Paris in Stride: An Insider's Walking Guide

This was the guide I used on my first trip to Paris. Not everything that was listed was still there when we got there, some restaurants had changed hands, but it got us to places that even my friends who visit Paris regularly hadn't known about. Great little book

This is a beautifully illustrated book. I collect books about Paris and I used to live in the city so believe me when I say this is a true insider’s guide. There were plenty of places mentioned that are new to me as well as some secrets I thought that only I knew about!The book is small enough to carry in your handbag which is great. But I don’t understand why it costs £17.39 for a small paperback. At that price i has been expecting a coffee-table book. My only gripe.

The book does look nice, it has watercolour pictures instead of photos, and they are charming. However the information is not as rich or enticing as I had imagined. It's an eclectic mix of little ideas for places to visit, including many already well known ones and a few nice nuggets of information about shops and restaurants. But the type of info sparsely filling the small pages also often includes things such as: the Sacre Coeur is very crowded!, and the date of its foundation stone is xxxx. Or: the museum shop in the Picasso Museum has a selection of art reference books. Wow! Or a list of all the famous people buried in the Montparnasse cemetery. I had thought it would give more of an idea of the atmosphere of the place, more interesting aspects of social history, or a nice way to spend time there. I had bought it to give to my teenage, art-loving child as inspiration ahead of a planned trip to Paris together, but it is just too random and not interesting enough. The format is quite smalls so the maps with suggested walk routes, while pretty, are just not suggestive enough either and have barely any street names so can't really be used for following a walk. Sorry! I have returned it.