It might be on Paris’s Left Bank, but Hôtel Dame des Arts is right in the centre of the city. Notre-Dame is a close neighbour; the Right Bank is but a bridge away – you can walk to the Louvre in less than 15 minutes. Most of the famous Left Bank sites are easily reached on foot, apart from the Eiffel Tower, which is on show from the rooms and rooftop. With Saint-Michel Notre-Dame metro station 50 metres away, the hotel really is the perfect base to explore Paris.
Hôtel Dame des Arts is in the heart of the vibrant Latin Quarter between Rue Danton and Rue Suger in the 6th Arrondissement. The area is home to exclusive boutiques, art galleries, cinemas and collector’s bookshops. We’re just a short stroll from Notre Dame Cathedral and the river Seine, allowing easy access to the Right Bank and the opportunity to explore the best of Paris' unsurpassable culture and heritage.
Who would have thought this palace of a building was originally a train station for the 1900 Universal Exposition? Now it’s filled with an internationally renowned impressionist collection, along with other artforms from 1848-1914.
Built in the Middle Ages, France’s most visited monument was badly damaged during the French Revolution before being restored in the 19th century. Now it is being restored again after a devastating fire, and isn’t due to open until 2024.
The inspiration may have come from Italy’s Boboli Gardens in Florence but these gardens with an orchard and apiary are split into French and English sections. Take in some of the 106 statues and be sure to visit the Medici fountain.
A Unesco World Heritage site, the banks of the Seine make a superb walk through the city. See many of Paris’s landmarks as well as small book shops and art stalls. Or jump on a boat instead and take it all in from the water.
The queues outside Berthillon tell you what good ice cream they make here. Cone in hand, explore this small island in the Seine with its narrow streets lined with 17th and 18th-century houses, plus some lovely little shops.
Don’t be fooled by the name – this bridge which links Paris’s Right and Left banks via the Île de la Cité is actually the city’s oldest, with building work started in 1578. It makes for a scenic stroll en route to Notre-Dame.
Architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot wanted to outdo St Paul’s in London and St Peter’s in Rome with his famous church. See Foucault’s pendulum and visit the crypt, where famous people from Voltaire to Victor Hugo are at rest.
Hundreds of hallowed footsteps have passed through the doors of this Art Deco café since it opened in 1887. Famous guests include Pablo Picasso, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Brigitte Bardot, Yves Saint Laurent and Al Pacino.
Leave the crowds behind in the Luxembourg Gardens and head just across the road to this little-known space. Among the statues you’ll find the Fountain of the Four Quarters of the World, topped by a globe supported by four women.
Visit Napoleon I’s tomb in the gilded Dome Church before tracing France’s military history in the Musée de l’Armée. Spot Louis XIV dressed as a Roman emperor above the royal entrance; he had the army facility built in the 1670s.
Built in 1852 and expanded with the help of Gustave Eiffel, Paris’s first department store started life as a little family haberdashery. Now owned by the LVMH group, it is one of the city’s most exclusive shopping venues.
Opening October 2023
If you liked the delicious pastries at breakfast, there are plenty more on offer at the bakery which supplied them. It’s a short stroll to 40 Rue St André des Arts where the delights of mango pavlova and gluten-free brownies await.
The oldest café in Paris, founded in 1686, has long been a gathering place for intellectuals. Now its elegant interiors are the place for traditional French cuisine – think onion soup, coq au vin and the house millefeuille.
Hundreds of hallowed footsteps have passed through the doors of this Art Deco café since it opened in 1887. Famous guests include Pablo Picasso, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Brigitte Bardot, Yves Saint Laurent and Al Pacino.
Duck or lobster pie, pistachio Lyonnais sausage, charcuterie and salad…this traiteur sells them all. It’s the ideal place to pick up some supplies for an impromptu picnic.
The iconic candle brand started out in 1961 at 34 Boulevard Saint Germain. Today, you can still visit the scent-filled shop and stock up on the collection which takes its name from the historic address.
Shakespeare and Company may be a Left Bank literary institution, but don’t forget The Abbey Bookshop, started by Canadian Brian Spence in 1989 and now with 40,000 titles from the English-speaking world.
Created in 1845 and run by generation after generation of the Boulinier family, this atmospheric bookshop is the place for second-hand French tomes in addition to good-priced vinyls, comics and films.
The building here is as legendary as the luxury label. The refurbished Art Deco swimming pool that once belonged to the Hotel Lutetia is flooded by light, decorated by frescoes and has acres of blond wood.
23 min
11 min
3 min
8 min
11 min
10 min