City trip: Paris from above

City trip City Trip: Paris from above

We don't want to look down into her belly, but up at her head. Then we look down and realise: Mon dieu, what a great city! Ten sublime tips for that special view

4th arrondissement:

Three euros at the Centre Georges Pompidou doesn't buy you admission to a museum, but it does buy you a view from the sixth floor, including access to the outdoor terrace. Like a futuristic worm, the escalators cling to the façade of this pilgrimage site for contemporary art lovers and lift visitors out of the alleyway canyon. Thanks to the glazed walls, one already enjoys the ascent (Place Georges Pompidou, www.centrepompidou.fr, 11-21 h, closed on Tuesdays).

387 steps behind you, fierce demons beside you and a diva at your feet: a dream view from the Church of Notre-Dame.

© Heiko Meyer/laif

5th arrondissement:

While the greats of the Grande Nation rest eternally in the foundation of the Panthéon, the living are surprised by a panoramic view 206 steps skywards. The guided tour to the heights takes three quarters of an hour with three stops. The last stop below the glorious dome is the most rewarding: the city's defining buildings wink between the columns. Because the church stands on a hill, it is hard to believe the guides that the height of the vantage point is only 35 metres (Place du Panthéon,

www.monuments-nationaux.fr; daily 10am-6pm; 8 euros; climb only in summer). Seen from the roof of the Institut Du Monde Arabe, the nearby Notre-Dame Cathedral poses at shoulder height (info on the free climb to the south tower: www.notredamedeparis.fr ). The institute, which French star architect Jean Nouvel gave its original oriental ornamental façade, is a library, museum, bookshop and Lebanese restaurant all in one - and, located directly on the Seine, builds bridges to the Arab world (Rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard 1, www.imarabe.org; 10 am-6 pm; closed Mondays).

8th arrondissement:

To take in the full length of the Champs Elysées, the city's most famous street, visitors have to do something: the spiral staircase to the roof of the Arc de Triomphe counts 284 steps. On the way, there's a history lesson on screen in the hall of the Attica, from the terrace the view falls on the twelve avenues aligned in a star shape (Place Charlesde- Gaulle, www.monuments-nationaux.fr,

9 euros; daily from 10 am). From the old Arc de Triomphe, you can also see its modern counterpart in La Défense, the Grande Arche - a huge arch made of glass and marble, but you can't climb it.

9th arrondissement:

The climb is tempting and the view from the "Déli-Cieux" restaurant on the roof of Printemps is free - provided you resist the products of the noble department stores' on the way. If you look closely, you will discover not only the Sacré-Coeur church on its hill and the usual Parisian giants Tour Montparnasse and Eiffel Tower, but also the Arc de Triomphe rising from the sea of houses on the Champs Elysées (Boulevard Haussmann 64, tel. 0033-1- 42 82 62 76, www.printemps.com).

15th arrondissement:

The Tour Montparnasse is not beautiful, but at 210 metres it is so high that the metropolis mutates into a cute toy town in just 38 seconds. That's how fast the lift races to the 56th floor. The last three floors of the colossus from the early seventies have to be climbed via a staircase, but in return, Paris lies at your feet on the open-air terrace. Suitable for the screensaver: the photo of the sunset (Rue de l'Arrivée, www.tourmontparnasse56.com, daily 9.30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; 11 euros).

19th arrondissement:

At first glance, the steepest public garden in the city with its artificial grottos and waterfalls looks like an amusement park for tourists. But walk to the vantage point of the Parc des Buttes Chaumont and you'll soak up the indispensable tranquillity in the middle of the hectic city like hundreds of Parisians (Rue Manin, daily from 7 am).

20th arrondissement:

Belleville, the "beautiful city" in the northeast, has been "branché", i.e. hip, for some time now - among Parisians and holidaymakers alike. The Parc de Belleville is considered one of the highest green spaces in the French capital, and at its top, on the roof of the Maison de l'Air (the museum is dedicated to air pollution, among other things), one understands how the neighbourhood got its name. On warm days, the soundscape resembles that of an open-air swimming pool. Children frolic in the waterfall-like fountain, while adults occupy every green spot with their picnic blankets or stroll in the shade of the bamboo bushes (Rue Piat 27, closed on Mondays).

From the café terrace of the alternative cultural centre La Bellevilloise, the view is not of towering tourist magnets but of the backyards of a district undergoing rapid change. And of thousands of chimneys growing out of the stone surroundings like an army in rust-red armour (Rue Boyer 19, www.labellevilloise.com, terrace closed in winter).

#Topics

• Paris

• France

• Travel tips

• City breaks