The following suggested itineraries will allow first-time visitors to experience Paris's highlights in only a few days.

If You Have 1 Day

Get up early and begin your day with some live theater by walking the streets around your hotel. Find a cafe and order a Parisian breakfast of coffee and croissants. If you're a museum and monument junkie and don't dare return home without seeing the "musts," the top two museums are the Musée du Louvre and Musée d'Orsay, and the top three monuments are the Tour Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe, and Notre-Dame (which you can see later in the day). If it's a toss-up between the Louvre and the d'Orsay, we'd choose the Louvre because it holds a greater variety of works. Among the monuments, we'd make it the Tour Eiffel for the panoramic view of the city.

If your day is too short to visit museums or wait in line for the tower, we suggest you spend your time strolling the streets. Ile St-Louis is the most elegant place for a walk. After exploring this island and its mansions, wander through such Left Bank districts as St-Germain-des-Prés and the area around place St-Michel, the heart of the student quarter. As the sun sets, head for Notre-Dame, standing along the banks of the Seine. This is a good place to watch the shadows fall over Paris as the lights come on for the night. Afterward, walk along the Seine, where vendors sell books and souvenir prints. Promise yourself a return visit and have dinner in the Left Bank bistro of your choice.

If You Have 2 Days

Follow the above for day 1, except now you can fit in on day 2 more of the top five sights. Day 1 covered a lot of the Left Bank, so if you want to explore the Right Bank, begin at the Arc de Triomphe and stroll down the Champs-Elysées, Paris's main boulevard, until you reach the Egyptian obelisk at place de la Concorde, where some of France's most notable figures lost their heads on the guillotine. Place de la Concorde affords terrific views of La Madeleine, the Palais Bourbon, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Musée du Louvre. Nearby place Vendôme is worth a visit, as it represents the Right Bank at its most elegant, with the Hôtel Ritz and Paris's top jewelry stores. Now we suggest a rest stop in the Jardin de Tuileries, west and adjacent to the Louvre. After a bistro lunch, walk in the Marais for a contrast to monumental Paris. Our favorite stroll is along rue des Rosiers, the heart of the Jewish community. Don't miss place des Vosges. After a rest, select a restaurant in Montparnasse, following in Hemingway's footsteps. This area is far livelier at night.

If You Have 3 Days

Spend days 1 and 2 as above. As you've already seen the Left Bank and the Right Bank, this day should be about your special interests. You might target the Centre Pompidou and the Musée Carnavalet, Paris's history museum. If you're a Monet fan, you might head for the Musée Marmottan-Claude Monet. Or perhaps you'd rather wander the sculpture garden of the Musée Rodin. If you select the Musée Picasso, you can use part of the morning to explore a few of the Marais's art galleries. After lunch, spend the afternoon on Ile de la Cité, where you'll get not only to see Notre-Dame again but also to visit the Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette and others were held captive before they were beheaded. And you certainly can't miss the stunning stained glass of Sainte-Chapelle in the Palais de Justice. After dinner, if your energy holds, you can sample Paris's nightlife -- whatever you fancy: the dancers at the Lido or the Folies-Bergère, or a smoky Left Bank jazz club, or a frenzied disco. If you'd like to just sit and have a drink, Paris has some of the most elegant hotel bars in the world -- try the Crillon or the Plaza Athénée.

If You Have 4 Days

For your first 3 days, follow the above. On day 4, head to Versailles, 21km (13 miles) south of Paris, the greatest attraction in the Ile de France. When Louis XIV decided to move to the suburbs, he created a spectacle unlike anything the world had ever seen. Most of the palace remains intact, in all its opulence and glitter. A full day here almost feels like too little time. After you return to Paris for the night, take a good rest and spend the evening wandering around the Left Bank's Latin Quarter, enjoying the student cafes and bars and selecting your bistro of choice for the evening. Two of the livelier streets for wandering are rue de la Huchette and rue Monsieur-le-Prince.

If You Have 5 Days

Spend days 1 to 4 as above. On day 5, devote at least a morning to Montmartre, the community formerly known for its artists atop the highest of Paris's seven hills. Though the starving artists who made it the embodiment of la vie de bohème are long gone, there's much to enchant, especially if you wander the back streets and avoid place du Tertre. Away from the tacky shops and sleazy clubs, you'll see picture-postcard lanes and staircases known to Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Utrillo. It's virtually mandatory to visit Sacré-Coeur, for the view if nothing else. If it's your last night in Paris, let your own interests take over. Lovers traditionally spend it clasping hands in a walk along the Seine; less goo-goo-eyed visitors can still find a full agenda. Try an evening at Willi's Wine Bar, with more than 250 vintages and good food. For a nightcap, we always head for the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz, where Garbo, Coward, and Fitzgerald once lifted their glasses. If that's too elegant, head for Closerie des Lilas in the 6th arrondissement, where you can rub shoulders with the movers and shakers of the film and fashion industries.