Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville

Opened in 1804, Père Lachaise is the world's most visited cemetery. Its 70,000 ornate tombs of the rich and famous form a verdant, 44-hectare sculpture garden. Highlights include those of 1960s rock star Jim Morrison (division 6) and Oscarbato Wilde (division 89). Pick up a cemetery map (or download digitally using a QR code) at the conservation office near the bd de Ménilmontant and rue du Repos entrances.

Between 1832 and 1848 the celebrated novelist and poet Victor Hugo lived in an apartment in Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée, a townhouse overlooking one of Paris' most elegant squares. Hugo moved here a year after the publication of Notre Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), completing Ruy Blas during his stay. The museum here, with Hugo's personal drawings and portraits, is expected to re-open after extensive renovations (which will include a new cafe) in June 2020.

One of Paris’ most treasured art collections is showcased inside the mid-17th-century Hôtel Salé, an exquisite private mansion owned by the city since 1964. The Musée National Picasso is a staggering art museum devoted to Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), who spent much of his life living and working in Paris. The collection includes more than 5000 drawings, engravings, paintings, ceramic works and sculptures by the grand maître (great master), although they're not all displayed at the same time.

Paris’ beautiful town hall was gutted during the Paris Commune of 1871 and rebuilt in luxurious neo-Renaissance style between 1874 and 1882. The ornate façade is decorated with 108 statues of illustrious Parisians, and the outstanding temporary exhibitions (admission free; enter at 29 rue de Rivoli) have a Parisian theme.

Established in 1956, the Memorial to the Unknown Jewish Martyr has metamorphosed into the Memorial of the Shoah – 'Shoah' is a Hebrew word meaning ‘catastrophe’ and it's synonymous in France with the Holocaust. Museum exhibitions relate to the Holocaust and German occupation of parts of France and Paris during WWII. The actual memorial to the victims stands at the entrance. The wall is inscribed with the names of 76,000 men, women and children deported from France to Nazi extermination camps.