A Trip to Paris
August 31, 2009 by 247 Travel Guides
Filed under Travel Tips
The City
Paris is the capital of France and the country’s largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France. The city of Paris has an estimated population of 2,167,994 (January 2006) but the Paris metropolitan area has a population of over 11 million.
Paris is today one of the world’s leading business and cultural centers, and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world’s major global cities. The city is home to a varied population, a genuine cultural wealth with a high proportion of students, young workers and elderly people, many tourists and a large number of foreign residents.
About 45 million tourists visit the city every year, 60% of whom are foreign visitors, making Paris one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. There are numerous iconic landmarks among its many attractions, along with world-famous institutions and popular parks.
The Climate
Paris has an oceanic climate and is affected by the North Atlantic Current, so the city rarely sees extremely high or low temperatures. Although Paris is not a very rainy city, rain falls throughout the year and it is known for its sudden showers. Average annual precipitation is 642 mm with light rainfall fairly distributed throughout the year. The city sometimes sees light snow or flurries without accumulation although snowfall is rare. The highest temperature ever recorded was 40.4°C in 1948 and the lowest was -23.9°C in 1879.
Summers
Paris has warm and pleasant summers with average high temperatures of 25 °C and low of 15 °C.
Winters
Paris has chilly winters but temperatures rarely falls below freezing point with average temperatures of around 3°C to 8 °C.
Spring and Autumn
Spring and autumn have mild to occasionally warm days and cool evenings.
Landmarks and Monuments
Three of the most famous Parisian landmarks are the twelfth-century cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, the Napoleonic Arc de Triomphe and the nineteenth-century Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower was a “temporary” construction by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition, but the tower was never dismantled and is now an enduring symbol of Paris. Buildings, monuments and thoroughfares run in a roughly straight line from the city-center, called the Historical axis. It begins with the Louvre and goes through the Tuileries Gardens, the Champs- Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe, centered in the Place de l’Étoile circus.The line was prolonged even further west to the La Défens business district from the 1960s, dominated by square-shaped triumphal Grande Arche of its own (this district hosts most of the tallest skyscrapers in the Paris urban area).
Getting to Paris
Visitors from South Africa can book their flights to Paris at bestflights.co.za
Tourism in Paris
Since the early 11th century Paris was a popular destination for students, traders and religious pilgrimages. Paris’ many monuments, especially the Eiffel Tower from 1889, is among the first mass attractions drawing international interest. In 2006 Paris welcomed about 27 million visitors.
Music
Several yearly festivals take place in Paris, such as Rock en Seine.
The Opera Garnier (historical Paris Opéra) and the modern Opéra Bastille are two of the largest opera houses in Paris. The major theaters of Paris include the Bobino, Théâtre Mogador, and the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse.
Museums
The highest-esteemed attractions of Paris are its museums and monuments. The Louvre is the city’s most prized museum and welcomes more than 8 million visitors annually, making it the world’s most-visited museum by far.Another main attraction of the city is the city’s cathedrals. The Notre Dame de Paris received 12 million visitors and the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur received 8 million visitors. The Eiffel Tower, by far Paris’ most famous monument, averages over six million visitors per year and more than 200 million since its construction. Another major tourist attraction of Paris is the Disneyland Resort Paris that attracts visitors from all over Europe and attracted 14.5 million visitors in 2007 alone.
Transportation
Paris has been building its transportation system throughout history and keeps on renovating it today.
Rails
Paris’ most important transportation system is The Metro.The Metro is connected by 214km of rails and has 300 stations. The city is also served by a tramway, a light rail network of four lines. With another 6 light rail lines currently in different stages of development.
Bikes
The city of Paris also offers a bike sharing system called Vélib’ with more than 20 000 public bicycles at 1450 parking stations. The bicycles can be rented for one way trips or any short or medium distances.
Ferry (Voguéo)
Pairs inaugurated a new ferry service in June 2008, called the Voguéo, on the Seine and Marne rivers.
Airports
Paris has two major airports. The Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport is known as one of the busiest airports in the world and the Orly Airport is situated in the south of Paris. A third and much smaller airport, Beauvais Tillé Airport, is used by charter and low-cost airlines. The Le Bourget airport only hosts business jets, air trade shows and the aerospace museum.
Motorway Network
The city is also the most important hub of France’s motorway network, and is surrounded by three orbital freeways. The city has an extensive road network, consisting of over more than 2000km of motorways and highways.Brussels can be reached in 3 hours by road, Frankfurt in 6 hours and Barcelona in 12 hours.
