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Travel Guide — France
Paris & Strasbourg
12 places · 7-stop walk
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Paris panorama
This guide covers the two French cities I spent real time in: Paris — where my saved spots cluster around the Invalides and Montmartre — and Strasbourg, the half-French, half-German cathedral city in Alsace.
The TGV connects Paris–Strasbourg in under two hours from Gare de l'Est, so Strasbourg works as an easy add-on to a Paris stay.
CDG and Orly both connect to the center by RER/express bus — the Paris Visite or a Navigo card covers all metros and buses.
High-speed trains run roughly hourly and take about 1h45 — Strasbourg’s old town is a 10-minute walk from the station.
Paris needs the metro between neighborhoods; Strasbourg’s entire center is inside a loop of canals and is fully walkable.
The Left Bank classics — start at the Invalides, cross to the Tuileries and Louvre, end at the Île de la Cité as the light drops.
Everything I visited and would send a friend to. Starred entries are the ones I'd put at the top of the list.
Paris 7e
Louis XIV’s 1670s veterans’ hospital crowned by the golden Dôme — Napoleon’s tomb lies beneath it, and the Army Museum is one of the world’s largest.
My saved pin was right at this entrance — the Rodin Museum is a 5-minute walk from here.
Paris 18e
The hilltop village crowned by the white domes of Sacré-Cœur — artists’ square at Place du Tertre and sweeping city views from the dome.
I pinned the esplanade approach — climb the dome for the panorama, skip the funicular queue.
Paris 7e
Rodin’s former workshop and mansion — The Thinker sits in the rose garden along with the Burghers of Calais, one of Paris’s most peaceful museums.
Strasbourg
The single-spired pink sandstone Gothic masterpiece — for 200 years the tallest building in the world, with an astronomical clock inside.
Strasbourg
The canals-and-timbered-houses quarter where millers and tanners once worked — covered bridges and the Vauban dam at its edge.
My saved pin was on Rue des Veaux right in this quarter.
Paris 1er
The world’s most-visited museum — the royal palace turned museum holding the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory and 35,000 objects.
Paris 7e
Gustave Eiffel’s 1889 iron lattice — 330 m tall with three levels; the best view of it is from the Trocadéro esplanade across the river.
Paris 1er
The formal gardens linking the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde — André Le Nôtre’s central allée, fountains and the two game-filled basins.
Paris
The riverside quays are pedestrianized between the Louvre and Notre-Dame — a walk along the banks passes the bouquinistes’ green book stalls.
Paris
The morning ritual — a counter espresso and croissant at any corner boulangerie. Best croissants: Du Pain et des Idées or a warm baguette sandwich anywhere.
Strasbourg
The traditional wine taverns serving tarte flambée (flammekueche), choucroute and local Riesling — look for the wooden-beamed ones near the cathedral.
Paris
The island where Paris began — Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle’s stained glass and the Conciergerie where Marie Antoinette was held.