Paris, beyond the postcard.

Save the pricier Louvre or Orsay ticket for a day you actually need it — the free municipal museums are genuinely good, not just consolation prizes.

Go right at opening or after 6pm — Montmartre's tour-group crush peaks hard between 11am and 4pm.

Skip the crowded Champ de Mars — Trocadéro or Pont de Bir-Hakeim give the same sparkle with far more breathing room.

The Pyramid photographs best right at sunrise — near-empty, and the glass catches the light properly.

Combine three or four passages into one loop starting at Palais-Royal — they sit close enough to string together on foot.

Grab supplies from a Franprix rather than a canal-side café — a picnic here costs a fraction of a sit-down table with the same view.

Start at Bastille and walk east — you finish, rather than start, at the quieter, prettier end.

Enter from the Seine side (Quai Saint-Bernard) rather than the Gare d'Austerlitz side — a nicer approach, fewer people.

Buy a bottle from a nearby épicerie and sit on the quai steps at sunset — it's what Parisians actually do, not a tourist workaround.

Arrive right at 7am opening — the best pieces move fast, and bartering works better before the market gets busy.