Paris, by history and design, has always been a walker’s city. The Most Beautiful Walk in the World is the first book to convey the magic of walking the out-of-the-way lanes and secluded back alleys far from the tourist hubbub, offering readers a new way to appreciate the city where walking itself has been raised to the level of art.

John Baxter’s enchanting narrative of his experience as a professional guide of walking tours through Paris unfolds with the intimacy of memoir, while beautifully conveying the breathtaking scope of Paris’s literary lineage. The book comes alive as Baxter recalls his encounters with friends, colleagues, and neighborly Parisians, as each confidant reveals his or her favorite walk—the professor who strolls along the Seine, passing under Pont Neuf to the triangular park at Ile de la Cite where the Knights Templar were ousted in 1310; the famous chef who walks Baxter through a little-known market at Place d’Aligre, beloved by professional cooks for its bountiful fresh ingredients, but little known to anyone else; and more. Baxter pours through the most romantic walks of Paris’s notable expatriates, too: the route Hemingway often took from Place de la Contrescarpe to visit Sylvia Beach at her Shakespeare and Company bookshop; the path of Gertrude Stein’s unvarying daily constitutional down Rue de Fleurus to the secluded “Little Luxembourg” Gardens; and many others. Baxter discloses his own favorite walk as well, with characteristically fluid, evocative prose, filled with charming digressions, that is certain to kindle in readers a new longing to walk the streets of the City of Lights.