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A day out at the circus. In the morning kids can put on clown make-up, see the animals or try tightrope walking. After lunch with the performers, they watch the show.

This small circus puts on a new show each year, with jugglers, clowns, tightrope walkers and acrobats performing from November until March.

Occupying the east wing of the Palais Chaillot (built for the Universal Exhibition of 1937), this museum is a veritable ode to French architectural heritage, showcasing its development through the ages as well as contemporary architecture. The Galerie des Moulages (Medieval to Renaissance) contains moulded portions of churches and great French cathedrals such as Chartres. The Galerie Moderne et Contemporain includes a reconstruction of an apartment designed by Corbusier, and B4architectural designs from 1990 onwards. The wall-painting gallery in the Pavillon de Tête has a stunning collection of frescoes copied from medieval murals.

This cul-de-sac is home to the intriguing Ophir, a warehouse of theatre costumes and stage props.

The French composer (1862–1918) achieved fame through works such as Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Faune and La Mer , and was regarded as the musical equivalent of the Impressionist painters.

US bebop saxophonist Hawkins (1904–69) played Paris many times in the 1930s.

Handy after a visit to Père Lachaise (see Cimetière du Père Lachaise). The food is first class, from ostrich and fish dishes to pastas and salads.

Paris’s oldest theatre was founded in 1680 and is still the only one to have its own repertory of actors, staging both classical and modern drama (in French) from Molière to Tom Stoppard. The current building dates from the 18th century. Around the corner from the main box office, a special window opens 45 minutes before curtain-up, selling reduced price tickets for under-27s and concessions.

Born in 1766, this historian and friend of Napoleon shared the emperor’s exile on the island of St Helena and recorded his final thoughts. The Comte himself died in Paris in 1842.

This huge and imposing building, which served as a notorious prison during the Revolution, commands the western end of the Ile de la Cité. Within its walls are some of the few remaining medieval features on the island, including the torture chamber, clock and twin towers which rise above the quai de l’Horloge.