Culture for all tastes in Paris

There is help at hand, with museum passes (La Carte Musées et Monuments, valid for 1-5 days — visit www.conciergerie.com for more details) which cover many of the main attractions.

Having said that, you would be well advised to remember that, while there may be no two such as you in all the world, there is always more than just you two at the Louvre. Or the Centre Pompidou. These may be two of the city’s (indeed the world’s) finest galleries, but a queue is a queue, and there is only so long that you can distract yourself by discussing the merits of the I.M. Pei pyramid.

Visit the main attractions any time other than first thing in the morning or just before closing time, and your trip to Paris could become intimate in a way that you had never envisaged. Perhaps the most romantic way to see the Louvre is to wait for the first movie ever allowed to film there, The Da Vinci Code with Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou.

Many of the best things in Paris come along when you are least expecting them. Not all of the city’s main attractions are art-focused; the thrill of the chase at Musée de la Chasse (60 rue des Archives, 3rd, 01-53-019-240. Nearest Métro: Rambuteau), for example, or the birds and the bees at Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (57 rue Cuvier, 5th, 01-40-793-000. Nearest Métro: Jussieu). But then lovers’ notions of romance are always unique. Some might find Brancusi’s Cubist Kiss (a precursor to Rodin’s) in the Cimetière du Montparnasse an inspiration, while others will be drawn to the nearby tombs of Sartre and de Beauvoir. It doesn’t really matter. Whether you opt for Picasso, poetry readings or Sèvres porcelain, you’ll always have Paris.

TOP TEN ART GALLERIES

MAISON DE VICTOR HUGO

6 place des Vosges, 4th (01-42-721-016). Nearest Métro: St-Paul, Bastille, or Chemin-Vert. Open Tues-Sun 10am-5.40pm. Admission free

Victor Hugo wrote a large part of Les Misérables at this apartment, where he lived from 1832 until his exile to Guernsey in 1848. Focusing on the three main stages of his life — before, during and after exile — the museum displays a large number of his drawings, letters, and furniture. An equally big draw is the place des Vosges itself, easily one of the most beautiful squares in Paris.

MUSÉE CARNAVALET

23 rue de Sévigné, 3rd (01-44-595-858). Nearest Métro: St Paul, or Chemin Vert. Open Tues-Sun 10am-6pm. Admission free

This artfully displayed museum dedicated to the city’s often extravagant and dramatic past, from the Gallo-Romans to the 19th century, is particularly rousing. Not only that, but the Carnavalet is housed in a beautiful building in the heart of the Marais. There is love of a different sort to be found in the letters of one of the museum’s famous former residents, Madame de Sévigné, whose devotion for her daughter was such that she couldn’t bear that they should be apart.

MUSÉE DELACROIX

6 place de Furstenberg, 6th (www.musee-delacroix.fr 01-44-418-650). Nearest Métro: St Germain des Prés. Open Wed- Mon 9.30am-5pm. Admission €5

Musée Delacroix, as you might expect, is dedicated to the mysterious 19th-century painter. Located in his former home, the collection includes pastels, watercolours and drawings, as well as letters from (and photos of) his contemporaries, including Baudelaire and George Sand. You can also visit his studio. For those of you who prefer your romance a little more literal, you may like to know that the museum is situated in one of the Left Bank’s most charming squares, with an equally appealing garden.

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MUSÉE DE L’EROTISME

72 bd. de Clichy, 18th (www.musee-erotisme.com 01-42-582-873). Nearest Métro: Blanche. Open daily 10am-2am. Admission €7

Nestled cosily among the fleshpots and fleapits of Pigalle, the Musée de l’Erotisme is possibly Paris’s cheekiest cultural landmark. Seven floors of artifacts portray in graphic detail the universality (and occasionally perversion) of human sexuality. If phallic crockery is your idea of demonstrating your devotion then you and your beloved will find yourselves fully catered for here. For the rest of us, it is not romantic exactly, but it is certainly intriguing. And, should you be looking for late-night inspiration, it is open until 2am.

MUSÉE NATIONAL DE CÉRAMIQUE DE SÈVRES

Place de la Manufacture, Sèvres, (01-41-140-420). Nearest Métro: Pont de Sèvres. Open Wed-Mon 10am-5pm. Admission €4

Porcelain may not be an obvious choice to fan the flames but were you wooing one of Louis XV’s famous mistresses you would be right on the money: Sèvres was a hot favourite with both Mme de Pompadour and Mme du Barry, who shared not only a man but a passion for plates that bordered on obsession. You will find some of Mme de Barry’s prized possessions here, along with many other outstanding examples of porcelain and faience from Sèvres and all over the world.

MUSÉE D’ORSAY

1 rue de Bellechasse or 62 rue de Lille, 7th (www.musee-orsay.fr 01-40-494-814). Nearest Métro: Solférino; RER: Musée d’Orsay. Open Tues-Wed & Fri-Sat 10am-6pm; Thurs 10am-9.45pm; Sun 9am-6.30pm. Admission €7

The scandal may have subsided, but Manet’s Déjeuner sur l’herbe, depicting two gentlemen and their naked lady friends, is still guaranteed to set the heart racing. The Musée d’Orsay is, of course, an Impressionist feast, and fans of the Realists, Symbolists, Late Romantics et al (the museum spans 1848-1914) will find much to swoon over here. It also scores architecturally as it is housed in a beautifully converted Neo-Classical railway station, and climbing up to the great clock always gives a certain thrill. Outside, the Solférino bridge is the perfect place for lingering en route to the Louvre.

MUSÉE PIAF

5 rue Crespin-du-Gast, 11th (01-43-555-272). Nearest Métro: Ménilmontant. Open Mon-Thur 1-6pm (by appointment only). Admission free

Famed for her stirring ballads such as Ne Regrette Rien, Piaf has inspired millions of lovers, but sadly the Sparrow wasn’t too lucky in love herself, marrying three times. Muse over the ecstasy and the agony at this tiny two-room museum, which displays many of the singer’s personal possessions, including costumes, jewellery and even her teddy bear. You can also visit Piaf’s grave at the nearby Père Lachaise cemetery.

MUSÉE PICASSO

Hôtel Salé, 5 rue de Thorigny, 3rd (www.paris.org/musees/picasso 01-42-712-521). Nearest Métro: St-Paul, Filles du Calvaire or Chemin Vert. Open Wed-Mon 9.30am-6pm. Admission €5.50

Reclining Nude, Nude in a Red Armchair, The Kiss: all this and a collection of African masks — the world’s greatest collection of Picassos cannot fail to inspire. During a romantic break you may want to focus on the man’s work rather than his womanising, but until May 23 the Picasso is hosting an exhibition of photographs by Dora Maar, the master’s muse and mistress, who travelled with Picasso during the Spanish Civil War.

MUSÉE RODIN

Hôtel Biron, 77 rue de Varenne, 7th (01-44-186-110). Nearest Métro: Varenne. Open Tues-Sun 9.30am- 5.45pm. Admission €5

The Hôtel Biron, with its beautifully restored 18th-century garden, is one of the most romantic locations in Paris. And the sculpture is pretty fine, too. Particularly outstanding are The Gates of Hell, The Thinker and The Burghers of Calais, but old-fashioned romantics will head for the sinewy sensuality of The Kiss. Others may find frisson from the thought of Rodin’s romance with Camille Claudel, his model and mistress.

LE THEATRE MUSÉE DES CAPUCINES — FRAGONARD

39 boulevard des Capucines, 2nd (www.fragonard.com 01-42-603-714). Nearest Métro: Opéra. Open Mon-Sat 9am-6pm. Admission free

Fragonard has been in business since 1926 (its factories are based in Eze and Grasse in the South of France) and it knows a thing or two about that secret weapon in the struggle for love: perfume. Housed rather randomly in a 1900s theatre, this temple to all things fragrant takes you from the scented secrets of the Ancient Egyptians to the equally calculating commercialism of the 20th century. After a guided tour there is the chance to buy your loved one something smelly at factory prices — but be warned, so many different scents can give you a passion-killing headache.

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MORE CULTURE

CINÉMA LE BALZAC

1 rue Balzac, 8th (www.cinemabalzac.com 01-45-611-060). Nearest Métro: Étoile, Georges V

The Balzac first opened in 1935. Step inside and you might imagine yourself back there. A charming, if tiny (it has only two screens), cinema with a retro and — rather strangely — nautical theme (portholes, doors that look as if they could withstand an iceberg), Le Balzac specialises in French and foreign arthouse cinema. On Saturday nights you may well be treated to an added bonus — live music before the screening.

ODÉON — THÉÂTRE DE L’EUROPE

Place de l’Odéon, 6th (www.theatre-odeon.fr/english/ accueil 01-44-854-000). Nearest Métro: Odéon

It might be the great colonnaded pillars, it might be the idea that Sarah Bernhardt once trod the boards here, or that Marie Antoinette lent her hand at its first opening (it burnt down and had to be rebuilt a couple of times since then), but there is something undeniably thrilling about L’Odéon, which even its bureaucratic subtitling, Théâtre de l’Europe, can’t destroy. With its red velvet seats and beautiful ceiling paintings, L’Odéon is what a theatre should be like. In February choose between King Lear and Chekhov’s On the High Road, both in French.

OPÉRA GARNIER

Palais Garnier, Place de l’Opéra, 9th (www.opera-de-paris.fr 01-40-012-263). Nearest Métro: Opéra Garnier

Garnier on the outside, Chagall, vast chandeliers and cherubs within — no wonder the Garnier is one of the most bewitching venues in Paris. It was also the inspiration for Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera. Watching a performance here is an experience of a lifetime (the Palais Garnier has concentrated on ballet since the opening of the Opéra Bastille in 1989), but even if you can’t catch a performance, try a guided tour as there’s almost as much magic off stage as on.

SAINTE CHAPELLE

Palais de Justice, 4 bd. du Palais, 1st (www.monum.fr 01-53-406-080). Nearest Métro: Cité, St Michel or Châtelet Les Halles. RER: St Michel. Open daily 9.30am-6.30pm. Admission free

With the sun behind them, the 15 spectacular stained glass windows for which Sainte Chapelle is so justly famed are possibly one of the most breathtaking sights in Paris. But even at night the chapel that Louis IX began building in 1240 to house the Crown of Thorns and the relics of the True Cross is an unmistakable Gothic masterpiece. Classical concerts are also performed here.

SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY

37 rue de la Bücherie, 5th (www.shakespeareco.org 01-43-254-093). Nearest Métro: Cité St Michel. Open daily noon-midnight

Lawrence Ferlinghetti persuaded George Whitman to open a bookshop in Paris in the early 1950s. The city may not be quite the (English) literary hothouse it once was, but bookish romantics will appreciate Shakespeare and Company’s remarkable heritage. Henry Miller rubbed shoulders with Anäis Nin here, and Lawrence Durrell and Allen Ginsberg both stopped by. Events include book and poetry readings and dramatic interpretations. Not obvious date material perhaps, but then again, there are few things more bonding than a bad poetry recital.