London has its Underground and New York has its Subway. In contrast, Paris has its Metro and it is one of the best ways to navigate your way around the city. Also known as the Metropolitain, it runs a close knit network of lines all over Paris. This makes it supremely easy to get from place to place as you find your way to all the most famous (and not so famous) destinations that Paris has to offer.

It may help to know a few things about the Metro before you use it for the first time however. For example sixteen lines form the whole network, and they intersect at various places. Of the 384 stops that exist, just under one sixth of them are capable of transferring you to another line.

It makes sense to grab a map of the Metro system as soon as you arrive in Paris, regardless of how long you are staying there for. Most people cannot resist the experience of hopping on the Metro even if they could happily walk everywhere, and you may well feel the same. You can also check a copy of the map online before you go if you want to get ahead of the situation and familiarise yourself with the lines.

The network itself is very close knit and most stations are actually quite close to each other. This makes the network better to use if you are travelling over a longer distance, but it is always good to know you aren’t far away from a station. The map is easy to look at because all the lines are colour coded, so you just have to find out where it is best to change lines if you need to.

It is certainly an experience to try and navigate the lines on your own. Even if your French is a little rusty you should be able to use the colours and the names of the stations to find your route from A to B. And even if you get lost it all adds to the fun!

Paris is well known as a popular shopping destination. No matter what kinds of shops you care to look in, Paris is a popular choice for several reasons. Firstly it is very close to the UK while still offering all the allure of another country. Secondly it has lots of shops for you to browse round. And of course perhaps most importantly of all, it also offers plenty of other activities to get stuck into while you are away.

The most important thing to remember about shopping in Paris is that it doesn’t automatically require you to have a huge budget. There are certainly plenty of expensive shops you could go to if you wanted, but on the whole you will find that there are also other more accessible shops to enjoy as well.

As you may already know, Paris is split into several areas known as arrondissements. These are just specific areas of the city and there is no doubt that many of them are home to more expensive shops than others. The trick is to pick the right arrondissements to visit, so you can look forward to shopping in places that will suit your budget.

Ideally you should consider the kinds of shops you would like to visit before you even book your weekend in Paris. If you book the first thing you see you could find yourself in the midst of the more expensive shops, and miles away from the ones that would suit whatever cash you have to spend. Needless to say, a little planning before you go is the best way to ensure you book the most suitable shopping weekend for your needs.

To give you some food for thought, try the Boulevard Haussmann to get access to many of the big department stores Paris has to offer. The Avenue Montaigne is the place to find the designer stores, should you want to go to the very top of the clothing ladder. As you can see, Paris really does have everything you could possibly want from a European shopping trip.

Now most people wouldn’t automatically think of seeing a cemetery on their weekend away in Paris (or in any other location come to that). But in reality it is more than worth going to see the Montparnasse Cemetery, because it reveals a side of Paris you may otherwise miss out on.

It is here that so many famous names and figures from Parisienne history now lie. While cemeteries do not usually feature on lists of the best places to visit in any locale, you will find many other tourists respectfully walking around this one, purely because of the links it has with the city’s history. There are many famous people who have been laid to rest here, and some of them have a degree of fame that is known well beyond Paris itself.

For instance one of the Montparnasse Cemetery’s most famous residents would have to be Guy de Maupassant. The French writer wrote many short stories during his rather short life (he died aged 42 in 1893) and many of them are famous today. Elsewhere in the cemetery you will find the grave of Camille Saint-Saens, who composed Danse Macabre among other compositions.

The cemetery itself is an extremely large one and the prevalence of the famous residents here means that many tourists make a point of seeing it while they are in the city. The caretaker of the cemetery has a map which points out the graves of the most famous inhabitants, so you can more easily find those which interest you.

Not all cemeteries have the same depth of feeling as this one does. But as probably the most famous cemetery in Paris (if not all of France) it definitely begs a visit. Jean-Paul Sartre, Samuel Beckett and many others have all found their final resting places here.

The cemetery is easy to find as it is located in the Montparnasse area of the city. This is in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, to the south of the river and the city itself. Even if the idea of visiting a cemetery on a weekend away still feels strange, make sure you give it a try.

The great thing about visiting Paris is that you don’t have to book a whole week there if you don’t want to. It’s close enough to enable you to have a great time there if you only have a couple of days to spare. Imagine a long weekend spent in the French capital over a Bank Holiday for example, or perhaps just taking a day off on the Friday and travelling early so you can have three days there.

The best way to plan for a long weekend is to think about staying somewhere central. You don’t want to waste time travelling from place to place. With a well chosen location to stay in you will be just minutes from all the venues you would most like to see.

You should also think about the types of attractions you want to see. Will you be a traditional visitor with sights such as the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysees on your list of places to go to? Or will you make a list of alternative and more unusual sights to see?

Whatever you want to do while you are there, it’s a good idea to have some kind of plan prior to your visit. This will enable you to ensure you can get off to the best start when you arrive in Paris. It’s fine to head for your hotel room or accommodation to freshen up and make sure you are ready to explore, but you don’t want to spend hours there trying to figure out where to go. You want to make the most of the time you have in the city, so make sure you get overwhelmed by decisions before you go, so you don’t waste time upon arrival.

This trick also means you can enjoy the build up to your break even more than you would otherwise. With so much to see and do in the city you can decide whether you will be a traditional tourist or one who goes off the beaten track. Where will you be heading to once Paris beckons you?

Every city has some attractions that you may never have heard of until you actually arrive. But once you have seen them you wonder why they have not been better known or as famous as they should be.

One such example in Paris is Les Invalides, otherwise known as L’Hotel national des Invalides. The Musee de l’Armee is also in the same venue, so it is well worth seeing what you can of the location.

But what exactly is there to see?

The name of the location does reveal some clues as to what you can expect here. The venue was designed to be a hospital for war veterans’ way back in 1670 so it has been around for a long time. Part of it is still used for this purpose now, but it also houses a lot more that tourists can go and see as well.

It is also good value for money as one entry ticket actually covers five different venues to see. One of these is the Tomb of Napoleon I, which as you can imagine is a big draw for many people. He is not the only person to have a tomb at Les Invalides, but he does have arguably the best spot – right under the main dome itself.

The Musee de l’Armee – the Army Museum in English – has plenty to show you regarding the history of the French Army as well. In fact 2010 has been quite a year for the museum, as it signifies the end of a long program of renovation that has taken place over the space of several years. Therefore if you go now you will see the museum at its best. Look out for the saddle used by Napoleon III and some of the personal items used and owned by Napoleon Bonaparte as well.

As you can see there is a lot to enjoy here, so a full day is advisable. Don’t miss the Scale Models Museum or the Order of the Liberation Museum either; they’re all worth seeing and you will get a new understanding of the military history of France.

When you are visiting a city for the first time – or even if you have been there many times before – there is nothing that surpasses the view from above. The idea is to find one of the high points of the city so you can look down on it and see more than you would from street level.

We are rather spoilt for choice when it comes to Paris. There is the rather obvious prospect of the Eiffel Tower of course, but there is also the Tour Monparnasse to consider.

This is a skyscraper and while it may not be as tall as the famous Eiffel Tower, it still offers a superb view across Paris. Situated in the 14th arrondissement of the city, construction started in the late Sixties and was completed in 1972.

We should make it clear that opinions on the Tour Montparnasse have not exactly been divided over the years. While there are no doubt some people who have liked the building, there has been a definite lack of excitement and enthusiasm for it. In fact some people have said it is well worth going to the top because you cannot see the building from there!

We beg to differ in this respect. We think the journey is worth it because of the view you are allowed over the rest of Paris. See if you can spot the famous sights from the safety of the 56th floor, a floor that has been set aside for visitors. This enables you to see around all the sides of the building, giving a true 360 degree view.

The Tour Montparnasse may have been deemed ugly enough to ban all other similar skyscrapers from going up, but this has actually been a good thing. It has given us a superb view all around Paris without having lots of other skyscrapers in the way. We could still get a good view from the Eiffel Tower of course, but where else can you go up this high in the city and still see the Eiffel Tower itself?

It seems we have a lot to thank the Tour Montparnasse for after all.

There cannot be many people around today who haven’t heard of the Palace of Versailles. But your visit to the palace should not be restricted to the building itself. The Gardens of Versailles are just as fascinating – and unlike the palace they can be explored completely free of charge. This is ideal if you are on a budget and you’d like to stick to it.

But you should be aware of one thing. The word ‘gardens’ really does not even begin to cover what you will find here. You can spend hours wandering around and seeing everything, such is the scale on show. But then they do belong to the Palace of Versailles, so perhaps the gardens should be expected to be equally as grand. They cover a total of some 800 hectares, so make sure you’ve got some comfortable walking shoes on!

Over recent years and despite a destructive storm that took place back in 1999, the gardeners here have been busy replanting vast sections of the gardens. This work is ongoing and as you will see when you pay a visit, the gardens always look stunning and extremely well kept.

If you are still trying to get to grips with how big these gardens really are, consider this – there are some two hundred thousand trees here and a total of fifty different fountains. You could wander round all day and still not see everything, such is the grand scope and scale of the place.

You can see that the Gardens of Versailles are just as grand as the palace itself. Indeed if you are intending to see both you might be better served spending one day in the palace and coming back on a nice sunny day to see the gardens. At least this way you won’t feel rushed and end up missing lots of things.

You should also make the time to indulge in a couple of the walks that are available in the gardens. The Water Walk and the Bacchus and Saturn Walk are just two of the many options you have available to choose from.