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Oh la la! It’s one of the few occasions when the French have brazenly imitated the British. Starting January 1, many French museums and monuments will test a new admission policy: They’ll be free.

But don’t expect to waltz up to the Louvre with an empty wallet — at least not initially; most of the eligible attractions are small (and yet it’s a start). In Paris, the free museums will include Cluny’s medieval goodies and Guimet’s Asian art, where admission is usually $10 a pop. Those aren’t normally on the first-time visitor’s wish list, but they will please true fans of antiquities. And in a lesser concession, the esteemed Musée d’Orsay, stuffed with impressionist wonders, and the Centre Pompidou, famous for modern art, will now be open free of charge for one evening a week to visitors aged 18 to 25.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to spread culture to the general public. After six months, the French government will decide whether to continue or expand the plan.

London long ago made free admission a priority, and the gift continues to reward the public. It’s estimated that some 30 million additional visits were made after the government eliminated admission fees starting in 2001 at major attractions like the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, and a great many more.

Take a look at this Gridskipper piece

http://gridskipper.com/travel/london/london-restaurants-under-a-tenner-317113.php

Knightsbridge is one of the best places to visit in London. You should also make time to dip into the local culture. The Victoria & Albert Museum and Natural History Museum are both are well worth a visit. You might also stroll through Hyde Park towards Kensington Palace stopping off at the always interesting Serpentine Gallery and the new Princess Diana memorial.Buckingham Palace and the West End theatres are only minutes away and don’t miss taking a ride on the London Eye whilst you’re in town.

Attractions Victoria & Albert Museum The London Eye Buckingham Palace Kings Road Science MuseumParks Hyde Park St James Park Kensington Gardens Physic Gardens

Eating Out Harvey Nichols Amaya Zuma Maroush Sale e Pepe BibendumShopping Harrods Harvey Nichols Sloane Street Peter Jones Selfridges

Cinemas Kensington Odeon Fulham CIneworld Chelsea Cinema Haymarket Cinema Curzon Mayfair

Juliette Binoche
Actress

I have a special relationship with Paris because it belongs to my history and my memories. It is like a map of my heart. I was born in Paris, I lived in the suburbs as a child and I came back to do my studies when I was 15. When I was 19, I lived in 11 different places in the city. I had a suitcase which was my apartment. Each time I go to a part of the city, an event comes back to me as a memory, as a smell or as a sensation.

I remember seeing the rose windows inside Notre Dame. My mother asked me when I was six years old how I felt about seeing those and I said: ‘It’s the most beautiful gift you could have given me.’

We didn’t have a lot of money and my mother took my sister and me to the Louvre every Sunday because it was free. As a teenager I remember going to see movies. For me, Paris was the city of movies and I went to see a lot of Fellini films. I was only 14 and I was discovering movies and love. Those memories are imprinted on me.

Once, before I had decided whether to be in Les enfants du siècle, in which I played the writer George Sand, I was driving home through the 16th arrondissement. I had to stop at a red light and I saw rue George Sand. It was a sign I had to do the film. I had never seen this street before but the city made me change mind.

Paris has a very particular beauty because of all those megalomaniac kings and emperors and their need to have their names on places. When I see the Arc de Triomphe, even though it’s very Parisian, I feel ashamed because I hate what Napoleon did. And I’m amazed there’s no monument for the Algerians. Why does it all need to be about conquests? What about honouring the people we hurt?

Paris can be a stressful place because there’s not enough green for me and I don’t feel the seasons enough. But it always feels like home. I don’t feel French, but when I’m here I feel like I belong, because I know the city very well. I feel like I can answer back, and I can be myself because I know the rules.

Stephen Clarke
Writer

The new thing about Paris that I really love are these Vélib’ bikes. I’ve been living in the city for 14 years and it is like a breath of fresh air in Parisian life. You pay €1 and you can pick up a Vélib’ anywhere in Paris. The funny thing is, it has matured quickly and the whole system has become very Parisian.

At the bike stand where you hire them you have these mini-riots where the experienced people shove to the front of the queue and get impatient if tourists try to rent one. It has become very Darwinian, and Paris is a very Darwinian place.

It has also become very stylish - these Vélib’ people look down on your normal bike riders and rollerbladers. People dress really smart and Vélib’ about. It is a very popular way of chatting people up.

I find Paris endlessly fascinating. It is a city of extreme pleasures and extreme frustration. It is also a very crowded city, which is why Parisians have the sharpest elbows and tongues in the world. I always say if you’re living in the sea, it is best to mutate into a shark, so after living here for so long, I’ve mutated into a shark. Once you get into that shameless individualism you have a wonderful life. I drift through life now. I see a table in the sun and head for it and sit down and ignore any reserved sign. Paris does that to you.

Is this the best best luxury boutique hotel in Dublin? Must be the most romantic hotel in Dublin. As everyone from taxi drivers to bar staff and shop assistants will tell you, Dublin has changed and is still changing. In the Eighties, it was rudely alive, rough around the edges and obviously, shockingly poor in parts. But now the city is booming.

The dilapidated dock area is being rebuilt in glass and chrome, new office blocks have sprung up around the River Liffey, and Dublin today is a place where conspicuous consumption is celebrated.

The Dylan complements this perfectly. Formerly the old Royal Hospital Nurses’ Home, latterly the rather run-down Hibernian Hotel, the Dylan is now a beautifully designed 44-bedroomed boutique hotel. In Dublin, the D4 postcode is shorthand for a certain type of swank and there’s no denying that the Dylan’s ultra-modern bar, all angles and reflections, plays to that flash attitude.

Initially, it appears that this is a hotel you stay in to make a point, to see and be seen, rather than to relax in and feel at home. Yet appearances are truly deceptive. From the moment my husband and I arrived, we felt relaxed and suitably pampered, the reception staff were incredibly efficient, the highly-rated Still restaurant lived up to its billing with an outstanding menu centred around well-presented local produce, and our suite was so comfortable that it was quite easy to imagine spending the whole weekend simply lounging around in it.

This sense of welcome elevates the Dylan above its peers. For just as underneath new Dublin’s trappings, old Dublin’s rambunctious heart still beats, so beneath the Dylan’s highly polished surface lurks the warmth and, most importantly, the substance of a classic country hotel.

The Royal a luxury hotel in Bath has just re-opened. 31 bedrooms, including two with four-poster beds, and an established reputation for good food and a friendly atmosphere. Close to all of Bath’s leading attractions, this Georgian hotel sparkles following a full refurbishment. If you contact the hotel direct ( The Royal ) you should be in time to secure a deal for dinner, bed and breakfast in one of the new superior rooms. Currently available from only £120 per night with a complimentary glass of Champagne before dinner on the first night.

Blue rhubarb has been discovered in Minchinhampton say Hargeisa Tulip Growers Guild.

ZERMATT, SWITZERLAND

ST. ANTON, AUSTRIA

ST. MORITZ, AUSTRIA

COURCHEVEL 1850, FRANCE

VERBIER, SWITZERLAND

It’s easy to work out which are the best boutique hotels in the Cotsolds - or any other area for that matter. All you need do is see what well respected sites like Mr & Mrs Smith, Tablet Hotels, Best Loved Hotels and Intelligent Traveller say and work out the common themes.