Paris Recommendations, and How to Make Google Maps Work for You

When we moved to Tokyo, I got a bit obsessed with bookmarking every single recommendation, whether from friends or an article or the hairdresser. Tokyo is challenging to navigate when you’re illiterate, so having a loaded Google Maps was a lifesaver when I didn’t know where to go.

After 2 years of this, my Tokyo map became overwhelming. I’d open my app and just see a teal blob because there were so many bookmarks. I started to wonder if there was a better way to manage everything.

When we moved to Paris and I had a clean slate, I sat down and thought through what would make my map easier to navigate. Here’s what I came up with: instead of throwing everything into a generic “Paris” label, I needed to be specific. Highly specific. I made a “Saved List” for every category I could think of, and I would save things only to the relevant list. As I started bookmarking, I’d add new categories to segment it even more.

As of today, I have 12 separate Paris maps:

• Paris: catch-all for places I’ve heard about and want to try. I’ll clean this up every few months — moving things to other lists or deleting them altogether.

• Paris - Places we’ve been and liked: anything that’s 10/10, would recommend

• Paris - coffee: places known for their coffee, scattered throughout the city for times of need

• Paris - shopping: catch-all for shops of all kinds

• Paris - kid: anything relevant for our kid or visiting kids

• Paris - drinks: cocktails and wine bars

• Paris - bakeries: self-explanatory

• Paris - Gluten-free: self-explanatory, but make it sad

• Paris - Vegetarian: they’re not always easy to find, so I like to have a list on hand

• Paris - Japan: places recommended to me while I was in Tokyo or that I’ve noticed around town. Shops, restaurants, karaoke, etc.

• Paris- Culture: museums and such

• Paris - Thanksgiving: a nothing-but-the-hits list I put together for my family when they came last November

It looks a bit excessive when written out like this, but trust me —it makes using Google Maps 10x easier. When I open the app, everything is still bookmarked on the main page, but when I click on a saved list, the map declutters so I can dig into a specific category. Check it out:

Unsorted on the left, Paris - Japan on the right

If you like to bookmark places in your maps app, I recommend making some saved lists to see if this works for you. If you’re really ambitious, you can add a note for why you want to go or where you heard about it, but even I only remember to do this 1/4 of the time.

As a reward for reading about/skimming my nerdy mapping strategy, here are all the places from the Paris - Thanksgiving map I made when a dozen family members came to Paris last year.

My goal was to have a short list of recommendations, with a slight bias to East Paris where everyone was staying. I wanted to give enough places so they’d have options but not so many where they’d need to think too hard if they were tired or overwhelmed by the travel. I also bookmarked everyone’s Airbnbs/hotels and the museums I knew we’d be visiting, but I didn’t include those below.

Paris hits list, Thanksgiving 2024

• Coffee / breakfast

  • Boulangerie Utopie - won best baguette 2024. The baguettes and cookies are phenomenal, but I’d go elsewhere if you’re looking for croissants.

  • Café Obrkof - excellent coffee and food. The staff speak English if you need a break from attempting French.

  • The Beans on Fire (Montmartre location) - our staple coffee shop, but the Montmartre location for caffeinating before climbing the mountain.

  • Terres de Café - great coffee near the Louvre

• All-day menus / lunch:

  • Café Mericourt - casual all-day brunch (8:30-4pm) with good coffee

  • Wild & The Moon - open 8am-8pm, 100% plant-based with a few locations throughout the city

  • Mizon - Israeli pita place that also has multiple locations around Paris

• Dinners

  • Le Comptoir des Petits Champs - modern, cozy French bistro that’s one of the few places we’ve gone to more than once.

  • Ose - small menu that changes daily, intimate spot for a leisurely dinner.

  • Bouche Paris - lively wine bar with tasty sharing plates. We rented the private room in the back (free to rent if you hit a minimum) for a big family dinner.

  • Le Mary Celeste - fun spot for cocktails or dinner in the Marais

  • F.I.E.F. / Fait Ici En France - Michelin-starred restaurant that sources everything from within France. They have à la carte options or tasting menus, including one for vegetarians.

  • Le Saint Sébastien - very small menu (think 3-4 options each for snacks, starters, mains, desserts) and everything is top-notch. Great wine list as well.

• Shopping

  • Thanx God I'm a V.I.P. - vintage shop with curated designer clothes & accessories

  • AXS Design - vintage homewares tucked away in a quiet courtyard

  • Merci - a big “concept store” that’s fun to browse, although in my opinion it’s pretty much just an expensive, Parisian Urban Outfitters.

The list might change for a different group or if everyone had stayed in a different arrondissement, but overall it’s a solid starter list for anyone planning a trip to Paris.