The islands

There’s nowhere better to start a tour of Paris than the two islands at its centre. The Île de la Cité is where Paris began, and boasts a number of important sights. The smaller Île St-Louis, linked to the Île de la Cité by a footbridge, is often considered the most romantic part of Paris. There are no particular sights on this little island, just austerely handsome seventeenth-century houses on single-lane streets, tree-lined quais, a church, restaurants, cafés and interesting little shops. It is particularly atmospheric in the evening, when an arm-in-arm wander along the quais is a romantic must.