bollinger makes no compromises. The quality and taste are simply extraordinary. So is the price.
If you want the best no matter the price, go with Bollinger.
Fun fact: Bollinger uses Business Central and was once my customer.
Places in Paris that didn’t make the list
My list of places in Paris is actually a bit longer, but I had to stop somewhere.
Places in Paris that didn’t make the list, but are still worth mentioning:
- Place des Vosges
- Maison de Victor Hugo, Place des Vosges
- Opéra Bastille offers an incredible opera experience
- The entrance to the underground canal, Place de la Bastille
- Tour Montparnasse. Visit the roof and get the best view over Paris
- Trocadéro. Best view of the Eiffel Tower
- Musée de l’Homme and Musée de la Marine. Trocadéro
- Les Halles. Métro and train in all directions. Bars and restaurants nearby.
- Institut Henri Poincaré
- Restaurant at Mosquée de Paris, next to Jardin des Plantes
- Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, in Jardin des Plantes
- Jardin des Plantes
- Louis Vuitton Foundation
- Jardin du Luxembourg
- Institut du monde arabe
- Rue Mouffetard 5e
- Sacré-Cœur
- Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris
- La Coupole
There is much more, but I think you should go and find them yourself. Enjoy.
Hunting for Space Invaders in Paris 👾
When you are out walking in Paris, why not have some fun? Watch out for the Space Invaders and see if you can catch some of them.