Paris is never short of ideas - you just need to know where to look. Every week, we scour the capital to bring you 5 must-try experiences, ranging from restaurants and exhibitions to cultural outings and activities that make the city’s heart beat.
Diwali, the great festival of lights – celebrated by the Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities – will take place from 6 to 10 November, with a special focus on Sunday 8 November for Lakshmi Puja. It’s the perfect opportunity to discover Paris’s contemporary Indian restaurants, which are reinventing a colourful and generous cuisine centred on traditional dishes: dahls, curries, Scotch eggs, paneer and butter chicken…
A beauty influencer ahead of her time, a fashion icon, a self-made woman, a marketing genius, a patron and collector, the favourite amongst favourites, Jeanne du Barry forged her legend – as a lover – over two centuries ago with a unique talent. The exhibition “Jeanne du Barry: The Invention of a Favourite” showcases the many facets of her legacy through 150 objects and works commissioned from the greatest artists and craftsmen of the era: furniture, tableware, sculpture, architecture, jewellery, writings, and even the Chanel dress worn by Maïwenn in her film “Jeanne du Barry”. On display are paintings by Fragonard and Vernet commissioned by this great collector – proof that she put the astronomical sums allocated by her lover, Louis XV, to good use. The visit also offers the chance to discover a royal estate less well-known than Versailles, and its gardens – the château and guest pavilions were destroyed in 1806 – which offer a glimpse not only of the French kings’ delusions of grandeur, but also of the ingenuity of the era, notably through the model of the ‘Marly machine’, which supplied water from the Seine below to the splendid royal fountains and basins at both Marly and Versailles!
As he wanders through the Paris he loves so much, Jean-Paul Hévin, one of the capital’s greatest chocolatiers – and a Meilleur Ouvrier de France – introduces us to Gare de Lyon in his 2026 Advent calendar: an underrated monument, designated a ‘remarkable station’ by the SNCF for its architectural, historical and aesthetic value. This gourmet calendar showcases its Belle Époque architecture and its famous clock tower as seen from the Seine. To celebrate the Advent tradition in true style, each little window, from 1st to 24th December, offers a new chocolate to tide you over until Christmas: dark or milk chocolate, fine beans from Cameroon, Madagascar and Ecuador, spiced or fruity ganaches, pralines, and more. The trickiest part? Holding off until 1 December to stick to tradition, as the calendar itself is available in-store from 3 November…
Housed in a sumptuous private mansion dating from 1708 and listed as a historic monument, the new Fauré Le Page flagship store, designed by architect Jean de Gastines, spreads out over three floors and no fewer than seven rooms. The brand’s creative director, Augustin de Buffévent, has been reinventing this great house – founded in the 18th century – since 2009, guided by a slogan that has stood the test of time: “armed to seduce”. Formerly a maker of ceremonial weapons – in other words, the ‘arquebusier’ to kings and princes – Fauré Le Page has set up an archive room housing pieces from French history that are an absolute must-see. The brand’s collections feature high-end leather goods, characterised by its signature tortoiseshell pattern, as well as homeware and accessories. As you wander through the adjoining rooms, you’ll discover a space dedicated to games of skill that you can try out for yourself, and a library carefully stocked with works that mention this prestigious French house, from Pushkin to Chateaubriand, and from Musset to Balzac. Chic!
Saint-Roch Church is hosting a new immersive show featuring a monumental 3D video mapping projection, which transforms the building’s architecture into an animated work of art. On Friday and Saturday evenings, the evening show is enhanced by a choir and a live orchestra of around thirty musicians – the Ensemble Sequentiae, specialists in sacred music – which showcases the venue’s exceptional acoustics, under the baton of Mathieu Bonin, former choirmaster of Chartres Cathedral and conductor of the Béziers Méditerranée Symphony Orchestra. This musical and theatrical production (narrated in French) is a true journey through time, evoking a little of its own history whilst offering an overview of the history of French architectural genius. On 23 March 1653, Louis XIV laid the foundation stone of this church. Having become the parish church for the artists of the Louvre, it is home to the graves of the Sun King’s landscape architect, André Le Nôtre, the philosopher Denis Diderot and the playwright Pierre Corneille, amongst others.
