Paris Fashion Week in 48 Hours

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It's autumn in Paris and that means Fashion Week, which this year runs Sept. 27 to Oct. 10.

The city is ablaze in couture-themed cocktail parties, congratulatory soirees and endless runway shows at city landmarks like the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Les Folies Bergères. But perhaps you don't know your Louboutin from your Lanvin. Maybe Givenchy means nothing more to you than the perfume you picked up as a last-minute Christmas gift. If that's the case, chances are you won't be getting a private-messenger invitation to Louis Vuitton or a front-row seat next to Russian Vogue editor Aliona Doletskaya.

But even for the fashion illiterate, we've got the season's hottest restaurants, chicest nightspots and tightest hotels, all of which are open to everyone even during Fashion Week in the French capital. Here's a rough schedule of what Paris can offer weekend visitors during fashion's high season.

Day 1
7 p.m. -- Arrival

Bon Soir. Your Air France flight lands nonstop at Charles de Gaulle where a suited chauffeur in an idling S-500 from Must Limousines is awaiting your arrival. Must offers one of the best deals on airport sedan-services in the city, with a new fleet of luxury sedans free of squeaky seats and chatty drivers. With sunglasses tipped at half-nose, you can tuck into your Blackberry and email while watching the city of lights pass through tinted windows.

9 p.m. -- Welcome to the Ritz

Since the early 2000s, the Paris hotel scene has come full circle. Back then it was all about places like the Murano Urbano, which lured fashion editors and the modeling world's elite. Then came a wave of designer boutiques like Christian Lacroix's Hotel Bellechasse that mixed minimal space with maximum style. Today there is a return to the old guard glamour, with hotel palaces like Le Bristol and Hotel du Crillon luring back fashion glitterati. Check-in to the Hotel Ritz located on Place Vendome. No longer visited by Diana-Spencer tourists, the hotel is walking distance to the restaurants of the Marais and the shops of Faubourg Saint-Honore.