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TRANSPORT: GARE DU NORD, GARE DE L’EST & RÉPUBLIQUE

Bus Gare de l’Est for 30 to Barbès, Pigalle, Place Clichy, Parc de Monceau, place des Ternes, place de l’Étoile & Trocadéro, for 31 to Barbès, Château Rouge, 18e arrondissement Mairie, Batignolles & place de l’Étoile, for 32 to Rond Point des Champs Élysées, av Champs-Élysées & Passy, for 39 for Palais Royal, St-Germain, rue de Sèvres & Porte de Versailles, for 47 for Centre Pompidou & Châtelet

Metro & RER Château d’Eau, Gare de l’Est, Gare du Nord, République, Strasbourg St-Denis

Train Gare de l’Est, Gare du Nord

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PORTE ST-DENIS & PORTE ST-MARTIN Map

cnr rue du Faubourg St-Denis & blvd St-Denis, 10e; Strasbourg St-Denis

St Denis Gate, a 24m-high triumphal arch, was built in 1673 to commemorate Louis XIV’s campaign along the Rhine. On the northern side, carvings represent the fall of Maastricht in the same year (note the gilded fleur-de-lys).

Two blocks east is a similar arch, the less impressive, 17m-high Porte St-Martin (St Martin Gate) at the corner of rue du Faubourg St-Martin and blvd St-Denis. It was erected two years after Porte St-Denis to commemorate the capture of Besançon and the Franche-Comté region by Louis XIV’s armies.

MUSÉE DE L’ÉVANTAIL Map

01 42 08 90 20; 2 blvd de Strasbourg, 10e; adult/student/senior €6/3/4; 2-6pm Mon-Wed; Strasbourg St-Denis

Big fans of this museum, we always find it almost impossible to walk by without checking in on our favourite items – screen, folding and brisé (the kind with overlapping struts) fans. Around 900 of the breeze-makers are on display, dating as far back as the mid-18th century. The small museum is housed in what was once a well-known fan manufactory, and its original showroom, dating from 1893, is sublime. It’s open every weekday during the school holidays.

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MÉNILMONTANT & BELLEVILLE

Drinking; Eating

A solidly working-class quartier with little to recommend it until the 1990s, Ménilmontant, which shares the 11e arrondissement with Bastille, now boasts almost as many restaurants, bars and clubs as the Marais, especially along rue de Ménilmontant. On the other hand, the inner-city ‘village’ of Belleville, centred on blvd de Belleville in the 20e to the east, remains for the most part unpretentious and working class – though that too is changing – and is home to large numbers of immigrants, especially Muslims and Jews from North Africa and Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese from Indochina. For the most part, the 20e arrondissement has retained its working-class character. The city centre is far away, the Eiffel Tower but a beacon on the horizon; this Paris is rough and rebellious, friendly and alive. The multicultural tone of rue de Belleville and rue de Ménilmontant is amplified by blvd de Belleville, blvd de Ménilmontant and blvd de Charonne. The air is filled with the aroma of coriander, saffron and cumin, and the exotic sounds of African and Asian languages. A colourful, abundant market spills out over the footpaths of blvd de Belleville.

PARC DE BELLEVILLE Map

Couronnes

A few blocks east of blvd de Belleville, this lovely park occupies a hill almost 200m above sea level, set amid 4.5 hectares of greenery. Little known by visitors, the park (which opened in 1992) offers some of the best views of the city. The Maison de l’Air ( 01 43 28 47 63; 27 rue Piat, 20e; admission free; 1.30-5.30pm Tue-Fri, to 6.30pm Sat & Sun Mar-Oct, to 5.30pm Tue-Sun Nov-Feb; Pyrénées) stages temporary exhibitions related to ecology and the environment.

MUSÉE ÉDITH PIAF Map

01 43 55 52 72; 5 rue Crespin du Gast, 11e; admission free; by appointment 1-6pm Mon-Wed, 10am-noon Thu; Ménilmontant

Some 1.5km from the birthplace of the iconic chanteuse Édith Piaf (Click here) and closer to her final resting place in the Cimetière du Père Lachaise, this museum follows the life and career of the ‘urchin sparrow’ through memorabilia, recordings and video.

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TRANSPORT: MÉNILMONTANT & BELLEVILLE

Bus Rue de Ménilmontant