Favourite Hotels Outside Paris | Martin O'Brien | France, Ile-de-France, Paris

It is still possible to find real jewels in the Parisian countryside, private family chateaux which, while not strictly speaking hotels, are happy to accommodate guests

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The Erotic Museum, Paris | Jim Keeble | France, Ile-de-France, Paris

Start from the bottom and work your way up, said the woman at the ticket desk, without a hint of innuendo

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Barefoot in Paris | Stanley Stewart | France, Ile-de-France, Paris

For a romantic weekend in Paris, the Mermaid was appropriately inappropriate: beautiful, flighty, inconstant, in a word, a bombshell. I was always waiting for her to explode…

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Roller Skating in Paris | Jasper Winn | France, Ile-de-France, Paris

The hyper-active Boris had climbed onto a balcony to aim his loud-hailer at us. 'SKATE ENSEMBLE! SKATE VITE! OBEY THE POLICE! HAVE FUN!' And we were off. Downhill. Down a dark street

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Why Go To Paris? | Stanley Stewart | France, Ile-de-France, Paris

It is the genius of Paris that it lives up to so many of its own clichés. Romantic, sophisticated, bohemian, glamorous, artistic, seductive, Paris is diverse and generous enough to satisfy them all

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The Paris Flea Markets | Andrew Eames | France, Ile-de-France, Paris

Paris is different things to different people and when, on my umpteenth visit the other day, a friend was banging on about Paris being the city for markets... frankly, I harrumphed...

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Re of Light | Heidi Fuller-Love | France, Ile-de-France, Paris

Just three hours out of Paris on the high speed TGV, there's an island off the Atlantic coast which combines southern-hot sun with a seriously chic ambiance

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The Islands of Créteil | Annabel Simms | France, Ile-de-France, Paris

The last place on earth where you would expect to find four small islands, linked by footbridges, containing only old houses and country villas hidden by trees and encircled by riverside walks and weeping willows

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Ecouen | Annabel Simms | France, Ile-de-France, Paris

The château gradually rises into view as you approach it from the woodland path and is suddenly revealed in all its stateliness as you emerge onto the vast flat lawn at the top

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Ile Du Martin-Pecheur | Annabel Simms | France, Ile-de-France, Paris

Guinguettes are so called because le petit blanc, the modest but lively white wine of the Paris region they used to serve, made people giguet (ready to dance a jig)

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