Map of Paris with the 59 locations

The tectonic plates of travel are about to shift, bringing two cities closer together. On November 14, the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras will open, shaving a good 20 minutes off the journey time to Gare du Nord and making a day trip from London to Paris an even more attractive proposition.

To celebrate, we offer an assortment of tailor-made jaunts to the City of Light, for gourmets, romantics, shoppers, art-lovers and more. Each itinerary assumes you will catch a train at about 8am and return 12 hours later – but we’ve added bespoke overnight options for those who are wondering what all the rush is about.

Gourmet Paris

Paris’s reputation as a foodie capital has taken a knock, and some will tell you that London and New York are now tastier dining destinations. That argument doesn’t add up. London has one three-star Michelin restaurant, five two-stars and 37 one-stars; Paris’s tally is 10, 13 and 42 respectively. The top-end places are particularly sublime – think Gagnaire, Ducasse, Robuchon – but if your overdraft limit doesn’t stretch that far, you’re much safer gambling on a backstreet bistro in Paris than in London.

The city’s wealth of specialist stores, and its quotidian enthusiasm for all things culinary, still put the UK to shame. If you’d like a guiding hand, consider taking a short gastronomic tour with Paris Sweet Paris (00 33-6 09 04 89 10, www.parissweetparis.com) or Meeting the French (01 42 51 19 80, www.meetingthefrench.com). Otherwise, simply point yourself towards one of the city’s great food markets and tuck in.

A good starter is Rue Cler (daily except Monday; morning only on Sunday). Once a simple neighbourhood market, it now attracts food-lovers from across Paris. It has five greengrocers’ stalls, an Italian specialist, three fromageries, a creperie, a couple of good cafes, a wine shop, fishmongers, butchers, bakers – maybe even a candlestick-maker we haven’t spotted yet. Alternative favourites include the markets on Rue de Buci and Rue Mouffetard, both on the Left Bank.

Lunch is bound to be the high point of any foodie day trip. The nouvelle chef Alain Senderens is famous for handing back his three Michelin stars in order to produce heartier food in a less formal setting at his eatery, Senderens (9 Place de la Madeleine; 01 42 65 22 90), but don’t worry – you still get exquisitely presented dishes such as wild duck roasted with beetroot in a salt crust, and a recommended glass of wine with each menu choice. Expect to pay £70£80pp, including drinks. Alternatively, try one of the newer three-stars, L’Astrance (4 Rue Beethoven; 01 40 50 84 40) or Le Pré Catelan (Route de Suresnes, Bois de Boulogne; 01 44 14 41 14) – you’ll pay about £100pp at both.

You can test-drive a top French chef without paying a hefty bill. Alain Ducasse’s traditional bistro, Benoit (20 Rue St-Martin; 01 42 72 25 76), does a three-course set lunch for just £27. At another less pricey favourite, Le Bon St Pourçain (10 bis Rue Servandoni; 01 43 54 93 63), you’ll get moules, cassoulet and chicken with tarragon cooked by the eccentric chef-patron, a former waiter at Les Deux Magots – and an addition of not much more than £30£35pp.

Now, how about some nibbles to take home? Place de la Madeleine has two emporiums of French gastronomy: Fauchon, at No 26, stocks 20,000 edible options, including tins of biscuits that become biscuit tins after the Fauchon contents have been wolfed; and Hédiard, at No 21, is particularly strong on teas.

A few yards south, at 16 Rue Royale, you’ll find the original 1862 branch of Ladurée, whose multi-flavoured macaroons can be enjoyed either in the salon or from fancy takeaway boxes. On the Left Bank, Ryst Dupeyron (79 Rue du Bac) carries a range of 500 wines, many from its own Bordeaux vineyards, as well as vintage armagnacs from 1868. You can have your own label attached for £2, with personalised greetings done on the spot.

Still peckish? Check out La Grande Epicerie, the amazing food hall in Paris’s grande-dame department store, Le Bon Marché (24 Rue de Sèvres; 01 44 39 81 00). The gourmet stay: if you lodge at the Hôtel Pont Royal (01 42 84 70 00, www.hotel-pont-royal.com; doubles from £172), you get preferential booking (early sittings only) at the on-site Atelier de Joël Robuchon – the restaurant also does room service. The swanky Plaza Athenée (01 53 67 66 55, www.plaza-athenee-paris.com; doubles from £480) has catering supervised by Alain Ducasse.

Romantic Paris

Paris is still very much a city for lovers, and the quintessential tour for the courting couple has to be from the back seat of a chauffeured 2CV. Bounce past the city’s iconic sights courtesy of Quatre Roues sous une Parapluie (00 33-6 67 32 26 68, www.4roues-sous-1parapluie.com). A 90-minute tour for two costs about £110, including hotel pickup.

Failing that, kick-start your ardour with a visit to the Museum of Eroticism (72 Boulevard de Clichy; 01 42 58 28 73, www. musee-erotisme.com), just along from that temple of titillation, the Moulin Rouge. It has seven storeys of suggestive booty from across the globe – paintings, sculptures, “novelties” – most of them rather more tasteful than you might imagine.

Even so, hearts-and-flowers types will prefer the nearby Musée de la Vie Romantique (16 Rue Chaptal; 01 55 31 95 67, www.vie-romantique.paris.fr), a pastoral oasis in the heart of town, where visitors have included Chopin, George Sand, Liszt, Rossini and Dickens. Its tea garden is an especially lovely place to canoodle. Afterwards, you could head for Rue de Varenne and pay your respects to the mother of all passionate embraces, Rodin’s The Kiss. The Rodin Museum (79 Rue de Varenne; 01 44 18 61 10, www.musee-rodin.fr) has 6,000 other pieces to choose from if that clinch feels clichéd.

Time to clink glasses. Paris has no shortage of romantic restaurants, but the Seine-side Lapérouse (51 Quai des Grands-Augustins; 01 43 26 68 04; about £50pp) can claim to be in the premier league. Its warren of small private dining rooms is ideal for an illicit rendezvous – apparently, this once made it a favourite of straying politicians. La Tour d’Argent (15-17 Quai de la Tournelle; 01 43 54 23 31; £80pp) is an institution, dishing up Challandais duck for two since 1890, with a side order of great views. You’ll know exactly how many ducks the place has served, because each one is numbered – the millionth was devoured in 2003. Or, for a quick pick-me-up, try the tiny Huîtrerie Régis (3 Rue de Montfaucon; 01 44 41 10 07), off Boulevard St-Germain. It is small, it sells oysters (from £7 a dozen upwards) and good French wines, and it’s often packed to the rafters with shell-shucking Parisians.

By now, you may be in the mood to get serious. If you’re looking for a place to pop the question, we suggest the tip of the Ile St-Louis, or perhaps one of the half-moon balconies on the Pont Neuf, as featured in the Juliette Binoche movie Les Amants du Pont Neuf. Other prime spots include the “Je t’aime” wall in Montmartre, where the phrase is repeated in 311 languages, and in front of the Eiffel Tower, which (come evening) twinkles hard for the first 10 minutes of every hour – time your proposal carefully. Or you could take a Bateau Mouche (01 42 25 96 10, www.bateauxmouches.com) and make your pass beneath the Pont Marie, where all wishes are said to come true.

For a celebratory bottle of fizz, try the new champagne bar at the Trocadéro Dokhan’s (117 Rue Lauriston; 01 53 65 66 99), or penetrate the dark heart of Le Fumoir (6 Rue de l’Amiral de Coligny; 01 42 92 00 24), one of Paris’s so-called “boudoir bars”. Afterwards, head for Les Bains du Marais (31-33 Rue des Blancs Manteaux; 01 44 61 02 02), a day spa that’s said to be a favourite of Leonardo DiCaprio and Liv Tyler. It is centred on a huge hammam, where you can steam and exfoliate for £50pp, or have a full-body massage for about the same. On weekends and Wednesday evenings, the spa welcomes both men and women.

What about a token to seal your love? Flowers, perhaps? There’s a daily flower market on Place Louis Lépine, but for something more imaginative than the dozen red roses, make for Fleur’s (3 Rue des Tournelles; 01 42 71 04 51). Part florist, part bar, it offers apt combinations: roses with Absolut, orchids with Perrier Jouët.

Lingerie? At Sabbia Rosa (73 Rue des Saints-Pères), Madame Moana Moatti sells seductive silk and satin negligées and nightwear; Le Boudoir de Chantal Thomass (211 Rue St-Honoré) has similarly exotic slinkies. Chocolates? Debauve & Gallais (30 Rue des Saints-Pères) has been supplying kings and winning gold medals for more than 200 years.

The romantic stay: the sumptuous Hôtel Balzac (6 Rue Balzac; 01 44 35 18 00, www.hotelbalzac.com) has recently been overhauled, with opulent public spaces, butler service and two standard rooms (Nos 509 and 510) with a view of the Eiffel Tower. It is well located, off the Champs Elysées, and doubles start at £245 per night.

The 20-room Hôtel Amour (8 Rue Navarin; 01 48 78 31 80, www.hotelamour.com), once a Pigalle house of ill repute, is much cheaper, but with plenty of charm; doubles from £80.

Shoppers’ Paris

The great totems of Parisian shopping are Galeries Lafayette and Printemps – but your first call there can be daunting. These juggernaut stores are big, crowded and, dare we say it, bettered in many departments by Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. The Eiffel-designed Le Bon Marché (24 Rue de Sèvres; 00 33-1 44 39 80 00), on the other hand, is more fashionable and intimate – and less touristy – than its rivals, and offers a "styliste privé” personal-shopping service: a two-hour consultation costs about £100, a half-day makeover £244, plus the cost of the clothes.

In recent times, a very different all-in-one emporium has been on the must-shop list. Colette (213 Rue St-Honoré; 01 55 35 33 90, www.colette.fr) calls itself a “style-design-art-food” store, with added water bar and cafe. It is the place to find the quirky, fatuous and occasionally inspired, from obscure European dance CDs to cute gadgets – as well as top-end T-shirts and limited-edition trainers.

What most discerning shoppers require of Paris is not the big off-the-peg brands, but interesting one-off shops. The Marais still has prime pickings, especially along Rue des Francs Bourgeois, but the current locus for new boutiques is just north of there, on Rue Charlot, near the Musée Picasso. Check out the colourful homeware and bags at Dominique Picquier (No 10; 01 42 72 23 32), the clothing at AB33 (No 33; 01 42 71 02 82), and the 20th-century “urban art” at Anne Vignial Gallery (No 53; 01 48 87 01 00). For some reason, there is also a strong Scandinavian design presence, with Plagg (No 41; 01 42 78 37 60) and Galerie Dansk (No 31; 01 42 71 45 95) specialising in Danish and Finnish clothes, and Anders’ Hus (No 27; 01 42 72 00 49) selling antiques.

An apposite place for lunch in the Marais might be Les Chineurs (55 Rue de Bretagne; 01 42 78 64 50), which means “the bargain-hunters”, a term usually applied to antiques-shoppers – a popular local pastime. The decor fits the name – brocaded chairs, rich drapes and colourful cut glass – but the potential fussiness is offset by bare brick walls and friendly staff. And there is nothing ancient about the food: good set meals for about £20, including excellent fish dishes. Nearby alternatives include the stylish Hôtel du Nord (102 Quai de Jemmapes; 01 40 40 78 78) and the boho Chez Prune (71 Quai de Valmy; 01 42 41 30 47).

Afterwards, press on north along the rapidly gentrifying Canal St-Martin, which has lots more one-of-a-kind shops, including the decadent Liza Korn (19 Rue Beaurepaire; 01 42 01 36 02), with a gothic-brothel interior and equally striking – but not unwearable – clothes, designed on the premises.

Don’t neglect some of the traditionally upmarket areas. The ancient galeries of the Palais Royal, for example, now boast a Marc Jacobs (56 Galerie de Montpensier; 01 55 35 02 60), a Didier Ludot (20 Galerie de Montpensier; 01 42 96 06 56) and a Rick Owens (130 Galerie de Valois; 01 40 20 42 52). A similar fashion-led transformation has taken place along Avenue Montaigne.

If you’re in town at the weekend, your Paris shopping spree won’t be complete without a hop round a flea market. There are loads to choose from, but we recommend either the rather chaotic Puces de la Porte de Vanves, or (for vintage clothing as well as the usual bric-a-brac) the Marché aux Puces de St-Ouen.

The shoppers’ stay: handily placed for Rue Charlot and its environs, the Hôtel du Petit Moulin (29-31 Rue de Poitou; 01 42 74 10 10, www.hoteldupetitmoulin.com; doubles from £120) has 17 rooms designed by Christian Lacroix – those on the top floor are especially airy. It offers a VIP shopping package that includes a 15% discount card, valid for a year at Jean Paul Gaultier, Cacherel and more. To qualify, you have to stay for three nights in an executive room (£195 a night).

The nicely offbeat Général (5-7 Rue Rampon; 01 47 00 41 57, www.legeneralhotel.com; doubles from £172), near the République Métro station, is useful for the Canal St-Martin and the north Marais, and popular with the fashion crowd.

Arty Paris

For many visitors, the Parisian art scene is tyrannised by the Louvre (00 33-1 40 20 53 17, www.louvre.fr). It’s so vast and important that you could lose days getting to grips with its treasures, many of which are crowd-free thanks to the powerful suction effect of the Mona Lisa. There are 224 galleries, two of them devoted to the 700-year history of the building itself.

For the time-strapped, the solution is a guide. The museum runs three group tours a day in English (book on 01 40 20 52 63), or you could bring your own expert: Dominique Atkins (www.dominiqueatkins.com) does two hours of highlights for about £100, and more in-depth tours, too.

Afterwards, lunch is close at hand. The long terrace of Café Marly (93 Rue de Rivoli; 01 49 26 06 60) stretches under the vaulted colonnade of the Louvre’s north wing, facing IM Pei’s pyramid. Its all-day menu runs the gamut from posh sandwiches and pasta to caviar, and there’s a selection of more substantial dishes, too: expect to pay about £30pp. Upstairs are possibly the most beautiful loos in Paris.

Of course, the Louvre isn’t the only art game in town. The Musée de l’Orangerie (Jardin des Tuileries; 01 44 77 80 07; www.musee-orangerie.fr) now rivals it for queues, thanks to the recent rehanging of Monet’s water-lily paintings. Freshly drenched in soft, ambient light, the eight works are more mesmerising than ever. This year sees the 21st anniversary of the Musée d’Orsay’s transformation from railway station to gallery (62 Rue de Lille; 01 40 49 48 14, www.musee-orsay.fr). Its impressionists, especially the Van Goghs, remain a big draw.

This season’s hot ticket, running until January 28, is the Gustave Courbet show at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (3 Avenue du Général Eisenhower; 01 44 13 17 17, www.rmn.fr/galeriesnationalesdugrandpalais). If 19th-century realism seems a bit staid to you – or you’re after a touch of late-night art – try the Palais de Tokyo (13 Avenue du Président Wilson; 01 47 23 54 01, www.palaisdetokyo.com), where the collection of striking contemporary art stays open until midnight. In fact, the Palais offers all you need for an action-packed evening: its restaurant, Tokyo Eat (01 47 20 00 29; about £20pp), has retro furniture, a cool urban soundtrack and a DJ after dark. The arty stay: if you like your art stylised and splashy, try the Hôtel Le A (4 Rue d’Artois; 01 42 56 99 99, www.paris-hotel-a.com; doubles from £193 online), the monochrome design of which is enlivened by stabs of colour from works by Fabrice Hybert. It has a library of 400 art books, and the bedrooms are small but groovy. Or try the Arts (5 Rue Tholozé; 01 46 06 30 52, www.arts-hotel-paris.com – currently changing its name to the Premium Hotel Montmartre), which has paintings by Montmartre artists and doubles from £50.

Family Paris

You probably think of Paris as a rather grown-up sort of place, sexy and sophisticated, with the odd touch of sleaze. But it’s also a fascinating city for children. There is Disneyland (0870 503 0303, www.disneylandparis.com), of course, which you can reach by Eurostar without even having to step off in Paris proper. But part of the fun of going with kids is that you get to do all the uncool, touristy stuff you may secretly hanker for – not least taking the lift to the zenith of the “Eyeful” (00 33-1 44 11 23 23, www. tour-eiffel.fr). And you must ride a Bateau Mouche (01 42 25 96 10, www.bateaux mouches.com) along the Seine – a lovely, lazy way to tick off the icons. Climb aboard at Pont de l’Alma.

Other worthwhile family diversions include visiting the gargoyles and gremlins on the rooftop of Notre-Dame, the Sunday bird market on the Ile de la Cité, and the merry-go-round in the Tuileries. There’s also a good newcomer – the Cinéaqua, part aquarium, part cinema (2 Avenue des Nations-Unis; 01 40 69 23 23).

You’ll need a good lunch. For a classic France-at-the-trough experience, head for Chartier (7 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre; reservations by e-mail, via www.restaurant-chartier.com; about £15pp), run at a frenetic pace despite its 19th-century atmosphere. Thoumieux (79 Rue St Dominique; 01 47 05 49 75; £20-£25pp) is family-friendly and serves traditional dishes – cassoulet is usually a winner, especially if you call it bangers and baked beans.

Brasseries such as Bofinger (5-7 Rue de la Bastille; 01 42 72 87 82) are easy with kids. Or try Hippopotamus, a chain beloved by local families for steaks, ribs and burgers. There is a handy Hippo opposite Gare du Nord (about £15pp). Pain Quotidien (18 Place du Marché St-Honoré, 2 Rue des Petits Carreaux and other branches) serves good-quality food at big wooden tables.

If you do only one grown-up museum, make it the Musée d’Orsay (62 Rue de Lille; 01 40 49 48 14, www.musee-orsay.fr). Central and manageable in size, it has a cafe behind a giant clock, where you can watch the passage of time while snacking. Oh, and there’s a mixed bag of famous artworks, from Whistler’s Mother (as seen in the Mr Bean movie) to Degas ballet dancers.

You could try convincing the kids that the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie (30 Avenue Corentin-Cariou; 01 40 05 70 00, www.cite-sciences.fr) is a theme park; really it’s a science museum, but with lots of hands-on action.

If your children prefer hocuspocus to hard science, there’s the Musée de la Magie (11 Rue St-Paul; 01 42 72 13 26), where lots of classic illusions are revealed through exhibits and live shows. It opens only on Wednesdays and weekends, however (2-7pm).

The ease with which you can get around Paris by cheap, fast, efficient Métro makes family travel remarkably untiring, but one ride in particular, the driverless train between Madeleine and Bibliothèque François Mitterrand (line 14), should not be missed – aim for the front carriage.

If you get a sunny day, and have children under 10, consider a ride out to the Bois de Boulogne, and the charming Jardin d’Acclimatation (01 40 67 90 82, www.jardindacclimatation.fr). This old-fashioned funfair, born long before the theme park was invented, offers carousels, gentle rollercoasters, boat rides, farm animals, sideshows, pony rides and a little circus, all of which will win the hearts of the most terrible of enfants. A mini train links the entrance with the Porte Maillot Métro station.

Hungry again? For Paris’s best afternoon treats, make for La Compagnie des Crêpes (30 Cour St-Emilion), whose name speaks for itself; or Berthillon Glacier (29 Rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile), which is great for ice cream. The family stay: apartments have big advantages over hotels when you’re en famille: they come with a kitchen, and you won’t have to struggle to find hard-to-come-by interconnecting bedrooms. The class act is La Réserve (01 53 70 53 70, www.lareserve-paris.com), which offers 10 luxury one- to four-bedroom flats on Place du Trocadéro, with views of the Eiffel Tower. Prices for the three-night minimum stay start at £3,475.

Yellow Stay (00 33 1 72 34 84 48, www.yellowstay.com) has a portfolio of apartments in central Paris sleeping up to eight. A fully equipped two-bedroom flat in the Marais, sleeping six, starts at £185 per night.

Citadines (0800 376 3898, www.citadines.com) offers 16 blandly modern but functional “apart-hotels” in various parts of town, each with mini kitchens. One-bedroom units with a sofa bed in the lounge start at about £95 a night (more for central locations).

Party Paris

If all you want is a night on the (art nouveau) tiles, Eurostar offers a service just for you. The “Night Clubber” ticket costs £42, leaving Saturday or Sunday after 4pm and returning the next morning on any service before 10.30am.

Alight at Gare du Nord and catch your breath at the Kube bar, at Kube Rooms (1-5 Passage Ruelle; 00 33-1 42 05 20 00, www.kubehotel.com), just north of the station. It’s a cool place to plan the evening ahead. From there, walk to one of the many cafes around the Canal St-Martin or line your stomach with a hearty preclub dinner at Chez Michel (10 Rue de Belzunce; 01 44 53 06 20; set menu £21), one of the few culinary bright spots in the 10th arrondissement, serving classic Breton fare in suitably rustic surroundings.

If you fancy starting with a show, however, book for Cabaret Bobin’o (14-20 Rue de la Gaîté; 01 43 27 24 24, www.bobino.fr), an attempt to update the long-in-the-tooth Moulin Rouge/Crazy Horse/ Lido tradition while retaining a slot for le cancan. There is dinner, then the main show, and after that the venue turns into a club until 6am. Dinner-and-show packages start at £90pp, including half a bottle of wine and a glass of champagne. You’ll pay £50 for the show and champers only.

For an edgier evening, aim for Oberkampf, a district in the 11th that revolves around Rue Oberkampf, Rue St-Maur and Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud. This is Paris’s current party central. Unlike the old-style Parisian clubs, with their fleece-them attitude to drink prices, the booze here is good value, and the area is a lot less threatening than many UK towns on a Saturday night.

Café Charbon (109 Rue Oberkampf; 01 43 57 55 13) was the pioneer, and is still going strong, but trawl the trio of streets and you can choose from salsa, reggae, industrial chic, goth’n’grunge, street trash and more. There are tiny hole-in-the-wall places, such as 2 Steps Café (117 Rue St-Maur; 01 43 57 11 38), and larger cocktail-style spaces like the jazzy L’Oxyd’Bar (26 Avenue Jean Aicard; 01 48 06 20 81). DJ bars such as the newly revamped Cithéa (112 Rue Oberkampf; 01 40 21 70 95) stay open until 6.30am – which means you can go straight off to catch your train.

Bars here don’t bother with a snooty door policy, but much of the club scene clings to the velvet-rope concept (even if the actual rope is no longer there). Nouveau Casino (109 Rue Oberkampf; 01 43 57 57 40; open till 5am at weekends) is an exception, with one-off nights organised by local promoters and collectives. Showcase (Pont Alexandre III; 01 45 61 25 43, www.showcase.fr) also has an egalitarian door policy. Underneath the arches of the bridge, it has both DJs and live music.

Elsewhere, try Le Paris Paris (5 Avenue de l’Opéra; 01 42 60 77 02; open until 5am) or La Flèche d’Or (102 bis Rue de Bagnolet; 01 44 64 01 02), a converted Métro station that had its first flush in the late 1990s and now has a second wind under new owners, based on its eclectic and adventurous music programming. Similarly revitalised is a venue set in former Turkish baths, Les Bains Douche (7 Rue du Bourg l’Abbé; 01 48 87 01 80). Its glory days go back to the 1980s, but it is on the map again, especially for a predominantly gay clientele at the weekends.

If you want to add a sedate coda to your long night, Le Tambour (41 Rue Montmartre; 01 42 33 06 90) is an allnight bar with a transport theme – bus-style slatted benches, bar stools made from bus-stop signs – that attracts Paris’s regular nighthawks. Friendly and less frenetic than the places recommended above, it also serves dinner until about 3.30am.

All that remains, before you slump onto your train home, is breakfast. To mop up last night’s excesses, head for Les Halles, where the market may be gone, but Au Pied de Cochon (6 Rue Coquillière; 01 40 13 77 00) still runs as it has since 1946. That means round the clock, and ready to feed starving porters and peckish night owls with everything from onion soup to pig’s trotters.

GETTING THERE

By train: see panel, right. By plane: there are direct flights to Paris from 21 UK and Irish airports. Airlines include Air France (0870 142 4343, www.airfrance.co.uk), British Airways (0870 850 9850,www.ba.com), EasyJet (www.easyjet.com), Flybe (0871 522 6100, www.flybe.com), Jet2 (0871 226 1737, www.jet2.com), Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com) and Aer Lingus (0870 876 5000, www.aerlingus.com; in Ireland, 0818 365000).

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