Because it’s Paris, of course. This is the City of Light, the city of love, the place where everyone from Monet and Debussy to Sartre and Coco Chanel lived, loved, squabbled and created. It’s ridiculously romantic, tirelessly picturesque, difficult to navigate and always surprising; you come here to eat, stroll and marvel at some of the finest historical sights and museums in the world. There’s the Eiffel Tower, difficult to miss, the endless masterpiece-filled corridors of the Louvre, the art-crammed Musée D’Orsay, and one of the world’s most beautiful cathedrals, Notre Dame de Paris (closed due to the 2019 fire).

Eat like a king, sightsee until you drop, and sleep in some of the world’s most elegant hotels

Then there are the wildly differing neighbourhoods, from the smart boulevards of the 8th arrondissement, to gritty, on-trend Belleville in the 11th, or the warren of romantic streets spreading out from the white dome of Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre. And while Paris isn’t known as the greenest city, its beautiful formal gardens — Jardin des Tuileries, the perfect route between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde, and Jardin du Luxembourg, a verdant 25-hectare playground — offer a balmy summer escape. You can eat like a king, sightsee until you drop, hit the shops until your credit card melts, and sleep in some of the world’s most elegant hotels (at a price). It’s Paris. Of course you’ll love it.

Main photo: Pont de Bir-Hakeim, Paris (Alamy)

If you do decide to tick off the Eiffel Tower, the vast crowds and long queues have been replaced with online bookings and staggered entry, which does make visiting rather more agreeable. An equally inspiring view (with fewer people and the added bonus of featuring the Eiffel Tower itself) can be found at Tour Montparnasse, one of the city’s highest skyscrapers, with a public observation deck on the 56th floor. You really mustn’t miss the Louvre, but brace yourself for the crowds around the star attraction, the Mona Lisa. The quietest times are late-night openings (Wednesday and Friday); book your tickets in advance online.

Housed in a former belle époque railway station, Musée D’Orsay never feels quite so busy despite its vast collection of masterpieces. Come here for your impressionist fix — Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir and all the rest are here by the bucketload. For more Monet, head to the Musée de l’Orangerie and its wonderful oval-shaped rooms housing his Water Lilies. Blockbuster contemporary exhibitions are housed in the Fondation Louis Vuitton, a surreally beautiful Frank Gehry-built space in the Bois de Boulogne.

The Arc de Triomphe is worth a closer look; climb to the top to admire the French capital’s idiosyncratic motorists

Although the Centre Pompidou is closing in 2023 for a full renovation, for now you can still admire its inside-out architecture and ride the glass-encased escalator. The Arc de Triomphe is worth a closer look too; you can climb to the top to admire the French capital’s idiosyncratic motorists. For an insider’s take on the Paris food scene, Secret Food Tours offers walking tours of various neighbourhoods, taking in lesser-known cheese shops, chocolatiers, cafés and wine sellers. Or see the sights on a bike tour with Paris Bikes Tour or Paris à Vélo.

For full-throttle sightseeing, opt for the 1st arrondissement, home to some of Paris’s biggest headline acts, including the Louvre and the Jardin des Tuileries and just a short stroll from Notre Dame, Musée D’Orsay and Saint-Germain. Hotels are correspondingly high-end, including Le Meurice, standing proud on Rue de Rivoli since the 19th century. Similarly posh is the area around the Champs Elysées and Arc de Triomphe, where you’ll find the city’s most famous grandes dames, Four Seasons Hotel George V and Le Bristol.

For a grittier, more urban vibe, opt for Pigalle, home to bars, nightclubs and mid-range hotels such as the Grande Pigalle, while the narrow streets and village feel of Montmartre are a good option for romantic breaks. The Marais, also on the Right Bank, remains the last word in cool galleries, boutiques and lively bars and restaurants.

On the Left Bank, literary types will enjoy pounding the pavements of Saint-Germain, once bestrode by Sartre, de Beauvoir, Miller, Hemingway and the like. L’Hotel, an easy walk from Jardin du Luxembourg, was the location of Oscar Wilde’s death. Speaking of literary types, the Quartier Latin is home to both the Sorbonne and Paris’s most famous bookshop, Shakespeare and Company. For the city’s best budget hotels you’ll have to go a little further from central Paris: Mama Shelter and Generator Paris are both good options.

Visiting a city pushing 100 Michelin stars, you’ll be hard pressed to eat badly in Paris, despite the profusion of laminated, photo-heavy menus proffered from every tourist trap you pass. Some of the most famous high-end haute cuisine restaurants can be found in the area around the Champs Elysées, including Pierre Gagnaire, and Le Cinq in the Four Seasons Hotel George V. For something more low-key, the Marais has all sorts of cheap and cheerful bars and restaurants, including Breizh Café, known for its galettes and crepes, and L’As du Fallafel, where you’ll have to queue for their garlicky falafel wraps.

Much of the joy of eating out in Paris is in its old-school bistros and brasseries, where brusque waiters stalk about

Much of the joy of eating out in Paris, of course, is in its old-school bistros and brasseries, where brusque white-aproned waiters stalk about with chalkboard menus, and your steak-frites or coq au vin is best washed down with a carafe of decent house red. A long-standing favourite is La Fontaine de Mars, with tables spilling onto the cobbled pavement just a short stroll from the Eiffel Tower, while Café de la Paix, on Place de l’Opéra, is a national monument as famous for its gilded, frescoed interiors (currently being refurbished) as its brasserie fare.

Les Deux Magots in Saint-Germain, made famous by Hemingway and Picasso, might be heavy on the tourists but remains a characterful spot for a café crème in the sunshine. Equally famous Café de Flore is just down the street. You’ll find various outposts of Ladurée around the city, serving its signature pastel-hued macarons; for a creative take on the same sugary treat, seek out Christophe Roussel in Montmartre.

Paris is dotted with markets, from the foodie joys of tiny Le Marché Des Enfants Rouges in the Marais, the city’s oldest covered market, to the high-end antiques and bric-a-brac of Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen. The latter, in the north of the city, claims to be the largest flea market in the world, a warren of stalls, halls and markets selling anything second hand you could ever want. Haggle hard.

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is worth the journey on a hot day — take a picnic, and head up to the Temple de la Sybille

For high-end shopping, the 150-year-old La Samaritaine Paris Pont Neuf department store, now owned by the LVMH group, will be opening in summer, with more than 600 fashion brands, a vast new beauty floor, a restaurant by Mauro Colagreco and a Cheval Blanc Hotel. Musée du Quai Branly, beside the Seine, is a relatively under-the-radar museum housing some 3,000 works of indigenous art from Africa, the Americas and Oceania. For something a little more bucolic, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in the 11th arrondissement is worth the journey on a hot day — take a picnic, and head up to the Temple de la Sybille for city views.

You’ll need euros, naturellement. Much of the centre is walkable, and taking the sights in on foot is the best way of getting to grips with the city’s layout. Don’t worry too much about understanding exactly how the arrondissements work; in brief, they spiral out clockwise from the centre, which means the 2nd, for example, leads on to the 9th. It’s confusing.

The Metro is a cheap and easy way of getting about, and will get you pretty much anywhere. Buy a Navigo Easy card (like London’s Oyster card) at any Metro station before you travel and top up as needed. Public transport is generally safe, but as with any big city, keep an eye out for pickpockets. Parisians avoid them like the plague, but the Bateaux-Mouches — those glass-encased tourist boats that plough up and down the Seine — are a great way to see the city and a total hit with children.