Champs Elysees Paris - The most beautiful street in Europe

The Champs Elysees is the most prestigious and broadest avenues in Paris. Its full name is actually "Avenue des Champs Elysees”. With its cinemas, cafes, and luxury specialty shops, the Champs Elysees is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with rents as high as $1.25 million a year for 1,000 square feet (100 m²) of space, it remains the 2nd most expensive strip of real estate in the world (the first in Europe) after New York City's Fifth Avenue. The name refers to the Elysian Fields.

The Champs Elysees is known in France as "The most beautiful avenue in the world". The arrival of global chain stores in recent years has slightly changed the character of the avenue, and in a first effort to stem these changes, the Paris City government opted in 2007 to refuse the Swedish clothing chain H&M from opening a store on the avenue.

The avenue runs for 2 kilometres (1.25 miles) through the 8th arrondissement in north western Paris, from the Place de la Concorde in the east, with its obelisk, to the Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly the Place de l'Etoile) in the west, location of the Arc de Triomphe. One of the principal tourist destinations in Paris, the lower part of the Champs Elysees is bordered by greenery (Marigny Square) and by buildings. The Elysee Palace is a little bit to the north, but not on the avenue itself. Further to the west, the avenue is lined with cinemas, theaters, cafes and restaurants (most notably Fouquet's), and luxury specialty shops.