8th Arrondissement - Monceau Madeleine: Paris

The 8th arrondissement boasts more three-star restaurants (4) than Belgium or Switzerland, and that's not even counting Maxim's, the world's most famous luxury diner which fell from the Guide Michelin's favour many years ago. The 8th also accommodates the country's President (who resides in the Elysee Palace), the World Motorsport Federation FIA and the HQ of just about every bank and insurance company in France.

And then there are the Champs Elysees, still the world's most famous street and one of its most impressive – the sheer size of it! – although many of the shops that once made its name have left (for near-by Avenue Montaigne, for example: a better place these days for "big-name" window shopping) and made way for luxury car showrooms, air line offices and cinemas.

Tip: be a little careful with the famous nightclubs around the Champs Elysees: many of them have reputations as the sort of places where drunk young men – often from the less-than-leafy "suburbs" – settle their arguments, or where they go looking for one. Make sure that your excursion into the Parisian nightlife becomes a Night to Remember in nothing but the right way.