Paris Like a Local

KB Café, with a View of Sacré-Cœur (and Paris Terrace Culture)

After the walk, it's time for a break. Today's stop is KB Café, a place your guide loves for both its interior and its c…

Martyrs Street: Flowers, Fruit and Bread

Leaving KB Café, take a stroll along Rue des Martyrs. You may even have passed it on the way here. A gently sloping stre…

Lunch in the Marais: Neapolitan Pizza or Sichuan Noodles

Today's lunch is at one of the restaurants your guide has visited most in Paris: Pizzeria Popolare, which serves Neapoli…

French Dining Etiquette Worth Knowing

A French restaurant can feel frustratingly slow at first. Taking your order takes a while, the food takes a while, and e…

Buttes-Chaumont: The Park Parisians Love

Your guide's favorite way to enjoy Paris is to picnic on a sunny day, lounging somewhere between sun and shade. When the…

Browsing the Marais's Homeware Shops

After the picnic, head to the Marais, a famous district you can't skip in Paris. "Marais" means marsh, and the name is s…

A French Dinner in the Marais

Shopping done, it's dinner time. Choosing a dinner spot is the hardest part, your guide admits. Since you're in France,…

A Break at Pont Marie

Sunset time varies so much by season that it's hard to fix the order of this stop and the dinner stop. Rather than set i…

An Evening Stroll Along the Seine, from Pont Marie to Pont des Arts

After the Eiffel Tower, your guide's favorite place in Paris is the Seine. The banks of the Seine were inscribed as a UN…

Paris Flea Markets: A Quick Guide

If you love vintage, a Paris flea market is a must. The best known are Saint-Ouen and Vanves, and this time your guide r…

What to Pick Up at a Paris Supermarket

Here are some things worth tasting or taking home from France. First, cheese and butter. They need refrigeration, so the…

Giverny: In Search of Monet's Garden

Giverny is a small village in Normandy, where Claude Monet's signature Water Lilies was born. It's famous for the house…

Strasbourg: A Fairy-Tale City in Alsace

Beyond Giverny, here's one more recommendation: Strasbourg. It's a little too far to call a day trip from Paris, about t…

Two More Favorite Parks: Montsouris and Sceaux

Your guide's favorite parks in Paris are the Buttes-Chaumont mentioned earlier, plus Parc Montsouris and Parc de Sceaux.…

Behind the Scenes at Montheb Guesthouse

This time, it's less about travel and more about the owner's personal story. Since she started running Montheb, she hasn…