Global Resorts Blog Network

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.

Today Paris is one of the world’s leading business and cultural centers because of contributors such as its politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science and the arts. 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 sees extremely high or low temperatures due to its oceanic climate, affected by the North Atlantic Current. Rain falls throughout the year, and although Paris is not a very rainy city, it is known for 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
Winter is chilly, but temperature is around 3 °C  to 8 °C, and rarely falls below the freezing point. 

Spring and Autumn
Paris’s spring and autumn months are known for its mild and occasionally warmer 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. The Historical axis is a line of monuments, buildings, and thoroughfares that run in a roughly straight line from the city-center westwards. Beginning with the Louvre and continues through the Tuileries Gardens, the Champs-Élysées, and the Arc de Triomphe, centered in the Place de l’Étoile circus.From the 1960s, the line was prolonged even further west to the La Défense business district 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

South African visitors van book their flights to Paris at bestflights.co.za

Tourism in Paris

Paris was a popular destination since the 11th century for traders, students and religious pilgrimages. Among Paris’ first mass attractions drawing international interest were Paris’ many monuments, especially the Eiffel Tower from 1889. In 2006 Paris welcomed about 27 million visitors.

Music

Several yearly festivals take place in Paris, such as Rock en Seine.
Paris’ houses 2 of the largest opera houses, the Opéra Garnier (historical Paris Opéra) and modern Opéra Bastille. 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 city’s most prized museum, the Louvre, welcomes over 8 million visitors a year, being by far the world’s most-visited art museum.The city’s cathedrals are another main attraction. The Notre Dame de Paris received 12 million visitors and the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur received 8 million visitors. Paris’ most famous monument, the Eiffel Tower averages over 6 million annual visitors and more than 200 million visitors since it has been constructed. 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
Although Paris has been building its transportation system throughout the years, it 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
Paris also offers a bike sharing system called Vélib’ with more than 20,000 public bicycles distributed at 1,450 parking stations, which can be rented for short and medium distances including one way trips.

Ferry (Voguéo)
Pairs inaugurated a new ferry service in June 2008, called the Voguéo, on the Seine and Marne rivers.

Airports
Paris is served by 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 fourth airport, Le Bourget nowadays only hosts business jets, air trade shows and the aerospace museum.

Motorway Network
Paris is also known as France’s motorway networks’ most important hub and is surrounded by 3 orbital freeways. Paris has an extensive road network with over 2,000 km of highways and motorways.By road, Brussels can be reached in three hours, Frankfurt in six hours and Barcelona in 12 hours.