Paris, center of global overtourism. Fancy going? If so, minimize your impact, use public transit and avoid getting sucked into crowded situations with your fellow visitors. Going off-season still helps but off-season isn’t as off as it used to be.

Let’s start with some basic ideas:

Try the East. Paris is organized into neighborhoods (the Arrondisements), sequentially numbered in a clockwise spiral. The 10th-11th are northeast and east of the center, running from around the Gare due Nord through Place de la Republique south to Place de la Bastille. These are regular neighborhoods with plenty of local amenities, great restaurants and good markets.

You’re also quite close to Gare de Nord, which takes you on rail routes north and is convenient for the train accessing Charles de Gaulle airport. You are also just east of the Marais, which is an interesting if post-hip windy medieval neighborhood, and a short metro ride south to the Left Bank areas.

Place de la Republique gets it’s share of demonstrations and there is usually something going on. In 2015, it was piled with lit candles after the Bataclan terrorist attacks, in 2019, it was the turn of Algerian residents to suggest a change of their government.

There are plenty of good markets to pick up stuff in the neighborhood either for lunch in a park or to bring home – try the Marché Popincourt along Rue Richard Lenoir north of Rue Oberkampf; further south, the Bastille market along Rue Richard Lenoir north of Place Bastille; or just west in the Marais, the Marché Des Enfants Rouges, Rue de Bretagne, 75003.

The Metro is your Friend. The Paris metro gets you around the central part of the city in about 20 minutes – if you like to walk, and you should, just buy a 10-ticket pack for about 15 Euro at the vending machines by most of the entrances. In short, you don’t need to be near what you want to see. There are a lot of quirky and ironic posters to distract you around the metro:

Avoid the High Points. You can always save the Louvre, Eiffel Tower or Montmartre for another time, or never, but in doing so you avoid heavy traffic. Having said that, the Sacré-Cœur cathedral at the top of Montmartre is a funky pile, completed as recently as 1914, and you get a good view. It just depends how much you like tourist trams.

But enough of the caveated negativity. Here are some ideas of things to do.

Atelier des Lumières, 38 Rue Saint-Maur. A former 19th Century factory, the Atelier hosts great sound and light events. The Van Gogh exhibit running through 2019 is worth seeing, but book ahead, online. https://www.atelier-lumieres.com/en/home

Monsieur Matthieu, 101 Rue du Chemin Vert is a good place to get lunch nearby.

Gare Musée d’Orsay, 1 Rue de la Légion d’Honneur. If you want to see just one art exhibit, go here for the most comprehensive collection of 19th-20th century French art worldwide. It will likely be very busy although it appears to cool off mid-afternoon onwards. As ever, you can book ahead online.

Centre Pompidou, Place Georges-Pompidou. Easily sighted as a 1970s-era big square building with structural frames and mechanical/electrical systems placed outside the building, it houses the National Museum of Modern Art. If you are limited to just two art exhibits, make this your second. The Louvre isn’t going anywhere.

Grand Palais, 3 Avenue du Général Eisenhower. This hosts periodic exhibitions rather than being a permanent display. They can be pretty cool. The history student in me enjoyed Rouge – Soviet art and culture, which is running in 2019.

Petit Palais. Opposite the Grand Palais, and worth a pass through with free entry, and there is a good selection of mainly French art through the ages.

Musee de Cluny, 28 Rue du Sommerard. This is a medieval art museum, however the real treat is in the basement, to see some well-preserved 3rd Century Roman baths. Paris developed as a major city of Roman Gaul, but there are few significant remaining structures, in part because of constant redevelopment from the medieval era onwards, when there was less compunction about demolishing ancient buildings and re-using the materials. In contrast, Rome has a ton of preserved structures in part owing to depopulation after the implosion of the Roman Empire, not seeing its imperial level of about a million inhabitants restored until the early 20th century.

The Left Bank.  The Left Bank, located in the 6th Arrondissement, is anchored by the Paris-Sorbonne University area and is a general place of residence for it’s prolific intellectual class and student population, as well as various literary migrants such as Samuel Beckett, Ernest Hemingway, etc. It’s just a nice place to walk around. Most US-based literature undergrads will make a beeline for Shakespeare & Sons, a 1920s-era English language bookstore, so skirt round that. There are plenty of unironic specialty bookstores, many catering to academics on most subjects under the sun, whether it be run by Russian emigres pining for the Tsar or offering technical documents in Brazilian Portuguese.

Logistics

Paris has excellent public transit – walk for the view and then take the metro or the regional transit rail (RER) for speed. If you arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG), the RER journey is about 20 minutes to Gare de Nord for a bit over 10 Euro one-way. You can purchase a multi-day travel card although if you are walking a fair bit then a 10-pack of tickets (a carnet) is about 15 euro. RER and metro tickets are interchangeable within the (Zone 1) city area, so if you are planning to day trip out to Versailles or Vincennes, it’ll be a specific RER ticket. This website is helpful https://www.ratp.fr/en/

The Paris Pass. This is rather useful if you plan to cram a lot in a shorter visit, as it covers or discounts museum entry and the metro, as well as providing fast track entry to some of the busier museums such as the Louvre and the Orsay https://www.parispass.com/how-it-works/. There are also museum and attractions-only variants and it comes in 2, 3, 4 or 6 day versions.

Catering. No shortage of good places to go, obviously. Places visited in the east along bistro lines included Le Baratin, 3 Rue Jouye-Rouve; Chez Janou, 2 Rue Roger Verlomme; Bistrot des Vosges, 31 Boulevard Beaumarchais; and Café de l’Industrie, 16 Rue St Sabin. All had great French standards without being fussy about it. There are plenty of good West African restaurants in the area, including Le Village, 86 Avenue Parmentier and the Waly-Fay Senegalese Restaurant, 6 Rue Godefroy Cavaignac.

Craft Beer. This is now a thing in Europe and of course needs careful reporting. France is a little behind compared to the Italians but there are decent outlets featuring mostly French craft beer, in the eastern part of the city, including:

Le Fine Mousse, 6 Avenue Jean Aicard: Roughly translated as “beer froth mustache” this place probably has the best selection and overall space to hang out in. Their sister restaurant of the same name, which aims to pair food with beer, is nearby.

Hoppy Corner, 34 Rue des Petits Carreaux: Another comprehensive selection although a bit of a sweatbox in the main rear sitting area.

Les Berthrom, 35 Boulevard Voltaire: Excellent mostly Belgian draft selection with a great bottle menu and a kitchen available. A few non-Belgians on tap as well.

Le Trois 8, 11 Rue Victor Letalle: Smaller selection and a small space but worth a visit.

Express de Lyon, 1 Rue de Lyon: Belgian-focused with a food menu, right opposite the Gare de Lyon.