The Tourist's Guide to Paris: Top Ten Best - #10 Shopping

After much pondering and mind-changing, I have finally ranked what I personally believe the insight comes from an enthusiastic teenage-tourist who experienced only what she could and all she could within five days in the city of lights during prime tourist season. Keeping that in mind Top 10 best things, places, features about Paris are. You may disagree with my views, but this, most of what I put on this list, and any future lists, is influenced by what I have seen/not seen of the world so far. For example, I am not including food on this list of Paris's creme de la creme because I was quite frankly disappointed due to the fact that I know a city with better food... but I'll mention that in a future post. Thus, I will be posting my Tourist's Guide to Paris: Top Ten Best as a countdown starting with #10 and ending with the reveal of the grand prize winner! So, now that I have gotten that out of the way, I present to you:

Shopping
(and by shopping, I mean mainly clothes shopping)

Paris, like most metropolises, has great diversity in its shopping. Venues range from picturesque, idiosyncratic street markets to luxurious, ritzy, tourist-infested department stores. Paris is also home to some of the fashion industry's most-loved designer's flagship stores. However, no matter who you are (as in, the female species) you will find plenty of opportunities to shop.


Touristy souvenir shops can always be found withing a few yards (or meters) of you, no matter which arrondissement you are in. These colorful stores carry all of the usuals: postcards, I Love Paris t-shirts, magnets, snow globes, etc. Before buying anything, I strongly recommend visiting a few stores and comparing prices in order to have money to spend on something more unique.

credit goes to Yanidel for this lovely photo.

This extra cash can be saved to use at one of Paris's famed department stores: Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, Samaritaine, Le Bon Marche. The Galeries Lafayette and Printemps are conveniently located right next door to each other on the Rue Haussman in the 9th Arrondissement. I created this lovely map to show you their proximity (warning: the locations probably are not exact!)

However, if you have time to only visit one I definitely recommend seeing the Galeries Lafayette. This shopping mecca is impressive not only for its 10 floors of wares for almost every pocket, but for its signature Art Nouveau dome. The stained-glass dome ceilng brings in an almost holy ambiance, as if you were in a sacred church and not a busy center of commerce. You can feel free to take pictures of the architecture, but store policy prohibits photos of merchandise.

If you do have time to visit Printemps, you will find that it is set up like any other department store but the rook of its home store has a magnificent panoramic view of the city (more about this later).

If you are blessed with deep pockets, very very deep pockets, Cartier and Louis Vuitton on the Champs Elysees and Chanel on the exclusive Place Vendome will be worth a visit.

However, if you are not royalty or a celebrity, Paris has many "high street" shops found in most cities such as: H&M, Zara, Mango, Uniqlo, etc. I did not find any real bargains in the city, but Paris is known to be very expensive, so if you can, refrain from clothes-shopping for back home. I do recommend browsing through Uniqlo if you have never been in it. It is a Japanese clothing store that only sells basics in every color and nuance of the rainbow: think American Apparell only more affordable, more flattering, and more mellow. This store sells raiment for both men and women.

I hope this post helps you prioritize your time the next time you are in Paris!