3 Days in Paris for Couples

Late breakfast on the terrace. Order coffee, croissant, sit. Skip the line photo-op. Watch Saint-Germain wake up.

Walk in through the south gate, find a green metal chair, sit for a while. The fountain at the centre is the photograph; the chairs are the point.

Browse the upstairs reading room. Buy a paperback, get it stamped. The Latin Quarter wraps around the shop; don't fight the tourist crowd, just step into a side street.

Small park beside Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre church, three minutes from Shakespeare and Company. The oldest tree in Paris is here. Quiet bench, view of Notre Dame across the river.

Reserve in the morning. Small Saint-Germain bistro. The gratin dauphinois is what you remember on the plane home. Dinner runs long here. Plan two and a half hours, like Parisians do.

Book the timed entry the night before. The upper chapel light is the reason you came; thirty minutes is enough. The line for walk-ups is not.

Cross the bridge from Île de la Cité. Wander the single main street, Rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île. Stop at Berthillon for an ice cream if it's open. The whole island is twenty minutes end to end.

The oldest planned square in Paris. Sit on a bench under the arcade, watch couples and old Marais regulars come and go. Lunch can be a sandwich from the corner; that's exactly the point.

Free museum about the history of Paris. Two hours, room after room of reproduced interiors and street signs. The guards will talk to you if you let them, and most days they want to.

Walk Rue des Francs-Bourgeois and Rue Vieille du Temple. Window shopping, a candle from Trudon if you're in the mood, a coffee at any of the small cafés. Let the Marais set the pace.

Classic French bistro back in the Latin Quarter. Onion soup, crème brûlée, a glass of wine. A waitress once called this combination 'classique' rather than boring, and she was right.

Take the funicular up if your legs are tired from days one and two. Sit on the steps, look out over the city, then go inside for ten quiet minutes. Save the climb to the dome for the afternoon return; the steps are the moment.

The painters' square. Touristy, yes; also one of the only places in Paris that still feels like the old Montmartre postcards. Walk through, don't sit; the cafés in the surrounding streets are better.

Late lunch at the bottom of the Montmartre hill. Bouillon Pigalle is loud, fast, and the prices look like a typo. Order the leeks vinaigrette, the bavette, the rum baba. No reservations; come off-peak.

Métro 12 from Pigalle to Concorde, walk five minutes. The most ornate bridge in Paris. Walk it twice, once each direction. The light from the gold lamps starts hitting around six in autumn and winter.

Walk along the Seine from Pont Alexandre III, about twenty-five minutes. Pick a spot on the lawn, sit, watch the tower hit the hour and sparkle. You don't need to go up; the view from below is the one you'll remember.

Métro 6 to Pasteur, change to 4 to Saint-Michel. End the trip back where day one started. Pick a small bistro on Rue Saint-Séverin or Rue Saint-Jacques and order whatever the chalkboard recommends. Long, late, French.