Buy designer labels from Mona's or Colette, second-hand books from the quai Saint-Michel, foie gras and champagne at Fauchon and antiques from St-Ouen.

Buy top brands on the exclusive avenue Montaigne, intimate rue Castiglione and rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, home to concept store Colette. Sniff out tomorrow's trends on the rue Charonne in hip Bastille, and spend money in the Marais' bourgeois boutiques. Department stores Galeries Lafayette and Printemps rival it out on boulevard Haussmann. The covered Forum des Halles, home to high-street brands, keeps you dry when it rains.

At weekends, collectors sift through the stalls at the vast Saint-Ouen and smaller, cheaper Puces de Vanves flea markets. Saturday is trendy and organic at the Square des Batignolles. Tuesday to Friday is colourful and ethnic at the boulevard de Belleville bazaar, the place to buy honey-drenched Tunisian pastries and exotic Chinese fruits. Marché Aligre by Bastille is one of the cheapest and most vibrant markets in Paris, and Marché Saxe Breteuil in the 7th arrondissement, the only one in town to afford views of the Eiffel Tower.

Don't forget to say bonjour and au revoir when you enter and leave a shop. Most shops open Monday to Saturday 9am-6.30pm. Smaller shops still pause for lunch and close for two weeks in August. For Sunday shopping, the Marais and Bercy Village are bustling. For bargains, come for sale season (January and July) or year-round bargains at La Vallée outlet shopping village, near Disneyland Paris.