Paris , the cosmopolitan capital of France , has the reputation of being the most beautiful and romantic of all cities, brimming with historic associations and remaining vastly influential in the realms of culture, art, fashion, food and design. Arrondissements are named according to their number.
You might, for example, stay in the "5th", which would be written as 5e in French. The 12th and 16th arrondissements include large parks: the Bois de Vincennes and the Bois de Boulogne respectively.
It makes navigating the city easy. The various tourist information centres and hotels in Paris also provide various city and metro maps for free and which contain all the essential details for a tourist. Each arrondissement has its own unique character and selection of attractions for the traveller:.
Beyond Paris, the outlying suburbs are called La Banlieue. Schematically, those to the west of Paris Neuilly-sur-Seine , Boulogne-Billancourt , Saint Cloud , Levallois , Versailles , Poissy, Rueil-Malmaison are wealthy residential communities, even if some more middle class suburbs can be found.
Those to the north are poorer communities, and very ethnically diverse. Those to the south are a mix of rough and poor neighbourhoods alongside very affluent communities. Finally, those to the east are usually lower-middle class mingled with a few upper-middle class communities. Paris sits on the River Seine, in north-central France.
