The city of light and love, there’s perhaps no place more adored on the planet, as evidenced by the millions of visitors Paris draws each year. You could spend a lifetime exploring the French capital. Climb the Eiffel Tower – there’s no better symbol of Paris than the Iron Lady! Built by engineer Gustave Eiffel in 1889 for the World’s Fair, the Eiffel Tower is now a landmark that’s instantly recognizable around the globe. At the top of the hour, even the most jaded Parisians are stopped in their tracks when the Eiffel Tower sparkles for a five-minute show throughout the night. Skip the line by buying a 7-euro ticket to walk up the 1,710 stairs. The birds-eye views will take your breath away. Hit the art trifecta – Paris is art nirvana for the culturati, with over 170 museums tucked into the Haussmannian boulevards and cobblestone streets! Bien sûr, the granddaddy of all art museums is the Louvre, the most-visited museum in the world. But many just make a beeline for the Mona Lisa to take a selfie. To do it justice, why not focus on just one small area, like its dazzling Islamic arts wing? Across the river in a former Belle Epoque train station, the Musee D’Orsay takes up where the Louvre leaves off – covering the period 1840-1914. This is home to the popular Impressionist works and Van Gogh paintings. France’s modern art is then housed in the Centre Pompidou, conceived by architect Renzo Piano with a radical “inside-out” design that still stuns today. You can do all three in a day! Shop at the grands magasins – the city’s grands magasins, or department stores, are legendary shopping emporiums! It’s a retail triumvirate; Galleries Lafayette, Printemps, and Le Bon Marché. These stores are ‘musts’ on the sightseeing circuit because of the exquisite architectural details -colourful Art Nouveau mosaic tiles at Printemps, the stunning neo-Byzantine stained-glass cupola at Galleries Lafayette, and Gustave Eiffel’s design of Le Bon Marché. Not to mention the glorious food selection at Lafayette Gourmet and La Grande Epicerie. Rooftop terraces at both Printemps and Galleries Lafayette afford sweeping views over the Paris cityscape. Gape at the gargoyles at Notre Dame – steeped in legend, Notre Dame is the literal and figurative heart of Paris! This masterpiece of Gothic architecture features spectacular stained glass windows, spooky gargoyles, and a bell named Emmanuel that weights a whopping 13 tonnes. Climb the towers to a vertigo-inducing height over Paris, or head underground to the archaeological crypt to see ruins from the ancient Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia. Stay all da – Quasimodo would be proud. Watch the sunset at Sacré-C…ur – join the throngs to watch the sunset from the steps below the Sacré-C…ur basilica in Montmartre. In a city full of Instagrammable moments, this is one of the best spots to go gaga over the vistas! Local musicians pluck guitars on the steps, and if you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of soccer star Iya Traoré performing his freestyle tricks.