City Files

Skip the Place du Tertre crush for the Montmartre two streets away — Coeur Coffee on rue Ravignan, La Maison Rose, LE 975, and how to do Sacré-Cœur properly. We know a place. Everyone climbs to Place du Tertre and stops there. Keep walking. There are two Montmartres, running side by side, and most people only ever meet one. The first is the one on the postcards: the painters' square, the portrait easels, the crêpe stands, the coach groups shuffling between them. The second st

The city rewards stamina, not itineraries. Every first-timer makes the same mistake in New York: they build an itinerary. Times Square, Empire State, a musical, a checklist. New York is not a checklist city. It is a walking city, maybe the walking city, and the whole point is what happens between the landmarks. So: pick a neighbourhood per day, not a list of sights. One day downtown — start with a bacon-egg-and-cheese from any deli that looks busy, walk the West Village while