London

For the full guide visit our Paris site

Contemporary work takes centre-stage at MAC/VAL

Paris for cultured cosmopolitans
Check out the latest additions to the city’s formidable cultural cache
So many museums, so little time… you could spend an entire weekend in the Louvre, but the latest attraction drawing down-the-quai queues is President Chirac’s parting pet project, Musée du Quai Branly. In the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and set in lush gardens, it’s worth seeing for the architecture as well as its 300,000-strong collection of artefacts from Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas.

Across the river, the temporary galleries of the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine open this week with two shows, including Avant-Après, which deals with the subject of architecture and time through short documentaries. When complete in September, the museum will showcase French architecture from the twelfth century on, including a replica of an apartment from the Le Corbusier-designed Cité Radieuse in Marseille.
Feature continues

Jaded cultural weekenders may want to graduate to Paris’ smaller museums. Just south of Pigalle and east of rue Blanche lies New Athens, named when it was colonised by a wave of artists, writers and composers in the early nineteenth century. Here is the former home of symbolist painter Gustave Moreau, stuffed with his personal collection and works, and the Musée de la Vie Romantique, in nineteenth-century Dutch artist Ary Scheffer’s villa. The latter is devoted to George Sand – a frequent guest at the artist’s soirées, along with Chopin, Delacroix and Liszt. If your tastes are more modern, venture to the south-eastern suburb of Vitry-sur-Seine, where the MAC/VAL contemporary art museum opened just after the banlieue riots died down in 2005. The vast, white-walled rooms showcase a snapshot of artistic creation in France from 1950 to the present, giving space to emerging and celebrated artists alike.

What to eat
What curry is to Britain, couscous is to France – Le Souk’s aromas of incense and cumin, and harem-like decor provide an authentically heady Moroccan dining experience. You can dress up or down at Le Dôme du Marais, which lies somewhere between casual and formal, bistro and haute cuisine. Owner-chef Pierre Lecoutre loves to work with seasonal produce. Unpretentious little Bistrot Paul Bert (in a street near Bastille that’s fast becoming a hot dining enclave) is gaining popularity for its no-nonsense, pared-down cooking and extensive wine list.

Where to sleep
With an enviable location in the heart of the Marais and imaginative neo-Gothic-cum-Byzantine decor, the Hôtel Bourg Tibourg features exotic, scented candles, mosaic-tiled bathrooms and luxurious fabrics in rich colours and patterns. New boutique hotel Marceau Bastille boasts an art gallery-cum-bar on the ground floor for an on-site culture fix, spacious rooms decorated in rich purples and dark wood or spring greens and bamboo, and beds big enough to wallow in.

Addresses
Le Bistrot Paul Bert 18 rue Paul Bert, 11th (00 33 1 43 72 24 01) Métro Charonne. Open Tue-Thur 12noon-2pm, 7.30-11pm, Fri, Sat 12noon-2pm, 7.30-11.30pm. Closed Aug.

Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine Palais de Chaillots 1 place du Trocadéro, 16th (00 33 1 58 51 52 00/www.citechaillot.fr) Métro Trocadéro. Open Mon, Wed, Fri 12noon-8pm, Thur 12 noon-10pm. Sat, Sun 11am-7pm. Adm free.

Le Dôme du Marais 53 bis rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 4th (00 33 1 42 74 54 17) Métro Rambuteau. Open Tue-Sat 12noon-2.30pm, 7.15-11pm. Closed two weeks in Jan and three weeks in Aug.

Hôtel Bourg Tibourg 19 rue du Bourg-Tibourg, 4th (00 33 1 42 78 47 39/ www.hotelbourgtibourg.com) Métro Hôtel de Ville. Doubles from €220.

MAC/VAL Place de la Libération, Vitry-sur-Seine, 4th (00 33 1 43 91 64 20/ www.macval.fr) Métro Porte de Choisy then bus 183. Open Tue, Wed, Fri-Sun 12noon-7pm, Thur 12noon-9pm. Adm €4, €2 concs, free first Sun of month.

Musée de la Vie Romantique
16 rue Chaptal, 9th (00 33 1 55 31 95 67/www.paris.fr/musees) Métro Blanche. Open Tue-Sun 10am-6pm. Adm free.

Musée du Quai Branly 29-55 quai Branly, 7th (00 33 1 56 61 70 00/www.quaibranly.fr) RER Pont de l’Alma. Open Tue-Wed, Fri-Sun 10am-6.30pm, Thur 10am-9.30pm. Adm €10, free under-18s, concs.

Musée Gustave Moreau 14 rue de La Rochefoucauld, 9th (00 33 1 48 74 38 50/www.musee-moreau.fr) Métro Trinité. Open Mon, Wed-Sun 10am-12.45pm, 2-5.15pm. Adm €5, €3 18-25s, Sun free under-18s.

Le Souk 1 rue Keller, 11th (00 33 1 49 29 05 08). Métro Ledru-Rollin. Open Tue-Fri 7.30-11.30pm, Sat, Sun 12.15-7.30pm.
Hôtel Marceau Bastille 13 rue Jules César, 12th (00 33 1 43 43 11 65/www.hotelmarceaubastille.com) Métro Bastille. Doubles from €180.

For the full guide visit our Paris site