In There are many places to go to get good views of Paris and its skylines: Tour Eiffel, Tour Montparnasse, the top of Ach de Triumph and Grand Arch de Triumph, the escalators of Centre Pompidou, the roof of Samaritaine department store, the top of the Montmartre hill, Parc des Buttes Champs, La Défense´s skyscrapers and several bridges and stairways. Geographically, Paris is mostly flat, but there are some really high hills like the one that Montmartre is standing on. Paris have some good skylines: The best one is La Défense, since this modern, pretty new area has several skyscrapers clustered around Grand Arch. Tour Eiffel, Tour Montparnasse, Sacré-Coeur and the skyscrapers of La Défense are spread out on different areas. There are also some skyscrapes next to the Eiffel tower at the shore of Seine.

Highrise clusters, in order of size, density, height and look:

1.La Défense (suburbs)

2.Quai de Grenelle

3.Les Olympiades

4.Orgue du Flandres

5.Bercy

Areas with single tall towers:

Montparnasse

Tour Eiffel/Invalides

St Denis (suburb)
Aubervilliers (suburb)

The skyline of the residential highrise complex Les Olympiades in the 13th arrondissement, where each tower is named after a city that has hosted the Olympics.

Views from the Eiffel Tower:

Now we are on the outdoor observation deck on the 2nd floor on 116m height (about the height of a 30-storey building. It has 2 levels and a restaurant called Jules Verne.

Palais de Chaillot with La Défense in the background.

La Défense skyline zoomed in. That is where we were a couple of hours earlier.

Hotel Concorde Lafayette (France´s tallest and largest hotel) towering above lowrises.

Arch of Triumph at Place d l'Etoile.

Montmartre and Sacré-Coeur.

Hôtel des Invalides with its dome.

Towards the bridges of Seine with a highrise cluster in the background.

Champ du Mars walking towards Ecole Militaire with Tour Montparnasse in the background.




Seine just southwest of Eiffel Tower. The curved building in the first photo is the modern Maison de Radio-France.

Highrises skyline at Quai de Grenelle at Seine close to the Eiffel Tower. The highrises are 100m tall and there is a copy of the Statue of Liberty beneath them.

People are pointing at Sacre-Coeur. The cluster to the right is close to Parc de Buttes-Chamont.

The elevator shaft.

A football game on the ground. [i][b]Now a vertical elevator, with glass in the doors and in the roof so we can look out, is taking us to the top, or at least to the observation deck closest to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It is going pretty fast and we can see the ground disappering as we are going closer to the sky.[/i][/b]


Here you can clearly see a V shaped pattern, created by famous architects as Hausmann. Just below is Palais de Chaillot and the huge Bois de Boulogne, the large park/forest of Paris is divideing La Défense from the city.

Palais de Chaillot looks very small from here…

…and so does La Défense…

..even with a zoom.

River Seine.

Looking right below on Champ de Mars makes people look like ants.

Quai de Grenelle from a higher level. Tour Cristal and Novotel are among the tall buildings there.

The same football stadium as seen before, now much smaller.




A closer look on the feet.




Hôtel des Invalides with its dome again.


Tour Montparnasse with the skyline of Tours Les Olympiades in the background.

Views from the Arch of Triumph:

From the old arch, you can look towards Place de la Concorde/Le Louvre and La Défense towards Grande Arche, "the new arch of triumph".

Views form the roof of the Arch of Triumph, probably the best one in Paris, making it worth all the steps. You can almost see the whole city. But because Greater Paris is so big, you can't see the where the metro area ends and the nature begins.

The outdoor observation deck on the top of the arch.

La Défense, one of Europe´s largest skyscraper clusters.

La Défense to the left and Concorde Lafayette, the tallest and largest hotel in Paris and the 2nd tallest building within the city borders (33 floors, 137/190m) to the right.



Towards north Paris and the "Siemens tower" in St Denis.

Montmartre and Sacré Coeur where we were earlier today.



Champs Elysées towards Place de la Concorde and Le Louvre. To the right behind Le Louvre, Notre Dame is also visible.

Tour Montparnasse, some highrise cluster and Dome des Invalides.



Eiffel Tower. 324m tall.



Not all avenues are heavily trafficated.

Views from Montmartre:

Views over Paris from Square Villette, just beneath the steps of Sacré-Coeur.

Views from Parc des Buttes-Chaumont:

Skyline of the residential complex Orgues de Flandres …

…seen from Parc des Buttes-Chaumont.

Skyline of some residential highrises from the 70's seen from the temple. The 39-storey Tour Prelude is the tallest of the 3 similar looking buildings, called Orgues de Flandres together. At 123m tall it is the 3rd tallest building and the tallest highrise buildilng inside the borders of the city of Paris. The others are called Tour Fugue and Tour Contante. The white building is probably Residence Dubergier (100m). They are all located in the19th arrondissement.

Views from Tour Montparnasse(the roof at 59th floor):

Tour Eiffel and Champs Elysées in the center. Dôme des Invalides to the right.

The roof visible of the skyscraper.

Views from the ferris wheel (pariserhjul in Swedish!) at Place de la Concorde:

To the left: Montparnasse with its tower. To the right: Dôme des Invalides at Hôtel des Invalides.

Skyline to the southeast.

Champs Elysées leading to Arch de Triumph and then to La Défense.

Musée du Louvre, the legendaric art museum with its glass pyramid and Jardin de Tuileries.

River Seine and the Eiffel Tower.

Views from river bridges:

A riverboat at Seine.

Views over Seine, two Parisian bridges, highrises and a dome.

Bercy is the district on the north bank of Seine with a small cluster with modern highrises buildings. The place just in front of the buildings is called Quai de la Rapée.

Bercy's skyline from the bridge.