Likewise most European capitals, Paris is divided into zones. The city zones are called arrondissements and are 20 districts that correspond to the administrative division of the municipality. The arrondissements were established in 1860 and currently create a clockwise spiral that departs from the city centre (the Louvre arrondissement). Each arrondissement, in turn, is subdivided into boroughs. In Paris you’ll often hear about the rive droite and the rive gauche: they’re the right and left bank of the Seine, that correspond respectively to the economic and the cultural centre of the city.

The Paris zones