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If you’ve already been to the Latin Quarter and Saint Germain-des-Prés, consider exploring these other parts of the city on your next trip to Paris.

Set during and after World War II, The New Look follows the famous designers through hotels, brasseries, and boutiques that are still around today.

The Louvre may be the most popular museum in the world, but there’s so much more to love about Paris’s vibrant arts and culture scene.

A first look at Samaritaine, which after being closed for 16 years is welcoming back shoppers once again—but this time foodies, champagne sippers, and hotel and spa guests are invited, too.

From Lee Krasner in London to Picasso in Potsdam, these exciting European art shows are worth the trip.

When the iconic Raffles Singapore opened in 1887, it quickly became a glittery haven for well-heeled travelers, and later, a go-to brand for discerning globetrotters.

Wandering Chef: David Falk in Paris

Yes, Angelina on the Rue de Rivoli (around the Tuileries Garden and the Louvre) is a tourist spot, but it is still one of the best places in Paris for hot chocolate. Their menu of pastries and other small dishes is good, but don’t miss out on the hot chocolate. It is also a fun place to people watch, as there is a mixture of tourists, diplomats and government workers, and grandes dames who frequent the cafe to get their sweet tooth fix. Sit as table 11 (3rd from the back against the mirror) and you’ll sit where Coco Chanel took her hot chocolate nearly every day.

What kind of hotel might attract such diverse guests as Pablo Picasso and Elizabeth Taylor, Mata Hari and FDR, Queen Victoria and Jay-Z, Tchaikovsky and the Olsen Twins? The answer is Le Meurice. Opened in 1815 as one of the world’s first five-star hotels, this icon near the Tuileries Garden has long appealed to both the posh and creative sets; its ties to the art world are particularly strong, having hosted Picasso’s wedding dinner and served as Salvador Dalí’s Parisian pied-á-terre for over 30 years.

For recent renovations of the public spaces, interiors guru Philippe Starck and his designer daughter, Ara Starck, took inspiration from Dalí for some of the more playful touches (like the quirky portraits of 18th-century personalities painted on the backs of leather seats). In the 118 rooms and 42 suites, designer Charles Jouffre maintained a French classical style, with traditional and antique furnishings, rich fabrics, Garnier Thiebaut linens, deep-soaking tubs, and—in higher-category rooms like the Pompadour Suite—oak floors and fireplaces.

Located in the Richelieu wing, Le Café Marly place to lunch and lounge on the terrace looking directly onto IM Pei pyramid in the Louvre courtyard. The food is a little overpriced for what it serves, but is good for classic French cuisine. You can’t go wrong with an omelet and glass of white wine while you watch the tourists walk by.

This former royal palace is one of the largest museums in the world, and its art collection is considered one of the most comprehensive. It contains around 400,000 works, although—mercifully, perhaps—not all are on display at any one time. There are some pieces that never get taken off the walls. The Mona Lisa and her smile attract millions of visitors each year. Other must-see masterpieces include the sculptures Winged Victory of Samothrace and Michelangelo’s Rebellious Slave, and the Eugène Delacroix painting The Death of Sardanapalus. There’s no real trick to avoiding crowds at the always-packed museum. The best you can do is try to go in the off-season, early or late in the day, and on a weekday. Your chances of being alone with the Mona Lisa will still be slim to none, but you might be able to actually see that enigmatic smile behind the Plexiglas.