Two weeks ago today, we announced our pilot TwiTrip. I was to go to Paris, where I would be at the mercy of Twitter - the micro-blogging site on everybody's lips and fingertips. I would sling questions into the ether, and Twitter users would send me their recommendations.

A week later, I was outside the Gare du Nord, and I was hungry. "Looking for somewhere good to eat near the Gare du Nord. Any ideas?" Within 20 minutes I had 17 suggestions. Some 32 hours, 13 requests and 253 suggestions later, I was on the way home. In between, this is what happened. And you can follow my route on the Google map of my trip above.

The TwiTrip tips

At first there were a number of, ahem, Tweething problems. My first two tips sounded good, but both were closed. By the time I'd arrived at these, the other suggestions I'd received were miles away. But with the ability to take pictures and post them live, I kept myself amused snapping riverside table-tennis, the Quai de Jemappes and a very dreary-looking carousel. The sky matched my mood. This wasn't going well.

Another question: I wanted to find a gallery in the east of the city, near Belleville, and I wanted a coffee, too. Please. Pippa R recommended the Ateliers d'Artistes in Menilmontant, the Parisian equivalent of Hackney in London - a rich immigrant population (in terms of diversity), and a poor artist population (in terms of money). Spot on. When I arrived, it was exactly what I was looking for, a small gallery displaying the wares of local artists. There was no way I would have found this independently.

EmmaJaneR, Sabsab and MattRosbif sorted the coffee, all recommending Café Cherie, "It's apparently where the 'bobos' (bourgeois bohemians) hang out :)" said EmmaJaneR. I went, I found the Bobos (I think), I enjoyed the coffee. Ben_Coop fixed dinner at the buzzing local L'Entrepot brasserie, where I had great steak and a couple of glasses of wine on the covered terrace. BrilliantTips sorted a nightcap near my hotel in Montmatre, which I (shamefully) reached by taxi, thanks to this extravagantly-coiffured gentleman.

And the hotel? Perhaps the pick of the tips - the superb value Hotel Eldorado near the Place de Clichy, with a cosy bar on the ground floor, smiling receptionists, and a decent size room with stripped wooden floors and antique furniture. I had asked for a hotel recommendation when we announced the TwiTrip the previous week, specifying a maximum price of €70pn (£62.50). SoulTravellers3 nailed it, thanks to her army of followers - she's been travelling around the world for three years, tweeting regularly as she goes.

Just before I went to bed, I asked for a tip for breakfast. I woke up with 13. Intrigued by her promise of "huge 19th-century room, cheap food, rude waiters" at Chartier, I went with MsMarmiteLover, despite her inauspicious taste in breakfast condiments. Chartier was truly magnificent, dripping in Belle Epoque grandeur. And as foretold, the waitress was magnificently rude. Superb. But I kept on going, and opted for Pick-clops in the Marais, thanks to alicektg, and ordered a Norvegienne tartine, thanks to snooman.

Next was hot chocolate at l'Etoile Manquante, thanks to melaniejanehowe. Afterwards, I headed to the Jewish Museum at the bidding of ecgibbsy, and Victor Hugo's house on the Place des Vosges from simonjh's tip.

My final destination was St Germain, where EmmaJaneR told me to stay away from the budget-massacring tourist fave, Les Deux Magots, instead opting for the Le Bonaparte on the same square - half the price, just as much of a view. And just before leaving, Tripalong directed me to a one-room, two-painting gallery on Rue de Jacques Callot. I didn't know at the time, but Tripalong is a Lonely Planet writer - a truly paradoxical ending to the TwiTrip: a superb recommendation from the oldest medium of travel advice there is.

The verdict

Admittedly, I was lucky - lots of people were helping me out because I had been shooting my mouth off about the whole thing for a week beforehand. But the aim of the TwiTrip was to show how Twitter can be used for travel. If you are at a loose end, or are looking to do something spontaneously, there are plenty people willing to help you. At best, they know about a great little place that you should find, at worst they are a lot closer to Google than you are. I could have found lots of good tips had I used a Time Out Guide or planned furiously in advance, but I certainly wouldn't have had as much fun. The biggest overall impression? I've never felt so accompanied while travelling alone. And with the Ateliers d'Artistes in Menilmontant, the Hotel Eldorado and the one-room gallery in St Germain, Twitter yielded true travel gold.

• Benji's TwiTrip to Paris will be featured on The One Show, BBC1, tonight at 7pm