When it was built in 1889 Parisians derided the Eiffel Tower as a piece of “metal asparagus”. Charles Gounod, Guy de Maupassant and Alexandre Dumas the younger were among those who railed against what they claimed was “an odious column of bolted metal”.

Posterity has been kinder. Today, if there’s one feature that gives Paris the wow factor it’s the tower – especially glimpsed at night when, on the hour, it outdoes Disneyland with a sparkling display of flashing lights.

Obviously the views from the tower are magnificent, but there’s also a good family restaurant on the tower’s first floor, Altitude 95, which is built to resemble the interior of an air-ship. Although be warned: you still have to buy a ticket to get up the tower – €4.50 (£3) for adults and €2.30 for children – and queues can be lengthy in the spring and summer.

The tower is also a good spot to start a boat trip along the Seine on one of the famous bateaux-mouches. The boats leave regularly from Port de la Bourdonnais and there’s no better way to observe a slice of Parisian history than from the water. All boats have an English commentary.

You may even find yourself agreeing with Balzac. “Paris is an ocean,” he said, “you may cast the sounding-line, but you will never fathom its depth.”

With Eurostar, it’s possible to leave London and be in Paris in well under three hours (a journey time that will be reduced when the service moves to St Pancras International in November) and at a hotel that sits almost in the shadow of the tower. The small but stylish four-star Hôtel Le Marquis in Rue Dupleix has 36 rooms and is only minutes away from the Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars. But, tucked away down a side street, it retains a serenity and a calmness that other hotels in the city lack.

La Motte Picquet Grenelle Metro station is only 100m away, although for those who like to wander, nothing is too far away in this most walkable of capital cities.

ShortBreaks offers two nights at Le Marquis from £314 a person, based on two sharing. A cheaper option is the three-star Le Grand Hôtel de Paris, which is close to the Grands Boulevards and only a few minutes walk from the Gare du Nord railway station where the Eurostar arrives. Prices here are £149 a person, based on two sharing. Both prices include breakfast and return standard-class Eurostar travel.
short-breaks.com – 0870 0276076

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