Paris has a peculiarly symbiotic relationship with its own literary history. For the literature lover Paris is as much shaped by its storytellers as their stories were shaped by Paris. The city has long been the beloved playground of writers, both natives and those who were drawn to the city by its vibrant literary scene.

While the virtues of the more famous tourist attractions are widely extolled, a literary approach to the city offers its own unique rewards. Step back though time and literature and follow the masters along the cobbled paths and cafes of a Paris drenched in absinthe and thronging with earnest literary salons for an experience that is like stepping into the pages of a well-loved book.

First you are going to need somewhere to stay. If you want to rest your head where poets have dreamed, make your way to the Left Bank to the Hotel du Quai Voltaire or L’Hotel, both of which have included Oscar Wilde among their illustrious clientele.

Just a few steps from the Musee d’Orsay, the Hotel du Quai Voltaire is where a failing Wilde famously quipped that he was ‘dying beyond his means’. Nowadays, however, the rooms are more reasonably priced, and the views of the Seine and the Louvre makes this a great stay for the budget-conscious literary lover. Other famous guests include Baudelaire and Wagner.

In a strange inversion, if money is no object you can follow Wilde’s subsequent transfer to what was then the more reasonably priced L’Hotel. Don’t be put off by its being the scene of his famous supposed last words, ‘either the wallpaper goes or I do’. Since then it has been lavishly remodelled and is now one of Paris’ most popular hotels, playing host to all manner of famous artistic guests, from Salvador Dali to the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. Even if you are not staying it is well worth visiting the hotel bar for a drink, where despite its grandeur the warm and welcoming staff make you feel at home while you look around.

If you cross the street to the Hotel d’Angleterre on rue Jacob you can sleep within the same walls as Djuna Barnes, the author of modernist novel Nightwood, who made her home here. It is also famously where Ernest Hemingway first stayed with his new bride before the couple took up more permanent residence on the rue Cardinal-Lemoine in the Quartier Latin.

Just a few doors away at number 20 is where Natalie Barney, lover of poet Rene Vivien, held her famous literary salons for almost sixty years. Barney was an ardent supporter of women’s creativity and her Friday night salons were a veritable who’s who of artists.

Needless to say, while you are on the rue Jacob it would be a shame not to stop on the corner at Laduree for the best macaroons in Paris. Suitably fortified, you can take a leisurely stroll along the Seine until you reach Notre-Dame, immortalised by Victor Hugo in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Climb the cathedral’s towers for superb views over Paris and make eye-to-eye contact with its famous gargoyles.

If you are a Hugo fan you won’t want to miss La Maison Victor Hugo, the author’s town house for sixteen years in the picturesque Marais district. It is now a museum dedicated to him and his work, with a wealth of manuscripts, assorted documents, paintings and sculptures that offer fascinating insights into the life of the author of Les Miserables.

Another literary home-turned-museum is that of Hugo’s friend and contemporary, Honore de Balzac, the founder of literary realism. This is where he worked on La Comedie Humaine, peculiarly attired in a monk’s robe. As well as documents such as his letters to Madame Hanska and curiousities such as a turquoise-encrusted cane ‘whose extravagance made him the laughingstock of the literary press’, it is also home to the papers of several contemporary writers, such as Theophile Gautier, making it well worth the detour off the beaten track to the 16eme Arrondissement. Both museums also possess the magnificent virtue of being free to visit.

Back in the city centre, no literary tour of Paris would be complete without a stop at the legendary bookshop Shakespeare and Company. There is only a plaque where the original lending library and gathering place for the literati stood at 12 rue de l’Odeon, but just along the Seine (and across from the Notre Dame) is the new store which opened in 1951. A much loved institution in its own right, devotees describe it as being like walking around in a book, with all the twists and turns (particularly on the stairs!) that one might find on the written page. Browse the shelves and let a book find you to take you on your next journey.

Although Shakespeare and Company is packed with every imaginable English language book, it is worth visiting for the Sylvia Beach Memorial Library alone. For those with a taste for the rare and exclusive, the bookshop next door has an unrivalled selection of unique and first editions.

After your literary wanderings you can slake your thirst and hunger at one of a triangle of cafes; Les Deux Magots, Le Cafe de Flore or the Brasserie Lipp. These three are all located on boulevard Saint-Germain, and were the meeting places for everyone who was anyone.

The sunny terrace of Les Deux Magots played host to the French poets Rimbaud and Verlaine, as well as Picasso and Saint-Exupery. In the 1950’s Jean Paul-Sartre made a habit of writing for two hours every day there with Simone de Beauvoir. Today you can sit outside and be surrounded by people talking, reading and making notes in their moleskines and feel transported to when some of the greatest literary figures of all time got together to drink the afternoons away. Keep a notebook of your own on hand in case inspiration lingers in the air.

It has been said that literature is ultimately about two things, death and sex. Cemeteries certainly play their part in Paris’ rich literary tradition. The pestilential market over the Cimetiere des Innocents where the anti-hero of Patrick Suskind’s novel Perfume was born has long gone, but on the site remains the ‘Fontaine des Innocents’. This beautiful Renaissance fountain was originally sculpted by Jean Goujon for King Henri II. Take a walk and spot recognisable locations from the book while wandering around the Place des Innocents, amongst which is the Saint-Merri church where Grenouille was brought after the execution of his mother.

The Pere-Lachaise Cemetery is still very much in existence, and well worth a visit to see the final resting places of Gertrude Stein, Marcel Proust, Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde, amongst many others. Although its free to enter it is well worth investing a few euros for a map at the entrance in order to navigate the hundred acres most effectively. Gertrude Stein’s grave is simple, with the name and dates of her beloved Alice B. Toklas carved into the back of her tombstone. In direct contrast is Wilde’s flamboyant, lipstick-printed tomb. Whoever your literary heroes are, there will be someone here you will wish to pay homage to.

If your wanderings around Pere-Lachaise have left you pondering for whom the bell tolls - or if you more simply love all things Hemingway - don’t miss the ‘Hemingway’s Paris’ walking tour. Winding around the Quartier Latin, it takes in the places described in A Moveable Feast, his Paris memoir.

When Hemingway came to live in Paris for the second time he rented an apartment on rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs in the Montparnesse area. He and several other writers started frequenting the local cafes, the most famous of which being the Closerie des Lilas, which Hemingway declared to be ‘one of the best cafes in Paris’. His novel The Sun Also Rises was written almost entirely here. After a long and fascinating day what better place to stop for a nightcap to raise a toast to Paris and the writers who loved her?