Paris 2025 Guide: The Best Tips for the French City
Experience Paris with the Guide and find the best accommodations and restaurants the city has to offer.
Paris Travel Guide: The 3 Best Hotels and Restaurants for Your Next City Trip to Paris
In Karelia.World, we’re all more than ever in Paris fever and are already planning our next trip to the French capital. There are many travel guides to Paris; after all, France is the most visited country in the world, and Paris is the main reason for this: With world-class museums, wide boulevards, Belle Époque architecture, and distinctive cuisine, it’s known not only as the cultural capital of Europe, but perhaps the entire world.
But it’s not just the reality of Paris that draws you – it’s also the fantasy. After all, the City of Light is romanticized for most of us from birth, thanks to books by Victor Hugo and Ernest Hemingway, films like “An American in Paris” and “Moulin Rouge,” and photographs by Brassaï and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Paris Travel Guide: The Best Insider Tips for Your Trip
While most travelers know the iconic sights of Paris (Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre-Dame, Montmartre, Arc de Triomphe, etc.), the places that represent the soul of the city, which so many of us seek, are harder to find. For this reason, we asked our editors where they eat, shop, stroll, and stay in the arrondissements. Some answers are for classical music lovers—you can’t go wrong with an evening of soufflés and a ballet. Others are for those looking for alternative activities, from five-euro dumplings to vintage shops where your next favorite piece awaits.
The best hotels in Paris
Soho house
Pigalle is home to the new Soho House, occupying five floors of a 19th-century apartment building once owned by the artist Jean Cocteau. While so much in Paris celebrates a grand architectural history, Soho House takes a different approach, drawing its design on the playful work of Jean Royère and Santo Sospir, Cocteau’s colorful villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
Cheval Blanc
“The feeling is that of the 1930s and 1970s, cool elegance with a touch of grooviness,” wrote our colleagues about the new Cheval Blanc Paris, which opened in September. The five-star hotel, owned by LVMH, features four restaurants, a Dior spa, and spacious suites with breathtaking views of the Seine.
Duc De Saint-Simon
The Hôtel Duc De Saint-Simon is the perfect little hotel with all the elegant chintz you could wish for, in a perfect little courtyard in the sixth arrondissement.
Eating in Paris: the best restaurants, cafes & more
Le Soufflé
You can’t go to Paris without eating a soufflé. Le Soufflé is an old-fashioned restaurant on Rue du Mont Thabor, a great street for restaurants. We recommend a visit at lunchtime, where they offer a selection of starter salads, savory soufflés, and dessert soufflés – decadent and delicious!
Le Petit Lutetia
The perfect Parisian lunch can be found at Le Petit Lutetia, a brasserie by Jean-Louis Costes. A place where healthy red wine and excellent steak frites are served amidst a sophisticated crowd, making for excellent people-watching.
Chez Janou
Chez Janou is the quintessential Parisian bistro. Go for the escargots, but stay for the funky decor and the lively staff who treat you like family. Our top tip? Save room for the chocolate mousse.
