The first question anyone is bound to ask you if you’re going to Paris for the weekend is: “Oh, are you getting the train?” Such is the British love for the Eurostar that no one even cares what you’re actually going to do when you get there. For those that do care, in a long weekend (we went Friday morning to Sunday evening) we wanted a real mixture of food, culture and exploring new parts of the city. The best part of going to Paris if you’ve been before is that you will have ticked off all those “iconic” destinations, and now have room to explore the parts that don’t pop up in every “top 10 things to do” list.
Our base was the Plaza Athénée (rooms from £1,531 per night, dorchestercollection.com), and if you have the means to stay in total unapologetic luxury, then you should absolutely go for it. Our suite was on the sixth floor, with a balcony that looked out onto the Eiffel Tower — near enough to the landmark to see it in all its beauty, but far away from all the crowds and queues. It was such a calm oasis away from the streets below. And if like me you were an avid Sex and the City fan, that episode where Carrie arrives in Paris, checks into the Plaza and screams in sheer delight at her balcony view — that was the room next door.
