Right Bank:
Champs-Élysées to Louvre

1st, 2nd, and 8th arrondissements

The stretch of the Right Bank from the Arc de Triomphe to the Louvre Museum is home to some of the most upscale neighborhoods, shopping streets, and hotels in Paris. If you're a perfume executive, an haute couture shopper, or a bailed-out bank CEO with a government-funded expense account, you'll probably be sleeping in the 1st, 2nd, or 8th arrondissement.

The 1st arrondissement is prime riverside territory, with such attractions as the Jardins des Tuileries, the Louvre Museum, and the Palais-Royal with its gardens (where a cannon is fired at noon daily).

The 2nd arrondissement is just north of the 1st district and a bit farther from the Seine. As you move east through the 2nd, you'll come to an area of pedestrian streets around the rue Montorgueil with interesting food shops such as the historic Stohrer pâtisserie, near the district's border with Marais.

In a hurry? See:

• Interactive Map: hotels & vacation rentals
  Drag the map and zoom in to see properties and prices. (The map is provided by our partner, Booking.com.)

The 8th arrondissement is to the west of the 1st, 2nd, and 9th, with the Avenue des Champs-Élysées running diagonally from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de La Concorde. The fashionable Faubourg Saint-Honoré parallels the Champs-Élysées, and the Gare Saint-Lazare is in the northeastern corner of the district. (Some of the most expensive hotels in Paris, such as the Crillon and the Plaza Athenée, are in the 8th.)

Transportation: From Charles de Gaulle Airport, the quickest way to reach the Arc de Triomphe and the western end of the Champs Élysées is by Air France bus; if you're staying near the borders of the 1st, 8th, and 9th, the Roissybus to Ópera will be more convenient. To reach the eastern part of the 1st and 2nd, take the RER "B" train to Châtelet-Les Halles. See our CDG airport ground transportation article for more information.