Last weekend, my boyfriend, Nic, and I travelled to Paris for a belated 21st birthday celebration.
Despite the baltic weather, January actually turned out to be a great time to visit the city as flights were cheap, nowhere was too busy with tourists and, most crucially, it gave us something to look forward to during the post Christmas/Hogmanay blues. If you are more inclined to warm weather holidays (like Nic) I would maybe recommend visiting in the spring time or late summer, but for me, the clear, cold January weather was no problem.
Where to Stay
Nice hotels in Paris (even in January) are not cheap. Luckily, for the budget-conscious traveller, the city is chock-full of quaint little Airbnb’s and self-catered apartments. We found a cute little studio apartment on the edge of Le Marais area and it was the perfect base for our weekend.
Le Marais was described to me by a friend as cute, hipster, and full of good veggie options and speakeasy bars. It didn’t disappoint.
This area is filled with street after street of gorgeous bistros, cafes and bars, there is somewhere enticing on every corner. Also in this region is the famous Pompidou centre, a modern and contemporary art museum that is well worth a visit. You are a stones throw away from the trendy Canal St Martin as well, an area which has been dubbed ‘the new left bank of the Seine’.
Where to Eat
I have to admit, we actually didn’t do so well on this front and struggled to find many decent veggie options. If you have any dietary requirements I would recommend doing a little extra homework before you get there as I am sure there are many gems that we missed out on.
Our first night we ate at a vegan French restaurant recommended to me by a friend, Le Potager du Marais. I had the seitan bourguignon and Nic had grilled veg and tofu with quinoa. It was a treat to eat a veggie friendly version of one of my favourite french dishes but the seitan was actually a little tasteless and dry. Nic complained that he could have made his dinner easily at home, to which I pointed out that perhaps he should have ordered more adventurously. In all, this place was ok but not as wonderful as all the reviews I had read about it online.
For breakfast the French are big on pastries and coffee, don’t expect to see many fry-ups or Eggs Benedict on menus around the city. Near our apartment was Le Petit Parisien, a boulangerie where I bought the most delicious pan au chocolat that has ever crossed my tastebuds. It was flaky on the outside, buttery and soft on the inside with the perfect chocolate to pastry ratio. Paired with a black coffee, it was the most perfect start to the day.
Nic, however, is more of a savoury breakfast kind of guy so on our last day we were on the search for eggs. We ended up in Cafe Charlot which, apart from the insanely loud refurb happening right beside us in the middle of the busy restaurant, was the perfect breakfast spot.
Nic went for the 15€ breakfast combo (I can’t remember the name in French) which included a coffee or tea, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, a pastry of your choosing, toast with jam and a boiled egg. I had a pan au chocolat (not as good as Le Petit Parisien I have to say) and some scrambled eggs. There were plenty of other options on the menu and I imagine this would be a great spot to stop at any time of the day!
If you are after a little more choice, right across the street is the Marché des Enfants Rouge, the oldest covered market in Paris.
What to Do
After the stress and trauma of our attempt to see the whole of Rome in an afternoon during our summer holiday, we decided to take a more relaxed approach to Paris. Instead of trying to cram in all the top touristy spots, we decided to focus on a few areas that we wanted to explore and wander aimlessly through the streets.
On our first morning we wandered down south of the river, past the battered and beautiful Notre-Dame to the bookworm’s mecca that is Shakespeare and Co. This quirky bookshop has become so notoriously popular that it risks losing some of its charm as tourists swarm through its belly (they even had a bouncer on the door).
But, stepping upstairs, Nic and I found ourselves surrounded by shelves stacked with dusty secondhand books and readers nestled in various nooks and crannies as a passerby sat down to try his hand on the old piano. Even the tourists clambering up the stairs couldn’t ruin the small moment of peace that settled on us all as he started to play and everyone quietened down.
Shakespeare and Co. is worth a visit even if only to learn the story of its original owner, Sylvia Beach, who is credited with publishing Joyce’s Ulysses when no one else would touch it and supporting the great names of 20th Century English literature.
We then wandered on to Cafe de Flore, previously the favourite haunt of philosophers and artists, now a bustling cafe of clueless tourists and well-manicured locals. Here Nic and I enjoyed a café viennois in the shadow of his heroes before heading back across the river to the Eiffel Tower.
Montmartre
The next day we headed up to Montmartre and the Sacré-cœur. The views from this vantage point are indescribable (and slightly hazy thanks to heavy pollution I guess?) and the cathedral itself is surreal and imposing. We stepped inside to explore, but I have to admit – as blasphemous to the gods of architecture as it is – that I am not a fan of cathedrals and I’m very much of the opinion that once you have seen one glorious European cathedral, you have pretty much seen them all (the Sagrada Família excepted).
We headed round the corner to artist’s square where in the hunt for a sunny cafe where we could settle down to enjoy some red wine, french onion soup and people watching. Refuelled and refreshed we then wandered back down the hill and hopped on the metro towards the Louvre.
Sadly, I have no idea what the situation is now, but as of last weekend we were still part of the EU and as such we were granted free entry to the exhibitions. (EU citizens aged 18-25 can get into the Louvre for free). Totally overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the museum and equally in awe at the architecture as the art hanging on the walls, we had a whirlwind tour of some of the rooms.
I insisted that we couldn’t leave without first seeing the Mona-Lisa so we trekked our way to the other side of the building, through all the crowds only to find ourselves in the busiest room I have ever seen and glimpsing only snippets of Da Vinci’s masterpiece (we refused to queue for the pleasure).
We definitely could have packed a lot more into this trip if we had tried, but wandering the streets and stumbling upon hidden gems with no strict agenda in mind made for a far more relaxing experience. I recommend doing a little research before arriving to work out your must-sees and the areas that most excite you. Each day, set a general destination goal and let your feet take you there whichever way they like.
Let me know in the comments if you think we missed out on any wee Parisian gems and check out my other travel blogs here!