Souvenirs Shopping Walk (Self Guided), Paris

100% pure, natural sea salt from the coast of of Brittany in Western France are heralded from around the world. They come with many types of containers from little pots to bags to bottles. A good place to buy these sea salts is Galleries Layfayette located at 40 Boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris, France. Metro Station: Chaussee d’Antin-La Fayette, Opera.

Galeries Lafayette is an upmarket French department store chain with over 100 year history. The store on Haussmann is its flagship store with over 70,000 square meters shopping space. It sells high-end clothing, furniture, toys and household items and foods. Sea salts are found in the food section. The place is interesting to visit by itself. One can also find cafés, bars and restaurants located in the store for drinks and meals.

What to buy here: Natural Sea Salts (Sel de Geurande). Expect to pay around 5-10 Euro for a small bag of salt and impress your foodie friends/relatives with this gift.

Operation hours: Monday-Friday: 9:30-20:00; Saturday: 09:30-21:00.

France is known for its perfumes and a good place to find authentic French perfume and related products is Fagonard perfumerie which has multiple stores in Paris, but the original shop has a free museum about how the perfume is made. Soaps, mini scents, and solid perfumes are some of the things this store is most famous for. A gift box of 10 of their most popular perfumes costs a little over 20 euros. The price range for other perfume related gifts is around 20-60 euro. There are 8 locations in Paris, but the museum and store address is 9 Rue Scribe, 75009 Paris, France. Metro: Opera.

Operation hours: Monday-Saturday: 9:00-18:00; Sundays and holidays: 9:00-17:00.

Founded in 1896, the first Van Cleef and Arpel’s store in Paris is still around today at 22 Place Vendôme, 75001 Paris, France. The company has won many awards and is highly regarded as one of the top in its class for its ability to enhance the beauty of stones and gems. The jewelry starts at around 100 euro and goes up to about 80,000.

Operation hours: Monday - Friday: 10:30 am – 7:00 pm; Saturday: 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

Good chocolate is almost a fail-proof gift idea and Paris makes it very easy to find. Jean-Paul Hevin is a world-renowned chocolatier with several stores in Paris. Plan to spend from 10-20 euro on average for a chocolate souvenir or present. You can also go with the chocolate gift set. At its store at 231 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris, France, you can walk away with an inexpensive salted caramel chocolate bar that melts in your mouth for about 4 euros. One popular box called the Tri-box No. 1 includes assorted chocolates, 1 jar of jam (240g), and 14 pieces of caramel for around 60 euro.

Operation hours: Monday - Saturday: 10:00 am - 7:30 pm

Jean Cassegrain founded Longchamp in 1948 as a leather goods travel accessory store. In 1993, Longchamp introduced its “Le Pliage” line, a collection of foldable travel bags made of vinyl and leather trim like the one in the photo. This line’s popularity has allowed the Longchamp brand to enter many international markets. Longchamp has some great variety and its stores are usually crowded with shoppers eager to own one of the brands bags. These popular handbags range from 60-200 euro.

One can visit Longchamp at 1 Rue du Chevalier de Saint-Georges, 75008 Paris, France. Metro: Concord

Operation hours: Monday - Saturday: 10:00 - 19:00.

Often considered the worlds most famous perfume, The French government reports that a bottle of Chanel No. 5 is sold every thirty seconds. Coco Chanel had a strong affinity to the number five and felt it very lucky. This is the first perfume that she ever sold. The perfume has a great smell with a delicate balance between musky, flowery, and fresh. You can find the Chanel No. 5 Perfume at Sephora at the Chanel Store on the Champs Elysees 70 Avenue des Champs Elysées, or go directly to a Chanel store 38 Rue du Faubourg Saint Honore. Expect to pay around 40-70 euro for perfume. Metro: George V for Sephora and Concord for the Chanel store.

Opening Hours: Monday - Staturday: 10:00-19:00; Sunday: 11:00-19:00

Macarons are one of France’s most renowned desserts and are becoming more popular abroad. Founded in 1862, Laduree’s claim to fame is in the invention of the double-decker macaron. In 1930, they invented the currently popular two macaron cookies sandwiched together with a creamy ganache filling. Since then, has grown to sell over 15,000 of these double-decker macarons daily, thus making Laduree one of the world’s elite macaron stores.

A box of 8 Macarons costs around 15 Euro and each macaron individually costs around 1.7 euro. The wrapping is beautiful and this is a great gift to bring home. There are 4 locations in Paris but the largest store is on the Champs Elysees at 75 Avenue des Champs-Elysées, 75008 Paris, France. Metro: George V.

Operation hours: Monday-Friday: 7:30-23:00; Saturday: 7:30-00:00; Sunday: 7:30-22:00.

Petit Bateau designs clothes for babies, children, teenagers and adults providing great quality and designs that haven't changed in years. They offer high-grade cotton clothes featuring T-shirts that change colors every season, underwear sets and dresses. Once you are in Paris, you would better stock up as you can find here cheaper items than in other shops outside France.

Operation hours: Monday - Saturday: 10:00 am - 9:00 pm; Sunday: 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm

La Maison du Chocolat is another chocolatier that makes high quality chocolate. If you are not an admirer of bitter chocolate, note that La Maison du Chocolat never uses more than 65% of cocoa in their confections. The shop specializes in ganaches, truffles, mendiants and bars with fruit and herbal flavors. Hot chocolate here is also said to be really good.

Operation hours: Monday - Saturday: 10:00 am - 7:30 pm; Sunday: 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Fromagerie Alléosse is said to be one of the best in Paris with 100 years experience of cheese making, this being of course a family business so that the tradition of making good cheese is passed along from generation to generation. You can taste here over 200 kinds of cheese, some of them being aged in the cellars of the shop. The store has an international fame for its handicraft cheese that attracts many curious customers each year.

Operation hours: Tuesday - Thursday: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm & 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm; Friday - Saturday: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm & 3:30 pm - 7:00 pm; Sunday: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm