Things to Do in Paris

Expect bright lights, extravagant costumes, and raucous music at the world-famous Moulin Rouge. Opened in the Belle Epoque of 1889 to celebrate Paris' thriving creative scene and the end of the civil war, the windmill-cum-cabaret hall has never stopped basking in fun and frivolity. As a staple of Parisian nightlife, an unforgettable evening at the Moulin Rouge is a must on any traveler's France itinerary.

Founded during the French Revolution in 1793, the Museum of Natural History, or Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, took over the grounds of Louis XIII’s Royal Medicine Plant garden and prevailed under the guidance of naturalist pioneers Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Despite once rivaling the University of Paris’ scientific research departments, the museum is now best famed for its educational collections, focusing its research on environmental studies and preservation work.

Today, the vast museum complex is split into three different areas – a Paleontology museum, a Taxonomy wing and a Geology museum. The Museum of Paleontology is renowned for its prolific collection of bones and fossils, including a spine-tingling display of dinosaur skeletons and a lifelike collection of exotic taxidermy. Next up, the Taxonomy division focuses on plant life, with indoor and outdoor exhibits featuring a herbarium, containing around 8 million plant specimens, a small zoo and aquarium and some of the city’s most spectacular botanical gardens stretching over 26 hectares, including tropical greenhouses, a manmade labyrinth and a colorful rose garden. Finally, the Geology section houses a wide range of interactive exhibits alongside the acclaimed Gallery of Mineralogy.

The Musée Nissim de Camondo is more of a portal into the past than it is your run-of-the-mill museum. It is housed in the Hôtel Camondo, not a hotel but a home built in 1911 in the style of the Petit Trianon at Versailles on the strict instructions of its owner, Comte Moïse de Camondo. Comte Camondo was a Parisian banker with a penchant for 18th-century art and furniture, and his home was a kind of showcase for his extensive collection. Today the Musée Nissim de Camondo is kept just as it was when he lived there, and it's a fascinating tour of life in the early 1900s as well as French design in the 1700s.

Housed in the former hunting lodge of the Duke of Valmy, a lavish 19th-century mansion in Paris’ 16th arrondissement, the Musée Marmottan, or the Marmottan Monet museum, is as impressive from the outside as it is inside. Founded around the vast Napoleonic era art collection bequeathed to the Academy of Fine Arts by Jules Marmottan, the museum opened its doors back in 1934 and has since amassed an incredible compilation of works by some of the world’s finest artists.

The museum’s permanent galleries feature paintings by Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet, alongside celebrated works by Camille Pissarro, Paul Gauguin and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and a host of other renowned names. Most unique are a collection of illuminated medieval manuscripts and a showcase of Flemish primitive paintings. Even the décor is a work of art, with plush furnishings and precious antiques dotted throughout the elegant salons and stunning views over the neighboring Jardin de Ranelagh, or Ranelagh Gardens.

The museum is most acclaimed for housing the world’s largest collection of works by iconic French impressionist, Claude Monet. Donated by the legendary artist’s son, Michel Monet, after his death in 1966, the Monet collection is displayed in a specially designed basement gallery, elaborately decorated in homage to the Orangerie des Tuileries gallery. Key pieces include the 1892-96 ‘Cathédrale de Rouen’ series, a striking depiction of the London Houses of Parliament and ‘Impression, Soleil Levant’ (Impression, Sunrise), credited for giving name to the Impressionist movement.