Google
Web City Travel Guide   
 ->   ->   -> 

Paris travel guide — Paris tourism and travel information

Welcome to Paris Travel Guide, extensive source of tourist information and travel services offer related to Paris and France. Book cheap hotels, cheap flights and get car rental. We also offer Paris travel guide books and maps and atlases. Please visit France travel guide for more travel and tourism iformation and attractions in the France.

our Paris travel guide — Paris tourism and travel information content

  1. Paris travel and tourist guide
  2. Paris travel services
  3. Paris travel books

latest Paris and France discussion posts

Join our comprehensive travel discussion board! Share your Paris and France travel experience! Our Ask and Answer forum is geographically divided, the team of editors world-wide is ready to answer your questions.

Paris travel guide

search in books:  

Search discount Paris travel books in all books. You can also browse and buy directly Paris city guide and France travel guide books, Paris maps and France maps and atlases.

about Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city of France. The city is built on an arc of the River Seine, and is thus divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank to the south. The river is well known for its tree-lined quais (walks along the river banks), open-air bookstalls and historic bridges that connect the Right and Left banks. Paris is also famous for its tree-lined boulevards such as the Champs-Élysées, and for its many architectural gems.

The city has about 2 million residents (1999 census: 2,147,857). The Greater Paris metropolitan area (in French: aire urbaine de Paris) has about 11 million residents (1999 census: 11,174,743).

The name of the city is pronounced like pah-ree in French, but many Anglophones pronounce it pay-riss.

Paris geography

The city of Paris itself is only approximately 105 square kilometres (41 square miles) in size. Paris is located at 48°52' North, 2°19'59" East (48.866667, 2.333056).

The altitude of Paris varies, with several prominent hills :

Paris history

The name of the city comes from the name of a Gallic tribe (parisis) inhabiting the region at the time of the Roman conquest.

The historical nucleus of Paris is the Île de la Cité, a small island largely occupied by the huge Palais de Justice and the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. It is connected with the smaller Ile Saint-Louis (another island) occupied by elegant houses built in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Paris was occupied by a Gallic tribe until the Romans arrived in 52 BC. The invaders referred to the previous occupants as the Parisii, but called their new city Lutetia, meaning "marshy place". About fifty years later the city had spread to the left bank of the Seine, now known as the Latin Quarter, and had been renamed "Paris".

Roman rule had ceased by 508, when Clovis the Frank made the city the capital of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks. Viking invasions during the 800s forced the Parisians to build a fortress on the Ile de la Cité. On March 28, 845 Paris was sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collected a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. The weakness of the late Carolingian kings of France led to the gradual rise in power of the Counts of Paris; Odo, Count of Paris was elected king of France by feudal lords while Charles III was also claiming the throne. Finally, in 987 Hugh Capet, count of Paris, was elected king of France by the great feudal lords after the last Carolingian died.

During the 11th century the city spread to the Right Bank. In the 12th and 13th centuries, which included the reign of Philip II Augustus (1180-1223), the city grew strongly. Main thoroughfares were paved, the first Louvre was built as a fortress, and several churches, including the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, were constructed or begun. Several schools on the Left Bank were organized into the Sorbonne, which counts Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas among its early scholars. In the Middle Ages Paris prospered as a trading and intellectual centre, interrupted temporarily when the Black Death struck in the 14th century. Under the reign of King Louis XIV, the Sun King, from 1643 to 1715, the royal residence was moved from Paris to nearby Versailles.

The French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Many of the conflicts in the next few years were between Paris and the outlying rural areas.

In 1870 the Franco-Prussian War ended in a siege of Paris and the Paris Commune, which surrendered in 1871 after a winter of famine and bloodshed. The Eiffel Tower, the best-known landmark in Paris, was built in 1889 in a period of prosperity known as La Belle Époque (The Beautiful period).

In late August 1944 after the battle of Normandy, Paris was liberated when the German general Dietrich von Choltitz surrendered after skirmishes to the French 2nd Armored Division commanded by Philippe de Hauteclocque backed by the Allies.

Historical population

Metropolitan area of Paris:

(it should be noted that the limits of the metropolitan area vary year after year, furthermore only the last two data are official as provided by the French national statistics office INSEE, the other data are just estimates compiled from several sources)

Near cities to Paris


Near webcams to Paris


back to top

Paris travel services

choose from our international travel services offer:

cheap flights to Paris

City Travel Guide is exclusive partner of four main cheap airline tickets and cheap flights online booking systems. We are happy to offer cheap airline tickets Paris, cheap flights Paris, also available cheap airline tickets to France and to the whole world. Up to date cheap flights Paris deals also available.

cheap Paris hotels

City Travel Guide is exclusive partner of main cheap hotels and accommodation online booking systems. We are happy to offer cheap hotels in Paris, France hotel guide and cheap hotels and accommodation in lot of other world-wide destinations. Up to date cheap Paris hotel deals and discount accommodation tips also available.

cheap Paris vacations

City Travel Guide is exclusive partner of main cheap vacations online booking systems. We are happy to offer cheap vacations in Paris, France vacation rentals and cheap vacations in lot of other destinations world-wide. Up to date Paris vacation deals also available.

cheap car rentals in Paris

City Travel Guide is exclusive partner of main car rentals online booking systems. We are happy to offer car rentals in Paris, car hire in France and cheap car rental in lot other world-wide destinations. Up to date cheap Paris car hire deals also available.

Paris travel insurance

City Travel Guide is exclusive partner of Essential Travel Ltd., leading online travel insurance company, we can offer you health travel insurance for Paris, accident health Paris travel insurance, all using our online Paris travel insurance form. We also offer travel insurance for other cities in France. This offer is available for UK residents only.

Paris real estate

City Travel Guide comes with Paris real estate guide with several tips on home valuation, realtors comparison, secrets on finding the "right" home, loans guide and other helpful real estate advices. Our partners also maintain Paris property for sale and rental listings, real estate laws and reviews. We will try to help you with buying property in France, choosing real estate agents, property finders, relocation help, and information for English speakers wanting to buy real estate in Paris.

back to top

Paris travel books

Paris travel guide books

search travel guide books:  

Paris maps and atlases

search maps and atlases:  
back to top

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Paris".

Copyright © 2004 City Travel Guide Team. All rights reserved. | contact us | sitemap | links | XHTML and CSS