Paris Recommendations for Tenth Trip

I suggest for not only "less visited places" but also for the non-visited places the 20th district, along with the 13th and area from Metro stop Avron to Nation.

I love Paris! Even though I never get tired of the Louve I have found other things to interest me.

1) Make a list of all the Michelin star restaurants on-line and check the menu's & prices, I have found that if you make a reservation for lunch the prices are much lower and often the menu is the same as at supper time.

2) There are 3 Statue's of Liberty in Paris, spend a morning or afternoon locating them.

3) Take a French cooking class.

4) Day trip to Monet's garden

5) Go to Versailles Palace but spend your time in the gardens and less visited areas.

Hope this helps, enjoy your trip!

The Science Park at la Villette

The Christmas market at La Defense

Chateau Malmaison

Luxury, upmarket grocery store, Fauchon, at Place de la Madeleine. While there, check to see if Eglise de la Madeleine lunch room is operating. Go to the back of the church for the entrance.

Hard to help without knowing where you've already been (beyond the obvious places for a first or second visit). But maybe: Promenade Plantee, Marmottan Museum, Institut du Monde Arabe, Jacquemart-Andre Museum, a boat ride with Canauxrama beyond the usual Seine loop, anything Paris Walks offers that would be new and exciting. Of course Andrew is right, there's much to see outside Paris. See if you can get a copy of Paris to the Past by Ina Caro, which describes dozens of day trips by train, though some of the transportation details may need updating.

Get Simms book 'An Hour from Paris' for suggestions for less visited day trip destinations. We particularly liked Moret sur Loing and Crecy la Chapelle. For a well touristed but terrific site consider Auvers sur Oise where Van Gogh lived his last days, or Provins or Senlis for Medieval towns. Fontainebleau and Vaux le Victomte are both uncrowded chateaux visits as is tiny Malmaison, Josephine's chateau after her divorce from Napoleon.

You may find some interesting spots to explore here:
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/paris/
and day trips here:
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/day-trips-from-paris/

If you have not been to Basilica St. Denis which is on the 13 metro, I would put it at the top of the list. It is amazing.

Also get one of the many 'Paris Walks' books that has self guided walking tours and explore new areas. We did an architecture walk int he 16th and a Butte Aux Cailles walk int he 13th from an old Frommer's Paris Walking Tours book, both of which were excellent.

We also go to free concerts, usually in churches, and choose those in areas we haven't seen and then just explore the area -- you can see a couple of those in the day trips photo journal cited above.

A friend is really into motorcycles, so he found a large motorcycle supply store in Paris. Not only did he enjoy the store, but it was in a very non-touristy neighborhood (not sure where); he emphasized the contrast with the other neighborhoods he saw. Similarly, I love to buy used CD's and DVD's; shopping for these has taken me to neighborhoods in various cities where I'm the only tourist.

So, if there's a hobby or kind of shopping you enjoy, try to find it in Paris.

There are several books in print on the unusual sites/ sights in Paris: oldest house, narrowest building, secret doorway. We’ve hunted the places down. A few are published in English. I bought one in English for a DIL. Otherwise, check Atlas Obsura on line. Not as complete but still good.

There are some mapped out walks in the DK Eyewitness travel books.
I've photocopied them and gone to new parts of Paris that way.
Last trip I went to Versailles, not to the Palace, but to the town.
It has quite a few winding streets, and a great open market with some indoor market buildings too.
Did not see one tourist there, only French people.
Take the buses, and hop off from them instead of the Metro.
Have you been to the Petit Palais?
It's free, and has amazing art and antique furniture, and a little café beside an inner garden.

I can recommend taking one of the Paris Walks walks . . . you will learn while on the walk, and often you'll spy things in the neighborhood you're visiting that you wish you had a little more time to- so you can return after the walk or later in your trip!

You’ve gotten some great tips.
Let me suggest contacting Paris Greeters, a free ( but donation requested ) group of Parisian residents that just enjoy sharing their city with others. A friend and I did a tour of the Butte Chaumont area with a very nice young man. We probably never would have gone there otherwise but it was so interesting!
Also, someone on our forum, perhaps Uncle Gus, plays a game with himself in which he hops on a random bus and gets off on the 7th stop and just explores from there. I plan to do this — I arrive for, I think, my 10th visit in 3 days.
There is also a company that promotes paying for dinners in people’s home. A friend has done this twice in Rome and loved it. I looked into it in Lisbon but the timing wasn’t good for me on that trip. I’m sorry I don’t know the name but perhaps some else does, or you could play with google and find it. It wasn’t cheap but with the right mix of people it could be fun.
If you let us know what you’ve done and loved previously we might have more ideas for you.

When we just decided to explore the ends of the #3 metro line which was the line we were using when staying at an apartment in the 17th, we discovered the Island of Grande Jatte which is the subject of the famous Seurat. painting in the Art INstitute of Chicago. We had no idea, but when walking across the Pont Levallois which is at the end of the 3 line, we saw a sign and steps down to the Island and there it was complete with little signs noting various places the artist painted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Île_de_la_Jatte

Thank you! Thank you! Some wonderful ideas. On this trip my husband and I are each planning a full day of “new.” I’ll be making heavy use of the suggestions. (We do usually take a few day trips out of town, and have some good books for those.) I didn’t know about the Paris Greeter program - we’ve used that in NYC and Chicago. And I love finding self-guided walks, so appreciate the references to those. You all really know your stuff, and thanks for sharing.

I forgot to mention my favorite less-known museum: The Museum of Counterfeits. It's in the 16th, near the Bois de Boulogne. It not only has the expected things like fake purses, but more sinister things that have caused fatalities (fake medicines and car parts). As a bonus, the nearby metro station Porte Dauphine has one of the few fully intact original glass metro canopies.

Their website is only in French, and I see that they are now open Monday to Saturday, but for individuals only in the afternoons (14:00 to 17:30). Admission €6. https://musee-contrefacon.com/infos-pratiques/

Here's an article about it in English: http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/05/inside-pariss-bizarre-counterfeit-museum.html