#8 Oh Gay Paree is the city of romance, and that includes the gay kind. Not every city is open-minded enough to elect an openly gay mayor, but Paris has done that (the first to do so), and it was the gay community that turned Marais into the city's trendiest neighborhood. But you don't have to just head to that gayborhood (which is increasingly becoming straighter) to sense that Paris is one big gay city -- there's also its fashion world and welcoming cafés everywhere.