Effiel Tower

The Eiffel Tower (la Tour Eiffel) ranks high on the list of places to visit in France and is the most-visited tourist attraction in the world. It's hard to believe that the structure was dismissed as a monstrosity when it was first unveiled. The iconic tower was designed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel for the Paris Exhibition of 1889, which marked the centenary of the French Revolution.

The tower consists of 18,000 sturdy iron sections (weighing over 10,000 tons) held together by 2.5 million rivets. This innovative structure is now considered a masterful architectural feat and is the most emblematic sight in Paris. Reaching 324 meters in height, the tower was the world's tallest building until the Empire State Building was erected in New York City.

Address: Tour Eiffel, Champ de Mars, 75007 Paris (Métro: Bir-Hakeim, Trocadéro, Iéna, or Passy station)

Musée du Louvre

A sumptuous palace that was once the home of France's kings, the Louvre is the most important of Paris' top museums. Visitors enter the museum in the courtyard of the palace at the Pyramid du Louvre, the glass pyramid designed by Ieoh Ming Pei in 1917. The Musée du Louvre displays thousands of artworks, many of which are considered masterpieces, from antiquities to European paintings of the 15th to 19th centuries.

It is impossible to see it all in one visit, but tourists can focus on a particular gallery, such as classical sculpture, Italian Renaissance art, or 17th-century French paintings, or take a self-guided tour to cover the Louvre Museum's highlights.

The most famous piece is the Mona Lisa or La Gioconda (or La Joconde in French) painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1503-1505. Many tourists breeze through the museum just to glance at this one piece, but there are many other must-see works of art to admire even if time is limited.

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe is dedicated to the soldiers who fought in the French armies of the Revolution and the First Empire (Napoleonic Wars). Napoleon commissioned the building of this mighty structure in 1806 but did not live to see its completion in 1836.

Designed by architect Jean-François Chalgrin, who modeled the monument after the Arch of Titus in Rome, the massive 50-meter-high arch features bas-reliefs with larger-than-life-size figures, which depict the departure, victories, and glorious return of the French armies. The monument staff provides guided tours in French every day at 10:30am; these tours are included in the price of the admission ticket. The site also has documentation and multi-media presentations in multiple languages.

Tourists will appreciate the gift shop and bookstore at the Arc de Triomphe. For visitors with reduced mobility and young children, there is an elevator to reach the viewing platform. Otherwise, visitors must take the stairs.