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IV began building the Place Royale (today’s Place des Vosges, the oldest square in Paris), which touched off a building boom, and the wealthy and fabulous moved in. Despite the odors—the area was one of the city’s smelliest—it remained the chic quarter until Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, trailed by dispirited aristocrats unhappy to decamp to the country. Here you can see the hodgepodge of narrow streets leveled by Baron Haussmann, who feared a redux of the famous barricades that revolutionaries threw up to thwart the monarchy. Miraculously, the Marais escaped destruction, though much of it fell victim to neglect and ruin. Thanks to restoration efforts over the past half century, the district is enjoying its latest era of greatness, and the apartments here—among the city’s oldest—are also the most in demand.

To the east, the hip Bastille—home turf of the French Revolution—still buzzes at night, but competition has emerged from gentrifying neighborhoods farther afield, notably the Canal St-Martin. Once the down-and-out cousin on the city’s northeastern border, the canal is now trend-spotting central, brimming with funky bars, cafés, art galleries, and boutiques.

TOP ATTRACTIONS IN THE MARAIS AND THE BASTILLE

Fodor’s Choice | Canal St-Martin.

The once-forgotten canal has morphed into one of the city’s hippest places to wander by day—and party by night. A good time to come is Sunday afternoon, when the Quai de Valmy is closed to cars and some of the shops are open. The 2.7-mi canal opened in 1825 between the Seine at the southern end at Place de la Bastille, and the Canal de l’Ourcq to the north. Baron Haussmann later ordered a mile-long stretch of it to be covered—this is today’s Boulevard Richard Lenoir—from Rue Faubourg du Temple to the Bastille. These days you can take a boat tour from end to end through the canal’s nine locks.

Canauxrama offers 2½-hour boat cruises through the locks (€15 adults). Check the Web site for times (www.canauxrama.com). | Embarkation is at each end of canal: at Bassin de la Villette, 13 quai de la Loire, La Villette or at Marina Arsenal, 50 bd. de la Bastille, Bastille | Station: Jaurès (northern end) or Bastille (southern end).

Musée Carnavalet.

If it has to do with Paris history, it’s here. This collection is a fascinating hodgepodge of Parisian artifacts and art, from the prehistoric canoes used by Parisii tribes to the furniture of the cork-lined bedroom where Marcel Proust labored over his evocative novels. You can get a great feel for the evolvement of the city through the ages thanks to scores of paintings. The museum fills two adjacent mansions, including the Hôtel Carnavalet, a Renaissance jewel that in the mid-1600s was home to the writer Madame de Sévigné, whose hundreds of frank and funny letters to her daughter offer an incomparable view of life during the time of Louis XIV. The museum gives a glimpse into her world, but the collection covers far more than just the 17th century. The exhibits on the Revolution are especially interesting, with scale models of guillotines and a replica of the Bastille prison carved from one of its stones. There is an amazing assortment of reconstructed interiors from the Middle Ages through the rococo period and into Art Nouveau—showstoppers include the Fouquet jewelry shop and the Café de Paris’s original furnishings. There is some information in English. | 23 rue de Sévigné, Le Marais | 75004 | 01–44–59–58–58 | www.carnavalet.paris.fr | Free for permanent collection, €7 for exhibits | Tues.–Sun. 10–6 | Station: St-Paul.

Musée Picasso.

This immensely popular museum closed in August 2009 for extensive renovations. Set to reopen in February 2012, the $43 million overhaul will double the museum’s display space to 21,500 square feet. | 5 rue de Thorigny, Le Marais | 75004 | 01–42–71–25–21 | www.musee-picasso.

Place de la Bastille.

Nothing remains of the infamous Bastille prison, destroyed more than 200 years ago, though tourists still ask bemused Parisians where to find it. Until the late 1980s, there was little more to see here