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Mº Pont-Marie & Mº Sully-Morland . Often considered the most romantic part of Paris, the peaceful Ile St-Louis is prime strolling territory. Unlike its larger neighbour, the Ile de la Cite, it has no monuments or metro stations, and only a single, small museum at 6 quai d'Orleans, devoted to the Romantic Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz (Thurs 2-6pm or by appointment at 01.43.54.35.61; free). You'll find high houses on single-lane streets, tree-lined quais, a school, a church, assorted restaurants and cafes, and interesting little shops. For centuries, Ile-St-Louis was nothing but swampy pastureland, owned by Notre-Dame, until along came the seventeenth-century version of a real-estate developer, Christophe Marie, who had the bright idea of filling it with elegant mansions, so that by 1660 the island was transformed. In the 1840s, the island became a popular Bohemian hang-out. The Club des Hachichins, whose members included Baudelaire, Dumas, Delacroix and Daumier, met every month and got high on hashish at the Hotel Lauzun , 17 quai d'Anjou. Baudelaire in fact lived for a while in the attic and wrote Les Fleurs du Mal here. The hotel, built in 1657, has an intact interior, complete with splendid trompe l'oeil decorations; prearranged group visits are possible (tel 01.42.76.57.99). Nowadays, the island is the most covetable of the city's addresses - you only get to have your home here if you're the Aga Khan, the Pretender to the French throne, or an ex-grand duke of Russia.
A visit to the Ile-St-Louis wouldn't be complete for most people without a visit to M. Berthillon at 31 rue St-Louis-en-l'Ile, makers of exceptional fruit sorbets.
The island is particularly atmospheric in the evening, and dinner here, followed by an arm-in-arm wander along the quais, is a must in any lovers' itinerary
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