Three Days in Paris, in Three Acts

A good weekend in Paris is not measured by the number of monuments ticked off. It rests on a few things: a central address, days that leave room, dinners that are never rushed. We have laid it out like a play, in three acts, each centred on one neighbourhood. The city writes the rest.

Act I, Friday: the Palais-Royal and the passages

You arrive, set down your bags, open the windows. The first thing to do is go out with no particular aim.

Begin with the gardens of the Palais-Royal. The arcades, the lime-tree alleys, the Buren columns in the courtyard: there is no gentler introduction. A coffee at Café Kitsuné, in the gardens, then the Galerie Vivienne, its mosaic floor and its glass roof.

In the afternoon, walk down towards the Louvre without necessarily going in, or up towards the Opéra Garnier, whose façade alone is worth the detour. In the evening, Daroco, on rue Vivienne, in Jean-Paul Gaultier's former boutique, for a lively first dinner. You walk home.

Act II, Saturday: the Left Bank

Saturday belongs to the Left Bank. Start early at the Musée d'Orsay, in the former railway station, with the Impressionists: a morning is enough, as long as you choose your rooms.

Then on to Saint-Germain-des-Prés. A hot chocolate at the Café de Flore, where Sartre and Beauvoir wrote. The galleries, the publishers, the bookshops. A macaron at Pierre Hermé on rue Bonaparte. Then the Luxembourg garden, its green chairs and the Medici fountain, for an afternoon without a timetable.

Dinner can be grand, Restaurant Guy Savoy in the salons of the Monnaie de Paris, or simpler in a neighbourhood brasserie. Either way, book ahead; the concierge is glad to do it.

Act III, Sunday: the Marais

On Sunday, the Marais is alive when the rest of Paris slows down. Begin at the Place des Vosges, the oldest planned square in the city, under its brick and stone arcades.

Then walk up into the Upper Marais. The Musée Picasso, in the Hôtel Salé; the designer boutiques; the concept store Merci. At lunchtime, the Marché des Enfants Rouges, the oldest covered market in Paris, where you eat at the counter. For a farewell dinner in a Belle Époque setting, Bofinger, the great brasserie near the Bastille.

Before leaving, if an hour remains, walk along the Seine to the Pont Alexandre III, the most ornate bridge in Paris.

Why an apartment, even for three days

Because a weekend is also lived between outings. A living room to set down what you bought, a kitchen for a late breakfast, separate bedrooms if you travel as a group. Our apartments, chosen in the heart of Paris, are all air-conditioned and designed so that you feel at home from the first evening.

The concierge prepares the weekend in advance: the Friday and Saturday tables, an airport transfer, a last-minute request. Stay in the city, not in a hotel.

To choose your base, browse the collection and our neighbourhood guides, or read our piece on how many days to spend in Paris.

The ACT 3 Team