Paris City Profile

The capital of France, Paris is a city known for its culture, tradition and scenic beauty. Home to more than 2 million today, Paris is built on an arc of the river Seine. It is known worldwide as the City of Lights. A financial, business and political hub, coupled with its various tourist attractions make Paris one of the four major global cities along with New York, London and Tokyo.

The city of Paris is only 86.93 square kilometers big, much smaller in comparison to Greater London (1,572 square kilometers) and New York (786 square kilometers). This is largely in part due to the Parisian government’s conservatism in expanding the city. The largest financial district of Paris, known as La Defense, its stock exchange (Euronext), the main food wholesale market, all major airports, some ministries like the Ministry of Transportation, renowned schools such as HEC, INSEAD etc. and the largest sports stadium (Stade de France) are all located outside the city. Paris is interconnected via a subway system known as the Metro, as well as by a large number of bus lines. These lines are in turn connected to a network of high speed trains, known as the RER, and various other commuter lines, national train lines and tramway lines.

Paris is well renowned for its monuments and landmarks. A few of those are listed below:

The Eiffel Tower - It was a temporary construction for the 1889 Universal Exposition by Gustave Eiffel

The Conciergerie - A prison where prominent members of the ancient regime stayed during the French Revolution before their death.

Statue of Liberty - A smaller version of the New York City harbor statue, located on the Ile des Cygnes.

The Wallace fountains - Found throughout the city

Cathedral of Notre Dame - A 12th century masterpiece

Palais Garnier - Paris’ central Opera

Paris also boasts several world class museums such as the Louvre (home of the Mona Lisa), Musee d’Orsay (an art museum in a converted 19th century railway station), Musee Rodin, Musee Picasso, Musee Cluny (home of The Lady and the Unicorn) and many more. Several historical centers like the Montmartre, Quartier Latin and Place de la Bastille are also located in Paris. The city is also well known for its beautiful gardens in Luxembourg, Buttes-Chaumont, Montsouris etc. Tourists find the commercial districts of I’Opera and Les Halles very appealing for shopping and night life.

Paris is well known to tennis fans for being the home of the French Open Tennis Championships at Roland Garros. The city’s other main sports clubs are Paris Saint-Germain, football club, Paris Basket Racing, Basketball team and Stade François, Rugby Union Club. Paris hosted the Summer Olympics in 1900 and 1924 and narrowly missed the bid to host them again in 2012.

A city so bright and historically rich, it is almost like a museum. Home to romantics, artists and savvy business people alike, everyone is bound to find something of interest in the beautiful city of Paris.