Views - not only by kings and emperors, but by the Socialist president Mitterand. Besides the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, several other locations offer appropriately royal perspectives:
Go all the way to the top of this grand old department store (by the Pont Neuf). You'll find, first, a moderately priced café with a glorious view of the Seine and then, up more stairs, a panoramic perch, ringed with tiles showing an earlier Paris.
METRO: Pont Neuf.
2008 Update: Astonishingly, this Paris mainstay is CLOSED. Its fate was uncertain as of 2008 (a luxury hotel has been suggested), but I doubt the view will be back. Which is a real loss.
Besides the museums, shows and libraries in this 'oil refinery' (as the building has been described), the otherwise banal café at the top offers a surreal view of Paris. Hyper-modern blue and white tubes frame the old churches nearby and, in the distance, Notre Dame.
This relatively new building is striking enough in itself, but don't miss the large terrace at the top, where you can buy tea and sweet pastries while enjoying a view of Paris that is as unusual as it is spectacular.
METROS: Jussieu, Cardinal-Lemoine.
2008 Update: The restaurant on the roof looked a bit fancier now, but I didn't get to try it.
2008 Update:The Galeries Lafayette is another of the great old department stores of Paris. The roof of the main store is less ornate than what used to be available at La Samaritaine, and the view a bit less dramatic. But it's still worth the ride up.
METRO: Opera.
LAST UPDATED:January 2009
home page