Paris...
The capital is bursting with activity. Openings of new venues follow the re-openings of old ones: the nave of the Grand Palais, Quai Branly, new megastores on the Champs Elysées... Creativity is in a ferment and the face of the city is being transformed. Paris is also a capital that offers an excellent lifestyle.
There is a wide range of accommodation options, lots of restaurants and plenty of different activities: you can take to the streets on a bicycle or on rollerblades, recharge your batteries in one of the parks and gardens, relax on Paris Plage (when the quays of the Seine are turned into a beach), follow the revellers in their thousand and one nights out...
* Not to be missed
- Eiffel Tower
- Notre Dame Cathedral
- Champs-Elysées
- Arc de Triomphe
- Opéra National de Paris
- Louvre
- Musée d'Orsay
- Pompidou Centre
- Montmartre and Opéra districts
- Inauguration of the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine
- Inauguration of the new Immigration museum
- Re-opening of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
- Inauguration of the new Arts premiers museum - Quai Branly.
NICE
It might be a cliché to say Nice has something for everyone, but the Côte d'Azur's cosmopolitan capital pretty much does.
Sure, sun seekers sip cocktails on parasoled lounges lining its polished pebbled shores, and kids splash in the azure sea, while bladers cruise the curved Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels) against a backdrop of fairy-lit palm trees flanking the promenade des Anglais.
But Nice is much more than just a place for fun in the sun. Art aficionados' must-sees include major museums. Archaeological buffs ruminate over the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Cemenelum. Flaneurs ferret out secret passages leading to narrow pedestrian laneways in the romantic old town, lingering over the sights and scents of the colourful flower and produce markets, and trawling for antiques. Festival fans descend for animated events. Gastronomes go gaga over finely prepared food, from chic little bolt holes to family-style French cooking and Michelin-starred cuisine. Barflies flit to the perpetually-buzzing watering holes, and hipsters hop between ever-emerging hotspots.
