Happy Cities: Paris and London

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Where to Stay
The Five Hotel, steps from a Vélib’, is in a quiet nook in Paris’ Latin Quarter. The rooms – think Austin Powers meets Philippe Starck – have Chinese lacquer furniture and choose-your-own scents.
3, rue Flatters, 33-1-43-31-74-21, thefivehotel.com

We flew from Paris to London to see another “happy city” in the works and stayed at what you might call a happy hotel. The Cumberland Hotel has spacious suites, art-filled halls and a glowing lobby that changes tones as the day progresses.  
Great Cumberland Place, 44-870-333-9280, thecumberland.co.uk

Where to Eat
If macaroons and truffles are a benchmark, then Paris might be the happiest place on earth. To test this theory, we visited the Champs-Élysées outpost of the celebrated Ladurée café/bakery.
75, av. des Champs-Élysées, 33-1-40-75-08-75, laduree.fr

What to Do
Vélib’, which has thousands of bikes available for loan 24/7 at terminals throughout Paris, is a bike-sharing program with benefits: The bikes have automatic safety lights. One- and seven-day passes are available for a few euros.
33-1-30-79-79-30, velib.paris.fr

Resources
The Happy Planet Index uses economics and sociology to measure the happiness of 178 countries.
neweconomics.org

What to Pack
Gloves, winter coat and a positive attitude.

The Experts
Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau parisinfo.com
Visit London visitlondon.com

Getting There
Air Canada offers daily non-stop flights to Paris from Montreal and Toronto. Air Canada also offers the most non-stop service to London from major Canadian cities.

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