Are you looking for some different activities outside of the regular tourist traps? Well then, you're in the right place. Read all about my latest offbeat suggestions for visiting Paris, A.K.A the city of love. From vintage shopping to cool bars - here's the everything you need to know.
Photographs and words by Rosa Fairfield
Hotel Des Arts Bastille
Hotel Des Arts Bastille was the hotel I stopped in and I have to say I was impressed. It's towards the lower end of the budget but it's decorated in such a cool way. The lobby area has a huge mural painting and the various rooms have different ones too. The rooms are fairly standard but I just loved the cool arty atmosphere. I'm not one for super posh hotels, I tend to pick places that have character. I think I payed around £35 per night for the room.
CITY BREAK SHOPPING
Eiffel Tower Challenge
My latest Paris obsession is trying to snap as mainly different arty shots of the Eiffel Tower as possible. It's actually really fun, at one point I climbed up this very steep bank to try and take it with a blossom tree. It's surprising what interesting perspectives you can find by walking around the surrounding area and it's a great way to shake things up a little if you're travelling alone and want something to occupy yourself with.
Metro Challenge
Okay, so I was feeling a bit emotional one of the nights and I decided to go on a walk to shake it off. Only, me being a silly billy, I realised my phone had no charge in my phone and I'd been walking for over an hour completely not paying attention to wear I was going. So, yeah, I ended up completely lost. Luckily, I managed to navigate back by following the metro line. There we go... so I challenge you to do the same and try to get from two points, only by using the metro stops to navigate... again, this is actually a lot of fun.
Marais District
I've been to Paris around ten times now but this was this first time I visited this particular area. It's famed as being fashionable for it's hipster bars and boutiques, plus it's a big LGBTQ+ area. It's a really great area to wonder around with off-the-beaten track stores, you can often find really cool bits and pieces of graffiti art here too. It's a great alternative to Montmartre, which is honestly more shady than it is arty.
Here are some places to look out for:
Rue des Rosiers - great vintage shops and Jewish restaurants
Mansion de Victor Hugo - home to the famed author of Les Miserables
Le Braque - modern restaurant
Au Petit Versailles du Marais - when in Paris, you must eat as many baguettes as possible
Vintage Shopping
Kilo Shop is my main place to go for vintage shopping. They have a few stores dotted around and across Europe. The prices are pretty good compared to some other places I found. Everything is colour labelled and matched up to a price per kilo and then it's weighed. I'm particularly interested in 1980s dresses that are made in the 1950s shirt dress style. These were on the cheaper end of things and I picked a lot of them up at around 5 euros each. They were better than some of the ones I've found in the UK, as the fit was so good.
Midnight walk along the Seine
This reminds me of the film: Midnight in Paris. I've always loved walking along the Seine, it's so relaxing. There was hardly anyone there late of the evening in February as well but it's warm and peaceful. In the daytime there's sometimes music playing and people stop to have a little dance, there's other activities also. It's one of those off-beat things to do, if you want to avoid the tourist traps. It's great to sit by the water on Île de la Cité on a warm day too.
These are just my latest findings, I also have a Disneyland Paris Guide and you can read all about my last holiday to Paris (which turned into a bit of a disaster).