Place Vendôme

This Parisian square is located in the 1st arrondissement of the city, close to the Paris Opera and La Madeleine Church.

Everything here is luxurious: the buildings, the shops, the hotels, and the restaurants. In fact, the famous Ritz Hotel can be found in this area, as well as some of the best jewellery shops. Interestingly, Chanel’s perfume bottles were inspired by the shape of this square.

The Vendôme Column is the most important monument in the square. Originally, a statue of Louis XVI could be found here, but it was destroyed during the French Revolution. A few decades later, another column was built in the same place that the original Louis XVI column was situated. At the top of the new column, you can see a statue of Napoléon Bonaparte.

Despite the fact that it is beautiful as it is, we were lucky enough to go there whilst it was decorated for Christmas. There was a huge fir tree in the square, and a white merry-go-round with Santa hat-wearing children riding it. The lighting on the shops and other buildings, as well as the other Christmas decorations made for a spectacular atmosphere, so it’s also worth visiting it in the evening if you have time.

This square has served as the setting of the films, “Love in the Afternoon” and “Place Vendôme”.

Even if you aren’t rich, you can still take a stroll through the area - it’s not at all necessary to buy something just to admire the beauty of the square. However, if you are fortunate to have a budget that stretches that far, you are definitely in the right place to treat yourself to something nice. If you don’t have a lot of time in Paris, this would not be considered to be a highly important stop, as there are much prettier places to see; if it hadn’t have been decorated for Christmas, I think I would have a worse memory of it.

You can get to the square from Tuileries Garden on foot, as it is only about a five minute walk away. The closest metro stops are: “Tuileries” (line 1), “Opera” (lines 3, 7 and 8), “Pyramides” (lines 7 and 14), and “Concorde” (lines 1, 8 and 12).