Paris

Paris is the easiest city in Europe to do badly. Every visitor arrives with a list, and the list takes you through the same six places at the same six hours as everyone else's list.

We drive Paris differently — early breakfasts in the 6e, mornings at the Marais markets before they fill, lunches in arrondissements the guidebooks don't lead with. The car is for the half-days outside the city: Versailles before ten, Champagne after lunch, Giverny when the light is right.

If you have firm dates and a soft itinerary, we tend to make better visits than the other way round.