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If you’re trying to buy property in Paris, it’s essential that you find a good agent – and build a good working relationship with them. Unlike so many of their counterparts in Britain and America, French estate agents command great respect in society, and are often highly valued by the communities they serve.

It’s certainly a heavily regulated industry - all French agents must hold a carte professionnelle. This is a licence from the French Government which confirms an agent’s qualifications and experience, and it’s a mandatory requirement for all practising agencies – in fact it’s illegal even to show clients around a property without holding a carte. If you’ve any doubts about your chosen agent’s abilities you can ask to see their carte professionnelle, and in fact you’ll find many agents display the licence openly on the walls of their office.

On the whole you can expect a more full, more personal service from a French agent than from their counterparts in the UK, and agents in France do hold a very central role throughout the purchase process. Accordingly, agency fees in France are higher than in the UK, often somewhere between 5% and 10% of the purchase price. In any case, these fees are almost always included in the price of the property, though it’s worth checking that there are no extra charges before you commit to purchase. 

Remember that French agents, even in Paris, work to different hours than you might expect, some closing for as long as two hours over lunchtime, and many will shut up shop throughout August – a month for Paris house hunters to avoid. And don’t expect agents to supply as much information on properties as you might be used to – the sizes of all houses, apartments and rooms are described in metres squared, so if this isn’t a measurement you’re familiar with it’s worth getting a sense for it before you head over. 

You can find estate agents in France through the website of the French National Association of Agents, the FNAIM: www.fnaim.fr. Alternatively, if you’d like advice in the UK, try FOPDAC (www.fopdac.com), now affiliated to the National Association of Estate Agents.

Addresses in Paris fall into one of twenty postcodes - one for each of the city’s twenty districts. All Paris postcodes (or zip codes, for our American audience) are made of 5 digits. The first three are always “750″, and the final two digits indicate in which of the twenty arrondissements the location can be found.

It’s fairly simple, really: a zipcode “75001″ would suggest a building in the heart of Paris, in the 1st arrondissement, while a code “75020″ would refer to a building in the eastern outskirts of the city, in the 20th arrondissement. Using this rule you can find the rough location of any Paris address just by looking at its postcode - or indeed work out the zip code if you know in which arrondissement the address can be found.

The only exception to this very simple rule comes with addresses marked ‘CEDEX’. The word cedex in a french address means that the location has it’s own individual postcode - most likely it’s a busy office, school or public building that receives lare quantities of mail - and thus requires it’s own code at the sorting office (the equivalent of the British ‘PO Box’ system). While foreigners unfamiliar with the French postal system might easily mistake it for a town in itself, CEDEX is in fact an abbreviation of the phrase “courrier d’entreprise à distribution exceptionnelle,” which in English translates as the rather less mysterious “Bulk mail system system for businesses users”.

While the postcodes of ‘cedex’ addresses might not follow the simple rules described above, all Paris postcodes, of every type, begin with the two digits ‘75′. Check out our Paris arrondissements guide if you’d like to know more about the city’s twenty districts - or click the city map in the sidebar.

The Louvre

The Louvre, perhaps the most famous art gallery in the world, dominates the centre of Paris. Some 35,000 works of art cram the long hallways and subterranean passageways of this 800 year-old royal fortress, which now inhabits more than a mile of the Right Bank’s central riverside. 

Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is the museum’s highlight (and worth seeing for its fame alone), and the legendary glass pyramid standing in the museum’s courtyard is photographic gold. But the Louvre is too much for many - too big, too busy, too full - and certainly it’s best enjoyed in short visits. The wealth of art and history on display rewards those who know what they want to see, but doesn’t try very hard to impress (or even educate) more casual visitors.

www.louvre.fr

Musee d’Orsay

Just across the river from the Louvre, and for more accessible than it’s bigger brother, stands the Musee d’Orsay. The Orsay is famous for impressionism - indeed, it it has one of the finest collections of Impressionist art in the world, including more Van Goghs, Monets and Seurats than you can shake a stick at.

Once a train station, the beautiful building still bears traces of it’s history, both inside and out. The adventurous can even grab a coffee in the restaurant that sits behind the giant eastern clockface - and enjoy impressive views over the Louvre, and northward over the city. Less famous than the Louvre, but almost certainly the museum you’ll most want to return to.

www.musee-orsay.fr

Pompidou Centre

Paris’ famous modern art gallery is a giant work of art itself - a building turned inside out, the Pompidou carries it’s brightly coloured pipes, cables and even it’s escalators on the outside. Visible from many parts of the city, the square at it’s base is often filled with street performers and artists, making it a vibrant gateway into the pubs and bars of the Marais district.

The building itself contains over 1300 works from classic modern artists, including Picasso, Dali and Braque, as well as regular exhibitions. It also houses the nation’s national film theatre, and one of the most youthful, accessible library and study spaces in the capital.

www.centrepompidou.fr 

Palais de Tokyo

The Palais de Tokyo is the most contemporary of all Paris’ art galleries - housed in a beautiful art deco mansion in the posh western arrondisements, it plays host to the most cutting edge travelling exhibitions and has a small permanent collection of it’s own.

Open from midday to midnight, the Palais de Tokyo will almost certainly offer something wacky to entertain (or indeed to shock) even the stuffiest of fine art lovers.

www.palaisdetokyo.com

Musee Picasso

He may have been a spaniard, but few artists are as linked to Paris as Pablo Picasso, who spent much of his life in the French capital.  More than 3000 of the man’s drawings, paintings and sculptures are collected here, most of them from Picasso’s own personal collection, and all are complemented and contextualised by works from his contemporaries - Cezanne, Degas and Matisse amongst them. 

The collection is housed in the Hotel Sale, built in the 17th Century and one of the finest historic mansions in the ancient (and lively) Marais district. If the art collections, from Picasso’s ‘blue period’, on to cubism and beyond fail to interest, the chance to explore the extravagant home of some of Paris’ richest aristocracy is well worth the cost of entry. 

www.musee-picasso.fr 

Musee Rodin

Several thousand bronze and marble sculptures from Paris’ most famous sculptor are collected together at the Musee Rodin, which sits in the shadow of the Invalides famous golden dome in Paris’ rich seventh arrondissement.

Amongst the most famous is a version of the iconic sculpture ‘The Thinker’, now resident in the museum sculpture garden, and an early, unfinished cast of the equally celebrated “The Kiss”.

www.musee-rodin.f 

Dali Museum

Eccentric spanish artist Salvador Dali made intellectual hang out Montmartre his home in the late 1920s - and a small building on the slopes of the hill, tucked away just off the Place du Tertre, now boasts a modest collection of his extravagant creations. It’s quite expensive, and targeted directly at the hordes of tourists visiting this most famous of Paris districts - but those in search of lobster phones, melting clocks and spindle-legged elephants will not come away disappointed.

http://www.daliparis.com/

For a city of its size, Paris is very short of green space - while the city is peppered with more than a hundred small public spaces, the gravel, pigeon-filled pathways that pass officially for ‘parcs‘ sometimes offer little rest from the dustry streets around them.

While Parisians in search of fresh air will often head outside of the city (to the Bois de Boulogne in the west or the Bois de Vincennes in the east) there are still a few unmissable locations within the city limits. Read on for the lowdown on some of the best known Paris parks - and for details of a few of the city’s lesser known hidden gems…

1) The Tuileries

This long, narrow park running west from the Louvre’s famous glass Pyramid offers one of Paris’ best views - the legendary vista straight up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe (almost a mile away) is interrupted only by the Ancient Egyptian obelisk standing at the centre of Place de la Concorde.

A stone’s throw from all of Paris’ central attractions - and featuring an old-school miniature boating pool at it’s heart - a promenade through this proudest of Paris green spaces is a must for every visitor to the city.

2) Jardin du Luxembourg

The Luxemburg Gardens make up by far the largest park on the Left Bank. The gardens’ long promenades take in chess players, tennis matches and games of boules, and in the summer fill with stands selling ice cream and candy floss - all in the shadow of the Pantheon’s giant dome, which stands just across the road amongst the cafes and bookshops of the Latin Quarter.

3) Champs de Mars

The Champ de Mars is a wide rectangular green space running south west from the very foot of the Eiffel tower - and is completely overshadowed by Eiffel’s enormous iron construction. One of the only parks in Paris with any significant lawn, the Champs is often over-run with coach parties and tour groups, but on a sunny day still makes the perfect spot to admire Eiffel’s handiwork - or to recover from a trip up the stairs of Paris’ most famous monument…

4) Palais Royale

Both the French Government’s Ministry of Culture and the classic Paris theatre the Comedie Francaise inhabit the buildings of the Palais Royale just across the road from the Louvre - and the pleasant, public garden at it’s centre often offers sculpture exhibitions that reflect the interests of the quarters intellectual residents.

One installation stands there permanently - Daniel Buren’s black and white pillars, standing above trickling subterranean streams, make the Palais Royale garden an intriguing oasis just a few steps off the busy Rue de Rivoli.

5) Promenade Plante

Running through the heart of the 12th Arrondissement, the Promenade Plantee might well be one Paris’ strangest Parks - once a train line, it’s now a pedestrian pathway lined with flowerbeds and hedgerows, raised high above the bustle of the streets, and beneath which boutiques and workshops nestle in the viaduct’s stone arches.

6) Parc des Buttes Chaumont

One of Paris’ nicest parks sits in one of its scruffiest neighbourhoods - the Parc des Buttes Chaumant in the 19th arrondissement boasts its own small lake, and the temple ‘folly’ that crowns it’s steep central hill offers impressive views down over the city.

Paris is hardly short of great nights out - you’ll find a bar or brasserie of one sort or another on virtually every street. All Parisians, both residents and visitors, have their favourite bars, and it’s not hard to come by recommendations. But far more useful than a name and an address is a sense of the best places to start finding favourites of your own.

On the whole, it’s in the western half of the city where you’ll find the classiest brasseries and clubs - and the eastern half where you’ll find the smallest, trendiest bars. Read on for a brief guide through Paris’ several nightlife hotspots - then ignore my recommendations and go looking for yourself…

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4th Arrondissement

The ancient district known as the Marais, centred on the 4th arrondissement, is peppered with small atmospheric restaurants and some of the capital’s best bars. Jazz clubs are something of a speciality, and you can find just a few examples around Rue des Francs Bourgeois and Rue Des Rosiers. Rue Vieille du Temple and Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie are both safe bets for those in search of decent small bars, and the wide square around the colourful Pompidou centre is always teeming with life - but don’t stay too close to the obvious locations; the Marais rewards a little exploration.

5th Arrondissement 

The 5th arrondissement is a popular student quarter - and it’s filled with cheap, fun bars as a result. Much of the drinking gets done just behind the Pantheon, where a young, noisy crowd hangs out in the streets running south of the tiny square at Place de la Contrescarpe, and there’s a literary vibe - both George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway lived near here in their youngest (and poorest) years. Late night crepes on Rue Mouffetard are a particular treat.

More central, and more touristy, is the narrow warren of streets that lead south east off the unmissable Fontaine St Michel, just across the river from Notre Dame. Centred around Rue De la Harpe and Rue de la Huchette, street after street is packed with small, mediterranean and middle eastern restaurants. There’s little of any great quality, and it’s all a little seedy, but the many bars do make for an easy night out…

8th Arrondissement 

While the road is utterly undeserving of it’s fame, you can still find a good night out around the Champs Elysees - you just have to know what you’re looking for. Drink on the main drag and you’ll pay a fortune for very little, but go searching for one of the clubs hidden in the northern side streets and you’ll have a better night all together…

10th Arrondissement 

The banks of the Canal St Martin boast several vibrant, popular brasseries. Stretching north from Place de la Republique, a handful of local cafes and bars cater to a young, trendy, very urban crowd. Summer nights by the canal - the bars spilling out onto the waterside - are just one of Paris’ many small pleasures. 

11th Arrondissement

The 11th arrondissement, a trendy district just east of the city centre, is something of a hotspot for clubs and bars. It’s nightlife centres around two locations: the Rue de Lappe area (a warren of streets just beyond Bastille)
- and further north Rue Oberkampf.

Rue De Lappe has been a popular nightspot as far back as the twenties, when it was a much seedier hang out. Along with the two streets it joins - Rue de Charrone and Rue de la Roquette, rue de lappe comes alive at night. Very popular, and increasingly touristy, but a lot of fun and easily accessed from all parts of the city.

The Rue Oberkampf area is slightly more obscure, and somewhat less touristy place to drink - and until a few years ago it was the epitome of Paris cool. While the trendy crowds have moved on elsewhere, the Oberkampf bars (running north east from Metro Parmentier) are still a lot more sophistocated than the bright lights of Rue de Lappe - here you’ll find a young and arty crowd drinking in artfully dishevelled cafes.

12th Arrondissement

Far off the tourist track, Cour St Emillion (at the metro station of the same name) is a series of old riverside wine warehouses now converted into a short pedestrian street lined with bars and brasseries. At its head stands one of the biggest cinema complexes in Europe - it’s certainly worth trekking out on metro line 14 for a drink and a film in this very pleasantly regenerated quarter.  

13th Arrondissement

The Butte aux Cailles is a small hill rising up near Place d’Italie, offering a small town atmosphere in what can be a very sterile quarter. Amidst the thirteenth’s giant tower blocks, it’s on the Butte that you’ll find the widest variety of drinking opportunities - head to the junction between Rue des Cinq-Diamants and Rue de la Butte aux Cailles and take it from there…

14th Arrondissement

Some of Paris’ best restaurants line the Boulevard de Montparnasse. Many of the anglo-american expats who settled in Paris during the twenties made this district their home, and more than a few of the brasseries claim to have been favourites of Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald and their compatriates. Le Dome, La Rotonde and La Coupole are the most famous survivors of this age, but make sure you’ve money in your pocket - this is large and fine brasseries territory, not a place for smaller, more atmospheric bars.

18th Arrondissement

Plenty of watering holes around the celebrated Montmartre area, though it’s very easy to get ripped off in this tourist-rich district.

Most obvious to visit are the many bars at the top of Montmarte’s famous hill. The small, picturesque square at its summit - Place du Tertre - and the narrow streets around are lined with brasseries of wildly varying quality. During summer months the place heaves with tourists, and service can be short (and expensive) - but head up off-season, when the place is nearly deserted, and it becomes very easy to spot some of the charm that attracted so many writer’s and artists during the quarter’s heydays in the early twentieth century.

Just off the hill’s western slopes, set back from the main tourist thoroughfare of Pigalle, lies the Abbesses quarter. North of the metro of the same name, those curious enough to wander away from the most popular montmartre spots will discover a pleasant and very down to earth residential district, with more than a few local bars - a good antidote to the hustle and bustle up the slopes.

Rowdiest of all are the bars and clubs along Pigalle, the rather scruffy northern boulevard that boasts the Moulin Rouge and countless other, seedier imitators and sex shops. The Moulin itself is a tourist trap, offering expensive packages to foreign coach parties, but there are plenty of other, better clubs - and along the boulevard’s eastern end lie the Cigalle, the Elysees Montmartre and the tiny Boule Noir, just three of Paris’ very popular gig venues.