Paris is blessed with an abundance of cultural riches, crammed with famous boulevards and handsome monuments, museums and galleries. Even the simplest items here are sublime – a loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, a pair of shoes, a dress. After all, this is the nation that taught the world l’art de vivre, the art of living, and Paris is her flagship.
But Paris is also one of Europe’s most youthful and multicultural cities. Its creative heartbeat finds expression in contemporary design, fashion and music from every corner of the earth.
Prepare your journey in advance with regular visits to the newly redesigned – and frequently updated – regional tourism website www.new-paris-idf.com. Ask your travel agent for a copy of the Lonely Planet Paris Encounter guide, or pick one up from one of the Paris-Ile-de-France tourist information centres once you arrive (there are five at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle Airport).
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Whether a shopaholic or a bargain hunter, you are guaranteed consumer pleasure in Paris. A dedicated tour guide called "Not A Tourist Desination" offers accompanied shopping "hunts" for amateur fashionistas - it's a company known for unusual jaunts around the city and one of their most popular tours centres on fashion hot spots, including designer bargain stores and exclusive boutiques that only the coolest Parisians know.
The ‘bistronomy’ movement is the new guard of Parisian culinary adventurers. Although classic in background, the movement eschews formality for low-key interiors, modest prices and zany menus. L’Absinthe is a quirky little bistro, the brainchild of Caroline Rostang (daughter of Michel Rostang). It serves American classics with a twist, such as mac cheese with lobster and duck burgers. Food meets art at Ze Kitchen Galerie, where chef William Ledeuil does a stylish mash-up of classic French cuisine and exotic South East Asian flavours, surrounded by colourful contemporary artworks.
Paris thrives on vibrant events, festivals and exhibitions. This year, don’t miss Versailles Off, a collection of art installations in the palatial grounds of Versailles; Renoir in the 20th Century at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais; Kate Moss at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and Kandinsky at the Centre Pompidou (among many others).
Discover Mad Burgundy, celebrating food and wine with for example “la cuisine au vin” or a balloon flight over the chateaux of Burgundy.
Discover real madness with the corrida in Nimes, sleep in a 17th Century Luxury convent or try some of the amazing restaurants in Montpellier.
Wine is not the only reason to visit the Bordeaux region of Aquitaine; however you can enjoy some of the very best wines or why not try Vinotherapy Spa?
Be Mad in the Riviera, spending a morning skiing and your evening sipping cocktails by the beach and then continue the madness by spending a night in the Hi-Hotel...
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