Accommodation
Which will it be for a luxury stay: the Georges V, the Ritz or the Crillon? Of the three, I'd choose the Hotel de Crillon (00 33 1 44 71 15 00) every time - so long as someone else was paying. This winter, the 'Passion Package' is €580 (about £407) per night, with a double room, continental breakfast, flowers and a welcome bottle of Champagne and box of chocolates thrown in. A tiara's throw from the Place de la Concorde, you feel you are living in a beautiful, opulent and comfortable museum.
For a medium-sized budget, the most charming small hotel in the Marais - the ancient core of Paris - has to be the Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais, at 12 rue Vielle du Temple (00 33 1 42 72 34 12; Metro: St Paul), a stylish residence that never fails to impress. Yet even with breakfast, the total won't quite reach £100 for two for the night.
My budget favourite is the Hotel Savoy, 5 rue Jarry, 10e (no phone; Metro: Chateau d'Eau). A short walk from the Eurostar station, Gare du Nord, all peeling wallpaper and creaking floorboards, but a hot shower is included in the rate of £12 per person. Don't take someone there if you want to impress them!
Sights & activities
The Museum of Arts from Africa and Oceania is a superb Art Deco building out in the east of the city (Metro: Porte Dorée), where you can enjoy some exquisite textiles, sculptures and paintings from the former French colonies. Whenever I go, I'm the only one there!
The Musée d'Orsay is a beautiful old railway station converted to a miraculous art museum, full of what seems like a million Impressionists. Try to get there for the guided tour in English (£6, including admission to the museum), every day except Monday (and French public holidays) at 11.30am.
The André Citroën park is worth a visit. A car factory used to dominate the 15th arrondisement, but an amazing park has emerged from the desolation. Like the classic French gardens, it has a symmetry and formality, land and water - but these are translated for the 21st century.
Food & drink
It's the middle of the most touristy area in the world's biggest tourism city, yet it's very French and very lovely: I always start the day at the Café Beaubourg, just south of the Pompidou Centre - outside on the terrace, weather permitting. OK, a coffee and croissant will end up the wrong side of £5, but it's worth it for the atmosphere.
Chartier, 7 rue du Faubourg-Montmartre (Metro: Rue Montmartre). Big, busy and ideal for midday refuelling. It tends to fill up once the first Eurostar train arrives from London, so getting a table by noon or after 2pm is a good plan (it opens at 11am).
Café l'Industrie, on the corner of rue Sabin and rue Sabaine, 11e (Metro: Bastille) is the Parisian café you always hope you'll stumble upon. It's a large, welcoming haunt, decorated with monochrome photographs and multicoloured oil paintings.
For dinner try Chez Paul (13 rue de Charonne; book in advance on 00 33 1 47 00 34 57; Metro: Bastille). The waiters manage to battle through the congested tables to deliver superb food, which with a decent bottle of wine and a coffee is likely to hit £60 for two. You can eat much more cheaply elsewhere in Paris, but it is hard to eat much better.
Shopping
Back to the Marais for the joys of rue Vielle du Temple, retro central, with the biggest range of 'cultural antiques' (1970s junk) in the capital.
