Valentine’s Day in Paris

The French call 14 February La Fête des Amoureux, the festival of lovers, and Paris will be whole-heartedly en fête on 14 February. So you’re here, with your lover, how do you celebrate?

Hopefully you know each other quite well by now so don’t ditch your personality or ignore your partner’s. You know whether they like you to come up with something different, or are a soppy old romantic behind the tattoos and the piercings. A word of warning: restaurants everywhere in the world get busy on this evening, and that goes double for Paris. So do book, and do try to plan a little bit ahead. I’m making no apology for some pretty cheesy suggestions in what follows. Why come to Paris and ignore its most beautiful sights? Too original, and you risk the mood falling flat. Do note that special Valentine’s menus usually mean special, higher prices. Many local restaurants will not be changing their menus for the night but will offer a heart-shaped pudding or some other unexpected romantic gesture.

Don’t worry about a Valentine’s Day card – the French don’t send them. But they do give flowers. There are (expensive) flower shops everywhere, but street stalls offer great value. If you’re spending the day mooching along the river checking out the second-hand books and posters of the bouquinistes don’t forget the little flower market on the Ile de la Cité at Place Louis-Lépine not far from Notre-Dame.

Wherever you choose to dine, you’ll be able to start the evening with champagne – almost every café, bar and restaurant offers it by the glass. It will be a little more expensive in the Champagne Bar of the Eiffel Tower (open 12.00-22.00, 10€-15€), but an aperitif here will add glamour to an evening that continues in a cheap little neighbourhood bistro.

Splurge

Do you have a diamond ring in your pocket and want to present it in a suitably glittering setting? Paris’s many art nouveau and belle epoque restaurants are mirrored palaces, but they may be a little noisy and public for that important declaration. You won’t find Cinderella’s lost glass slipper in the Baccarat Cristal Room, but the décor is so magical you feel that must be where she left it – and the food is suitable for a princess, too.

Charm

If you’re only in Paris for a short time, there is no substitute for dinner on the Seine. It’s undeniably corny: cruising along the river while the music plays and the floodlit glories of Parisian architecture slide by, but the food will be good and the views unparalleled. Bateaux-Mouches is one of the oldest and best-known companies, but most of the boat companies on the Seine will be running special trips for Valentine’s.

Go back

A memorable meal tonight will have you wanting to return during your hopefully long and happy life as a couple. Le Moulin de la Galette in Montmartre fills that role of “our place” for many. Under the windmill painted by Renoir and many of his contemporaries is a very grown-up, modern restaurant with a cosy ambience and – well, I don’t have to say good food do I? – you are in Paris, remember, and French cuisine has just been listed by Unesco under their World Intangible Heritage category.

Steal

Perhaps that spark you once had is guttering and you’re looking to rekindle a relationship. At La Coupole you can reflect on the tribulations of lovers of the past – Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre ate here – while fuelling your ardour for putting the bounce back into your bedsprings with a dozen oysters from its renowned seafood bar. This brasserie is the largest and most beautifully decorated in Paris, so if conversation flags you have lots of characters to watch and paintings to discuss.

Cheap date

If you’re looking for a cheap date, can I assume you’re young, bohemian and so in love that you’ve forgotten to organise anything? Go somewhere where they don’t take reservations. At Le Cambodge, the queue is long but leave the number of your portable (cell/mobile phone), go for a drink in one of the many hip bars that line the Canal St-Martin just a block away and they will text you when your table’s ready. When you’ve chosen from the menu of Cambodian home cooking you write your own order and decorate it how you will. Draw something for your lover and if it catches the fancy of the owners they will put it on their website, thus declaring your love to the worldwide web.