Day one
With LEVEL’s inflight wifi, USB charging ports and entertainment, you’ll arrive at Paris Orly Airport without missing any of the gossip—or new movies. Catch the Orly Bus into the city ($10.65) and freshen up at Mama Shelter ($469 for three nights). Designed by Philippe Starck, this quirky hub turns the hotel stereotype on its head, providing an unfailingly hip drinking (and sleeping) hole for Parisians and tourists alike. A hike through your new hood, the vibrant 20th arrondissement, should blast away any lingering jet lag; take in Belleville’s ‘Chinatown’ and peruse the mouthwatering delis around Jourdain metro for picnic provisions. Head to Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, a former limestone quarry that combines meandering grassy slopes and paths with a lake, vertical cliffs and a stalactite-filled grotto. Climb to the park’s hilltop temple to see right across to the Sacré-Cœur. It’s the kind of vista you’ll struggle to leave behind, but $3 beers at drinking institution Aux Folies should be reason enough. Bathed in neon light inside, or warmed by the terrace’s heaters outside, this buzzy spot is always packed with Parisians shooting the breeze at aperitif o’clock (and into the early hours). Dive into crispy nem and citrus-spiked bò bùn noodles at beloved Vietnamese joint Dong Huong ($15) before hitting up La Commune, a clandestine punch bar with a killer hip-hop soundtrack. Banish all memories of college punch parties and expect golden vessels of joy, like the Maté mon Metisse: Jamaican pepper, Armagnac brandy and fresh coriander ($13 per person).