A Designer's Guide to Paris
A million guides to the decadent city of Paris have been written before, each with their own angle. From the museums everyone already loves, the eating trails, the fashion routes, the best walks, or the catch-all guidebooks picked up at the airport on a whim, it is genuinely hard to say something new about Paris, harder still to explain why anyone should choose it over, say, another afternoon at the Louvre.
What Paris offers at first glance is easy enough to find, the museums and famous restaurants, the Galeries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann, and yes, somewhere in there, the Eiffel Tower. If you've never been and want to see something… a little less trodden, a little more particular, this might be for you. And if you have been before, treat this as you would a checklist, see what you missed, and keep it in your back pocket for next time you’re in La Ville Lumière.
These are some of Tracey’s personal favourites. The city has surfaced here and there across our newsletters, socials, and photoshoots over the years, but here is the definitive list of her Paris. She's been visiting for decades, so we'd suggest you take her word for it.
Ofr Librairie, Galerie is a wonderful independent bookshop, and one of Tracey's favourites. A massed collection of art books at the front, with a sixty-square-metre gallery tucked behind it, subtly hosting exhibitions and events for those who venture further in.
Fondation Louis Vuitton sits well beyond the city's centre, and whilst most people will recognise its name and architecture, the legendary work of Frank Gehry, that distance is usually enough to keep it off the itinerary of a brisk weekend getaway. Right now, though, it's worth the journey. The Fondation is marking the 100th anniversary of Alexander Calder's arrival in France with an exhibition in his honour. The American sculptor's work has never been shown better than it is within Gehry's curved glass walls, they float and drift their way through, not just in sculptures, but wire portraits, carved wooden figures, paintings, drawings, even jewellery. Tracey found the whole experience captivating, and entirely unlike any other recent exhibit she’s attended.
Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, having recently moved into the 1st arrondissement, is now easier than ever to fold into a day already built around the city's grander landmarks, the Louvre, the Domaine National du Palais-Royal, all within easy reach. This corner of Paris feels particularly palimpsestic, layers of history sitting visibly atop one another, made only more so by Fondation Cartier's arrival in October 2025, a new page written onto ground already dense with old ones.
Fondation Azzedine Alaïa is another must, a museum built to preserve the legacy of the late couturier himself. Tucked away at 18 Rue de la Verrerie, it holds exhibition galleries, his private design collections, a bookshop, and a café, functioning less like a traditional museum and more like a living archive of fashion heritage. Tracey's tip: head to the top floor, where a window opens onto the atelier, a rare, unguarded look at the hands and spaces still shaping the capital's fashion.
The Bourse de Commerce is another architectural marvel. Housed in a rotunda, the building is grand from the outside and grander still within, crowned by a dramatic glass dome that pours an abundance of light down onto the space, the building’s roof peels back to the sky above. It is a capsule of raw, contemporary air nestled improbably in the heart of old Paris, history and invention one and the same. Currently showing is the Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, whose work fills that same rotunda with fog. It is a strange thing, watching a building designed for total visibility, a circular hall where every angle can, in theory, see every other, swallowed by something you cannot see through at all. The fog drifts, thins, and reforms without pattern, and for a few moments you become blind to the room’s captivating beauty.
Image Credit: Tripadvisor
Onto the food. Paris is undoubtedly one of the best in the world… There are no two ways about it. Starting off with a popular choice, but one of Tracey’s favourites, Le Relais de l'Entrecôte has a distinct single-course menu, you get a walnut salad followed by a sirloin steak with French fries and a delicious “secret recipe” sauce. Quick, unfussy, and exactly what it needs to be, Tracey calls it the place for steak and chips, unapologetically Parisian.
Pétrelle is as opulent as Paris itself. It is intimate, romantic, small, unmistakably posh, but in that distinct French way that feels earned rather than performed. Famously a favourite of Madonna's, the house cat wanders freely and the vegetables come from its own garden, lending the whole place a homeliness that no amount of polish could fake.
Image Credit: Paris by Mouth
Vivant 2 is modern French dining at its coolest, sharp and tucked into a stretch of Paris thick with bars and independent shops. Most of the seating is high-backed and bar-style, making it ideal for eating alone, with a menu that lands somewhere between gourmet and industrial-chic.
L'Arlequin has become one of Tracey's newest loves with its records spinning, service quick, wine list wide. The menu is pared-back and fast, indulge in the snacks and small plates to pair with your drink, or commit fully to their small selection of mains
Candelaria is proper Mexican food in the heart of Paris, which is rarer than it should be. To me, Europe has a long, patchy history with getting this cuisine right, and when somewhere finally does, it shows… It's popular. And it’s busy. It is simple, barebones, doesn't take reservations, and serves amazing food, at a very reasonable price. Ask nicely and they'll lead you through the tiny dining room into a hidden cocktail bar, where Tracey swears by the margarita, the best she's had outside of Mexico itself.
Image Credit: Condé Nast Traveler
And at the end of a busy day, back at your hotel or Airbnb, unwind with a bottle of Gaspard de La Thaumassière Sancerre, a Tracey recommendation, and one worth taking seriously. So many wines simply don't travel, don't make it onto shelves back home, so it's worth drinking them while you can, right where they belong.
That's all for this little Paris excursion. If any of these spots pull you off the beaten path, we'd love to hear how it went next time you're in the shop.
Written by Jason Cassar for Tracey Neuls.